Here are two presentations that I will be giving within the context of the Fifth Annual Edition of ICERI2012: 5th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation. Madrid (Spain) on the 19th, 20th and 21st of November, 2012

In Italy most of university teachers implementing eLearning as part of their courses have in mind a very traditional model of eLearning, based on the transmission of knowledge and on the download of (textual) documents, with a very limited use of other resources, particularly environments that allow a dialogic approach. Beyond the results of ten years of research at University of Trento, Prof. Ghislandi (my boss!!!) is convinced about this. And this issue was also confirmed by a recent Cycle of Seminar of SieL (Italian Society for eLearning // See for example Gianni Marconato’s presentation) Therefore, it is not surprising that eLearning courses are seen by the students as second choice courses (with some appreciation, anyway, by the students that work, and that do not have time to participate to the faculty life).

The Trento’s research unit in which I take part, is now working on the evaluation of eLearning experiences, trying to accompany the students and teachers’ perspectives.

In fact, we are now reflecting on which qualitative research methodology  (Partecipative Action Research?, DBR-Design Based Research?, Grounded theory?, Mixed Methods?) will be the best to reach our goals that are:

1. promote , in a case study in our own faculty, university professors’ reflection on (e)Learning design as key dimension for preparing  effective (students learn) courses . In order to support this reflection, we provide university teachers with tools that mediate the process of reflection (Ghislandi & Raffaghelli, 2012)
2. involve the university professors in participatory action research about quality networked learning (beyond eLearning!), as a mean to promote the expression of their agency as professionals of education, understanding eLearning as part of  a context of educational shift where they are engaged (Ghislandi, Raffaghelli & Yang, in press).

These two presentations (and the connected papers) reflect the process of reflection, not results.

We are also participating to the upcoming event,

Teacher-led Inquiry and Learning Design: The Virtuous Circle

A hands-on research workshop at the, January, 28 – February, 1st 2013,   Villard‐de‐Lans, Vercors

Our aim will be their to deepen on the concept of Learning Design as key for networked learning quality. The event is using “Cloudswork”, the social network for Learning Designers created through the Open University project for Learning Design (OULDI).

There’s in fact a “cloudscape” that will group all the presentations and cloudworks: http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/2440

In fact, Patrizia has created a “Cloudswork” to take part, and we are already engaged to start discussion about the topic proposed!

Learning Design as Key for eLearning Quality

Hope it will be useful for other interested groups and we can meet people to spark ideas and deepen on the research topic!