Online distance learning (ODL) continues to expand rapidly, despite persistent concerns that student experience is poorer and retention lower than for face-to-face courses. Various factors affect ODL quality, but the impact of recommended learning activities, such as student interaction activities and those involving feed-back, have proven difficult to assess because of challenges in definition and mea-surement. Although learning design frameworks and learning analytics have been used to evaluate learning designs, their use is hampered by this lack of an agreed terminology. This study addresses these challenges by initially identifying key ODL activities that are associated with higher quality learning designs. The learn-ing activity terminology was tested using independent raters, who categorised the learning activities in four ODL courses as ‘interaction’, ‘feedback’ or ‘other’, with inter-rater reliability near or above recommended levels. Whilst challenges remain for consistent categorisation, the analysis suggests that increased clarity in the learning activity will aid categorisation. As a result of this analysis, the E-Design Assessment Tool (eDAT) has been developed to incorporate this key terminology and enable improved quantification of learning designs. This can be used with learning analytics, particularly retention and attainment data, thus providing an effective feedback loop on the learning design.

中文翻译：

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电子设计评估工具：以证据为依据的方法，采用一致的术语来量化在线远程学习活动

尽管人们一直担心学生的学习体验比面授课程差并且保留率低，但在线远程学习（ODL）仍在迅速发展。各种因素都会影响ODL的质量，但是由于定义和测量方面的挑战，建议的学习活动（例如学生互动活动和涉及反馈的活动）的影响已被证明难以评估。尽管学习设计框架和学习分析已用于评估学习设计，但由于缺乏约定的术语，因此妨碍了它们的使用。本研究通过初步确定与更高质量的学习设计相关的关键ODL活动来解决这些挑战。使用独立的评分者对学习活动术语进行了测试，他们将四个ODL课程中的学习活动归类为“互动”，“反馈”或“其他”，评估者之间的信度接近或高于建议水平。尽管仍然存在统一分类的挑战，但分析表明，提高学习活动的清晰度将有助于分类。分析的结果是，开发了E-Design评估工具（eDAT）来结合此关键术语，并能够改进学习设计的量化。这可以与学习分析特别是保留和成就数据一起使用，从而提供有关学习设计的有效反馈循环。分析表明，提高学习活动的清晰度将有助于分类。分析的结果是，开发了E-Design评估工具（eDAT）来结合此关键术语，并能够改进学习设计的量化。这可以与学习分析特别是保留和成就数据一起使用，从而提供有关学习设计的有效反馈循环。分析表明，提高学习活动的清晰度将有助于分类。分析的结果是，开发了E-Design评估工具（eDAT）来结合此关键术语，并能够改进学习设计的量化。这可以与学习分析特别是保留和成就数据一起使用，从而提供有关学习设计的有效反馈循环。