1. Tell me about the curriculum development context in your institution

PJ has been responsible for leading re-validations recently (April 2010) in BA Criminology and Criminology Foundation Degree. He is also planning a new foundation degree in Security management. The awarding institution is Lancaster University. Lancaster appoint a Course Consultant, who is a member of staff at Lancaster University who acts as Quality Assurance rep. to the courses. The re-validation process culminates in a final event, attended by two subject specialists from Lancaster, the Registrar from Office for Associated Colleges, and an external critical friend (Liverpool John Moores University. PJ feels the documentation for courses is increasing (230 pages for the Foundation Degree, describing 13 modules. Lancaster also do a triennial review of collaborative courses. The BA Criminology is a one year course (11 modules) that 'tops-up' the 2 year foundation degree. PJ regrets the (enforced) removal of the HND; he feels this accommodated weaker students as 'a way in'.

PJ feels that the descriptions that are 'allowed' in module descriptions are 'too rigid'. These require a description of the L and T strategy and an outline of the assessment. For example the description of the assessment for one module, 'Contemporary Issues in the Criminal Process' allowed him to only specify Essay in very general terms; i.e. that it was 50% of the assessment, a 2000 word limit and an essay title/theme. This does not allow him to describe the pedagogy that has grown up around the dynamic relationship between the college and the community, in which topics can 'emerge' from what is happening now. The other 50% of the assessment is an examination, included because of the challenges it sets the students. The response he had from the Quality Assurance mechanism in the college was that 'if you are going to claim the flexibility in the assessment you need to de(pre)-scribe it at the outset. It is this lack of flexibility that PJ feels results in very general descriptions that might constrain. creativity in L and T activities, that might counter some of the potential for OER developments. 

2. What activities in OER were going on in your practice before the project?

PJ had developed the 'Contemporary Issues in the Criminal Process' module around visual elements (photos) and had experienced very positive feedback from students, but some resistance from Quality along the lines of 'are you not dumbing this down?' and 'is this proper learning?' (Institutional / Pedagogical Culture). Focus groups for this module and similar ones in the Foundation degree evidenced high regard for these approaches. But the telling argument for the College was that PJ could demonstrate an 8% improvement in student achievement, based on pass grades.

3. What OERS have you identified and how are they being used?

PJ has already outlined the experience of using repositories and finding OERs for his teaching in the Task 1 reviews (see his page). These experiences could be categorised as technical and functional ones. He described three examples of recent use of OERs from the learning and teaching (Pedagogical use of OERs) aspect:

1. Crossword OER: Knowledge of Magistrates Courts. He chose this for its value in engaging students. His concerns included whether this was too easy or too hard (Level). The feedback from students on this has been impressive. Finding this resource was relatively quick (30 minutes) but a function of this is PJ's familiarity with the subject and his feel for what students need (he 'knew it would be OK' - Tacit Understandings) 
2. Introduction to the Criminal Justice System (sourced from the OU, and found via OU links): This is a resource selected based on PJ's knowledge and understanding of the CJ curriculum (Teacher Expertise). Again PJ concerned 'how to keep both weak and strong students happy' (Content Level and OER Appropriateness) (Teacher as Expert). Concerned that this OER might change the style of delivery (Fit with current teaching style)
3. Study Skills OER.  PJ feels some 'angst' regarding the possibility of negative students' reaction to this resource. He chose this because of its properties (Affordances of OERs), one being that students can work at their own pace. Students have completed a short evaluation / feedback on this resource. A common comment is 'why haven't we used this before?'.  

PJ is thinking about the criteria he applies for selecting  OERs. He feels this is mostly tacit, that he kind of 'knows' when he sees this, that it is important that OERs can be browsed (OER Selection). He feels he needs to develop a more structured approach for searching for OERs (OER Search Strategy). He is also examining the conditions for be ready to use OERs in his teaching (Readiness for OERs) and feels that one dimension of use is a readiness to take (informed) risks with new materials.

