Developing a curriculum of open educational resources for Linked Data

The EUCLID project is developing an educational curriculum about Linked Data, supported by multimodal Open Educational Resources (OERs) tailored to the real needs of data practitioners. The EUCLID OERs facilitate professional training for data practitioners, who aim to use Linked Data in their daily work. The EUCLID OERs are implemented as a combination of living learning materials and activities (eBook, online courses, webinars, face-to-face training), produced via a rigorous process and validated by the user community through continuous feedback

Content without context is noise : Looking for curriculum harmony in primary arts education in Western Australia

Arts education in Western Australian primary schools consist of learning opportunities outlined by mandated curriculum. However, assumptions underlying this curriculum involving access, resources and support impact schools’ capacity to implement the curriculum without them being adequately addressed by the written curriculum. Drawing on the policy enactment theory of Ball, Maguire, and Braun (2012), four contextual variables (situated contexts, professional cultures, material contexts and external factors) are used to highlight the differences between the written published curriculum and the implemented, practised curriculum. Drawing on interviews with 24 participants across four schools issues of geographic location, use of arts specialists, appropriate learning spaces and the stresses associated with mandated literacy and numeracy testing are reported as contextual pressures by this study. This paper details the disruptive interference of these contextual pressures that we describe as ‘noise’. The provision of a better understanding of this contextual landscape brings schools and teachers away from the ‘noise’ of disruption and closer to curriculum harmony

Developing Australian Academics' Capacity: Supporting the Adoption of Open Educational Practices in Curriculum Design

This seed project initiative addressed an identified gap in Australian higher education between awareness of open educational practices (OEP) and implementation of OEP, particularly the production, adaptation and use of open educational resources (OER) to support the design of innovative, engaging and agile curriculum. In response, the authors aimed to design, develop, pilot and evaluate a free, open and online professional development course focused on supporting curriculum design in higher education. The specific aim of the course - Curriculum design for open education (CD4OE) - is to develop the capacity of academics in Australia to adopt and incorporate OER and OEP into curriculum development, for more effective and efficient learning and teaching across the sector

National Curriculum Assessment and Public Examination Results in Wales: 1999 (Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, and 4; and Benchmark Information)

There are 2 types of documents attached to this record: 1. benchmark information; and, 2. National Curriculum Assessment Results. These resources all relate to the National Curriculum Assessment and Public Examination Results in Wales for the year 1999. Benchmark Information - "This is the third year for which benchmark information has been published and it is hoped that schools and LEAS will use it to support their target setting processes. The tables displayed in this booklet are based on the results derived from the 1999 National Curriculum assessments. Schools will be able to use information to help them set and publish targets annually for pupils’ performance in National Curriculum assessments." - Page 4. Examination Results - These booklets present for Wales and each local education authority area the 1999 results of Key Stage 1-4 pupils taught to National Curriculum standards. The aggregate data were derived from the results of the statutory assessments

Understanding and Affecting Student Reasoning About Sound Waves

Student learning of sound waves can be helped through the creation of group-learning classroom materials whose development and design rely on explicit investigations into student understanding. We describe reasoning in terms of sets of resources, i.e. grouped building blocks of thinking that are commonly used in many different settings. Students in our university physics classes often used sets of resources that were different from the ones we wish them to use. By designing curriculum materials that ask students to think about the physics from a different view, we bring about improvement in student understanding of sound waves. Our curriculum modifications are specific to our own classes, but our description of student learning is more generally useful for teachers. We describe how students can use multiple sets of resources in their thinking, and raise questions that should be considered by both instructors and researchers.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, 28 references, 7 notes. Accepted for publication in the International Journal of Science Educatio

National Curriculum Assessment and Public Examination Results in Wales: 1998 (Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, and 4; and Benchmark Information)

There are 2 types of documents attached to this record: 1. benchmark information; and, 2. National Curriculum Assessment Results. These resources all relate to the National Curriculum Assessment and Public Examination Results in Wales for the year 1998. Benchmark Information - "This is the second year for which benchmark information has been published and it is hoped that schools and LEAS will use it to support their target setting processes. The tables displayed in this booklet are based on the results derived from the 1998 National Curriculum assessments. Schools will be able to use information to help them set and publish targets annually for pupils’ performance in National Curriculum assessments." - Page 4. Examination Results - These booklets present for Wales and each local education authority area the 1998 results of Key Stage 1-4 pupils taught to National Curriculum standards. The aggregate data were derived from the results of the statutory assessments

The Online Faculty Development and Assessment System

This article evaluates the role of the Online Faculty Development and Assessment System (OFDAS), created at universities in the Canary Islands, Spain, in staff development. The evaluation indicates that the system helped staff in learning to teach curriculum and teaching capacities. The tasks, online resources and opportunities for discussions provided within the learning environment created for the system helped shape their attitudes towards learning curriculum and teaching capacities and enabled them to share their concerns about students’ classroom learning environment assessment

A Study on Problems and Strategies of Curriculum Resources Development and Utilization by Teachers in Rural Junior Middle School: A Case Study of A County of Sichuan Province in China

Curriculum resources are the source for forming curriculum and the essential condition for curriculum implementation, that is to say, meeting the requirements of curriculum activities. The role and value of the curriculum resources can be realized by practitioners’ discovery and effective utilization. What’s more, teachers are the subject of developing and utilizing curriculum resources, and their quality determines the identification range, development and utilization degree, and benefit level of curriculum resources. This paper regards junior middle school teachers of a county, Sichuan, as the respondents, in which it has already implemented the curriculum reform. In this way, the rural junior middle school teachers’ awareness and ability to develop and utilize curriculum resources and the influencing factors can be known from the aspects of teachers’ understanding, requirements and the degree of curriculum resources development and utilization. At last, corresponding suggestions will be put forward

Something for everyone? The different approaches of academic disciplines to Open Educational Resources and the effect on widening participation

This article explores the relationship between academic disciplines‘ representation in the United Kingdom Open University‘s (OU) OpenLearn open educational resources (OER) repository and in the OU‘s fee-paying curriculum. Becher‘s (1989) typology was used to subdivide the OpenLearn and OU fee-paying curriculum content into four disciplinary categories: Hard Pure (e.g., Science), Hard Applied (e.g., Technology), Soft Pure (e.g., Arts) and Soft Applied (e.g., Education). It was found that while Hard Pure and Hard Applied disciplines enjoy an increased share of the OER curriculum, Soft Applied disciplines are under-represented as OER. Possible reasons for this disparity are proposed and Becher‘s typology is adapted to be more appropriate to 21st-century higher education

Embedding race equality and internationalising the curriculum:Abertay University case study

As part of the HEA Scotland embedding equality and diversity in the curriculum (EEDC) strategic enhancement project, Abertay University focused on developing an infrastructure for the embedding of race equality and the internationalising of their curriculum. They developed a bespoke model focused on four pillars: capacity, capability, competence and confidence. Lying on a foundation of CPD – comprising online training, workshops, online resources, mentorship and further professional development opportunities – these four pillars aim to support the development of excellence in EEDC. Abertay used their work on the SEP within the curriculum section of their application for Equality Challenge Unit’s Race Equality Charter Mark, feedback following the award of which highlighted this work as a real strength of their submission