JISC

Introduction

This project will draw together a small team of academics, teachers and data archivists/disseminators in order to create and pilot new data-driven resources. The small-scale set of online learning objects teaching materials to be developed will be based upon British Election Study data which provide a unique source of information for students wishing to explore a range of contemporary political issues in Britain.  The proposal is aimed at first year undergraduate and 'A' level or equivalent FE courses in political science, but could be extended more generically to all introductory social studies courses.  The resources will be piloted and evaluated in an HE University course and an FE 'A' level course. 

By using the British Election Survey as its data base, the Britain and Politics module will also “deliver” a unique learning experience to the student. 

This work will also result in a published and informative report describing the implementation of a customised set of modules or learning objects, based on existing JISC content, into selected HE and FE courses.  Furthermore, the project will demonstrate how discrete 'chunks' of learning materials could be preserved and disseminated in a wider national context, so that other teachers can go on to use them or build upon them.

Aims, Objectives and Key Deliverables

The immediate aim of the project is:

• To build, pilot and document the evaluation of a set of data-based resources for use in teaching in political science courses at the HE and FE levels.  The resources will be based on existing UKDA holdings that will be re-purposed to suit the pedagogical needs identified by the tutors authoring and piloting the teaching resource for their existing courses.  The resources will add to the growing portfolio of the DNER learning and teaching and help inform JISC in pursuit of their X4L mission.

The key objectives are:

• To produce stand alone and integrated teaching datasets from more complex socio-economic datasets
  
• To develop an integrated web-based learning and teaching resource that link together resource discovery tools, and data exploration and extraction tools (NESSTAR) with teaching materials that help address substantive issues for political science teaching
  
• To gain evaluation and feedback from piloting this re-purposed content in the area of political science teaching in the HE and FE sectors
  
• To provide a model for improving the productivity of teachers by reducing the resources (time and burden) required to incorporate data related resources into learning and teaching courses
  
• To improve access to key primary data sources and related resources for the learning and teaching communities
  
• To promote increased and more effective use of a national data services for problem-based learning in the classroom

Future Plans

The key objectives for the next six months are to are to determine more precisely the scope and pedagogical aims of the materials (e.g. key skills etc); author and compile the leaning objects based upon a comprehensive review of existing educational materials and methodologies in this area of social science; and embark on evaluation activities.  

Key activities for the next 6 months are to:

• Confirm membership of steering committee and hold first meeting
• Complete evaluation plan
• Set up HE and FE working groups and compile short report on their views on current proposals
• Discuss project with RSC staff at the RSC Conference on 18 March
• Complete brief report on how data have been used in the classroom for political science teaching
• NESSTAR User guides for HE and FE finalised
• Author the first drafts of the HE and FE learning objects: student resource guides, student exercises, and exemplars
• Translate learning materials to the web.
• Test the HE and FE materials with tutors and a selection of students.  Prepare initial report on use in the classroom – documenting both positive experiences and problems
• Begin to create metadata for the learning objects with advice from X4L link at CETIS/ JORUM

This project has ended.  The final report is appended to this page as a WORD document.