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Chapter 6
Personalising Teaching and
Learning with Digital Resources:
DiAL-e Framework Case Studies
Kevin Burden
The University of Hull, UK
Simon Atkinson
Massey University, New Zealand
introDuCtion
Teaching in tertiary education has long been chal-
lenged for the endurance of a mass produced,
content-driven transmission model of learning,
unsuitable for the needs of the individual learner,
and indeed the wider society it serves (Daniel, 1996).
This has led some practitioners to explore the virtues
of its antithesis, an entirely student-centred mode
of learning based on an individualised or atomised
notion of the learner with a minimum of teacher
direction or interference (Brandes & Ginnes, 1996).
For some institutions and students the pendulum has
swung completely from a prevailing transmission
model towards an entirely student-centred, individu-
alised model. The role of the teacher in each of these
extreme caricatures is deeply unsatisfactory and ill
defined. In the content driven paradigm, the teacher
is centre stage in terms of the classroom dynamics
but is often uncertain about what their role should
be beyond the transmission of an established body
of knowledge or perceived wisdom. Conversely,
in the student-centred model the teacher is often
disenfranchised and may feel left without a role
aBstraCt
This chapter describes the ways in which individual academics have sought to realise a degree of per-
sonalisation in their teaching practice through their engagement with the DiAL-e Framework (Digital
Artefacts for Learner Engagement). The DiAL-e Framework (www.dial-e.net) is a new conceptual model,
articulated as a paper-based and web-based tool, for designing learning engagements. The policy and
theoretical context, evolution of the framework and the methodology used to utilise the framework with
academic staff seeking to personalise the learning experience is outlined. Details of three case studies
resulting from this early work are described and conclusions drawn as to how such frameworks might
assist staff in thinking about personalised learning scenarios.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-884-0.ch006