The University of Edinburgh MSc in E-learning
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Programme content

The programme consists of one core course and a series of options.

In all cases, you must take the core course, 'An introduction to digital environments for learning', first. A selection of the optional courses will be offered each semester. For more detail on course content, see the following links.


Core courses

Credit

An introduction to digital environments for learning (must be taken first)

20

Research methods (core for MSc)

20

Dissertation (core for MSc)

60

Options

Understanding learning in the online environment

20

E-learning strategy and policy

20

Online assessment

20

Effective course design for e-learning

20

E-learning and digital culture

20

Psychological and social contexts of learning technologies

20

E-learning, politics and society

20

Information literacies for online learning

20

An introduction to digital game-based learning

20

Language, culture and communication in online learning

20

Developing digital learners

20

(By approval) relevant course from another programme

20

P01038 An introduction to digital environments for learning

Course leader

Dr Sian Bayne

Introduction

This course is the foundation element of the MSc, and gives you the opportunity to explore a range of key e-learning themes, and to become familiar with studying online. You will take part in a range of stimulating, confidence-building collaborative activities, which will be backed up with a high level of one-to-one tutor support. The course will give you the chance to engage hands-on with digital learning environments, offer practical guidance on the effective use of new technologies for learning, and also explore some of the cultural and contextual issues which define e-learning as a vibrant field of study – its politics, practice, meanings and methods.

During the course you will have the opportunity to become familiar with using discussion boards and chat rooms for learning, and you will also have the chance to take part in a class conducted in a 3D virtual world. You will experiment with course-building using WebCT, and have the chance to explore and discuss a range of innovative approaches to learning using technology including hypertext writing, re-usable learning objects and class wikis. You will use a weblog to record and reflect on your studies, and will be able to craft your final assignment topic so that you can use it as a way of exploring an e-learning issue of direct relevance to you.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course you will be able to:

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P01538 Understanding learning in the online environment

Course leader

Dr Hamish Macleod

Introduction

This course will provide an introduction to the various theories that have been developed to help us understand how people learn, form personal understandings and construct knowledge. It will consider the ways in which understanding of the processes of learning can inform the practices of teaching, exploring the potential for online approaches to alter the social and interactional aspects of learning.

The course will cover themes including ‘mind and understanding the processes of human cognition’, ‘learning and the nature of knowledge’, ‘the notion of distributed cognition’, ‘communities of practice’ and ‘learning and identity’. Teaching will take place through guided reading and structured online discussion.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, you will be able to:

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P01539 E-learning strategy and policy

Course leader

Professor Jeff Haywood

Introduction

This course looks in-depth at the policy context of e-learning. International, national and regional policies for e-learning will be examined in terms of their influence on strategies at organisational levels. If you have an interest in the management of change and the strategic implementation and management of e-learning, this course will give you the frameworks you need in order to formulate an effective and timely e-learning strategy for your own organisation. It will also provide you with an overview of key policy issues within the field of distance and technology-assisted learning.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course you will have:

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P01540 Online assessment

Course leader

Professor Dai Hounsell

Introduction

This course explores how the assessment of students and their learning is evolving in ways that capitalise on developments in communications and information technology. Underpinning our exploration is a review of key assessment purposes, processes and guiding principles. This underpinning makes it possible to consider emerging as well as more established directions in online and e-assessment, while also being alert to both pedagogical and technological considerations, and thus to the conceptual and practical issues raised.

The domains of online assessment surveyed include multiple-choice questioning, confidence- or certainty-based marking, e-feedback, collaborative and multi-author assignments, patchwork texts and portfolios. At various points in the course, you will be encouraged to relate what you learn to your subject area, professional setting and institution.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course you will be able to:

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P01541 Effective course design for e-learning

Course leader

Dr Sian Bayne

Introduction

Designing an online course requires educators and developers to find a pathway through a complex terrain in which media, curriculum, ideology, context and resources must all be balanced and negotiated. This course will give a practical and theoretical grounding in ways of approaching this task. We will begin by exploring a range of approaches to course design, moving on to a small group activity in which each member will have the opportunity to design and run a small-scale learning event. You will also have the option to study approaches to course evaluation, and issues of usability in interface design for learning. For the main course assessment you will have the opportunity to design and part-build your own course.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course you will be able to:

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P01542 E-learning and digital culture

Course leader

Dr Sian Bayne

Introduction

This course will consider online learning within the context of the emergence of a specifically ‘digital culture’. Recent years have seen a growing dependence in the West on the technologies of cyberspace and digital, networked media for conducting our working and social lives. How does our immersion in this new digital world affect us socially and culturally, and how does it change us as both teachers and learners?

The course will draw on theory from media studies, cultural studies and the study of cyberculture, as well as the educational research influenced by these areas of thought. It will explore the emergence of digital culture, looking at how it interfaces with learning cultures, popular culture, and ideas of virtual community, and considering how the digital domain changes the way we understand language, identity, embodiment, race, gender and subjectivity.

Alongside the conceptual material you will also be supported in developing practical skills in web page design and creation as part of this course.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this course you will:

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P01543 Psychological and social contexts of e-learning

Course leader

Dr Hamish Macleod

Introduction

The uses of learning technologies, and the participation in online learning environments, is set in the context of the wider social and psychological impacts of computers and information technologies (ICTs). These technologies have radically changed the ways in which many of us pursue our working lives, engage in recreation, participate in social networks across time and space, and access information and physical resources. They are not merely neutral responses to human needs and aspirations, but in turn shape our environment and change our experience of life.

