learning - Academic Conferences Limited

Peter Mkhize et al.
driven learning mechanism that would facilitate learning in ways that allows students to drive the pace
and learning process (Knowles 1984).
In a fast-pace, changing work environment it important for an organisation to develop training programmes
that are sensitive to employees’ skills needs. Failure to align learning programmes with student/employee
needs could lead to rejection of the learning programmes (Matlhape and Lessing,
2002). eLearning provides a flexible and student-centred learning environment, enabling a responsive
learning process in an attempt to close skills gaps that could be caused by changes in the work
environment (Hunter and Carr 2002). In a student-centred learning environment, a student would be
able to access learning programmes at any time of the year, directly, anywhere that they are situated,
based on the current skills deficiencies (Cross 2004). Cross and Hamilton (2002) assure that studentcentric
learning programmes are developmental and enriching, as students gain a competitive edge in
the labour market over those who do not update their skills.
Instructional designers of eLearning experiences need to assess student profiles in order to customise
their offering. Customisation of the eLearning solution would enable students to learn in their own
learning style (Hunter and Carr 2002). The student becomes the centre of the learning practice, as the
facilitator should be there to facilitate the learning process. All the learning material is designed
around the student, and they are encouraged to contribute towards the design of learning programmes.
Williams (2003) assures that students will be interested in engaging learning material to
learn even more abstract concepts on their own, where they have a sense of ownership of the learning
experience.
Students are encouraged to engage learning material and deduct new meaning from learning experiences,
which would enable them to learn through discovery (Li et al. 2001). Williams (2003) asserts
that learning by discovery increases the sense of ownership of the learning process. The facilitator
would not have to push students to learn new concepts, and students will pull all concepts that would
add value to their career and life.
Student centeredness complements collaborative learning as both a principal advocate for student
ownership of the learning process, and an encouragement to facilitators to create a conducive learning
environment for discovery of new knowledge. Levinson (2004) suggests that the learning programmes
developer should be familiar with the constructivist theory in order to promote student ownership
of the learning process, as they could be assisted by the facilitator in discovering new knowledge.
The constructivists’ epistemological perspective promotes co-creation of meaning and knowledge
between the learner and the facilitator of the learning experience (Duffy and Cunningham 1996).
In designing the eLearning platform, Li et al. (2003) argue that instructional designers should first
consider or give priority to educational principles over technology infusion, in order to keep the content
in context and relevant, instead of focusing attention on the technological components of eLearning.
3. Research methodology
This is in line with the objective of the study, which is to establish prevalent instructional strategy in
the public sector, and to formulate propositions that can be used as guidelines for instructional design
in the public sector. In doing that, the authors will try to gain an in-depth understanding of eLearning
practice in the public sector, by employing a qualitative method of inquiry (Creswell 2007). The unit of
analysis will be Government officials interested or working with eLearning in different departments. A
grounded theory analysis method will be used to get a dense description of eLearning practice and to
find the most prevalent/appropriate instructional strategy in the public sector (Charmaz 2006). Once
the authors understand the eLearning practices in the public sector, they will be able explain how an
eLearning designer could align different aspects and concepts into designing an effective eLearning
environment.
It is important to note that grounded theory is not applied as the research design in this paper, but as
the method of analysis, because it sets out clearly-defined steps in analysing qualitative data. The
analysis of data entails open coding that allows the researcher to let codes emerge from interview
transcripts, by applying bracketing.
495