4. What are your hopes for the future use of OERs in this project and beyond?

PJ is impressed by the examples that AG has offered, including Chemistry FM http://chemistryfm.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/ and would love to do something similar (OER as form of Delivery as well as Content). He feels he needs to go onto to think about students teaching other students, (Student Engagement) learning mentors, and students creating OERs for themselves and for others (OER Production)

Friday 8th April 2011

10.00- 11.00

1. How are things progressing? 

2. What are the plans for developing OER and for depositing them in JORUM? 

3. What are the plans for student engagement and how are these progressing? 

4. What aspects would you like to cover at the project meeting 2nd June 2011?

Dafydd Trystan,

Cardiff

University

1. Tell me about the curriculum development context in your institution 

DT is based at Cardiff University and is Development Manager for the Welsh Medium National College (Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol  http://www.colegcymraeg.ac.uk/en/) a project to develop Welsh medium provision within the 10 Welsh universities that will become operational by September 2011 (see Maintais Campaign website for prospective students http://www.mantais.ac.uk/). He is working in CSAPOER project with Delyth Morris who is based at Bangor University. The 'Y Porth' learning gateway (Blackboard) has been developed http://www.porth.ac.uk/en/ to allow universities across Wales to share Welsh medium resources nationally and deliver cross-institutional university modules using innovative e-learning technologies. Alongside this Cynllun Colegau Cymru is an open resource used in universities across Wales to introduce and develop skills for teaching Welsh as a second language in the primary sector. There are 17 Subject Development Plans of which Social Science is one (p/g and u/g). These resources are based on the principle of open sharing. DT suggests that there is a cultural context in which welsh-speaking colleagues are more open to sharing (Institutional / Pedagogical Culture). Course are validated in Welsh (10% of student population are welsh speaking approx.) A Welsh speaking external examiner is needed for these circumstances. OERs are seen as a means by which the curriculum can be accessed and also to facilitate the development of Welsh Language skills (OER as curriculum delivery and content)

2. What activities in OER were going on in your practice before the project?

There has been some development in Research methods module, and the need to create materials for say teaching the SPSS tool. DT outlined his view that to some extent developing Welsh medium materials and courses involves a re-purposing as well as a re-packaging (OER as translation and transformation). RP discussed the issue of 'origination' of materials and whether this was always a translation / transformation or whether materials were being commissioned 'ab initio'. The issue of the Welsh medium curriculum in secondary schools and the effect on the HE curriculum was discussed (Curriculum pre-requisites). Also see as pertinent was the question of whether there were curriculum subjects that were specific to the Welsh medium (e.g. Identity and Nationalism) (OER and Curriculum Uniqueness). One approach being taken is 'pick and mix' where OERs can be used i) as core to a module ii) as a useful addition or resource or iii) accesssed by any student to develop skills. In the 'Elections in the UK' module for example, the rationale foran SPSS  OER is that they must be a) open (e.g. for staff/students who have not used the package before and b) bi-lingual (OER characteristics). Another example is the 'Law in Welsh' module taught collaboratively across 3 institutions in which assessments, lectures and seminars are in Welsh and texts are in English. 

The development of key texts in Welsh is ongoing (DT mentioned an early 1950s move to get political philosophy translated into Welsh) . In terms of the cultural context for developing OERs DT mentioned the French Canadian context as being similar to the Welsh situation. 

3. What OERS have you identified and how are they being used?

The Blackboard-based Y Porth learning gateway will provide a repository of OERs as a set of resources developed for a particular purpose. In the field of education educational resources for primary school teachers. These take the form principally of documents, notes and PPTs rather than bespoke digital learning tools. Users have to log in (and register) to use the resources (and the environment is solely Welsh). The centre at Cardiff has an e-learning officer and resources are being commissioned. DT is new to JORUM. His initial idea is to collect student response and experience of materials already existing. He is not aware of any JORUM materials in Welsh medium or any Welsh medium materials under Creative Commons. He has identified open source OU materials in OpenLearn (http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn) (a Psychology Intro to SPSS). He feels that this reasonably well matched to his curriculum (it contains 6 elements, 4 of which are better developed at Cardiff). He is considering re-purposing some of this (possibly as flash animation). He is ware of Qualitative Methods CSAP project (Graham Gibbs) but needs to know more about it.

