Pedagogical designs for e-learning
Critical incident-based computer supported collaborative learning
This approach focuses attention on building learning environments that support groups of learners who are engaged in reflection on critical incidents from their workplace (Wilson, 1996).
The model integrates reflection "on and in action", collaborative learning, and computer-mediated communication into a model of learning and instruction. This model is inspired, inter alia, by knowledge of the fact that practitioners regularly encounter critical incidences in the workplace, which present them with learning opportunities (see Naidu, & Oliver, 1999).
The model serves to teach learners to recognize these critical incidences as learning opportunities, reflect on them critically while in action, and then finally share these reflections in a computer supported collaborative learning environment (CSCLE).
Learners response
Phase 1: Identify Critical Incident on CSCLE
| Identify | Describe | Attributes | Learning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identify an incident from their workplace, which they consider as being significant. | Describe this incident in terms of what happened, when, where and how without revealing names and identities. | Identify the special attributes or aspects of this incident that sets it apart from all others in their experience | Reflect on what happened to them in terms of the learning gain for them. |
Phase 2: Presenting Your Learning Log on CSCLE
Learners post their reflections (i.e., "learning logs") on the computer-supported learning environment. It should:
- Help them remember what happened as part of that critical incident.
- Explain to themselves and others reading it, why they did what they did.
- Evaluate their action and that of others who were involved in the incident
- Outline what they should or should not have done, in retrospect.
- How they would behave given a similar incident in the future.
- Describe what they believe they learned from that critical incident.
Phase 3: Discussing the Learning Logs on CSCLE
Presenting their learning log, in the manner described, is the first task as part of this exercise. After learners have done that, they study carefully all the learning logs presented on the system by the other students.
Learners attempt to make insightful comments and observations on other's learning logs directly and by offering empathy, encouragement, and helpful suggestions, both from their own knowledge base and their personal experiences.
Phase 4: Theory and Practice
This last phase has to do with learners making the connection between theory and practice. This process should lead to a summary Critical Reflection which should focus on the:
- Extent to which learners feel that the theory helped them cope with the critical incident they encountered at work.
- Adequacies and inadequacies of their theoretical knowledge with regard to their performance during that critical incident.
- Enlightenment they may have gained from reflecting on the learning logs of their peers and the reflections of peers on their own learning logs.
Critical incidents in the workplace
A critical incident in the workplace presents a learner with a learning opportunity to reflect in and on action.
Learners can do this by keeping learning logs - a record of learning opportunities presented:
- approaching the incident
- successes and failures
- issues that need to be resolved (e.g., things not fully understood or concepts that "didn't make sense").
The critical attribute of the learning log is that it concentrates on the process of learning.
It is not a diary of events nor is it a record of work undertaken, rather it is a personal record of the occasions when learning occurred or could have occurred. The learning log also relates prior learning to current practice and is retrospective and reactive in action.
How learners might engage in critical incident-based learning
Phase 1 - 'identify a critical incident'
Identify an incident from your workplace that you consider as being significant.
Describe the, what, when, where and how of this critical incident,
including its special attributes. What learning gain was derived from
this incident?
Phase 2 'present the learning log on the network'
This log outlines to the group, the critical nature of the incident and
the reasons for the actions taken by the practitioner during encounter.
It includes reference to what should or should not have been done and
the learning gain derived from the incident.
Phase 3 - 'discuss the learning logs of all students'
Learners attempt to make insightful comments and observations about each
other¹s learning logs with the explicit intention of learning from
the pool of experience that lies there in front of them in this shared
electronic space.
Phase 4 - 'coalesce theory and practice'
Learners make the connection between what they are being presented as
part of their formal education and what they are being confronted with
as a part of their daily work. Includes a 'summary reflection' that
seks to identify the extent to which learners feel that the theory
enabled them to cope with the critical incident they encountered at
their workplace. It also reflects the level of their theoretical knowledge,
and any enlightenment they may have gained from reflecting on the learning
logs of their peers and from the reflections of others on their own
learning logs.