Designs on the Web: A case study of online learning for design students

The De Montfort University Electronic Campus initiative started in September 1999. Web‐based learning resources and support have been provided for over 3,000 students via a portfolio of thirty projects ranging across all levels of the university and within every faculty. This paper focuses on one aspect of this initiative: the development of online teaching and learning materials to support first‐year IT modules for students of art and design. An undergraduate module has been converted from traditional, face‐to‐face, delivery to a hybrid combination of Web‐based and studio‐based work in accordance with Laurillard's conversational framework. In the first year of use all the new material has been made available on a pilot basis to a group of 440 students in parallel with conventional lectures and seminars. All the students have had access to the online resources; some students have used them, but some have not. Data on student expectations collected prior to starting on the module are compared with student feedback gathered at the end of the module and student performance data across the two mode's of presentation are compared to establish the relative effectiveness of each approach. In addition the paper reviews the resource implications of developing, delivering and supporting online learning and discusses some of the barriers to implementation that were encountered and overcome

#ThinkTB Leicester

Created in conjunction with TB Specialist Nurse, Roz Kennedy from Glenfield Hospital Leicester, representing University Hospitals Leicester. The animation is in the public domain hosted on YouTube and Vimeo. The animation was funded by DMU LocalAn initial pilot animation funded by DMU Local has been created to inform viewers of the signs and symptoms on TB and where to go to seek advice and treatment. The animation has purposefully been created to be visually informative as it targets the specific needs of the multicultural community of Leicester. The storyboard, style and content have been created in collaboration with a local TB Specialist Nurse, Roz Kennedy from Glenfield Hospital Leicester. Although the animation serves specific local needs, such as where and how to seek advice it has been devised so it is easily adaptable for use in a wider national context