JISC

Background Project Final Report

Blended Learning for Academic Competence and Critical Enquiry (BL4ACE) develops further the impact and reach of Re-usable Learning Objects across TVU curriculum. It is both an enhancement and development activity, and is a means of distilling good practice and identifying key Institutional drivers and inhibitors. It is extending and embedding blended learning approaches within the curriculum.

The Project takes a proactive and innovative approach to reusing and re-purposing existing materials. It will use of the London Pedagogic Planner tool to evaluate and redesign a module to increase technology-enhanced delivery and incorporate existing RLO’s, and use the RLO-CETL Generative Learning Object tool to adapt RLO’s to meet specific needs.

Aims & Objectives

This project will identify institutional challenges faced by practitioners in technology enhancing teaching and learning through re-use of both internal and external learning objects. Evaluations of the effectiveness of LPP and GLO tool support and the output of the redesigned module will inform the next generation of learning design tools and templates to redesign existing curriculum. The project team will act as change agents, facilitating and encouraging colleagues to engage with learning design tools in new and appropriate ways which place pedagogy at the heart of the design process, thus extending practitioners learning design knowledge and raising their awareness of the JISC collections and the potential and power of re-using existing materials. 

Project methodology

This project will strengthen and extend the use of RLOs within a module through a full and systematic blended learning re-design using The London Pedagogic Planner to redesign the learning experience. From the module level down to the session level (i.e. lecture, seminar, online session) we will use it to evaluate and improve the design of the module to identify where RLOs could fit into which areas of the module and sessions, then as required and appropriate, use the Generative Learning Object tool for adapting learning objects.

1. Embedding RLOs across the whole learning design requires coverage of each academic competence (e.g. literature search, Harvard referencing, etc) and as the module serves three JACS cohort areas it is appropriate to link each enquiry-based formative learning activity to RLOs from JISC and other sourced materials supporting each of the three subject/curriculum contexts thus differentially scaffolding student content experience and learning.

2. BL4ACE project findings will be critical to inform and influence policy and strategic developments in repurposing materials. Influence will be through institutional process with Project Monitoring Group membership ensuring a full reach across the university structures thus maximising potential cross institutional learning from issue-based themes identified through monitoring, evaluation and critical event analysis. The project findings and outputs will be widely disseminated through the weblog, workshops, RLO-CETL communities, at national conferences and internationally through exchange visits and workshops.

3. Critical success factors will include Institutional Learning; identification of learning gains and possible causal drivers through comparative cohort performance evaluation of learners’ experiences; how transferable the learning design is between different disciplines; the take up of the module.

Anticipated outputs & outcomes

The project WEBLOG recording the experiences of those involved in the design, creation and delivery of the re-purposed learning objects in the module will act as a valuable case-study resource documenting opportunities and challenges in relation to moving a traditional module to blended learning delivery with re-purposed externally sourced RLO's

1. The WEBLOG will show a model in action for involving key senior institutional stakeholders with responsibility for shaping policy and practice and the realities of the interface between the Blended Learning support systems
2. Experience of using the London Pedagogic Planner for module redesign and the Generative Learning Object tool for adapting RLO’s within a particular institution
3. A high quality Generative Learning Object for academic competence module that can be inexpensively repurposed for use in any VLE and Course to support transition into HE.
4. Peer review experiences recorded on weblogs, guidance, briefings and issues papers
5. A final evaluation report