This course will explore the idea that information technologies have unanticipated consequences far beyond their status as tools. Learners and teachers alike bring technical, psychological and moral assumptions about ICTs to their engagements with learning technologies, which will influence the likely success of educational innovations. During the period of the course you will have a chance to critique poorly-designed technological artefacts, build a wiki-essay and engage with a wide range of settings in which new technologies are central to psychological and social experience.

Learning outcomes

Through participation in this course it is intended that you will:

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P01544 E-learning, politics and society

Course leader

Dr Rory Ewins

Introduction

This course examines the sociological and political aspects of online learning. It looks at changes in online culture and ideologies under the influence of governments, corporations and society at large, the role of educational organisations in those developments in particular, and the potential for e-learning to help learners negotiate the emerging social and political landscape of the online world. Themes include the social, political and economic forces behind the development of the Internet and e-learning, the digital divides in early 21st century society, the role of e-learning in changing people's social and political identities, and the intellectual property disputes shaping the future of the Internet, e-learning, and education and training.

The course will feature student interaction and discussion of its core themes using a community weblog/discussion board environment of a kind that plays host to socio-political discussions around the web. You will be encouraged to consider the broader social and political implications of the online environment, and how education and e-learning prepares us all for the ‘information society’.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course you will have:

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P01545 Information literacies for online learning

Course leaders

Denny Colledge and Marshall Dozier

Introduction

This course covers the challenges of the ever-growing electronic information world and aims to help you develop your own understanding of information literacy. Knowing how to find and manipulate information is an essential aspect of learning in the digital age – this course will enable you to develop your own information literacies, and help you to foster them in your own students, learners and clients.

We will consider why information literacy is important, the existence of the ‘Google generation’, the role of the library and the current crisis in scholarly communication as well as issues of intellectual property, m-learning and the potential electronic futures of information and learning.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course you will be able to:

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P01546 An introduction to digital game-based learning

Course leader

Dr Hamish Macleod

Introduction

This course will introduce you to the application of computer-based games, narrative and role play in educational settings. The course will consider actual and potential application of existing commercial games in educational settings, games that have been specifically created with educational objectives in mind, and a wider array of practices in experiential learning that can broadly be described as game-informed. In parallel with this practical emphasis the course will provide a theoretical context for the relationships between games, play and learning.

The course will be taught via guided reading and active participation in the digital gaming culture through hands-on game play and synchronous discussion in the virtual world ‘Second Life’.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, you will:

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P01547 Language, culture and communication in online learning

Course leaders

Ruby Rennie

Introduction

This course will focus primarily on language as a tool for communication in society, in particular in the use of electronic media. You will engage with systematic analysis of language and the use of language in a local and global context.

On completion of the course, you will have gained an understanding of communication, discourse communities, culture and identity, related to the growing use of communication technology and English as the language of international communication.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course you will be able to:

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P01548 Developing digital learners

Course leaders

Dr Velda McCune and Dr Sian Bayne

Introduction

This course will focus on learner development for online learning. While it will enable you to better understand how effective learning skills can be nurtured in online environments in particular, much of what is learned will be equally relevant in offline contexts.

One key theme in the course will be the processes of transition and adjustment which individuals experience as they come to terms with online environments and new demands on them as learners. The impact of individuals’ learning histories and identities on their engagement with online environments will be considered, along with a focus on the distinctive ‘ways of thinking and practising’ which exist in particular academic and learning communities. These will be considered with particular reference to learners’ engagement with the varied communicative genres available in online settings, including issues relating to effective use of sources and plagiarism.

Rather than offering an emphasis on discrete study skills, the course will consider how learners can be supported to become more skilled in monitoring and regulating their own learning processes.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course you will:

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P01549 Research methods

Course leaders

Dr Hamish Macleod

Introduction

This course will give you the framework and contextual knowledge you need in order to plan, design and execute a programme of independent research for the dissertation element of the MSc in E-learning. The course will enable you to formulate a research question and an outline project plan. It will give you key skills in research design and enable you to position their own programme of research within the broader context of social science enquiry. It will introduce you to data collection and analysis and to key methods for analysing both quantitative data and qualitative research texts.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course you will be able to:

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P01550 Dissertation

Course leader

Dr Sian Bayne

Introduction

The Dissertation is a major study demanding a high level of individual application and commitment to research and enquiry. It provides you with the opportunity to identify, reflect on and explore a topic that has implications for your own professional development and scholarly interest. The Dissertation will involve a critical interrogation of the relationship between academic theory, professional practice and the design, ethics and interpretation of research. Research training is an important part of the Dissertation process and this will be offered via the core course in Research Methods. Before beginning the dissertation, you will submit a detailed dissertation proposal of around 2000 words, which will be produced as part of the assessment for the Research Methods course. On successful completion of Research Methods you may begin work on the dissertation with guidance and support from the designated dissertation supervisor.

Provision will be made for students who wish to submit their dissertation in an alternative to the standard written format (for example as a web-essay or an extended practical course design or assessment-building project). Participants wishing to pursue this as an option will need to take particular care that their dissertation proposal details how they will demonstrate an appropriate level of critical analysis, academic knowledge and reflection on the nature of enquiry. Full guidance will be given in the programme dissertation handbook.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the dissertation you will be able to:

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