Talk Presented at CALRG conference 2013 http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/workspace.cfm?wpid=9762

1. http://metis-project.org/ Metis CALRG 2013
Page 1 of 2
Iterative research and development
of teacher training in learning design
Andrew Brasher, Chris Walsh, Patrick McAndew,
Yishay Mor
Talk Presented at CALRG conference 2013
http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/workspace.cfm?wpid=9762
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Several decades of research in technology-enhanced learning (TEL) have
demonstrated the potential of digital technology to transform education. Yet the
impact of TEL research on daily teaching-learning practices is still far from fulfilling
this potential. Arguably, this is a gap in the capacity for learning design: educators
need the tools and competencies which would allow them to identify educational
challenges, describe the context in which they arise, identify the opportunities
afforded by technology, project the insights derived from research, and devise new
learning experiences. To address this gap, educators need tools and practices. Tools
that would support them through the cycle of learning design – from conception to
deployment of techno-educational innovations. Professional practices that use such
tools to ensure the robustness and effectiveness of their innovations and make
learning design a daily habit and part of their professional identity.
The METIS project (http://metis-project.org/) aims to contribute to this aim, by
providing educators with an Integrated Learning Design Environment (ILDE, see:
Hernández-Leo, Asensio, Chacón, & Prieto, 2013) and a workshop package for
training educators in using the ILDE to support effective learning design. Work
Package 3, led by the OU (UK), is concerned with the design and development of the
workshop package. The ILDE and the workshop package will be evaluated by 3
representative user groups, one from the training and professional development
sector, a non-profit association targeting non-formal training and problems of social
exclusion, and a university representing the higher education sector.
In this paper we will describe the initial phases of research conducted to support the
design of the METIS workshops. The aims of this research are:
• To identify the constraints and requirements emerging from the specifics of
the contexts in which they would be run, and the aspirations of the
prospective participants and organising bodies.
• To collate, compare and evaluate examples of similar workshops from the
past so as to inform the design of the METIS workshops by building on
existing knowledge e.g. OULDI and OLDS-MOOC

2. http://metis-project.org/ Metis CALRG 2013
Page 2 of 2
• To propose a workshop structure that can be used and evaluated within the
project
(Brasher, A., Mor, Y., 2013)..
Will present the outcomes of work done over the first 7 months of the project in terms
of an initial version of the METIS workshop structure, i.e. a “meta-design” which will
need to be customized and specified for each user group. We will describe the
rationale for the design, using evidence and examples from the data we have
collected. In conclusion, we will describe plans for using the structure to develop and
evaluate a series of ready-to-run workshop packages targeted at the 3 user groups.
References
Hernández-Leo, D., Asensio, J. I., Chacón, J., & Prieto, L. P. (2013). METIS
deliverble D2.1: Report 1 on meeting with stakeholders: early feedback on
ILDE requirements.
Brasher, A., Mor, Y., (2013) D3.1 Report 2 on meetings with user groups: Early
feedback on candidate best practices for teacher training on learning design.
METIS project deliverable, code 531262-LLP-2012-ES-KA3-KA3MP