What can we do with learning resources to improve student learning in higher education - ideas and examples.

1. 1
Effective Learning Resources
This presentation is designed to act as
introductory notes for week 4 of the ocTEL
course (2013) but can also be viewed as a
stand-alone resource
Peter Hartley
profpeter@btinternet.com

2. Peter Hartley
To introduce myself …
 First career as teaching academic, then
moved into educational development
(Sheffield Hallam and Bradford), now semi-
retired and independent HE consultant.
 Was one of the first cohort of National
Teaching Fellows
 Have led/initiated a number of national
development projects. (JISC/HEA)
 Have illustrated this presentation with some
of those projects plus other UK examples. 2

3. This presentation:
 Part 1 offers a general argument about
learning technology and its potential
 Part 2 asks – so what? – and suggests that
our discussion of ‘effective learning
resources’ should cover both
materials/resources and new learning tools.
 Parts 3, 4 and 5 cover a range of materials
and tools to illustrate my main argument
and which demonstrate effectiveness.
 Part 6 briefly introduces main issues. 3

4. what can we Achieve
with new technology?
Part 1
4

5. What can we achieve
with new technology? #1
5

6. What can we achieve #2
The ‘but’ clause …
6

7. So we can use new technology
to transform student learning:
 6 major opportunities:
1. The availability of ‘stuff’/materials.
2. New tools for staff and student learning.
3. New models for curriculum
design/delivery.
4. New methods for assessment and
feedback.
5. New capabilities in student support.
6. New learning spaces. 7

8. Reflections on Part 1:
 Have I captured the most important uses
of new technology?
 Is there anything missing?
 How far have we travelled towards
‘transformation of learning’?
You may wish to comment on this approach
in ocTEL forums (or drop me an email
if you want a personal reply).
8

9. SO WHAT?
Part 2
9

10. Effective learning resources
can …

allow students to work at their own pace.

give students different/alternative explanations (e.g. where
they struggle with explanations from lecturers).

provide a richer learning experience by expanding the
range of expertise which students will confront.

provide materials in different media formats to suit
different learning preferences.

save staff time by resolving student questions and queries.

saving staff time and effort needed to produce their own
materials (and avoid reinventing the wheel)..
10Is this list complete/sufficient? Have I missed anything?

11. And we can use resources to
change/improve our teaching
 Effective learning resources (which can
be accessed by all students) give us the
opportunity to innovate in our
approaches to teaching and student
learning.
 The next few slides offer an argument
and a personal example.
11

12. The argument: traditional
University teaching is based on…
 Limited access to ‘stuff’
 Resources limited by library budget
 Limited range of resources available
 Focus on print/text materials
 Lecturer seen as ‘guru’/expert
 Lecturers see themselves as
‘responsible for my module’
(consider the psychological and
emotional implications of ‘ownership’)

13. And so …
 Lecture is seen as the main vehicle for
introducing and ‘overviewing’ each topic
or section of the module.
 Workshops/labs/seminars follow
lecture.
 Lectures are ‘personally crafted’ and
owned (and may take a lot of time).
 Students depend on the lecture output:
‘we need good notes’.

14. And this process may not
engage students
The
process
Issues for teachers and students
Lecture Any preparation required by/from students
Will students come with any agendas/issues to resolve?
leads to
reading Can everyone get hold of good sources/materials?
Will everyone do it?
which takes
you into
seminar
discussion
Does everyone participate?
Will everyone get something out of it?

15. But …

16. Unlimited resources?
Old teaching And now?
Library texts Library texts
Film and
video/off-air
YouTube and BOB (in the UK)
Web searches (note C-Link later)
Wikipedia
iTunesU
Collections, e.g. TED
Specific University websites
Resource banks: JORUM, Merlot etc.

17. A personal example:
Zimbardo’s prison expt

This is a classic study from 1971 where Philip
Zimbardo set up a prison simulation which he
had to curtail because of the impact on the
participants (see the official website).

When I was teaching a course on Interpersonal
Communication, this lecture on the study and
its significance was one of my ‘best
performances’.

