eLISA Independent Lifelong Learning Project
The eLISA (e-Learning Independent Study Skills Award) Independent Lifelong Learning Distributed e-Learning (DeL) Project aimed to bring together study skills learning resources, repositories, e-learning systems and support tools and trial these for pedagogical effectiveness, piloting the use of e-learning in the development of study skills. The eLISA had a key focus on pedagogy in providing coherent access to shareable reusable study support learning objects, enhanced by blended learning and collaborative activities.
Executive Summary
The eLISA (e-Learning Independent Study Skills Award) Independent Lifelong Learning Distributed e-Learning (DeL) Project aimed to bring together study skills learning resources, repositories, e-learning systems and support tools and trial these for pedagogical effectiveness, piloting the use of e-learning in the development of study skills. The eLISA had a key focus on pedagogy in providing coherent access to shareable reusable study support learning objects, enhanced by blended learning and collaborative activities. The project aimed to include an evaluation and development of learning technologies use and learning design for study skills, to contribute to improvements in student motivation, retention and achievement for 14+ and adult student progression to HE. This was linked to existing Greenwich Independent Study Skills Award (ISA) and eLISA LSC/DfES-funded resources developed by the University of Greenwich (UoG) and Greenwich Aimhigher, in an e-learning regional partnership in 2001-05 for 14-19 learners. The wider rationale of the project was based on DfES/DfEE longitudinal research (DfES 2001, 2004) which reported findings from national research into study support carried out in 2000-04 indicating that key benefits result from effective management of study support in ‘out of hours’ school learning in inner city areas with a ‘widening participation’ client base.
In addition to its main focus on study skills, the project aimed to identify, prototype and evaluate a number of e-learning systems, including the development of a prototype personalised learning environment (PLE) into which to migrate study skills activities and resources. We aimed to enable learners to trial study skills sequences, designing their own learning goals, and to develop teacher understanding and capacity in teaching e-learning for study support. Following evaluations and review, the OSS learning systems adopted were LAMS and Moodle. The eLISA team aimed to develop study skills sequences and evaluate their degree of interoperability and reuse by making these available to learners and teachers across the range of partner institutions. The study skills sequences and PLE aimed to provide support for lifelong learning and widening participation, as identified in Theme 3 of JISC Circular 7/04, disseminating key information on study support learning design sequences relating to personalised learning environments for the JISC e-Learning programme.
The overall project approach was to focus throughout on pedagogic benefits for learners and teachers from using e-learning for study skills, using a collaborative, distributed method. Clear values and aims were established from the outset (see Appendix 1). The project appointed key staff by drawing on specialist knowledge of existing expert partners with whom effective links were already in place. This significantly reduced potential wastage of time, energy and expenditure to achieve maximum results in a short-life project. The project had all main staff in place in the first fortnight of operations and a strategy, methodology and timescale for work-packages was set up and carried out in three phases (Jan-July, Sept-Dec 2005 and Jan-March 2006), followed by a continuation phase from 31st March, 2006 – 31st July, 2007. Staff from Greenwich, Oxford and Kent agreed protocols for project management, operations and communications, establishing clear areas of specialism. Clear sub-project operations enabled study skills piloting in a range of naturalistic situational uses of e-learning for study skills.
Key achievements were the completion of all main project phases and milestones in project plans to target. Data collection included 197 questionnaire responses overall from learners and teachers from 12 eLISA workshops held in London and Kent to test e-learning study skills in Moodle and LAMS. Milestones achieved included the development of learning sequences for and successful running of e-learning study skills workshops for 16-19 yr old students and c.25 teachers and PGCE teacher trainees in Greenwich, evaluation and technical support by Oxford, completion of the trial PLE, and disseminations at The Learning Teacher Network, Alt-C, E-LEARN and Open Source System (OSS) conferences. The JISC DEL eLISA project overall proceeded well, achieving more than originally envisaged in project plans. In-depth involvement of teachers was crucial to achieve embedding of good e-learning design capability and sequences, but this required support. The team ran additional workshops with teachers, involving follow-up mentoring to facilitate longer-term quality ownership of study skills e-learning in classrooms. Some exciting findings with teachers were achieved, indicating that students were highly motivated by the use of LAMS and Moodle. A series of milestones were achieved early on, including setting up the integration of LAMS 1.0 (recently upgraded to 2.0) with Moodle with CMS at Greenwich, disseminations of eLISA findings, evaluation of PLE work and continuing work with Greenwich Council 14-19 Partnership Group. The team therefore requested and received permission to extend the project into an embedding and sustainability phase in eLISA 2 from 31st March 2006 – 31st July, 2007.
