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THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Decentralized Collaborative Approach to Learning Object Development
Michelle LambersonDirector, Learning Technology
Brian LambLearning Object Coordinator
Jim SibleyEducational Technology Coordinator, Faculty of Applied ScienceCopyright by above, 2003. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.
The University of British Columbia
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Today’s session
• Institutional context• Evolution of UBC’s learning object community• Reality of implementation• “If we started today…”• Discussion
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
The University of British Columbia
1,000 acre main campus 38,500 students from 115 countries104 spin-off companiesVision & executive leadership
Complex, control-oriented, paper-based processes!
Mission Statement:“The University of British Columbia, aspiring to be Canada's finest university, will provide students with an outstanding and distinctive education, and conduct leading research to serve the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world.”
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Challenges
External pressures55,000 post-secondary seat shortage in the province Global competition for best facultyExpansion of key programs (e.g. Medicine, ECE)
Internal complexityDecentralized collaborative model:
Many information systems and tech support centralized
Faculty-based instructional support & IT unitsResearch culture – high end computing in departments
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
E-strategy vision
• supports the University’s strategic goals• is seen through the eyes of the end-user• is simple, efficient and saves people time• welcomes, values and respects the end-user• is flexible, personalized, and anticipates people’s needs• continuously challenges bureaucratic practices
Enable a new administrative and learning environment that:
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
The e-strategy framework
eLearningeBusiness
UniversityNetworking
eCommunity
People
Sustaining Operations
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Component-based approach
“Software has become so big that no company can do everything alone anymore.”
“… the industry must adopt standards that would enable a variety of different software vendors to provide the parts needed to quickly build a sophisticated software system.”
Hasso Plattner, CEO SAP AGat the JavaOne Conference in San Francisco, March 2002, as reported by Reuters, “Software's future is in components, SAP chief says,” March 27, 2002
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
E-learning Current and emerging priorities
• Course Management System
• Learning objects• Mixed-mode & large
enrolment courses• ePortfolios• Classroom services• Faculty specific issues (e.g.,
Medical school expansion)
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Birth of a notion
• Reuse of digital resources emerged as a pressing issue among diverse constituencies (educational technology community, libraries, Public Knowledge Project, et al)
• “Learning Objects” served as conceptual axis that pulled together common interests
• Collaborative funding application process fostered closer cooperation
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Euphoria was fleeting…
“Why bother?”
LO adoption seems to demand radical change across the institution: new ways of approaching curriculum and instructional design; an understanding of the myriad complications attached to “sharing”; and a fundamental reworking of the relationships between pedagogues, subject matter, and students.
(Let’s hope it’s worth the hassle.)
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Techno-paranoia vs. techno-triumphalism
• “…universities are not simply undergoing a technological transformation. Beneath that change, and camouflaged by it, lies another: the commercialization of higher education. For here as elsewhere technology is but a vehicle and a disarming disguise.”- David Noble, “Digital Diploma Mills”
• “Education over the Internet is going to be so big, it is going to make email look like a rounding error.” - John Chambers, CEO Cisco Systems
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
“Trust us, we’re experts…”
Whether based on fear, or visions of financial windfalls, conversations around IP issues take place against a backdrop of misconceptions -- how to build trust and make a case for sharing?
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Potential of LO’s
• The traditional mission of academia to foster the free exchange of ideas is still a powerful notion. Few professors expect payment for journal articles, for instance.
• Fear of “losing control” of work is matched by desire for access to the best materials available. Appealing to this desire risks raising unreasonable expectations when “learning object economy” is still evolving.
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
A moving target: the Canadian LO landscape
In addition to the broader worldwide shifts in approaches, standards and technology…
• Coordinated federal strategy: CANARIE• CanCore (www.cancore.ca)• eduSource (www.edusource.ca)
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
UBC’s process
• One size does not fit all. • LO projects not just among instructors: First Nations
Studies Program pilot course has students researching and building LOs, developing “LO models” for use and critical assessment.
• Allied groups with diverse needs and priorities have worked to articulate common principles: decentralized applications maintaining shared central functions; choice of (standards-compliant) tools and systems; local control of material (at user level when possible); facilitate flexible workflows.