This lecture is now completely redundant – I
have been (and should be) replaced by ‘better’
online sources as you can see on the next
slide. 17

18. Zimbardo’s prison expt:
materials now available
Old
teaching
And with OER?
Few Library
texts
Library texts: books and journal articles – still may be limited by library budgets.
Film too costly;
limited off-air
YouTube: original experiment with footage of participants, both now and then;
commentaries; replications and simulations
Google videos: clips and documentaries; SlideShare: Yr 12 Psych example.
BOB – allows download and edits
Web searches (note C-Link later today): 75,000 results; you can quickly find both
the Prison website and Zimbardo’s website, and the challenging
BBC Prison Study
Wikipedia: dedicated page (where first year students will go first!)
iTunesU: e.g. OU Critical Social Psychology course – inc transcripts
Web Collections, e.g. TED has Zimbardo profile with links plus 2008 talk inc
photos from Abu Ghraib (how people become monsters) plus links plus blog;
Specific University websites: MIT OpenCourseWare; OU OpenLearn;

19. And so …
 Why should I lecture on Zimbardo when
all students can see the man himself in
action on TED (as nearly 2.5 million
people have done already)?
 How can I use the resources (e.g.
original experimental footage on
YouTube) to help students become
critically engaged?
19

20. New flexibilities …
one possibility
An old way A new possibility
Lecture Key question circulated online with weblinks
leads to points at
reading Resources (e.g. ‘watch the TED talk’)
which leads
into
which (individually or collectively)
take you into
online posting or discussion,
which then leads into
seminar or large
group discussion
class session
(may be mix of lecture and seminar/workshop activity)
which generates
the next questions …
Compare this outline with more recent discussion of the flipped classroom

21. Defining effective learning
resources?
 My personal definition would include:
 Resources and materials (e.g. OER) which
can improve student engagement and their
critical thinking – some examples in Parts 3
and 5 of this presentation.
 Tools which we can use to generate
resources to enhance learning – some
examples in Parts 4 and 5.
21

22. EXAMPLES of MATERIALS
Part 3
22

23. Trends in the growth of OER
(open educational resources)
 Taking advantage of improved graphics
and visual quality (e.g. new iPad)
 Expansion of materials available.
 Repurposing of materials to add
educational value.
 Focus on involving staff and increasing
usage (e.g. work on impact – JISC/HEA).
23

24. 3D textured model of an individual with
leprosy
JISC funded project (PI: Dr. Andy Wilson) for the use of
3D laser scanning to digitise important pathological
type specimens in Bradford and London
“informing clinical understanding of chronic conditions affecting
the skeleton using archaeological and historical exemplars”
An example of a research project generating resources

25. Digitised diseases:
implications for OER
 Quality of images which can
be manipulated onscreen.
 Can be made available
anywhere on different
devices.
 Opportunities for use in
teaching and assessment,
e.g. identification and
problem-solving/diagnosis.
25

26. Increasing availability of OER
 International initiatives
 E.g. MIT (see the next slides)
 UK National initiatives
 Storage/dissemination – JORUM
 Projects – SCORE
 Funded programmes – e.g. JISC on impact

Higher Education Academy
 Local, regional and institution initiatives

Open University LearningSpace 26

27. OER: will we all go to MIT?
 Courseware
available for
some time.
 Now offering
course plus
assessment.
 Plans for further
development?
27

28. MITx aims:
 … it will offer the online teaching of MIT
courses to people around the world and
the opportunity for able learners to gain
certification of mastery of MIT material.
Second, it will make freely available to
educational institutions everywhere the
open-source software infrastructure on
which MITx is based.