4. What are your hopes for the future use of OERs in this project and beyond?

DT would like to be in a position where i) Welsh-medium colleges are aware of the OER materials through JORUM and other repositories. ii) technical issues have been resolved to enable translation and re-purposing of existing OER and iii) where he is able to commission others. He hopes CSAPOER2 can inform this process and broaden his knowledge.

Thursday 31 March 2011

9.30 - 10.30

Dafydd Trystan,

Cardiff

University

1. How are things progressing?

DT has produced a Developing the Cascade Framework paper rather than a mindmap. He described how the perspective on OER has developed during the project and how the institutional context was changing towards the identification and commissioning of resources for the launch of the Welsh National College in Sept. 2011, and he feels that he and Delyth are being cascaded to rather than cascading from. He is also reflecting on the extent to which Y Porth is an OER in itself (or at least the repository for OERs). He has identified elements of SPSS materials that he has re-purposed and attributed.

2. What are the plans for developing OER and for depositing them in JORUM?

There is a tension in the issue of whether the materials as they exist in Y Porth are already in a shareable format. This is something he wishes to work through: the requirement to deposit into JORUM raises some interesting questions about what further translation is needed and whether the materials can be exported from Y Porth (Blackboard) in a form that go directly into JORUM. We discussed the Phase 1 project and the principles / propositions about OER that were established: i.e. that contextualisation / recontextualisation is problematic and can be partly addressed by enriching designs for learning and resources with descriptions along the lines of those provoked / elicited via the use of the Course Mapping Toolkit. DT gave the example of a colleague who had developed a Local History module based around materials developed for the Bala Outdoor Education Centre: DT asked the colleague if he could enhance this material by providing information about the process of developing this bank of resources and DT felt this was needed by others to help them accommodate the materials in their own practice, and he raised the issue of the problems that teachers face in sharing materials (even in the Welsh medium context where culturally sharing is common. The Toolkit as a vehicle for developing this description was discussed: DT felt that this was essentially very useful, but that pragmatically it would be more useful for starting new OERs rather than transforming existing ones. He also felt that a Welsh version of this including Subject benchmarks in Welsh would be more useful - RP agreed to look in to the prospect of doing this (given that the labels and text in the Toolkit are in text files and not hardwired into the tool). 

DT and DM are aiming to offer two modules:

1. DT will offer Quantitative Research Methods (P/G Masters 10 credits). This currently involves presentation materials and Blackboard quizzes. 
2. DM is offering Research Methods (U/G 20 credits) based around word files and f-t-f, using Y Porth as a repository for documents.

DT pointed that there are differences in aspects of the pedagogy of these two modules in that  the degree of f-t-f in DM's module is higher and the level of technology enhanced learning is lower. DM is interested in developing further online materials and RP will discuss this with her. RP agreed to explore the possibility of exporting Y Porth (Blackboard) modules and to discuss with Anna the issue of depositing these in JORUM, while at the same time exploring the use of the Toolkit as a formative exercise (at least) to test the propositions identified in Phase 1. DT will add RP to the modules when RP has registered for Y Porth.

3. What are the plans for student engagement and how are these progressing?

DT described student feedback that making resources available in the Masters module was appreciated in that it provided the opp. to review and revisit materials and learning etc. He outlined the plans for student engagement as a combination of student graded group work materials, and semi-structured interviews. He feels that problems with technical issues will be a theme for students. 

4. What aspects would you like to cover at the project meeting 2nd June 2011?

DT feels that further sharing is useful and would like to know more about how others might use the Toolkit. The prospect of peer review within the partner team is welcomed.

Thursday 17th March 

11.00 - 11.30

John Craig,

Teeside

University

1. Tell me about the curriculum development context in your institution 

JC moved to Teeside University in Feb. 2010 and is Assistant Dean in the School of Social Science and Law and leads on partnership (FE Colleges, employers and overseas - of note is the partnership with Rwanda - training of the national police force). The approach to curriculum development at Teeside is a standard one, in which aspects such as employer demands, and the development of part-time provision are key. Also the balance between pedagogic and bureaucratic demands on course planners is typical for HE. The School has a central dept. for learning development, that has core staff advising on learning and teaching., and there are university Teaching Fellows working at the centre. Revalidation and course planning follows a staged process. Although JC is fairly new to the institution he feels it is again typical in that there is range of staff orientations to change and development, some of whom feel that the status quo is fine. 

