JISC

Overview

The project will pilot an approach and methodology emerging from work already underway by the Open University Learning Design Initiative, to align with a new phase in the Open University’s Curriculum Business Models project. Our interest is in providing support, gathering evidence and building understanding of the entire design process: from gathering initial ideas to sharing/reuse, and in realising a vision of learning design methodology and suite of practical tools and resources that bridge good pedagogic practice and effective use of new technologies. Trials will take place in four partner institutions and two international elearning contexts.

Aims and objectives

• To apply our learning design methodology across a range of institutional contexts and to capture the barriers and enablers
• To review existing curriculum processes and then pilot, document and evaluate the roll-out of design innovation across the OU and four other institutional contexts
• To capture, build and promote communities for the sharing of knowledge within the context of Web 2.0 technolgies
• To undertake necessary technical developments to adapt our tools, including Cloudworks and CompendiumLD
• To build our body of evidence and evaluation by following selected teams longitudinally through the entire course development process working across five institutions and 2 pan-communities.

Project methodology

There are four workpackages: project management; piloting, reporting and evaluating innovation; community in design, building and sustainability; and technical development of Cloudworks and CompendiumLD. The piloting strand begins with a review of practice followed by staggered piloting at the OU (within two faculties and one postgraduate programme) and partner institutions. Evaluation/monitoring will drive agile technical development and inform the identification and engagement with strategically relevant or opportunistic possibilities. The community strand will seek to explore how communities engage with learning design and seek to gain involvement from communities from the institutional to pan-international (both Moodle and LAMS communities are included in the bid).

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

• An evolving user-generated site (Cloudworks) and tool for visualisation of designs (CompendiumLD) that support efficient recombination, understanding and planning.
• A clearer understanding of using learning design expressed in case studies, reflective logs, descriptions and models before and after intervention
• An overview of approaches to implementing institutional change through adopting a range of contexts and models.
• Detailed demonstration of innovation, flexible design processes and perspectives in five institutional contexts.
• A self sustaining community providing a forum of exchange of ideas, experience and evidence with links to learning and teaching communities.
• Resources and guidance including design outlines and workshop plans.

Technology / Standards used

CompendiumLD uses XML, SQL, XHTML, JPEG, PNG and JAVA standards. Cloudworks uses HTML, CSS, Drupal, and RSS

Lead Institution

• The Open University

Project partners

• Brunel University. Contact: Phil Albert (Head of e-Learning)
• London South Bank University. Contact: Helen George (Head of the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit).
• University of Reading: Contact: Maria Papaefthimiou (e-Learning Manager)
• University of Cambridge. Contact: Dr. Patrick Carmichael (Head of Evaluation Group at CARET).
• LAMS community. Contact: James Dalziel (Professor of Learning Technology and Director of MELCOE)
• Moodle community: Contact: Martin Dougiamas (CEO)