Quoted from -
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/mitx-faq-
1219.html
28

29. And the next generation?
 The age of the MOOC?
 The OER University?
29

30. EXAMPLES OF TOOLS
Part 4
30

31. Which e-tools are essential for
most or all teaching staff?
I assume we all have:
MS Office (or equiv) & email
VLE & plug-ins (e.g.Turnitin)
You may like to answer this question
for yourself before you move on and
consider my suggestions on the
following slide

32. Which tools are essential?
– my personal list ‘this week’
 E-portfolio (PebblePad)
 Concept mapping (Cmap)
 Screen capture (Camtasia)
 Podcasting (e.g. feedback)
 Twitter
 Social networking (FaceBook)
 Search (Google/ C-Link)
 RLO tools (e.g. GloMaker)
 OER (e.g. TED, YouTube)
 Livescribe pen or equiv.
 Mobile devices (e.g iPod, iPad)
 Camera (e.g.smartphone,
ipod)
 iTunes (and the U)
 Videoconference (Collaborate)
 Photo editing (Photoshop)
 Interactive multimedia
 Blogs & Wikis (e.g.Wikipedia)
 Speech recognition (Dragon)
 CAA (e.g. QM Perception)
 Cloud storage (e.g. DropBox)

33. How do you respond
to my list?
 Are these simply the ramblings of an
elderly techy/geek?
 What range of applications can we
realistically expect most staff to become
familiar with?
 Which applications are really important
(and in which disciplines)?
33

34. New tools:
4 personal examples
 The tools

Making Groupwork Work

Interviewer

C-Link

Using audio feedback
 The rationale in each case
 Clarify the educational ‘problem’
 Find/develop the appropriate technology
 Implement as cost-effectively as possible
34

35. Making Groupwork Work:
Supporting student groupwork
through multimedia and web …
University of Bradford
University of Leeds
Example 4.1
Freely available at this website

36. Sample screenshot

37. Making Groupwork Work
Rationale
Clarify the
educational ‘problem’
Find/develop the
appropriate technology
Implement as cost-
effectively as possible
Comment
Students do not work
effectively in groups
Need examples of
how issues can be
identified/resolved.
Materials developed
with small grant from
CETL
37

38. Example 4.2
2nd
edition on DVD still available from Gower.
New online version available shortly.

39. provides:
 opportunity to respond to real interview
questions, and review your
performance, as often as you like
 ‘non-threat’ arena to improve skills
 additional feedback and guidance
 flexibility
 as a stand-alone resource or as part of a
course on career planning; can support
staff contact and guidance.

40. does not provide:
 The ‘right answer’

41. Example of screen shot
from the software:
As soon as the
interviewer finishes the
question, your webcam
switches on and you
can respond and review
your response.
When you review, you
can look at hints and
tips and consider our
suggestions on what
the interviewer is
looking for.

42. Activity and progress
 Online version in preparation.
 Version now available for the Research
Viva for postgraduate students – see
the next slide for an overview – now
being adopted in UK Universities. Will
also be available online.
 Planning to extend the technology to
other situations.
42

43. What users think?
•‘saved my life’.
•‘would not have known
where to start without it’.
•‘gave me a process to plan
my preparation’.
•‘boosted my confidence’.
Preparing students for their
research viva: a new approach
Prof Peter Hartley, Centre for Educational Development
University of Bradford, p.hartley@bradford.ac.uk
Prof Gina Wisker, Head of Centre for Learning and Teaching
University of Brighton, g.wisker@brighton.ac.uk
Why bother?
•Postgrad students
perceive the Viva
process as a ‘black box’
– impact on anxiety and
nerves.
•Students do not know
how to prepare.
•Limited supervisor time
and resources.
•Students may not
anticipate the broader
‘helicopter’ questions.
What Viva offers?
•General over-
arching questions
•Flexible and
unlimited practice.
•Self and/or peer
assessment.
•Onscreen feedback.
•A process for
preparation.
•Potential use with
supervisors.

44. Interviewer and Viva
Rationale
Clarify the
educational ‘problem’
Find/develop the
appropriate technology
Implement as cost-
effectively as possible
Comment
Students do not
perform to their best in
interviews/vivas.
Need system which
supports interaction and
reflection.
Online solution will be
minimum cost to HEI/
no cost to student. 44

45. Example 4.3
Info Search into Cmap: C-Link
 A new search approach to identify links
and paths between concepts.
 Can export into concept maps (Cmap).
 Currently set up for Wikipedia
 To explore and use C-Link:

Go to www.conceptlinkage.org/
 To go straight into the tool:

www.conceptlinkage.org/clink/

46. Example map
generated by C-Link
46
This map was chosen
as it is very simple but
does show how related
terms can have very
different origins and
histories.
Most searches deliver
more complex maps.
The maps can be
exported so that students
can do further work on
them.

