JISC

Background / Context Project Final Report

Ravensbourne College recognises that pedagogy needs to adapt to the changing experiences and background of learners and also that its specialist fields of design and communication (the contexts we work within) are transformed by new technologies. The institution views its planned relocation as an opportunity to take account of such changes in continuing to deliver a relevant curriculum in a relevant environment for the creative landscape that learners of the future will find themselves exploring. Perhaps the most significant challenge is one of integration of the services and tools that learners can make use of and personalise with those offered by institutions. Because an increasing emphasis on user owned technology is a strategic direction for Ravensbourne, and because the subject areas that the institution specialises in are particularly influenced by web 2.0 trends, we will produce practical demonstrations of the kind of integration that are of value to the community as a whole.

Aims and Objectives

The overall aim of the project is to understand better how educational institutions can adapt to and apply the emerging techniques and paradigms of social networking and “web 2.0” applications. The particular focus is to facilitate the integration of institutional systems into the socio-technical landscape of student and staff engagement with the online world in the context of practice-based education.

The specific objectives are to:

• Implement a small-scale demonstrator of the use of student-owned technology in support of the college’s approach to Personal Development Planning.
• Enrich users' understanding of the potential for integration of institutional systems (VLE / MLE / Wiki / Blogs) with those from outside such as social networking services.
• Create guidelines for the application of techniques and paradigms of social networking and “web 2.0” applications in, particularly practice based, Higher Education.
• Explore personalisation in relation to learning environments where collaboration among practitioners and learners within Communities of Practice are increasingly central to pedagogy.
• Identify, apply and develop robust principles and models for best practice in these areas.

Project Methodology

This project will implement a small-scale demonstrator of the use of student-owned technology in support of Personal Development Planning. Through and around this we will explore the potential for the integration of institutional systems (such as VLE / MLE / Wiki / Blogs) with those from outside such as social networking services. The ongoing evaluation of this will be used to identify, apply and further develop robust principles and models for best practice. Linked to these we will create guidelines through the course of the project. These will initially be focussed internally but will be developed to be relevant to the wider education community, most obviously in practice based institutions, but also more generally. In keeping with emerging practice at Ravensbourne, all project activities will be logged in a dedicated project blog, and a project wiki will be used to manage the knowledge that the project generates.

Implications/ Deliverables

We aim to produce realistic outcomes, and generalisable findings. As well as traditional methods of dissemination the project will be conducted openly, through a project blog, and project wiki so that our methods and findings are immediately available for review and comment as they emerge, and so that participation – both within the institution, and in the community at large, is informed and empowered. Through this mechanism we will include: an overview of social networking technology use in the institution, a review of IPR policies of social networking technology providers, a review of tools for creating and publishing structured content, a wiki-based risk-management guide, and case studies of learning designs in practice.

Stakeholders

• JISC
• JISC-CETIS
• Higher Education community
• JISC-RSC for London
• Academic and Administrative Staff and Management and students
• Rose Bruford and other collaborating instutions
• HEA and Subject Centre for Art Design and Media