Amanda Nichols Hess - Modular Online Learning Design: A Flexible Approach for Diverse Learning Needs

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AMANDA NICHOLS HESS is the e-learning, instructional technology, and education librarian at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. She holds a PhD in educational leadership, an Education Specialist certificate in instructional technology, and an MS in information. Amandas research focuses on information literacy, instructional design, online learning, and the intersections of these topics, particularly in library-centric professional learning. Her work has been published in College and Research Libraries, Communications in Information Literacy, Journal of Academic Librarianship, and portal: Libraries and the Academy, among other venues. Amanda also authored Transforming Academic Library Instruction: Changing Practices to Reflect Changed Perspectives (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018).

2021 by Amanda Nichols Hess

Extensive effort has gone into ensuring the reliability of the information in this book; however, the publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

ISBNs

978-0-8389-4812-5 (paper)

978-0-8389-4814-9 (PDF)

978-0-8389-4817-0 (ePub)

978-0-8389-4816-3 (Kindle)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hess, Amanda Nichols, 1986- author.

Title: Modular online learning design : a flexible approach for diverse learning needs / Amanda Nichols Hess.

Description: Chicago : ALA Editions, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: This book presents a modular approach to designing online learning resourcesProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020028176 (print) | LCCN 2020028177 (ebook) | ISBN 9780838948125 (paperback) | ISBN 9780838948149 (pdf) | ISBN 9780838948163 (kindle edition) | ISBN 9780838948170 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Information literacyStudy and teaching (Higher) | Information literacyWeb-based instruction. | Library orientation for college students | Web-based instructionDesign. | Web-based instructionEvaluation. | Instructional systemsDesign. | Academic librariesRelations with faculty and curriculum.

Classification: LCC ZA3088.5.C65 H47 2021 (print) | LCC ZA3088.5.C65 (ebook) | DDC 028.7071/1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020028176

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020028177

Cover design by Kim Thornton.

For Chris, of course.

Y ou arrive at your deskin an office or workspace, at a service desk, or somewhere else entirelyand you have a message from an instructor you have worked with before. Maybe it arrives as voicemail or an e-mail in your inbox. Regardless of format, the need is the same: they have a fully online course or are integrating e-learning content into an in-person learning experience and they want to include library instruction content in a virtual format. They would like something by Fridayand today is Wednesday.

Maybe instead you are in a meeting with your colleagues, reviewing data from your organization about how effectively learners understand critical thinking concepts. Everyone around the table agrees that the library needs to play a larger role, especially in helping learners develop their information literacy proficiencies. Someone suggests creating online learning resources, and all eyes turn to you.

Or you and your colleagues have fielded the same question, year in and year out, from a consistent group of learnersstudents in the same course, semester after semester; patrons visiting the help desk in regular cycles; calls coming in at the same time every year. You all agree that there must be a better, more coordinated way to help these peopleand that resources available on the librarys website could be the best option. But no one is sure where to start.

Librarians in all kinds of work environments have been developing online learning content for many years. A wide array of books, articles, andappropriatelyonline learning objects address both practical concerns, such as using different content creation tools, and philosophical issues, such as determining the best instructional design approach. Despite these myriad resources, librarians may still find their online learning work happens in ad hoc ways, may occur only in reaction to issues or requests, or must be completed in a race against the clock. Even when they can take more proactive or strategic positions in developing virtual learning resources, it can still be challenging for librarians to maintain coordination, consistency, and forward-thinking perspectives. As online learning continues to expand, it will become even more important for us to approach projects of all shapes and sizes with emphasis on creating content that can be easily reused, scaled, modified, adapted, and transformed.

In my experiences designing online learning resources for both K12 and higher education, I have often found myself on my heels, working on a tight timeline, and accomplishing tasks but not truly working toward broader organizational learning goals. Whenever I could reflect on these experiences, I always thought that there had to be more effective ways to manage the ongoing work of creating, maintaining, updating, evaluating, and implementing e-learning resources. Of course, there are many ways to approach online learning initiatives in more effective ways. The central ideas I always turned over in my mind were about how I could make whatever I had createdeither independently or in a design teamsimpler and straightforward to update when content changed, a learning need emerged, or another instructor or group of students could benefit from the resource.

These are the concepts I explore in depth in this book, with a focus on creating a modular design scaffold that others can use to create their own resources. Modularity is an idea that is core to systems thinking (which is addressed in ) because it asks individuals to think of whatever they are creating as pieces of a broader whole as well as independent, self-contained parts. Those may seem like conflicting, or at least competing, requirements, but when we think of how our learners can encounter online contentas a whole, in bits or pieces, at different times, at multiple times based on their needsthe idea that the components within an e-learning resource need to work on their own and function together makes more sense. For the purposes of this book, then, the idea of modularity is about thinking of our online learning content as both part and whole, depending on learners and their needs.

Of course, the practical aspects of modularity also involve how librarians can develop online learning objects for one context, and then integrate or transform that content for another need or situation. Although we cannot control how, when, or in what ways learners seek out our online learning content, we can use modularity to reframe how we think of our design processes. Modular thinking in online learning design involves librarians intentionally building documentation and structure into their processes so that their instructional content is ready to be updated or remixed to meet different learning needs in the near, medium, or long terms.

This book presents a modular approach to designing online learning resources, and it includes materials librarians can adapt and use immediately, such as checklists, scaffolds, and templates to document both plan and process. While this books contents follow a sequence, it does not need to be read in that order to be useful. Each chapters focus areas can be understood independently, so librarians at any point of need can pick it up and refer to the relevant section. Throughout the text, I use my work as a K12 and academic librarian, my knowledge of instructional design, and my own experiences as an online learner to develop manageable, realistic structures for librarians in diverse environments.