Update on Learners Experiences of e-Learning
1. The Guardian supplement on JISC Student Experiences campaign was released yesterday. The web URL for this is http://www.guardian.co.uk/digitalstudent. There are some interesting articles relating to a number of JISC funded projects working in this area.
2. Usable materials, activities and resources for those engaged in staff development (and links to RSC booking forms for the dissemination workshops for the Learner Experience projects) on https://mw.brookes.ac.uk/display/JISCle2/National+workshops
3. Learner video clips from the JISC funded E4L project with a variety of learners from different educational backgrounds in an interactive case study form: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/e4l/ics
“These clips last anything from 20 seconds to 3 minutes and provide short, sharp and sweet experiences and opinions from the learners that can be used to educate and inspire other learners, tutors, developers, management etc.
For each of the clips there is the opportunity to leave comments and reflections (which will be moderated) and read those left by others as well as read and download transcripts of the clips.” Rob Howe, E4L Project Manager,Rob.Howe@northampton.ac.uk
(01604) 892483
4. JISC funded LexDis student strategies database –
http://www.lexdis.ecs.soton.ac.uk/ – a searchable database of strategies from the learners involved with this project. ” All the strategies have been provided by students who have first hand experience of e-learning. We have pulled together handy hints and tips on technologies you can use to make e-learning easier. Any technology that achieves this has been called an Assistive Technology.”
Conferencing goes digital – Outcomes from JISC Innovating e-Learning 2008
Innovating e-Learning 2008 attracted nearly 400 delegates, not all of whom were in the UK at the time of the event, or even in the same time zone: “It’s a fascinating way to attend a conference – I attended the keynote in my pyjamas in my spare bedroom with a cup of coffee,” wrote one delegate in his blog during the conference, which took place between 4-7th November. Their interests, as revealed in their postings, cover topics as broad and diverse as mobile technologies and strategies for institutional and cultural change in support of e-learning.
This year, virtual worlds were also high on the agenda, with a tour and a social event in Second Life assisted by the JISC Emerge team adding zest to the programme. Some sessions, which proved highly successful, were conducted as live webinars via Elluminate, a tool for online collaboration and learning.
But what really makes the experience of an online conference so special? Firstly, Innovating e-Learning 2008 was attended by just under 400 people, who between them made 1685 postings, (a statistic which excludes the conference blog, ably provided this year by James Clay, Gloucestershire College). Not all delegates join in discussions – for many, the conference is primarily an opportunity to learn from others rather than to enter the pell-mell of an online debate – but this still represents a striking level of interactivity between presenters and audience. In comparison, a session at a face-to-face event generates on average three or four questions from the floor before the facilitator calls the session to a close.
Time, in contrast, is not an issue for online conferencers. They know they can return to a session later, or leave threads unread until the conference is closed to postings, but still open for reading. Expert at fitting in the conferencing around other aspects of their life, they also quickly learn to focus only on sessions, or even on certain threads within sessions, that are of particular interest to them.
Nonetheless, there is still a peculiar intensity about an online conference – perhaps it is the absence of physical quiet spaces to escape to that leads to many delegates expressing in their feedback a sense of having undertaken a full, and sometimes challenging, experience:
“Overall, it was a great experience (if exhausting) and, if you have never been before, I would recommend it!” Marion Manton, Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford
Taking part also brings delegates into contact with a community united in a common cause – enhancing the learning experiences of their learners – and it is this more than anything that brings them back year on year. As David Lammy, Minister of State for Higher Education, DIUS, said in his opening remarks: ‘The conference itself illustrates the role of technology can play in enabling practitioners, researchers and teachers from around the world to come together in a virtual environment…’
Presentations, Elluminate recordings, papers and session summaries from the conference, of interest to researchers, practitioners and thinkers in the field of pedagogic innovation, are now available online. www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference08/presentations.aspx
Shaping the future of curriculum design through technology
Twelve higher education institutions have successfully won funding to review their curriculum design processes.
They responded to an invitation from JISC to submit proposals ‘to review course design and validation processes’ and in particular looking at the ‘ways these are supported and informed by technology in order to transform learning opportunities’.
Over the coming months and years each project will tackle a specific challenge of strategic importance to their institution with the aim to transform opportunities for learners. All institutions will be exploring whether the use of technology in the curriculum design process can lead to tangible benefits in terms of efficiencies and enhancements of the student and staff experience. They will also look at other key changes in what institutions can offer learners.
There is often overlap and interplay between curriculum design and delivery. Curriculum design needs to be built on real-world learning, teaching considerations and a good understanding of the needs of individual learners. The curriculum design projects will be actively encouraged to share practice and their experiences with the projects funded under the sister call Circular 08/083: Transforming Curriculum Delivery through Technology (see http://www.jisc.ac.uk/curriculumdelivery)
Sarah Knight programme manager for e-learning at JISC said, “A total of 55 bids were received from across the whole of the UK including proposals from both further and higher education institutions.
“The range of responses and interest in how technology can support curriculum design shows that there is a high level of interest in this area of work.” The range of responses and interest in how technology can support curriculum design shows that there is a high level of interest in this area of work
The 12 institutions selected to take forward their proposals are:
Birmingham City University
Cardiff University
The Open University
University of Bolton
Staffordshire University
Manchester Metropolitan University
City University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Cambridge University
University of Greenwich
Strathclyde University and
University of Ulster
These programmes will be supported by a central Support and Synthesis project which will be led by JISC InfoNet 4in partnership with the JISC Advisory Services, JISC Cetis and the Regional Support Centres. This project will also be working in partnership with the Higher Education Academy and Becta so as to ensure synergy and join up with other relevant sector initiatives.
More information is available from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/curriculumdesign