JISC

Background/Context Project Final Report

The University of Hull, in common with most HE institutions, runs a Post-Graduate Certificate in Higher Education for its staff. Understanding how to use new technologies to support and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in higher education is a core component of this programme and the module we aim to develop will build upon and extend this requirement.

Aims and Objectives

The module aims to help staff, as students on the PGCert(HE), to use digital resources (artefacts) and tools that are freely available to the community in order to enhance the quality of their teaching and, in turn, the student learning experience. It will achieve this by:

• Enabling participants to explore, discuss and evaluate a range of different digital resources and tools in terms of their value and usefulness in their own teaching contexts
• The use of a conceptual framework tool for the design of learning activities that are student centred
• Encouraging participants to develop learning materials based on the resources and tools they have explored which are then evaluated in the context of authentic teaching settings
• The creation and development of a community of practice in which participants are encouraged to share and re-purpose the learning materials they have produced
• Encouraging participants to actively reflect and comment on their own experiences throughout the module

Project Methodology

The module will be developed in an iterative fashion around a core team of learning developers and lecturers based at the University of Hull. The team will include representatives from across each of the respective faculties. A steering group will be established early in the project to offer external advise and expertise and to monitor the development of the project against agreed milestones. This will include invitees from a range of external organisations (e.g. HEA) along with our ‘critical friend’ identified from one of the other ReProduce projects. The process of developing and delivering the module will be the subject of close evaluation in order to identify both the enables and barriers to staff using, re-using and sharing digital resources

Deliverables

By the end of the project the following deliverables will be available:

• The module specification, support documents (e.g. module handbooks) and validation documents
• The module content and learning materials used in the delivery of the course
• A blog detailing the process of development and recording ‘critical moments’ in the process
• A final completion report

Stakeholders

There are a number of significant stakeholders who will have an interest in the development of this module:

Internally:

• Senior management teams and faculty learning & teaching representatives: it is anticipated the module will inform institutional practices and policies in the future development of e-learning with specific reference to the impact and value of digital collections/tools
• Participants: the intention will be to encourage participants to use and explore resources and tools such as these beyond the life of the module, embedding them in their own teaching and learning practices and strategies
• The e-services team: the development of this entirely online module will serve as a test-bed for the roll-out and effectiveness of the new institional VLE

Externally:

• HEA: it is hoped other institutions running similar programmes through the HEA accreditation processes will value the module and see opportunities for using it with their own staff

JISC: the module is likely to inform the JISC in several different ways but particularly those areas dealing directly with the creation of digitised artefacts and the resultant copyright/licensing issues (e.g. Digitisation programme)