Research findings as tools to support instructional design

Abstract

In the context of the WaW project, the main goal of which is to support women - especially elderly and disadvantaged ones- to become entrepreneurs, take action and make their dreams come true, a set of open e-learning courses was written, designed and delivered to the target audience. The e-learning courses cover the subject areas of 21^st century skills and crowd-funding and are addressed to women who want to improve their place into workforce or wish to turn an idea of theirs into reality.

Before the design phase of the e-learning courses, a quantitative and qualitative research was conducted simultaneously in four European countries (Norway, Sweden, Spain and Greece), with the aim to understand:

• the target audience level of awareness on the relevant subjects (21^st century skills and crowd funding)
• the target audience learning preferences.

This paper presents the main results of the research, which was conducted in Greece and focuses on the second aim of the research, the learning preferences of the target audience, since these findings are directly linked to the next phase of the project, the design of the e-learning courses, in order to suit the learning needs of the audience.

The research was realised in two phases. First, a pilot quantitative research was conducted through a questionnaire that was distributed to the target audience. The questionnaire was the same for all countries and was designed by the Lifelong Learning Centre of the University of Strathclyde. After two months, a qualitative research was realised through a specialized focus group.

The results between the two phases of the research matched and helped in a significant degree the authors and the instructional designers of the e-learning courses.