Epiphanies and other things

I have been reading the paradigm material over the last couple of days and trying to get to grips with evaluation studies done in my own sphere of expertise. It has been interesting reading especially when I coupled it with material from the marketing from articulate software.

My first encounter with e-learning evaluation paradigms left me wondering if I am indeed as critically social as I think I am.......because actually in an e-learning context, I find my persuasion toward the eclectic-mixed methods-pragmatic paradigm.....no suprise there I guess as a nurse who is dominated by the pragmatic in both work, learning and teaching style! The bit that got me was from the Reeves' (2006) paper. Here, he suggests that there is a suggestion of ignoring what makes good instruction, and that models of instructional design can be followed yet still not acheive the goals........Oh yeah been there, I thought!! Cut through a couple of days and an email from articulate marketing........Here, Kuhlman (2009) talks about taking the perspective of the learner and avoiding being stuck in quiz hell, or limited navigation and over informing (as opposed to providing opportunities for learning).......Pullen (2006) also adds to the debate arguing that health professionals learn better when they are able to apply their work to their practice using clinical tools.

So where's the universe collision?.....Well, you may have seen my post to Michelle's blog...I was interested to praise the way in which she was was being responsive to learners needs. My quick trip into pedagogy vs androgogy also reminded me that as a precursor to evaluation, I need to be clear about my intentions: am I engaging adults...and moreover, am I engaging qualified health professionals who want to improve their work by the application of clinically relevant tools and information. It is easy to slip into information providing, rather than providing opportunities from which to learn.....So when Reeves (2006), Kuhlman (2009) and Pullen (2006) make their respective points, the truth I can find there is that I need to reflect from a learners perspective what the applicability of the learning material actually is, rather than as the F2F teacher who gives great background, empirical evidence and whole lot more introduction (because we have the time to reflect, ponder, discuss etc). My e-learning context requires of me that I should consider the previous professional experience as a done deal, or at least offer a chance to revisit relavant sources IF REQUIRED...not presume that erveyone needs everything...they are adult learners and can decide that for themselves...or go back to supplementary material if needs be. The outcome of this has been to re-do my story board for the evaluation project, and to remember that I am intending to achieve adult learner engagement; with healthcare professionals who like to apply to practice quickly and easily, and at the same time attend to Reeves' (2006) point of avoiding the meeting of goals....

I'd like to include this is the first of my formative evaluations of the project because from it has come a different way of viewing presentation of the material, with key stakeholders in mind, a relevant philosophical perspective as well as the potential to actually answer any evaluation questions in a more meaningful way.
Happy to hear your thoughts!
Sam

Sam