JISC

Background / ContextProject Final Report

The University of Chester will seek to develop the tools and practice required to facilitate the usage of institutional data by user-owned technology. The project will build on current work in the area of personal learning opportunities already provided, or already in a short term development schedule, by IBIS, the University VLE, having been identified through the University’s participation in the HE Academy's eBenchmarking pilot project. Combined with research from JISC CETIS with regard to the PLE reference model, the project will enable a clear evaluation of the effects on the learner, the teacher and the wider institution in supporting and utilising this emerging decentralised delivery mechanism. 

Aims and Objectives

The overall aim of the project is to identify, implement and evaluate the affordances of personal, user-owned technology integrating with institutionally-owned technology, the effects on the learner, learning, teacher, and organisation. Acting as a pathfinder for the greater communities of the University of Chester and the education sector as a whole, identifying successes, interventions and challenges which can be communicated and built upon.

The specific objectives are to:

• Establish a model in supporting user-owned third party technologies for learning with institutionally-owned systems
• Evaluate the model, tool use, learning design and make recommendations on their adoption and use
• Build on and join up with recent work in the JISC CETIS community, in particular the PLE project and PLEX software
• Disseminate the results, and provide a pathfinder for the future both for the University and the education community beyond the timescales of the project

Project Methodology

The proposed methodological approach embraces three major phases.  The first is to perform user needs analysis, technology evaluation, and some development to extend the University VLE to support further distributed, service oriented protocols.  The second phase is to engage with a work based/CPD cohort to redesign where necessary using Learning Technologists supported by a central technical development to discover, modify and develop resources, activities, assessments etc to support the learning in the module across a full academic year. The final stage is to reflect on project long evaluation, final evaluation, and disseminate affordances, challenges, and interventions during the project. The majority of the evaluation will be of a qualitative nature, such that learner, and teacher experiences can be measured at the point of entry, during the project, and after the project using Q-Sorts methodology.

Implications/ Deliverables

• Deliver PHP Classes for cohort membership being delivered from Tribal SITS, and reading lists from the Innovative Millenium Library Management System using appropriate open standards in an SOA approach
• Deliver generic student and staff practical guides to decentralised delivery of learning that can be adapted by any other organisation
• A case study concerning the approach, any interventions, successes and challenges to inform the sector with future rollouts regarding technical, process and pedagogic issues
• Evaluation report concerning the effects on learners and teachers, and the support services within the University to further educate the sector in large scale rollout of  this technology and approach
• Conference presentations

Stakeholders

• University of Chester
• JISC
• ALT
• CETIS