Key skills by design: Adapting a central Web resource to departmental contexts

Web‐based delivery of support materials for students has proved to be a popular way of helping small teams to implement key skills policies within universities. The development of ‘key’ or ‘transferable’ skills is now encouraged throughout education, but resources (both in terms of staffing and budget) tend to be limited. It is difficult for key skills teams to see learners face to face, and not feasible to print or distribute large amounts of paper‐based material. Web‐based delivery presents a means of overcoming these problems but it can result in generic study skills material simply being published online without due consideration of the needs of different groups of learners within different subject disciplines. Therefore, although a centralized Website for skills provision can overcome logistical problems, it may be perceived as irrelevant or unusable by the student population. This paper presents a model for Web‐based delivery of support for key skills which incorporates two separate approaches to the design of these resources. The model was implemented as part of a wider key skills pilot project at University College London, over a period of one year. It includes a ‘core’ Website, containing information and resources for staff and students. These can also be accessed via customized, departmental key skills homepages. This paper presents the basis for the design choices made in preparing these materials, and the evaluation of some of the pilot departments using them. It then draws some wider conclusions about the effectiveness of this design for supporting skills development

CALLers and Learning Technologists: Where do they meet, and what do they have in common?

In the UK and Ireland, the context in which CALL is developing in higher education is changing. Language teachers in universities may increasingly be involved in CALL development and research, but their universities are simultaneously increasing formal central support for all staff in adopting and exploiting new technologies. In both CALL, and this wider adoption of technology, we see distinct areas of practice and research emerging. In such a context of change and growth, it is not always clear where the work of specialists in languages might dovetail with that of staff working across the institution to enhance the use of technologies for learning and teaching. In this paper, the author will examine common themes and approaches between CALL and what is often labelled âlearning technologyâ from a communities of practice perspective, and ask where and in what ways each can inform the development of the other

Key Skills by Design: Adapting a Central Web Resource to the Departmental Context

Web-­based delivery of support materials for students has proved to be a popular way of helping small teams to implement key skills policies within universities. The development of ‘key’ or ‘transferable’ skills is now encouraged throughout education, but resources (both in terms of staffing and budget) tend to be limited. It is difficult for key skills teams to see learners face to face, and not feasible to print or distribute large amounts of paper­-based material. Web-­based delivery presents a means of overcoming these problems but it can result in generic study skills material simply being published online without due consideration of the needs of different groups of learners within different subject disciplines. Therefore, although a centralized website for skills provision can overcome logistical problems, it may be perceived as irrelevant or unusable by the student population. This paper presents a model for web-­based delivery of support for key skills which incorporates two separate approaches to the design of these resources. The model was implemented as part of a wider key skills pilot project at UCL, over a period of one year. It includes a ‘core’ website, containing information and resources for staff and students. These can also be accessed via customized, departmental key skills homepages. This paper presents the basis for the design choices made in preparing these materials, and the evaluation of some of the pilot departments using them. It then draws some wider conclusions about the effectiveness of this design for supporting skills development

Developing a managed learning enviroment using 'Roundtables': an activity theoretic perspective

The current focus on the development of systems contributing to a managed learning enviroment (MLE) in universities in the UK has prompted institutions to examine how administrative systems and support for learning and teaching fit together. However, it is difficult for academic and adminstrative staff to find opportunities to describe their needs to developers. This paper focuses on a project at University College London to examine systems for academic administration. A roundtable discussion group (Kemp et al,2002)was created to identify issues central to participants' perspectives. The paper uses Activity Theory (Kuutti, 1996) to analyse its outputs, and examines how the methodology has influenced the process of developing the MLE

Enhancing teaching and learning at UCL: the Access to Core Course Materials Project and the Key Skills Web Development Project

Reports on two projects at University College London (UCL) involving collaboration between information specialists and academic departments to support the universityâs Learning and Teaching strategy. The Access Project is developing an electronic course materials system, and the Key Skills Web Development project is delivering customised skills resource material online

Key Skills by Design: adapting a central web resource to the departmental context.

