Introduction

Combining e-learning options with the best of established practice will give the practitioner greater capacity to create an exciting and meaningful learning experience.

The search for effective practice is of key importance since the need to excite learners’ interests, retain them on courses and enable their progression is vital to institutions and practitioners as well as to the learners themselves. Practitioners and learners both need to acquire, and be able to deploy, a set of skills as the situation demands, rather like card-players who choose when to play particular cards in their hand to gain the advantage. The case studies in this publication illustrate where the e-learning option has provided effective solutions to particular challenges, thus adding to the ability of both learners and practitioners to achieve the desired outcomes.

e-Learning may in some contexts be the only ‘card’ that can be used, but more frequently, it is an option that extends the range and power of delivery, and a technique that can enable more active learning for a wider variety of learners. By placing e-learning options alongside established practice, it should be possible for individuals designing learning activities to choose which will give them the strongest hand to play.

Ten case studies from across the sectors have been selected in this study to provide insights into effective practice developed in response to real-life challenges. The different contexts in which these solutions come into play suggest that there will have been in each case a different interpretation of the three key factors in A model of learning activity design – learners, learning environment and intended outcomes – and that the practice will illustrate a variety of learning and teaching approaches.

What the case studies all illustrate is that effective practice with e-learning will be based on three key principles:

Designing effective learning activities involves decisions which appropriately reflect the needs of learners, the nature of the context in which learning takes place and the intended learning outcomes
Effective practice matches learners’ needs with tools and resources within the learning environment, the approach taken reflects learners’ preferences and abilities, and matches these to the intended outcomes
Where the e-learning option is used, it extends learning potential and is not used for its own sake