Digital Learning Design Toolkit

Teesside University in collaboration with Jisc UK have developed a Digital Learning Design Toolkit. There was a time before Covid when education had a focus in higher and further education. This focus was delivering learning and teaching utilising traditional teaching methodologies in face to face environments. Of course, there were exceptions and excellent examples of where online learning, blended learning, hybrid learning has been used to their full potential. However, with the advent of Covid, Jisc saw an enormous uptake of the support and guidance we provide, helping and supporting members to move towards online delivery rapidly. For many, this was the first time moving to remote teaching and came with many challenges, but importantly, opportunities. As mentioned previously, relatively few institutions discovered these opportunities before Covid, and as a consequence, are now ahead of the game in terms of remote delivery. However, most institutions are only now discovering the opportunities to enhance and develop what they have been delivering face-to-face in an online environment.

Building on the digital transformation journey which Teesside University had embarked on prior to the pandemic, we had a confident set of digital academic practices to build upon to develop solid online learning courses and experiences for students. We learned also that the sorts of requests for support our team members were getting centred around the theme of learning design. For example: How best can I design my modules using the digital platforms and solutions on offer; how do I determine which practice is best to be delivered on campus and which is best to be delivered online; how do I manage the expectations of my students.

The new ways of designing courses, whether this is through a hybrid model of delivery or a full fledged online model of delivery, challenge universities to change, think and do things differently. How we approach digital learning design is critical to student success. The purpose of our collaboration is to bring together sector-wide, national and international perspectives to support the education sector to design and deliver successful online learning courses, having reflected and learned from the past fifteen months as courses rapidly pivoted from campus delivery into online delivery.

Teesside University in collaboration with Jisc UK have developed a Digital Learning Design Toolkit. The Digital Learning Design Toolkit can be a fundamental action you take to ensure not just one department, not just one school, but an entire institution can move towards effective online delivery in a structured and supportive way.