Going beyond the obvious - talking about challenge and change
Date 11 May 2011
Venue Maple House, Birmingham
Curriculum Design programme meeting
Going beyond the obvious - talking about challenge and change
Meeting objectives
The principal intentions of the meeting are:
- To explore how best to evaluate challenges and change.
- To explore the connections between evaluation, synthesis, and reporting on outcomes.
- To discuss how best we can represent project outcomes in the form of institutional case studies and through other media.
- To facilitate action planning where it would be beneficial for us to work as a group on some of these issues.
By the end of the meeting:
- Projects will have a clear plan for producing these critical final outcomes and ideas for evaluation instruments and approaches which go beyond the obvious.
- Projects will have agreed an action plan for any of the topics that need to be progressed via the programme/cluster groups.
Who should attend?
There are 2 places per project (unless additional participants have been invited as presenters). The projects are invited to consider which team members are most concerned by these issues.
Pre-Meeting Activity
In preparation for the programme meeting on May 11th, we would like those of you who are attending to prepare for the activities in advance so that you can get the most out of the day. Most of these are simply thinking about aspects of your projects. The only ‘exercise’ to be completed beforehand is for session 1 – details for this are in the pro-forma.
Opening session: What have we got to share?
The aim of the session is to provide your project with an opportunity to make connections with projects outside of your cluster groupings. This is an informal session but to maximise the time it would be useful if you would identify which project(s) you would like to make contact with in advance. You may have already established contacts through other routes, critical friends may have suggested connections and the programme team has identified possible links to be made in the recent round of feedback calls. Once registration closes on April 27th, I will circulate the delegate list so you know who will be attending the meeting to facilitate this.
Session 1: Mapping the story
This session will provide an update on programme activities, evolving outcomes, and lessons we have learned to date. Please complete the attached pro-forma and forward to Helen Beetham by Thursday 5th May at the latest.
Session 2: Telling the story
This session will look at best practice in communicating about the project and its successes. You do not need to forward anything in advance but please bring a list of OUTPUTS i.e. the number and type of case studies, staff development guides/resources, video/audio items, technical reports etc that you plan to produce as tangible outputs from the project. Please do not include conference papers/presentations for this activity, or general outputs such as reports required by the JISC. Please also come prepared to distribute project members among the four available discussion groups for this session:
a. making the most of case studies
b. guidelines, toolkits and staff development resources
c. representing technical developments
d. using video and audio as communication tools
Session 3: Evidence of Change and Transformation
The programme invited projects to review how course design and validation processes were supported by technology so as to identify challenges of strategic importance, and to then change processes in order to transform learning opportunities. This session will discuss the changes projects have made and start considering evidence of transformation.
In advance of the meeting, consider what 'transformation' means for your project through the following questions:
- What does it take for change to be considered transformative?
- Does transformation imply large-scale, rapid change, and specifically exclude slow, cumulative improvement?
- What changes have projects brought (or are aspiring to bring about) about that might be deemed transformative?
- What changes are seen as transformative by different stakeholder groups? (Are
- What kinds of evidence are most important to these different groups?
Session 4: Demonstrating impact – what’s the value?
In talking about a project it can be easy to describe what was done, but that does not always address the value of any changes. This session will focus in on the benefits and enhancements that projects anticipate they will bring about, and the evidence being collected to demonstrate impact.
In their 2006 ALT conference paper, Draper & Nicol examine transformation in e-learning and argue that worthwhile transformative change can add value by increasing learning outcomes and/or decreasing costs. They also highlight the value of evidence generated by funded projects as a “powerful lever in changing others' behaviour by having changed their knowledge of what is possible and effective”. In the context of the Curriculum Design projects, another area of added value could be in relation to organisational change by engendering an institutional culture geared towards continuous improvement and supporting professional development (Bates, 2005).
For Session 4, project teams should come prepared to discuss the value of the changes their projects are implementing. Questions to consider:
- What impact will the changes described in Session 3 have on different stakeholders?
- When will this impact be felt – in the short, medium or longer-term?
- How can this impact be evidenced?
- What kinds of evidence would provide the most 'powerful levers'?
(Draper, S. & Nicol, D. (2006) Transformation in e-learning. Short paper delivered at ALT-C 2006
Bates, A.W. (T.) (2005) Web-based Learning: Costs and Organisational Issues. Technology, E-Learning and Distance Education)
Agenda
| Time | Activity | Lead |
|---|
| 10.00- 10.15 |
Welcome and news from the e-Learning programme + overview of the day
Download presentation (PDF) |
Sarah Knight |
| 10.15- 11.00 |
What have we got to share?
This session provides projects an opportunity to share informally with each other progress or issues around the themes of the day.
This session offers networking time for projects to have discussions and make contact with projects outside of their cluster groupings.
|
Projects |
| 11.00- 12.15 |
Session 1 – Mapping the story
This session will provide an update on programme level themes, evolving outcomes, and lessons we have learned to date. During the session we will offer a map of current activities and outputs, and invite projects to link these with the positive outcomes we want to communicate to the sector. Links will include evidence ('snapshots from the journey'), and guidance ('maps to help you get there'). The session will also consider what outcomes are important to different external audiences.
Download presentation (PDF)
|
Helen Beetham |
| 12.15- 13.00 |
Session 2 – Telling the story
This session focuses on different ways of communicating project outcomes. After a short introduction, project members will be able to focus on the specific communication resources they are producing for their project audiences.
Download presentation (PDF) |
Helen Beetham & Programme Support Team |
| 13.00- 14.00 |
Lunch |
|
| 14.00- 14.40 |
Session 3 – Evidence of Change and Transformation
The programme invited projects to review how course design and validation processes were supported by technology so as to identify challenges of strategic importance, and to then change processes in order to transform learning opportunities. This session will discuss the changes projects have made and start considering evidence of transformation.
|
Rachel Harris & Peter Bullen |
| 14.40- 15.40 |
Session 4 –Demonstrating impact – what’s the value?
In talking about a project it can be easy to describe what was done, but that does not always address the value of any changes. This session will focus in on the benefits and enhancements that projects anticipate they will bring about, and the evidence being collected to demonstrate impact.
|
Rachel Harris & Peter Bullen
|
| 15.40- 16.15 |
Plenary discussion and next steps |
Projects |
| 16.15 |
Close |
|