would you care to share?Sharing Resources, Collaborating and Community-Building with Next

Generation Repositories in a Wild Web World

Sarah Currier (Intrallect Ltd)Colin Milligan (University of Strathclyde)David White (TALL, Oxford University)

Anoush Margaryan (Glasgow Caledonian University)Anne Hewling (Open University)

David Nicol (University of Strathclyde)

ALT-C 2006 Symposium 981Wed. 6th September 2006, Heriot-Watt University

http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2006/timetable/abstract.php?abstract_id=981

Perspective 1:Personal Learning Environments: A Vision

Colin Milligan, University of Strathclyde

A Personal Repository for a Personal Learning Environment

• Integration– With tools for creation, annotation, collaboration.

• Sharing– groups, global. Notification, Secondary info.

• Multi-layered discovery– local, group, global

• Transparent management of resources– Resource management, permissions

Perspective 2:Peer-to-Peer Filesharing: The SPIRE Project

David White, TALL (University of Oxford)

Overview

• SPIRE project: Looking at the feasibility of P2P in UK FE and HE

• Focused on Penn States open source P2P system ‘LionShare’ which is a heavily modified version of the ‘Limewire’ project (released version 1.1 end mid June)

• Major difference between normal P2P and LionShare is the inclusion of Authentication and Authorisation

• P2P and Authentication + Authorisation is a complex mix

Question: What is good about Peer-2-Peer?

• Wide range of media contributed by a large amount of people

• Informal / Anonymous

• Easy and convenient to access

• Intrinsically scalable

Question: What is bad about Peer-2-Peer?

• Wide range of media contributed by a large amount of people (Easy to infringe copyright)

• Informal / Anonymous (Tricky to police)

• Easy and convenient to access (Anyone can look at this stuff!?)

• Intrinsically scalable

Very popular files

Less popular files

Normal file size Very large file size

Peer-to-Peer

The point of peer-2-peer from a network infrastructure point of view.

(Invented to deal with the challenges of a slow network)

Thoughts

• Is this the easiest way to make materials widely available?

• Will people use an informal technology for ‘formal’ materials?

• Is the level of authentication appropriate?

• Need to consider the flow from the informal to the formal

• May benefit from an annotation feature

Project Site

http://spire.conted.ox.ac.uk

david.white@conted.ox.ac.uk

http://lionshare.its.psu.edu/main/

Perspective 3:Learning Communities and Repositories:

The CD-LOR Project

Anoush Margaryan, Glasgow Caledonian University

Dr. Anoush Margaryan

Caledonian Academy

Glasgow Caledonian University, UK

anoush.margaryan@gcal.ac.uk

Learning Communities and Repositories: Underpinning the Vision

Vision

Learning Object Economy

Creating and sharing resources locally and globally

Collaborating with peers across boundaries

Communities coalescing around LORs

Transformation of learning practices

Enhancement of learning experience

And the reality?

Learning Object economy not achieved

Technology push rather than pedagogy pull

“People in their contexts make it complicated” (Collis and Moonen, 2005)

Misalignment with users’ needs and contexts

BarriersSocio-cultural

Pedagogic

Organisational and info management

TechnologicalMargaryan, Currier, Littlejohn, & Nicol (2006)http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/cd-lor/learningcommunitiesreport.pdf

Cultural preferences and expectations related to sharing, collaboration, hierarchies and roles within communities, HCI, culture of disciplines and sectors

Decontextualisation, user skills and information literacy, loss of educational narrative, diversity of pedagogic approaches in communities

Lack of alignment with organisational strategy, need for new management processes, incentives, information management (IPR, DRM, metadata)

Reference models, database technology, technology for services, interoperability with others LORs and tools used by communities

LOR Communities

Types of communities

1. Learning-orientedcommunities

2. Research-oriented communities3. Work-oriented, communities of practice 4. Hobby-oriented communities of interest/ fantasy

Seufert, Moisseeva & Steinbeck (2001)

Community dimensions

1. Purpose2. Dialogue3. Roles and responsibilities4. Coherence –close-knit or loosely confederated/ transient5. Context6. Rules7. Pedagogy

Margaryan et. al (2006)

Dimensions of LORs

Purpose – types of resources exchanged; preservation of materials; sharing of resources

Subject area or discipline

Scope - departmental, institutional, regional, national, or international

Educational sector - school, higher education, further education, lifelong learning

Contributors - teachers, students, publishers, support staff, projects

Business model - business, trading and management framework underpinning repository

Linking LORs, communities, issues, and solutionsLORs

JORUM

SIESWE

IVIMEDS

Spoken Word

Aberdeen UniversityUniversity of Ireland GalwayUHI Millennium InstituteLORE

LOR dimensions

Purpose

Discipline

Scope

Sector

Contributor

Business model

Community dimensions

Purpose

Dialogue

Roles

Coherence

Context

Rules

Pedagogy

Issues

Cultural

Pedagogic

Organisatio-nal

Technologi-cal

Solutions

Cultural

Pedagogic

Organisatio-nal

Technologi-cal

Prerequisites for success LORs should only be introduced if they are

a solution to a problem meaningful to users

Design of LORs should be based on needs of the communities

Product innovation should involve process innovation

LORs linked to institutional and national strategies for teaching and learning

Demonstrated impact and added value for users

Perspective 4:

Wikis and Blogs: Case Study of a Red Herring?: The PROWE Project

Anne Hewling, Open University

PROWE (personal repositories online wiki environment)

Anne HewlingPROWE Project Officer

Open University

PROWE – what is it?

a JISC-funded Digital Repositories Programme Project between OU and UoL

Combines:- new communications tools e.g. wikis and blogs

- part-time distance tutors/associate lecturers- continuing professional development needs

- communities of practice- repository theory and practice

What drives it?