Web-based delivery of support materials for students has proved to be a popular way of helping small teams to implement key skills policies within universities. The developement of 'key' or 'transferable' skills is now encouraged throughout education, but resources tend to be limited. It is difficult for key skills teams to see learners face to face, and not feasible to print or distribute large amounts of paper-based material. Web-based delivery presents a means of overcoming these problems but it can result in generic study skills material simply being published online without due consideration of the needs of different groups of learners within different subject disciplines. Therefore, although a centralized website for skills provision can overcome logistical problems, it may be perceived as irrelevant or unusable by the student population. This paper presents a model for web-based delivery of support for key skills which incorporates two separate approaches to the design of these resources. The model was implemented as part of a wider key skills pilot project at UCL, over a period of one year. It includes a 'core' website, containing information and resources for staff and students. These can be accessed via customized, departmental key skills homepages. This paper presents the basis for the design choices made in preparing these materials, and the evaluation of some of the pilot department using them. It then draws some wider conclusions about the effectiveness of this design for supporting skills developemen

Using Web‐based support for campus‐based open learning: Lessons from a study in dental public health

There has been much written about the use of the Web in higher education, much of which advocates its use as an effective way of supporting learning, particularly in terms of the desirability of features such as flexibility and the value of online discussions. In this paper, a case study is described which calls some of this received wisdom into question. The study also explores wider issues of curriculum design, particularly in terms of the role of assessment and of self‐assessment, both of which played a crucial role in the course. Unlike many studies, then, the purpose of this paper is not to demonstrate the success of a particular approach or to advocate particular forms of practice, but instead to highlight the shortcomings of existing guidelines for curriculum development in this area. This suggests that further inquiry into this form of education is required — and in particular, inquiry that pays detailed attention to the backgrounds of learners, and involves close study of their experiences

Technology Infusion Within Part-Time Professional Development Programmes for Academic Staff and Industry Practitioners

This paper reports on the experiences of programme co-ordinators and includes findings from a two year (2013-15) evaluation pilot study on a key communication technology – audio feedback – conducted across three accredited part-time programmes for a blend of academic staff (faculty) in higher education and eLearning industry practitioners. Key to our decision making with regards to which tools to infuse in our programmes is our aim to help the educators who participate on our programmes to make better use of technology tools in their own instructional contexts. This paper focuses on the example of formative audio feedback. Anticipated benefits were that the audio mode would provide clearer feedback, and that tone of voice would help convey meaning, adding a personal element to engage learners more effectively. Participant responses to end-of-module survey questions on their experience of audio feedback and their thoughts on implementing audio feedback in their own practice are presented and discussed. The perspectives of the tutors involved are considered, and we share practical details of how audio feedback can be constructed and distributed to students. The initial study has demonstrated the potential of formative audio feedback to engage learners more effectively in developing and improving on their work

Sharing systems, sharing language: designing and working in a virtual department

Less widely taught languages present special problems. Often students may be ab initio learners who must progress very rapidly from beginner to highly competent. Appropriate learning materials are scarce. Small student numbers restrict the range of learner tasks. To address these problems, and drawing on research methods from both CALL and Computer Science domains, we investigated the use of a virtual learning environment (WebCT) as a tool for collaborative language teaching and learning. A web-based virtual department was created, bringing students and tutors from different institutions together to practise the target language (students) and share the development of quality resources (teachers). The Virtual Department links three UK Danish departments. This environment provides shared working areas for students and teachers. Teachers design and use resource materials and students complete tasks. Learner task design was driven by pedagogical needs but the technology also offered opportunities which shaped the learning tasks to some extent. A key feature of the system is its range of communication tools, around which some collaborative tasks have been designed and on which students across the country can work together. The system enables teachers to create a wider variety of authentic tasks and exercises for students than previously. The paper presents the results of evaluating the virtual department in use over one academic year with first, second and fourth year students, and their teachers