Page 32 - Reimagining Higher Education : Case Studies On Designing For Inclusion, Equity, And Access In The Buka Project

J. Brunton & C. Beatty · ABC Learning Design in Practice

Utilising the ABC LD Approach with Programmes Teams in DCU

In recent years, the ABC LD approach has grown in popularity and is becoming a
commonly used model for blended LD. As such, the TEU team in DCU have adopted

this method as a means of overcoming some of the potential barriers to successful
online learning design. The TEU were first introduced to the ABC framework in

2017 and in 2018 became partners in the ABC to VLE project. As a partner in this
project, the project leads in the TEU team leads have run and evaluated multiple LD

sessions at DCU, which has developed their expertise in the method while learning

what works well in di erent circumstances. Describing the process of the ABC LD
approach in a blog post (Gormley, 2019) for the National Institute of Digital

Learning (NIDL), the project lead noted:

ABC o ers a rapid-fire, hands-on workshop approach where in just 90 minutes

academic teams work together to design or redesign modules and programmes.
By the end of the process, teams have discussed, debated, and discovered a range

of potential activities and technologies, communicated their overall vision of
their course, and ultimately created a storyboard of an intended learning

experience.

To implement these workshops, the TEU team created a 3-step process.

● Step 1 included creating a pre-ABC process and associated resources. This

involved using expertise in curriculum design and assessment to design and
develop resources and workshops to help participants think through

programme and module level learning outcomes in advance of an ABC
Workshop. This stage was intended to identify and reflect on the unique

selling point(s) of their module or programme and the learning outcomes.

Additionally, an interactive online pre-ABC activity was developed with a
similar workshop preparation goal, following the COVID-19 pandemic

lockdowns. This resource can now be o ered as a self-directed alternative to
the in-person pre-ABC workshops.

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