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=Kinsley Ndenges' e-portfolio=



__SCREENCAST FOR ONLINE LEARNING__ Welcome to my e-Portfolio page, my name is Kinsley Ndenge and I am a Postgraduate student at the University of Cape Town ,South Africa. I am also the founding member of The African Centre for ICTs in Education and Development and very much interested in using Information Communications Technology (ICTs) to improve developing communities.I am a Mellon Scholarship recipient from the Centre for Educational Technology at the University. This eportfolio describes my thinking behind the development of a prototype online learning intervention (Prototype Online Learning Activity) using the Intergrative Learning Design Framework (ILDF) model (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland 2005). The Integrative Learning Design Framework (ILDF) (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005; Bannan-Ritland, 2003) is an Instructional Design (I.D) model, used by an Online Learning Developers (an Instructional Designer), which integrates three phases (Exploration, Enactment and Evaluation) of online learning development with the three-component model (Pedagogical models or constructs, instructional and learning strategies, and learning technologies) of online learning. The resulting ILDF is “[a] systematic and flexible process for designing and developing online learning”. (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005) .It is also a course requirement for EDN5101s facilitated by my lecturers Prof. Cheryl Hodgkinson - Williams and Andrew Deacon. This e- portfolio will explain the processes which I went through in choosing the Instructional design model for my prototype online learning activity and some of the contextual factors and ICT affordances that affected the design. Over the last couple of years, there has been an exponential increase in Information Communications Technology (ICTs) especially in developed countries. Since the growth of the internet, the term global information society emerged centered on the information revolution construct. Due to this increase and advances in web technologies and infrastructure, new learning interactions are possible such as coupling of experts from around the world with novices, the opportunity to publish to the world audience, negotiate meaning and co-construct knowledge (Dabbagh 2005:25). However, ICT infrastructure development and connectivity provision in Africa has been very slow. As such many ICT tools developed and used in Western countries cannot be used effectively in developing countries. Also, there is limited knowledge about how these tools functions and conditions required for them to be properly utilized.

The M.Ed ICTs course at UCT seeks to bridge this gap in technology and pedagogy within the African context. It trains lecturers from Africa Universities on the use of ICTs in effectively promoting education within particular context. This course therefore helps in training educators on a wide range of technological tools and also ICT affordances which are of great pedagogical value. Hence a range of tools are utilized which the students might not have been previously exposed to. Most of the lecturers come from African countries with poor internet connectivity and ICT infrastructure. Despite this poor ICT infrastructure,they are required to participate in web conferencing meetings using the Adobe Connect software prior to the contact sessions of their course at the University. Due to the poor ICT infrastructure, attendance in online meetings using Adobe Connect is usually very poor partly because of internet Connection problems, System requirements, technology infrastructure and partly because the students are not well acquainted with using Adobe Connect. This online learning activity (OLA) seeks to provide training on the use of Adobe Connect which students would get exposed to in this course. It therefore aims to bring to their knowledge contextual factors that affect the use of Adobe Connect and also how to properly use adobe connect for online meetings.

 Different epistemological frameworks (Dabbagh 2005:26-27) have been suggested as to how learning actually occurs and how an online learning activity should be designed in order to bring about effective learning. While it is possible to utilize these frameworks in designing online learning environments, it may not be possible to incorporate all this into a single online design process. However, a good knowledge of the theoretical frameworks underpinning the design (Dabbagh 2005:26) is important. In the design of this online learning activity, the Integrative Learning Design Framework (ILDF) for online learning would be used (Dabbagh 2005). The Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) perspective of online learning (Dabbagh 2005:26) would be utilised in this design.Implicit in this perspective is the view that information undergooes a series of transformations in the mind, in a serial manner until it can be permanently stored in the long term memory, in packets of knowledge that has fixed structures (Dabbagh 2005:26).The ILDFattempts to provide a comprehensive, yet flexible, guiding framework that positions design research as a socially constructed, contextualized process for producing educationally effective interventions with a high likelihood of being used in practice (Dabbagh 2003). This framework puts into perspective the contextual factors affecting design, ICT affordances and also the pedagogical models used and draws upon other Instructional design models.Hence,it  is a systematic process that leads to the production of effective online learning activities because it has proven to deliver quality learning experiences based on sound theory while respecting global and social contexts.

The design phases are divided into ;


 * Exploration: This phase explores the context within which the online learning activity would be designed and implemented.It involves documenting information about the context and the learning process.This will involve formal and informal discussions with the learners.Broadly,the exploratory phase would involve qualitative analysis about the learning context.
 * Enactment: This phase investigates the pedagogical strategies and ICT affordances.The decisions made here are as a direct result of the context investigated in the exploratory phase hence the instructional strategies and technologies chosen would depend on my context.
 * Evaluation: This would involve assessment and methodology for evaluating and analyzing intervention.This would involve both summative and formative evaluation.
 * Reflection & Reference: Congruence of design,lessons learnt and possible applications.


 * Self Assessment: Description of which sections in my eportfolio are most developed and critical to my goals and the sections where I learnt the most.