Definition+of+Focus

This stage is aimed at the analysis of the entire process of the learning situation to be able to determine which intervention will be most suitable for the learning activity. The definition of focus stage has three activities involved viz: "‍creating and supporting a participatory team; progressive problem solution; and developing phronesis or contextual understanding"‍ (‍Willis & Wright, 2005: 6).‍ The members of the participatory team set up for this project were chosen from the students, lecturers and, the technical staff at the Centre. 3 members of the year 1 postgraduate students was chosen, while only one member of the teaching staff ‍was‍ included in the participatory team. ‍These people were involved in the design, demonstration and evaluation and the people were chosen because they have the background in the areas of Instructional system design. The teaching staff chosen is the Coordinator of the educational technology unit of the Centre, thus, his input is considered very important in the design of the OLA. ‍ **//Online Learning Design Model //** The learning design model adopted for the development of my small scale online learning activity is the New Reflective, Recursive, Design Development (R2D2) model propounded by Willis and Wright (2000) [] The R2D2 model is based on the key principles of recursion, reflection and participation (Willis, 2000 in Willis & Wright, 2000:5). The model consists of a "general set of procedure for constructivist instructional design that has three focal ‍point ‍viz: Define, Design and Development and Dissemination linked together without a clear definition of a starting, or ending points" Willis &Wright, 2005: 5). The designer is expected to work on all the three aspects of the design process in an intermittent and recursive pattern that is neither predictable nor prescribable (Willis & Wright 2000). This model is considered most appropriate for this study because of the ‍principle‍ underlying the model (i.e recursion, reflection, and participation ) ‍that are‍ aimed at knowledge construction (Schoenfield 1992 cited in Der-Tharg and Wang 2007) ‍reiterates the relevance of constructivist pedagogy in encouraging the students to think, and as a result, metacognition is inherently focused (p879). www.public.iastate.edu/~lbrun/A.4-ID%20Discussion%20Handout.pdf‍ The R2D2 instructional design model has an inherent ability to facilitate construction of knowledge which is the main goal of the learning activity being focused on in this study. Though the ADDIE ‍model‍ has its strength in its iterative and self-correcting nature, its unsuitability for this activity lies in the fact that it is designed to support the acquisition of overt skills and knowledge (Rawthorne, 2005). The constructivist approach to learning, which is adopted for the online learning activity in this case has been one of the ‍grounded‍ learning theories in the field of education that focuses on learner-centered or learning-centered education. Mathew (2003) emphasized ‍the key notion‍ of constructivism in teaching and learning that emphasised that since the learner has an active role in interpreting the learning process, education should be learner directed, and not teacher ‍directed,‍ ‍Moreover, the constructivist approach emphasized the relevance of social interactions and context for deeper understanding of concepts and issues in learning. It thus means that interactions among learners and sharing of ideas can result in meaningful learning.‍ One of the major pedagogical strategies that have been ‍advanced by‍ the Dabbagh (2005)for meaningful learning is the collaboration strategy. Dabbagh (2005) described a collaborative strategy as ‍an instructional strategy that encourages interaction between and among two or more learners to maximize their own and each others learning‍ (P36). This strategy i‍s aimed at sharing of ideas‍ among learners that would ultimately result in solving a problem or project as well as construction of new knowledge. Constructivism is described as involving elements such as; ‍active construction of knowledge by learners; learner defining meaning; learners prior learning; learning mediation by artifacts; tools and signs; learning as a collaborative, social, dialogical activity; learning is reflectivive; and learning as internally controlled activity‍ (‍Jonaseen, Peek‍ and Wilson in Rogers & Skaalid, 2004:3). Considering the elements above in the light of the underlying principles of the R2D2 model (i.e recursion, reflection, and participation) revealed that the R2D2 model is appropriate for the ‍constructivism‍ approach to learning, [] The constructivist approach to learning emphasized that the learner has "an active role in interpreting the learning process ……(and) that deeper, understanding of concepts and issues in learning can be achieved" (‍Reek & Wilson in Rogers & Skaald, 2004:3)‍ through collaboration and social interactions. Thus, the OLA adopted the use of collaborative strategy to achieve joint knowledge construction and collaborative learning among the postgraduate students. **//Learning Theory //** The learning theory adopted for the design of the learning activity is the ‍constructivism‍ learning theory. Constructivism as a learning theory emphasized knowledge construction. It is an approach that focuses on making the learner play an active role in interpreting the learning process. Driscol in Siemens (2004) describes constructivism as ‍a learning theory which suggests that learners create knowledge as they attempt to understand their experiences‍ (p376). ‍Constructivism views the learner as an active participant in the instructional experience, developing knowledge through a process of perception and meaning making and that the knowledge learning is linked to the experiences in which it was learned, resulting in multiple representations and infinite juxtapositions‍ (Dabbagh 2005:28). Therefore, constructivism emphasized a learning approach in which the learners come together to work on a problem, project or tasks collaboratively to arrive at a solution or position that addressed the tasks, project or problem. ‍Constructivism is based on the belief that knowledge is subjectively constructed, often within a social context and, provides learners with the tools and resources needed to build their own knowledge. ‍Lowerison et al., 2008). ‍The content of the wikispaces is designed to allow creation of new content by the learners.‍
