{"id":13110,"date":"2025-05-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=13110"},"modified":"2025-05-09T12:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T11:54:12","slug":"developing-tools-to-support-online-learning-insights-from-education-in-the-charity-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2025\/05\/developing-tools-to-support-online-learning-insights-from-education-in-the-charity-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing tools to support online learning \u2013 insights from education in the charity sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daisy Ward, Virtual Learning Coordinator, Parkinson’s UK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education in the charity sector was brand new to me when I took up my role at Parkinson\u2019s UK last year. It’s an area that may also be unfamiliar to many readers of this blog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting a new role often means hitting the ground running\u2014especially during a period of change. That was certainly true when I became the newest member of the charity’s Education team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Context<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A blend of long-standing team members as well as newcomers like myself, the team had been energised by new leadership articulating a clear vision to revamp our education offer and grow our reputation within the sector. This made it the perfect moment\u2014not just for me, but for the whole team\u2014to pause, reflect, and take stock of what our curriculum comprises, identify the key professional roles within health and social care that we cater to, and extract insights that could inform our curriculum planning and future development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, I developed three practical tools designed to support both individual courses and the broader curriculum. These tools have already proven useful, and we expect they\u2019ll continue to guide our work well into the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

#1: Curriculum chart<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of my early initiatives was to create a visual representation of our online courses, which came to be known as the \u2018curriculum chart\u2019 or \u2018curriculum diagram\u2019. Each block within the diagram represents a piece of learning: examples being training videos publicly available on the charity\u2019s website, a 1-hour introductory webinar on Parkinson\u2019s for health and social care staff, and a number of self-directed e-learning courses hosted on our Moodle platform. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Parkinson\u2019s UK curriculum chart, 2024<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

You\u2019ll notice that the blocks are colour-coded, with colours representing specific roles within our broader audience of health and social care professionals. Meanwhile each row on the chart corresponds to a level of learning, from Level 0 (\u2018taster\u2019 level) through Level 3 (advanced). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why this chart matters<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Creating this chart has already delivered several key benefits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • It brings together the complexity of our diverse education offer into a single, visually engaging page.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • It provides a shared reference point, enabling more focused and meaningful conversations within our team.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • It supports clearer communication with colleagues across the organisation about what we offer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • It highlights gaps in our current curriculum, helping us make more informed decisions about future development.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    One possible next step is to create an alternative version of this chart which, rather than capturing what we already have, depicts what we would like our curriculum to look like in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    #2: Topic index<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    While the curriculum chart is a useful visual overview of our education provision, it does not indicate what topics are covered within each piece of learning. For that purpose, I set about compiling an index of course topics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The index is organised by alphabetised topics related to the overarching theme of Parkinson\u2019s, and further broken down by levels of learning. As an example, the section on Medication types <\/em>includes a short summary of how this topic is covered in courses at Introductory, Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced levels (where applicable). <\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    A preview of the index of course topics created for and by the Parkinson\u2019s UK education team.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    At the time of writing, the index has grown to a substantial 60 pages\u2014which may sound like a lot (and it is!). However, thanks to clear formatting and extensive use of hyperlinks, the document remains easy to navigate and user-friendly <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We\u2019ve already seen\u2014and anticipate continuing to see\u2014several key benefits from using this index:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • It allows us to track how topics are addressed across different learning levels, helping us build on existing content and maintain continuity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • It supports consistency of provision across our diverse audiences.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • It identifies gaps in topic coverage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      #3: Student workload estimator<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      In the e-learning space, I have noticed an apparent lack of rigour when it comes to estimating course duration. I expected that there would be more tools available for working out an approximate duration of a piece of e-learning, or at least a stronger consensus around how to do that, besides relying on user testing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Seeking a more reliable method on which to base our course duration estimates, and in the absence of any readily available tools that fit our purposes, I set out to create what has become known as the \u2018student workload estimator\u2019. Built using formulas and data validation in Google Sheets, this tool can be applied to any e-learning course that primarily includes text and videos\u2014just like ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The tool relies on three key inputs to estimate course duration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Total course word count<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Total video playback time <\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Course level \u2013 each one of three levels is linked to a value representing words per minute, based on available data about average reading speeds. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Student Workload Estimator: Front End<\/p>\n\n\n

        \n
        \"\"
        Student workload estimator tool in Google Sheets.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

        At the back end (on a sheet labelled Formula), there are optional modifiers to account for additional time spent: e.g. video replay (setting this number to 2 would allow for learners watching videos twice).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Using this tool offers several key benefits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • A solid basis for informing learners of anticipated engagement (important for our audience of time-poor healthcare professionals).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Common language for curriculum planning: It establishes a consistent vocabulary for discussing curriculum and planning within our team.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Improved course design.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          In summary, the three tools outlined in this article have brought significant benefits in two key areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • Improved communication<\/strong>: They\u2019ve enhanced how we discuss our curriculum\u2014within the team, across the wider organisation, and with our target audience.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Streamlined curriculum management<\/strong>: They\u2019ve supported more effective planning, development, and management of our curriculum. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Organisations in comparable situations to ourselves may find value in drawing inspiration from these tools.<\/p>\n\n\n

            Did you enjoy reading this? To become a member of our community, see Membership details here https:\/\/www.alt.ac.uk\/membership<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Education in the charity sector was brand new to me when I took up my role at Parkinson\u2019s UK last year. It’s an area that may also be unfamiliar to many readers of this blog.  Starting a new role often means hitting the ground running\u2014especially during a period of change. That was certainly true when […]","protected":false},"author":2186,"featured_media":13113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1317],"tags":[2125,2123,2122,2124,2126,804,1931,952],"class_list":["post-13110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-online-learning","tag-charity-sector","tag-curriculum-development","tag-curriculum-management-tools","tag-curriculum-planning","tag-daisy-ward","tag-e-learning","tag-laura-fiddaman","tag-online-learning"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2025\/05\/TEMPLATE-DO-NOT-EDIT-THIS-PAGE-3.png?fit=734%2C550&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9508,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2021\/07\/introducing-the-digital-learning-design-toolkit-for-course-teams\/","url_meta":{"origin":13110,"position":0},"title":"Introducing the Digital Learning Design Toolkit for course teams.","author":"Teresa MacKinnon","date":"23 July 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Teesside University in collaboration with Jisc UK have developed a Digital Learning Design Toolkit. 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