Here at the University of London we’ve been providing distance education for over 100 years, and we started navigating the complexities of online education in 2016. We do this on a large scale, serving around 40,000 students across 190 countries with more than 100 distance and online learning programmes. Despite our rich history and experience, issues such as complexity and inconsistency in learning design still challenge us. In pursuit of a solution to these challenges, we are proud to introduce the CAFE Model: a streamlined approach to learning design that emphasises the essential elements of what it takes to learn.
Our challenge: Designing online learning at scale
Designing good online learning at scale is difficult. We have a large team of experienced professionals including learning designers, videographers, librarians, and learning technologists. Academic direction comes from academics at our federation members; they bring knowledge and expertise from their disciplines, but are not always familiar with designing online learning. We found that the learning design process was time consuming and complex and resulted in inconsistencies. To address this we sought improve the quality and consistency of our learning designs by making the process more straightforward and streamlined.
Our solution: The CAFE Model
We’ve developed a learning design framework which organises learning into four stages: engaging with content, completing an activity, receiving feedback, completing evaluation. We’ve called this framework the CAFE Model – an acronym based on four elements of a simple learning design.
The model is intended to make learning design more consistent and accessible to novices, allowing academics to focus on creating engaging learning activities and high-quality content without getting bogged down in administrative details.
In collaboration with a learning designer, we ask our academics to plan their teaching by devising an activity for each stage of the model. The activity sequence ensures that the learning design always includes the elements students need to learn in any discipline.
Here’s a description of the purpose of each stage and how it is achieved:
Content
Engage, explain, present
- Engage students with the topic and awaken prior knowledge through storytelling, presenting surprising facts or asking thought-provoking questions
- Present content using video, textbooks, journal articles, podcasts, web pages, written guides.
Activity
Apply new concepts
Students apply and explore what they’ve learned through activities involving,
- investigation
- practice
- production
- discussion
- collaboration.
Feedback
Gauge progress
- Students receive formative feedback on their understanding and progress, helping them to understand their strengths and identify areas for improvement
- Feedback can be automated through quizzes or provided by peers and instructors.
Evaluation
Reflect on learning
Finally students reflect on their learning and progress through guided or independent reflective exercises, self-assessment activities, or learning review worksheets.
Four benefits of the CAFE model
The CAFE Model is a direct response to the need for a simpler, yet effective, framework that not only maintains high quality standards but also enhances engagement and efficiency in online learning. It provides the following benefits:
- Simplicity and accessibility
The CAFE Model simplifies the learning design process, making it easier for academics to adopt and adapt. This reduces cognitive load and training time, allowing academics to focus more on developing engaging and high quality learning experiences.
- Consistency and quality
By standardising the learning design approach, the model ensures consistent quality across all modules and improves the learning experience for students.
- Enhanced student engagement
The structured yet flexible framework supports the creation of effective learning activities that engage students and promote a deeper understanding of the topics.
- Efficiency in development
The model addresses key obstacles in the learning design process, streamlining development through reusable learning activities. This efficiency reduces the time and effort required for module development.
The CAFE Model represents a significant step forward in our approach to online learning. It not only supports high quality education but also fosters innovation and engagement in the learning process. We invite you to explore the CAFE Model and see how it can enhance the design and delivery of your online courses.
CAFE Model © University of London 2023