A portfolio-based approach to developing wiki and blog capabilities - from individuals to institution, one 'size' does not fit all.

This short paper reviews and reports on the University of Leicester (UoL) progress in developing institutional capabilities for wiki/blog deployment, as at Autumn 2007. It provides brief illustrations of initiatives in a portfolio-based approach addressing different areas of application in different academic departments. The preliminary results of early operational research are outlined, together with vectors for potential future developments

Perspectives on the nature of communities and their needs - conceptualising and researching potential wiki use at UoL.

The potential of informal repositories, such as wikis, to support a diverse range of tasks in higher education is now well documented. However, in evolutionary terms, practical applications are still at an early stage of the innovation-diffusion process, even though wikis have been in existence for more than a decade. Much attention to date among higher education institutions has focused on the practical realisation of the technical possibilities and solutions, in what might be characterised as technology-based ‘push’ approaches. On the other hand, the nurturing and supporting of users and user communities is a vital task in encouraging user-based ‘pull’ approaches, to encourage the knowledge generation and construction that is a necesssary prerequisite for knowledge sharing and exchange through the use of such technologies. From both of these perspectives, a key organisational challenge has been how to develop both the capacity and the capability necessary to explore the potential of wiki-type technologies, and thus to realise the possibilities foreseen that range in scope across teaching, learning, research and administration needs and in scale from the individual to the institutional level. This Working Paper outlines some informal conceptualisations about the nature of communities that have assisted the development, deployment and embedding of wiki technology at the University of Leicester (UoL). It also provides summary points from initial research on user perceptions and potential barriers to introduction and use, and considers the needs and uses of different types of communities and how these might relate to the infrastructure provided

Building Web 2.0-based personal learning environments - a conceptual framework.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest approaches and guidelines for using Web 2.0 tools and services for developing personal learning environments (PLEs) to manage formal and informal learning leading towards a lifelong learning path. This paper considers a PLE not as a particular site or tool that contains all the applications and provides access to users, but rather a framework for incorporating Web 2.0 tools and services chosen by the learner for collecting and processing information, connecting people and creating knowledge. The concept of PLEs and their advantages for learning are based on the often unquestioned belief that NetGen learners are familiar with Web 2.0 tools and they know how to use them for learning. Recent studies however question this popular wisdom. These technologies have been developed outside education, and are mainly being used for informal networking, and creating and sharing media files for entertainment and recreation. This paper proposes that systematically developed frameworks and guidelines can help NetGen learners to use Web 2.0 tools for formal learning and presents four different approaches to integrate Web 2.0 tools for learning. This paper is part of on-going research investigating personal learning environments, entitled PELICANS (Personal E-Learning in Community And Networking Spaces) project based at the University of Leicester, UK and at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

Piloting innovative uses of informal repositories in campus-based student assessment and associate tutor communities of practice.

Collaborative environments, such as wikis and blogs, offer opportunities in diverse areas of education. Results from early exploration and the perceived potential of such environments are reported. One campus-based assessment initiative was based on student contributions to online discussion boards. Analysis showed evidence of ‘participant fatigue’, and an alternative approach was used of a collaborative writing assignment with students making defined contributions to Wikipedia. The use of informal repositories by associate tutors for sharing and storing resources has also been investigated as part of a JISC-funded project. Institutional-tutor relationships and involvements vary, so an early focus has been on common teaching and learning themes that support personal/professional development needs. Accompanying infrastructure developments have allowed such new technologies to be deployed flexibly, the model adopted allowing full control over how system components are made available and accessed by staff, students and other community network members