Results from eLISA were disseminated at the Greenwich 14-19 Forum (Mar, 2006), at the DeLDisse “Lifelong Learning for All” and e-Learning@Greenwich conferences (June, 2006), at ALT-C 2006, at the first International LAMS conference and in articles in the British Journal of Educational Technology Special Edition on collaborative e-support for lifelong learning led by BJET Guest Editors Dr Jill Jameson and Dr Sara de Freitas (eLISA & L4All) included two articles involving the team and a joint article with Sarah Davies of JISC. The DeLDisse L4All Conference was a good team achievement, with presentations by Jill, Liz, Simon and Lorna’s students on eLISA findings and evaluation plus a contribution on community learning by Prof Robin Mason. The ALT-C presentation by Jill attracted interest from new partners, including UNISA in South Africa. The LAMS paper and presentation by Simon and Liz established a strong relationship with MELCOE. The University of Greenwich hosted the first European LAMS conference in July 2007, building on the results of the eLISA project.
The eLISA project was planned to dovetail into the eLIDA CAMEL Design for Learning project, maintaining in-depth contact with and involvement of key eLISA participants in designing DfL sequences in study skills, e.g. in Greenwich Community College and Dartford Grammar School. Work going on progressively in Greenwich Council on e-learning for study support out of hours in schools, stimulated and funded by the Greenwich Area-Wide Inspection Group from which eLISA originated, indicated that the consolidation of e-learning study skills in the borough developed in 2001-06 in the SAM e-learning system has had great success in achieving significant improvements in GCSE attainments. In Greenwich in 2006, pupils who did not use this e-learning system at all achieved an average of 3.8 GCSEs grades A*-C each, while those who used it for 2-4 hours achieved an average of 5.4 and those who used it for 10 or more hours achieved, on average, 6.5 GCSE grades A*-C. (KO Datasystems, 2007). These remarkably encouraging results which occurred in a part-planned/part-serendipitous way, indicate that the original DfES model on which eLISA was predicated remains valid and robust in its effects on attainment. What is necessary now is to feed back the work on the JISC eLISA into the Greenwich Council SAM e-learning system, and ‘close the circle’ into an embedded model for long-term sustainability. Wider members of the team including those in Greenwich Community College, Barnet College and others, have demonstrated their progress in presentations at workshops. In 2007, the team received JISC Users and Innovations CoP funds and BECTA funds for exploring learning designs in Moodle/LAMS for International Baccalaureate students.
Overall, the eLISA project contributed some very valuable lessons regarding the design and use of LAMS and Moodle sequences and evaluation protocols using e-learning for study skills with learners and teachers in naturalistic settings in secondary school, college and university classrooms. eLISA was particularly successful as a long-term partnership project which achieved significant levels of effective collaboration with lifelong learning institutional partners, giving recommendations for future practice in using e-learning for study skills, examples of materials and approaches used which are valuable for practitioners in the classroom. Significant benefits to teachers and learners from the use of e-learning for study skills were gained by the project, despite some limitations. We recommend strongly that further work is carried out in this field, in view of the national significance of issue of study support and the potential for improving motivation and student attainment as well as HE progression from the effective use of e-learning for study skills. The University of Greenwich and its partners are committed to continue the work involved in eLISA in a range of ways. Sustainability and embedding has been achieved on a long term basis.
Note: (The term eLISA refers to the project overall. The term eLISA 1 refers to the original DEL project. eLISA 2 refers to the extension of eLISA 1 funded by JISC continuation funding).