2. What activities in OER were going on in your practice before the project?

JC feels there is much uncertainty about what OERs are and how they can be used in his School.  Usage is fairly ad hoc and although Blackboard is used extensively OER is mainly limited to documents placed in the repository. JC's colleague Mike Teague is E-learning Coordinator and may be more closely involved in the project. 

3. What OERS have you identified and how are they being used?

JC is aiming to develop OER resources for the FD Community Governance course. Some of the modules were delivered by paper-based distance learning consisting of a week-by-week study guide and a reading pack. JC is looking to see if we can make the study guides available for about 60 credits worth of modules.  Huddersfield university, where the materials originated, have approved the adaptation and sharing of these for OER.

4. What are your hopes for the future use of OERs in this project and beyond?

JC is hoping to raise awareness and staff involvement in OER and he has raised this at management level in the School, and specifically with the sociology and criminology departments. JC is very interested in the toolkit and would like a discuss its use at Teeside.

Monday 4th April 2011

4.00 - 5.00

John Craig,

Teeside

University

1. How are things progressing? 

JC has spoken to Mike Teague and he has agreed to be involved in the project. JC will write to Anna and RP and introduce MT. RP will arrange to speak to MT. There has been a hiatus at Teeside owing to the Spring break. JC is planning to meet with students and staff to discuss the work of the project. 

2. What are the plans for developing OER and for depositing them in JORUM? 

JC is still considering the Governance and Social Change module and its development into a 'learning at a distance' / blended mode. He feels that at present this exists as a handbook / study guide, with a Saturday morning Study School, and he is considering the transformation of this pedagogical activity that is needed for it to become an OER. In the first instance this will be developed within the institution's Blackboard environment and he is asking himself how he would configure a navigation and structure pages, and how the accompanying resources (e.g. a reading pack) would integrate within this? In regard to depositing into JORUM he is mindful of the issue of exporting from Blackboard (as a module cartridge for example) and RP and AG are discussing this (Dafydd and Delyth are also considering this option). JC sees 4 possibilities for deposits into JORUM:

1. Pure text (handbook and reading - although copyright issues might need to be considered here)
2. A Google Site that 'houses' the materials
3. A Blackboard 'site' that can be exported
4. A version of the module that has been 'rendered' in the CSAP Course Mapping Toolkit (JC has some qs about how students might see this but overall feels it is potentially a useful descriptive construction of the module. 

3. What are the plans for student engagement and how are these progressing? 

JC wonders if students' attitiudes to OER may be less enthusiastic then we might imagine: that they may be indifferent unless they we can demonstrate why they should look at them. He is thinking about a focus group to discuss these issues and to trial the resource and asking 'what do you find useful?' 

4. What aspects would you like to cover at the project meeting 2nd June 2011?

JC is considering this and is looking forward to the peer review activity for him and Mike Teague

Tuesday 5th April 2011

9.30 - 10.30

Delyth Morris,

Bangor University

1. Tell me about the curriculum development context in your institution 

DM's role at Bangor University has been as senior lecturer in Sociology and Social policy over last 15 years, and for the more recently as course leader for a Welsh medium degree leading a small team (2.6 FTE and herself) to deliver a whole degree (400 credits over 3 years). This teaching workload, she feels, mitigates against whole scale curriculum and LTA development. She also feels that the social science curriculum area itself is in flux, with for example a shift to and now partly away from criminology and an changing emphasis on community development. This has partly, she feels, brought about a culture of make do or perhaps make and mend. In this she sees the importance of locating and identifying resources for teaching, especially in the Welsh medium. BA Sociology and Social Policy is 100% in Welsh, while MA Policy is bilingual, in that some modules are completely in Welsh. These courses have been validated at Bangor, and here she identifies a problem in the sharing of OER at the granularity of a module. A module she hoped to incorporate into her teaching that was developed at Trinity St. David's University, Wales, was refused until it had been (re)validated at Bangor (and special dispensation was made to shorten the normal 3 month period that the validation process takes. She sees this as a potential block to sharing at module level (i.e. whose students take the module, and who receives payment for the students?) 

