Staffordshire University is participating in the course data programme and, like many of the projects in the programme, is finding that implementation of the KIS and other resource demands (in this case the procurement of a new student records system) present additional challenges for the project team. The University has however been aware of the potential benefits of XCRI-CAP for some time so is in no doubt that the initiative is worth pursuing.
Staffordshire undertook an early review of the XCRI-CAP Self-Assessment Framework (SAF) in order to provide feedback to JISC (a blog by Fleur Corfield records these experiences). Fleur reports that approaching the exercise as a review of the framework rather than an ‘audit’ of the University’s own practice helped ensure that the conversations, undertaken with a range of senior managers, were relaxed and open. Some managers felt the SAF might be better undertaken as a group activity whilst others preferred the ‘interview’ format but all of them felt that the conversation itself was as important as the actual outcomes. Although this early activity wasn’t presented as a formal evaluation of readiness, it highlighted to senior managers the fact that there were a number of issues around the University’s management of course information that would need to be addressed in order to meet future needs.
At that point the University did not feel ready to progress with the implementation of XCRI-CAP as an enterprise-wide initiative as it was clear that a considerable amount of work would be required to align and cleanse data held in a number of separate systems. However, an opportunity soon arose to benefit from the use of XCRI-CAP in a stand-alone way.
The University had undertaken a review of its quality processes and identified areas where it could reduce duplication and streamline effort. The review was facilitated by process mapping using the Archi modelling tool (a free tool developed by JISC CETIS) and Sam Rowley has produced an excellent slideshow that demonstrates, to a non-technical audience, the benefits of using such an approach. In order to deliver improvements within a tight timescale it was decided to focus on eliminating the duplication of effort that was occurring in the External Examiners’ process. This led to the development of a new application to provide a single source of information.
Developing the new external examiners system involved thinking about the problem and coming up with a model for how the process/system should work. Almost 50% of the information required to support the process was course-related information. The project team were keen not to reinvent the wheel so they adopted the existing XCRI-CAP course data model. Having applied the model they saw further benefits when QAA requirements changed and they found that XCRI-CAP is sufficiently flexible to make adapting to the new requirements relatively painless.
‘Basing the domain model on the XCRI CAP 1.1 information model was a wise choice. Although it was a more complex model than we might have created from scratch, we have reaped the benefit of that choice many times. Most recently, a QAA review has requested a change to the level of award detail stored with examiner records. Because of the flexibility of the XCRI-based domain model to represent most course structures, required changes to the domain model have been minimal.’ (Sam Rowley)
Like many universities Staffordshire holds course related information in a number of separate systems but there is now a lot of ‘cross pollination’ going on across the University. Once the benefits of XCRI-CAP were clear the model was applied to the University’s planning and validation database and it is currently being instrumental in supporting discussions around the choice of a new student record system and the possible development of an institution wide course database as a result of its Course Data project. The Staffordshire approach shows that it is possible to reap benefits from implementing standards in an incremental way rather than having to opt for a ‘big-bang’ approach.
As well as reaping the benefits of applying open standards the University is also seeing value in being part of an open source community: ‘Much benefit is to be gained by participating fully in open source communities. We have blogged about our experiences, have answered questions in community forums and have asked our own questions. In each case, responses have given us a better understanding of the technologies we have used. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or blog your experiences. Even if you get some information wrong, community members will correct you and improve your understanding further. The feedback is valuable.’ (Sam Rowley)
The External Examiners system was delivered as one of the outputs of the ENABLE project funded under the JISC Institutional Approaches to Curriculum Design programme. Find out more about ENABLE and related projects via the Design Studio.