 * Definition of Focus**

**//Learners’ Analysis //** The learners in the context of this teaching and learning activity are the postgraduate students at the Abadina Media Resource Centre (AMRC) University of Ibadan. Willis & Wright (2000) emphasized learners’ analysis as a major component of ISD models. However the R2D2 model ‍encompassed‍ the process of learners’ analysis in the definition of focus stage. There are ‍two‍ categories of postgraduate students at the AMRC,University ofIbadan viz (a) the Master degree students and (b) M.Phil/Ph.d students. However, this activity only considered the Master degree students. Moreover, the R2D2 model sees the creation and supporting of a participatory team as very key in the design of an instructional model. The participatory team may involve the designer and a teachers as a core, team while the students, other teachers and other designers provide input at different points (Willis & Wright 2000). In the context of this study, the participatory team included the selected members of the student body, the selected members of the teaching staff, the designer as well as other technical staff of AMRC. The learners are mostly working class teachers who are being faced with the difficulty of attending classes. Due to the nature of their job, hence, there is need to provide a platform to access teaching and learning resources outside the four walls of the classrooms. The OLA also considered the need to facilitate collaborative learning among the students to ensure that no student is left behind. The students are to work in groups on an assignment through the use of Wikispaces. The students are able to work on the wikispaces because they all have the skills and knowledge to use computer and internet facility. This is due to the fact that computer literacy training is made compulsory for all admitted students within the first one month of entry into the department. The computer training is run in ‍conjunctions‍ with the University training consultancy agency and has provided a soft-landing for this learning activity. ‍An analysis‍ of the learners further revealed the efficacy of group tasks in maximizing the student’s learning process as the students prefer working together in groups anytime they have the opportunity. Many-a-times some students have emphasized that the group tasks had helped them in achieving in their academics. **The Educators ** The AMRC has both non-teaching, teaching staff ‍that‍ are involved in the training of the postgraduate students at the centre. The R2D2 model identified the educators and teachers as key element of the participatory team needed at the definition of focus stage. Willis and Wright (2000) emphasized the need for "ISD to make the teachers to be members of the core team in the design work" (p7). The teachers at the centre are all ICT literate and ‍have‍ high ICT self-efficacy ‍level‍. They also have access to internet ‍facility‍ through institutional and personal provisions. This has ‍enabled‍ them to be able to make use of ‍ICT facilities‍ in teaching and learning. The teachers have been making use of some ICT ‍facilities‍ such as power point, e-mail, blogs etc in teaching and learning, hence they are not likely to pose any difficulty or challenge to the implementation of the online learning activity. Also, their knowledge of ICT and use in teaching and learning would help them to be able to evaluate the online learning activity. The teaching needs of the teachers revolve around bringing the students into the teaching and learning space wherever they may b‍e by making the students to have access‍ to the course content outside the classroom and also to be able to get feedback from the outside the classroom space. **The content ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The content of the online learning activity focused on two selected themes from the Information Architecture (AMR 720) course. Willis & Wright (2000) highlighted there is need for the designer to study the students as well as the content to be taught in the designing of an instructional model. Information Architecture (AMR 720) is a first year course of the Master in School Media (MSM) and Master in Media Resource Management (MMRM) at the AMRC,‍University of Ibadan.‍ The content provides a project that enables the students to argue on issues revolving around Information Architecture, Information interaction and Website designing. The first group of student is to make a case for the relevance and significance of Information Architecture in Website designing, while the second group focused on making a‍ case‍ for relationship between Information Architecture and Information interaction. The two themes were posted on the Wikispace created for the course in which the groups must argue their case. **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">References ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dabbagh, N. and Bannan-Ritland, B (2005). Chapter 6 instructional strategies and their role in designing authentic learning activities for online learning. Online learning: concepts, strategies and application, Pearson: Upper Saddle River, New jersey, 200-231 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Der - Thang, C., Hung, D. and Wang, V. (2007). Educational design as a quest for congruence: The need for alternative learning design tools. //British Journal of Educational Technology// 38 (5), 876-884,doi:100:vill/J.1467-8535.2006.00675,X <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mathew, W .J.(2003).Constructivism in the Classroom: epistemology, history and empirical evidence. //TeacheEducation Quarterly//. Summer <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[|www.teqjournal] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> .org/bacvols.2003/30_3/Mattews.pdf <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Willis,J. and Wright, K.E. (2003). A general set of procedures for constructivist instructional design: The New R2D2 Model. //Educational Technology//, March-April, 5-20. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wills, J. (2000). The maturing of constructivist instructional design: Some basic principles that can guide practice. //Educational Technology//, 40 (1).