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Technical implementation
Employing existing software and hardware whenever feasible: Local adopters choose among: repository developed by App Sci, CAREO/ALOHA, U21 LRC, DSpace, SPLASH, etc…
• XML record transfer protocol• Implementation specifications and guidelines for local projects• User statistics and evaluation functions• User control for privacy of records• Inter-repository communication protocol (SOAP)• "Third party metadata" -- such as peer review functionality
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Implementation planning questions
Existing applications and metadata schema • Can they serve your needs?
Open source tools • Can they be customized to meet your needs?
Collaboration• Groups or institutions that you could align your project with to defray costs and build a larger community?
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Development or adoption?
Rapidly evolving community and applicationsvs.
Existing currents needs, current functionalities, future possibilities
vs.
Realities of project planning
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Deciding factors
• Lack of a customizable, open source tool• Number and complexity of metadata entry fields in existing applications seen as a barrier to participation• Issue of IP, trust, and object permanence as a barrier to faculty participation and resulting need for local hosting or control
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Project implementation
• Initial infrastructure focus• We need to get some infrastructure in place so we can concentrate on the more difficult tasks of creating local application profiles, creating objects, redefining vision and direction and establishing community• Subsequent infrastructure redesign cycles
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
LO Repository at Applied Science
• Supports multiple metadata sets (IMS subsets and supersets)• Java application, XML database • SOAP layer (planned)• Record exposure control (planned)• User trials (pending)
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Implementation issues - metadata
Who enters the metadata?
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Implementation issues - metadata
Less metadata = minimizes data entry barriers
More metadata = better discoverability
Less metadata = minimizes information overload
More metadata = better interoperability?
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Implementation issues - metadata
• Starting development with standards or with local needs and context
• Where do I enter genus and species? Discipline specific vocabularies
• Need to consider barriers and incentives to local participation
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Implementation issues – IP and copyright
• Intellectual property – how do we gain the trust of faculty to gain their participation?• Copyright – how will we deliver and use copyrighted material?• The storage of metadata has been used as an “end run” on IP and copyright
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Other implementation issues
• What will be the role of community?
• What tools do we need to create to support emerging communities of practice?
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Compelling user experiences
Learning object contributor• Simple, intuitive metadata entry• Respect/control for IP • Respects discipline vocabulary• Benefits that might flow back to contributor• Sense of value in contributions to community
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Compelling user experiences
Learning object userSimple, intuitive interfaceSearches yield:•Objects appropriate to task•Well described objects•High quality objects•Sense of Object permanence•Copyright free objects or clear copyright requirements
Sense value in community participation
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
“If I started today…
New open source applications• DSpace, eduSource/CAREO
New consortia opportunities• eduSource, Universitas 21
New approaches to the development of digital materials
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Content vs interaction
A room of participants at a recent LO conference were asked, “what were the most valuable aspects of your own university experience?” They replied:
• “exposure to faculty and talented students”• “chance for professional networking”• “opportunity to collaborate on funded projects”• “hanging out, arguing with other students”• “recommender system” -- good/bad courses, books• “enculturation into a professional community”• “time for self-examination and chance to experiment”
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
LO culture is presently “content-centric”, bordering on “content-exclusive”
Perhaps we need to rethink our natural impulse to consider LOs as “chunks of content”, and consider how we might also construct sharable structures, tools and strategies that enhance interaction.
Examples: Fle3; “Passing Notes” from UBC’s Faculty of Arts, virtual labs.
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Not all sharable content is created equal…
Tagging, secure storage, and controlled access makes sense with expensive multimedia and other rigorously designed resources.
What about less tangibly valuable content, such as raw assets, lesson plans, instruction strategies and templates? Isn’t the value of sharing these materials more likely to be in the subsequent interaction?
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
How do online communities share now?
Are we missing out on the key benefits of online interaction in our efforts to re-create the university in cyberspace?
How about models that look at existing internet community structures for inspiration?– Wiley’s Online Self-Organizing Social Systems (OSOSS),
such as slashdot.org, kuro5hin.org– Peer to peer communities – Weblogs (XML/RSS)? Extensions of email functionality (Zoe)?
Apple OSX’s Sherlock, ePortfolios?
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIATHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Look, and then leap…
“Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride”
--Bette Davis
