ABC – Digital Learning Dispatches

Yesterday a team consisting of Clare Gormley, Suzanne Stone and Rob Lowney in the Teaching Enhancement Unit in the NIDL gave a presentation sharing their experiences of developing an online version of the increasingly popular ABC Learning Design Framework. This talk was part of a webinar series organised by the ABC Learning Design team at UCL.

ABC

Since campus closures and social distancing restrictions were introduced back in March, the team has been working on piloting an online format of the ABC LD workshop to support DCU staff. Over 150 webinar participants were interested in hearing more about this experience and how the ABC LD Framework is being used more generally at DCU to help scaffold the pedagogical design of modules and programmes for teaching online. In this respect, the ABC Framework is becoming a key tool alongside several other initiatives in the NIDL to help enable DCU’s teaching staff to better harness the potential of online education. A key strength of the ABC LD Framework is its strong pedagogical focus which is anchored in one of the most well articulated theories of teaching and learning.

A recording of this presentation is available at the following link:

https://eu.bbcollab.com/collab/ui/session/playback

By Clare Gormley

It seems safe to state that there are challenges in learning design that almost all institutions face: limited staff time, a modular focus, and a tendency towards ‘lone ranger’ thinking to name just some of the potential barriers to successful course design. These types of challenges have significantly influenced the team-based ABC methodology developed originally by Clive Young and Nataša Perović of University College London (UCL) which continues to grow in popular use worldwide as a model for blended learning design.

Dublin City University’s (DCU) Teaching Enhancement Unit is currently engaged in the ABC to VLE Erasmus+ funded project to further develop the ABC Learning Design methodology. As relative newcomers to ABC (DCU first experienced it in 2017), this project has been a great opportunity to apply the approach and benefit from the experience of UCL and the 11 other European partners involved. For those not familiar with the format, ABC offers a rapid-fire, hands-on workshop approach where in just 90 minutes academic teams work together to design or redesign modules and programmes. By the end of the process, teams have discussed, debated, and discovered a range of potential activities and technologies, communicated their overall vision of their course, and ultimately created a storyboard of an intended learning experience. Not bad work in under two hours, especially when it all goes according to plan.

The overall goal of this particular European project is to develop ABC as a downloadable toolkit that can be used and adapted by any institution. At DCU we have adapted the ‘classic’ materials to suit important strategic priorities such as flexible learning modes, enhanced feedback mechanisms, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Furthermore, by using the approach with several teams, evaluating it, and learning how different aspects perform on the ground, we hope to continue to develop our own expertise in using the approach in different contexts. We also plan to do our bit to promote conversations amongst the Irish learning design community about using and tailoring the method to optimum effect.