Assisting tutors at the Hellenic Open University in the processes of designing, planning, managing and reusing learning activities

The aim of this paper is to present some early findings of the pilot implementation of Learning Design at the Hellenic Open University (HOU). This study represents the first step of a broader effort that seeks to use learning design tools to support tutors and learners in distance education across our university by charting existing international experience and methodology. This study aims to investigate how active tutors and students at the HOU (Greece) approach, understand and deploy LAMS and the additional support and tools they would find helpful. Such work holds interest for all developers and users of learning design tools. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with Computer Science undergraduate students, and one tutor who has been using LAMS to support his students in the middle of their first year of distance study. This paper examines the evidence of this case study through a discussion of the issues that emerged from the interviews and a questionnaire from twenty eight students respondents of this group. Students demanded to be tutored on a ‘just-in-time’ basis, be given more practical tutorial examples, and that exercises be interactive, hands-on, with practical support by peers. Tutors interested in adopting learning design as innovating and enhancing the technological support understand, on the other hand, that it is complex, demanding and time consuming.