JISC

Overview

The ASEL project is JISC-funded under the Users and Innovation: Next Generation Technologies and Practices programme. There are two partners - the Universities of Bradford (lead institution) and Hertfordshire.

Audio is emerging as a key area of development across the HE sector in meeting the individual needs of an increasingly diverse range of learners, to promote active engagement, to enhance learning and to enrich the learning environment.

The increasing adoption of Web 2.0 technologies and social software, e.g. Facebook, Ning, Flikr, and YouTube, allied with pervasive technologies such as mobile phones, wikis and blogs, recognise and support the need for personalisation of learning environments, tools and learning communities.

There is a need to understand the impact of the increasing use of audio on this interplay of new technologies and their use and transferability between personal, social and learning contexts.

The ASEL project will develop, implement and evaluate the use of audio within next generation technologies to support, enhance, and personalise the learner experience. It will also capture effective lecturer and learner practices from across the domains of teaching and learning that will help inform future practices across the HE sector.

The focus of this project is the changes in practice, both for tutors and learners that are necessary to achieve this enhancement, transformation and personalisation. The outcomes of the project will help transform and shape next generation learning, and to this end, the project will focus on using audio within next generation technologies in three key areas: self reflection, assessment, and collaborative learning.

Aims and objectives

Aim

To develop, implement and evaluate the use of audio within next generation technologies to support, enhance, and personalise the learner experience.

Objectives

• to investigate how learners engage with learning through audio
• to explore the integration of audio with emerging technologies
• to evaluate the use of audio within emerging technologies to support self reflection, assessment and collaborative learning
• to investigate the features of audio that enhance, extend and personalise learning opportunities
• to explore the engagement of learners through interactive dialogue
• to investigate the tools, methods, adaptations and approaches that tutors use when employing audio technologies to support learning
• to understand and develop a pedagogy for the use of audio in teaching and learning
• to support changes in practice for both tutors and learners that will help transform teaching and learning practices
• to redefine the User & Innovation Development Model for practice-based projects

Project methodology

This is an action research (AR) study and the methodology follows the principles of AR in that it is based within professional practice. It focuses on the implementation of innovative practice and evaluation of that practice, which, in turn, will inform modification and development of the process prior to wider implementation. Participation is a central tenet of AR and in this study real users involved, i.e. lecturers and students, will have full participation. This means that they will contribute to the whole decision making process for the duration of the study, in line with the U&I development model.

Data capture will be iterative and aligned with the redefined U&I development model. It will take the form of reflective blogs, shared wikis, student audio logs, lecturer audio feedback files, face-to-face and telephone interviews, and focus groups. The data will be collected and analysed by each of the lecturers involved and collated overall by the full-time project researcher. Reflective blogs will be kept by both lecturers and students allowing user engagement throughout the duration of the project. This will also inform user needs and allow appropriate iterative changes to practice to be made along the way. Wikis will be used by each study group as a means of collecting ongoing data about the practices employed under each of the three project themes.

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

The key deliverables from this project will be:

• A project wiki aimed at sharing effective practice across the partner institutions and with the wider community. It will contain a comprehensive account of tools and techniques for implementing audio within emerging technologies to support self-reflection, assessment and collaborative learning
• two case studies from each of these three key themes linked to outputs from learner and lecturer practices
• a report on the different pedagogical approaches and curriculum design used by lecturers, including the identification of issues for student learning
• a series of lecturer podcasts from each discipline involved, discussing their use of different practices and technologies
• a series of student podcasts from each discipline describing the learner experience
• a guide to a redefined U&I Development Model designed to support practice-based projects
• Publications and presentations at conferences and events such as BLU, ALT-C, HEA, and the JISC

The key outcomes will be an understanding of technical and organisational issues relating to the use of audio within a range of technologies to support learner self-reflection and self-assessment, formative and summative feedback, peer assessment, and collaborative learning.

Lead Institution

• University of Bradford

Project partners

• University of Hertfordshire