 

"In what ways could wiki and wiki-type environments be useful and useable as personal and informal

repositories to support professional development within part-time tutor communities of practice?"

 

What has happened so far?

- user needs assessment

- tools assessment

- metadata and other complicated repositories bits

-elgg 1 – testing a technology

- elgg 2 – testing practice

Matters arising

- what is a typical tutor and what are typical needs?

- "if it 'ain't broke, why fix it?"

- why not/why?

- PRMS

Personal resource management strategies - 1

Experience v. sense- Angela’s printouts and Kathleen’s PC

Perception of security Known v. easier

- George’s floppys

Habit v. appropriateness Am I bothered?- HQ rules and Pavlov

Comfort zones

Personal resource management strategies - 2

- Change has to come from individual motivation

- Life is too short to experiment too much

A possible conclusion?

Once a system is in place there is little chance of changing it - unless the user thinks change is their idea or unless

some kind of stick is used…

Contact us:

Webpage: http://www.prowe.ac.uk

Project email: info@prowe.ac.uk

Project Officer email (OU): a.hewling@open.ac.uk

PROWE: “A community is like a ship: everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.”

Henrik Ibsen 

Perspective 5:e-Portfolios: Personal Repositories by

Another Name?

David Nicol, University of Strathclyde

e-portfolios

Dr David NicolDeputy-Director (Head of E-learning)

Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement

University of Strathclyde

September 2006, ALT-C Heriot-Watt.

Why the current interest in e-portfolios?

• Personal development planning

• Learner control and deep learning

• Bridging transitions – lifelong learning

• Knowledge economy – knowledge as asset

• Sharing resources with teachers, peers and employers.

Mapping the territory of e-portfolios

• Educational Terminology: progress files, personal development planning, records of achievement, learner profiles, shared workspace, transcripts

• Technology: No definition of what constitutes the technology of an e-portfolio (what tools)

• Purposes: multiple purposes for e-portfolios

What is an e-portfolio?

e-portfolio

digital repository

Collection of student work in digital format.

+ services

Purposes of e-portfolios

1. Archive/showcase student work [evidence work/achievements – employers, tutors etc]

2. Support learning and personal development planning [self-regulation and reflection]

3. Support summative assessment [richer, authentic, competence proven]

Purpose

E-toolsProcesses

Digital Collection of

Student’s Work

Technology and e-portfolios

Archiving/showcasing

Purpose = archiving/showcasingProcesses = select, organise, store, share

present, link, search. evidencinge-tools = digital multimedia repository, file

galleries, wikis, hyperlinks, digital access card, authoring environment, search tools, tools to input non-digital formats

Learning portfolio

Purpose = support learning and planning

Processes = monitoring, reflecting, self and peer assessment, feedback and dialogue, planning (PDP),

Tools = blogs, reflective journals, wiki pages, self-assessment forms, workflow management tools (goal setting, recording, meetings), communication tools, skills matrices, CV builder.

E-portfolio and assessment

Purpose = assessing and gradingProcesses = testing, making judgements

and marking, recording results, checking progress, identifying difficulties, reporting results

Tools = criteria tools, reporting tools, assessment management tools (filing, recording, sending, verifying).

Learning using portfolio tools

StudentControl

Institutional repository/tools

TeacherControl

External systems/tools

Technological Issues

If e-portfolio tools/systems hosted by FE/HE

- Is this a PLE?

- Will it constrain sharing/participation?

- What happens when students move on?

- DRM and IPR and issues

Technological Issues

If hosted externally

- Integration, interoperability and security- What if all students use different tools- Keeping track of resources- What if ISPs change/increase charges?- How do the students locate themselves?- Independent systems providers

Educational Issues

Putting students in control- How does PLE idea fit with a prescribed

curriculum?- How will they acquire personal resource

management skills? - Can informal learning (unstructured, organic,

contextualised, self-activated) be used to enrich formal learning?

- Should teachers facilitate communities? - What is the influence of assessment?- Integration with disciplinary teaching?

The End

Questions and Discussion

Types of content in e-portfolio

• Coursework – assignments, projects• Evidence of learning development (e.g.

skills)• Instructor feedback and records of meetings• Links to awards and certificates• Goals and plans• Reflective commentaries• Presentations and papers• Personal information (e.g. education history,

interests and activities)