2. What activities in OER were going on in your practice before the project?

DM admits that her experience and skill in using and applying technology enhanced learning is limited but she has looked at OU's OpenLearn and she has recently become aware that two colleagues have posted material into OpenLearn. She has found some useful material on Social Problems in OL but these are in English. She is not aware of any readily available translation services, and finds herself sourcing material directly from the Welsh Assembly that are available in Welsh. She also use the strategy of using English medium materials with students and asking them to translate what they need for seminars and assignments but she is aware that this adds extra work for students and herself.

3. What OERS have you identified and how are they being used?

DM is aware of materials that have been deposited in Y Porth, including CSAP project materials developed for SPSS. She has identified some Social Research Methods material in JORUM. Students are developing their own questionnaires and refining each other's. 

4. What are your hopes for the future use of OERs in this project and beyond?

DM is thinking about 10 units of 20 credit modules on Research methods. One of these "Dulliau Ymchwil" is attached here Uned 1 Rhan 1 _ Dylunio Ymchwil[1].doc . She would like to work on the project to develop these into shareable OER, perhaps enriching them with digital content. DM has some concerns about how enhanced versions of modules are managed and how students expectations are informed: she tells of a student based in Cardiff who, having started as a distance student on the MA, (the course having being marketed as being available from anywhere in Wales) has complained that she is not getting as much support as students who live closer to Bangor. 

Tuesday 5th April 2011

10.30 - 11.30

Craig Hammond, 

Blackburn College

1. Tell me about the curriculum development context in your institution 

CH has been involved in revalidation of a Joint Hons. programme in English Language and Literature, with pathways to politics, psychology and sociology, awarded by Lancaster University.This involved taking 20 or so existing modules and splicing in another 20 new ones. The first cycle of graduands is now coming through. BA Social Science is now coming up for validation and CH and PJ are interested in using the CSAP Course Mapping Tool to assist with this (they will meet RP at SHU to discuss). 

2. What activities in OER were going on in your practice before the project?

Blackburn College has used WebCT and has moved to Moodle because of costs and CH has been involved with the e-learning manager to develop materials and electronic assignments. This does not to date use rich media but CH is very interested in tools such as Voicethread and the use of Creative commons to protect authorship rights of any materials. He directs new staff to these materials and feels he needs to also explain the pedagogical principles that underpins some of this use. He is interested in the importance of context in the use of resources and L and T methods and feels that this is often cultural. He asks what is the basis on which we pass on our practice (and borrow it from others)?

3. What OERS have you identified and how are they being used?

CH has been using Welcome images (http://images.wellcome.ac.uk/)  for some of his teaching with level 6 students for the interpretation of image and culture. He is interested in the concept of edupunk and wonders how this can become a teaching and learning methodology. 

4. What are your hopes for the future use of OERs in this project and beyond?

CH has presented to stddents about OERs explaining what they are and inviting their views. he finds that students were reluctant to engage in this - asking 'what is the purpose of this and how does this contribute to our course and our study?' CH sees this as a a clash between the intended purpose of the OER (or possibly its accompanying rhetoric) and the perceived value of OER to students. He sees this as an unspoken question in the student voice of 'is this OER instead of you the tutor? he feels we need to develop a literacy of the curriculum in which stduents understand the L and T process and the implied contracts, conventions and transfer rights. He wants to follow this up with students and feels that a focus group would be more effective for this rather than a survey tool.

With regard to what might be deposited in JORUM: CH is working on a staff development module with PJ, 'Creativity for Edupunks (working title), equivalent to 15 credits.

CH and PJ are arranging to visit SHU in early May to look at how the CSAP Course Mapping Tool is being used and you can find notes from that meeting on the workshop page (Anna).