47. C-Link
Rationale
Clarify the
educational ‘problem’
Find/develop the
appropriate technology
Implement as cost-
effectively as possible
Comment
Students do not
information search
critically or effectively
System builds a map
of relationships to
stimulate enquiry
System developed in
JISC project – now
freely available. 47

48. Example 4.4: audio feedback
 The ASEL project, led by Bradford
 uses of audio in different disciplines.
 Providing audio feedback:
 Technology now easy and accessible, e.g.
MP3 recorder, or dictation device.
 Audio can be edited on the pc or Mac.
 Audio files can be sent to students through
email or the VLE.

49. Typical findings
re audio feedback
 Can generate much more feedback (cf.
time used to make written comments).
 May save time in the long run.
 Positive student reactions.
 Different tutor styles and approaches.
 Serendipity – e.g. in the ASEL project,
use of feedback stimulated podcasts.

50. Growing number of related
initiatives/investigations: e.g.
 ALT-Epigeum Award
(2011) for most
effective use of
video in an
educational or
training context
 Won by James
McDowell,
University of
Huddersfield.
See at http://www.jamesmcdowell.com/Epigeum/

51. Some other interesting
developments
Part 5
51

52. Project funded by
Dynamic Learning Maps
http://learning-maps.ncl.ac.uk
3 slides from
Simon Cotterill
Curriculum maps
for the Web generation
Example 5.1:
the future of the VLE?
See the: Website, blog and demo.

53. Achieved: Navigable Curriculum Maps
Integrates
with
Portfolio
(Leap2A)
Share, rate, discussExtend maps & connect topics

54. Maps as a Metaphor
Where have I been?
Where am I now?
Where am I going?
For other stakeholders
• Teachers (incl.
occasional teachers)
• Curriculum Managers
• Administrators
• External regulators
ReflectionReflection
ContextualisationContextualisation
PreparationPreparation
What should the students already
know?
What should the students already
know?
Where is topic X taught in the
curriculum ?
Where is topic X taught in the
curriculum ?
Career choicesCareer choices
Curriculum choicesCurriculum choices
Where is my specialty covered in
curriculum ?
Where is my specialty covered in
curriculum ?
uk
Synthesis / MetacognitionSynthesis / Metacognition
PlanningPlanning
For the student:

55. Developments in
Dynamic Learning Maps
 Extending to other courses.
 Extending to other Universities.
 First public release.
 Adding services and facilities,
e.g. integrating careers information;
assessment episodes.
55

56. Example 5.2: Problem-based
learning with consequences
56Website

57. One you can try yourself:
Website

58. Example 5.3:
The LearnHigher resources
58

59. And the full story
59
Details at http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=371507

60. And also: increasing range of
DIY tools, including …
 Xerte (from the University of
Nottingham).
 GloMaker (at www.glomaker.org ).
 Screencasting tools like Camtasia.
 Digital Storytelling like Photo Story.
 Commercial tools like Articulate
60

61. MAJOR ISSUES
Part 6
61

62. Major issues re effective
learning resources
Among the main issues we hope to discuss
in the forums are:

How do we find and manage resources?

How do we know which ones are ‘good’?

What must we know about copyright and licensing?

What are the best ways of using others’ resources?

What are the most effective ways of creating our
own resources?

How do students perceive and respond to the use
of resources?
62

63. Final pause for breath
 Lots of activity and initiatives.
 Enormous increase in the range and
quality of resources now available
BUT
 Does it mean we have transformed
learning and teaching?
63

64. Thank you
for viewing this presentation
 See you at the webinar.
 Please join in related forums.
 Please make contact if you want to
follow up any of the ideas/initiatives.
 Peter Hartley
profpeter@btinternet.com
April 2013
64