10,299 research outputs found
An online Master's degree: Teaching and learning strategy vs. managerial constraints
This paper illustrates the work of a course team at Southampton Solent University to establish a delivery model for an online distance masterâs degree. Working under the managerial constraint of ensuring that the course delivery is sustainably affordable, the focus was to develop a model that structures tutor to student engagement in such a way as to ensure the maintenance of a high standard of teaching and learning. This model is put forward as an approach that is applicable in a variety of contexts, and hence of value to course developers from other institutions investigating ways of effectively delivering online courses
An IMS-Learning Design Editor for a Higher Education Blended Learning Scenario
The IMS-Learning Design has been developed to
support the creation of reusable and pedagogically
neutral learning scenarios and content. Although it is
especially suitable for eLearning, there is a lot of
interest on using it in higher education blended
learning scenarios. However there are some related
key issues which must be managed such as cultural
bias and the need for expensive human resources to
design and develop specification compliant units of
learning. They can be addressed by the design of
ad-hoc editors supporting concrete learning design
units of learning. We suggest some solutions to
overcome these limitations, based on our experience
designing the user interface of an IMS-LD compliant
editor, GDUS+. We also explain our user centering
approach, and give some conclusions about the
benefits of using IMS-LD
Crafting a rich and personal blending learning environment: an institutional case study from a STEM perspective
Institutional pressures to make optimal use of lecture halls and classrooms can be powerful motivators to identify resources to develop technology enhanced learning approaches to traditional curricula. From the academicâs perspective, engaging students in active learning and reducing the academic workload are important and complementary drivers. This paper presents a case study of a curriculum development exercise undertaken in a STEM subject area at a research-intensive UK university. A multi-skilled team of academics and learning designers have worked collaboratively to build this module which will be realised as a mix of online and face to face activities. Since the module addresses professional issues, a strong emphasis is being placed on establishing authentic learning activities and realistic use of prominent social tools.The learning designers are working for a cross-institutional initiative to support educational innovations; therefore it is important to carefully document the development process and to identify reusable design patterns which can be easily explained to other academics.<br/
Collaborative pedagogy and digital scholarship: a case study of 'Media Culture 2020'
This paper presents an educational case study of âMedia Culture 2020â, an EU Erasmus
Intensive Programme that utilised a range social media platforms and computer software
to create open, virtual spaces where students from different countries and fields could
explore and learn together. The multi-disciplinary project featured five universities from
across Europe and was designed to develop new pedagogical frameworks to encourage
collaborative approaches to teaching and learning in the arts. The main objective of
the project was to break down classroom and campus walls by creating digital learning
environments that facilitated new forms of production, transmission and representation of
knowledge. Media Culture 2020 was designed to pilot a novel mode of âblended learningâ,
demonstrating a number of ways in which âWeb 2.0â networked technologies might be
adopted by academics to encourage open and collaborative modes of practice. The project
utilised a number of social media platforms (including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Google
Hangout, Google Docs and Blogger) to enhance the learning experiences of a diverse set
of students from different cultural and international contexts. In doing so, Media Culture
2020 enabled participants with a diverse range skills and cultural experiences to develop
new working practices that respond to the convergence of digital media and art, as well
as the internationalisation of media production and business, through the use of open,
interactive software
Capturing organisational knowledge from educational enhancement: identifying patterns for curriculum innovation
On-line and blended learning is much fĂȘted, particularly by university management as part of the solution to many issues currently facing higher education. However, experienced academics lack examples of suitable pedagogically engaging on-line activities, and remain sceptical or resistant to change. This paper describes a case study of an initiative taken by a newly formed centre with responsibility for introducing such change within a university. It uses a single module to demonstrate a range of on-line activities blended with conventional face-to-face approaches which may then be presented to staff as reusable patterns with generic applicability. At the same time we show how these approaches can meet the requirements of the university management
Aiming for service excellence: Implementing a plan for customer service quality at a blended service desk
This article discusses a public service review and redesign that resulted in a blended service desk combining reference and circulation functions, staffed by nonlibrarians. The redesign implements a number of organizational structures that encourage service excellence, as found in the business literature and in examples of nonlibrary organizations that excel in customer service. The article identifies key organizational structures that have been shown to support or hinder good service and discusses the process of implementing these structures in practice and the results of an assessment process designed around determining success
ARES+MOOG - a practical overview of an EW method to derive stellar parameters
The goal of this document is to describe the important practical aspects in
the use of an Equivalent Width (EW) method for the derivation of spectroscopic
stellar parameters. A general description of the fundamental steps composing
any EW method is given, together with possible differences that may be found in
different methods used in the literature. Then ARES+MOOG is then used as an
example where each step of the method is described in detail. A special focus
is given for the specific steps of this method, namely the use of a
differential analysis to define the atomic data for the adopted line list, the
automatic EW determinations, and the way to find the best parameters at the end
of the procedure. Finally, a practical tutorial is given, where we focus on
simple exercises useful to illustrate and explain the dependence of the
abundances with the assumed stellar parameters. The interdependences are
described and a clear procedure is given to find the "final" stellar
parameters.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication as a chapter in
"Determination of Atmospheric Parameters of B, A, F and G Type Stars",
Springer (2014), eds. E. Niemczura, B. Smalley, W. Pyc
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