Chrissi NerantziAcademic Developer

@chrissinerantzi

Edinburgh Napier University10 May 12 Edinburgh

towards free-range academic practiceexamples from Academic Development

context

“A shift towards „openness‟ in academic

practice as not only a positive trend, but a

necessary one in order to ensure

transparency, collaboration and continued

innovation.” (Wiley, 2006, online).

trial 3 months Assessment & feedback

familiarisation

socialisation

collaborative PBL

sharing, feeding back

Mills (2006) 5 stage-model

findings: open online collaboration

multi-disciplinary groups

group size

rules

community

technology

facilitation

sharing

impact

open TESS

opportunities

Free-range AP: Challenges and how

do we overcome them?

references

• Downes, S. (2010) New Technology Supporting Informal Learning, Journal of Emerging Technologies in Web Intelligence, 2(1), pp. 27–33.

• Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Derry, S. J., Bitterman, A. and Hatrak, N. (2009) Targeting Transfer in a STELLAR PBL Course for Pre-service Teachers, The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, Volume 3, No. 2, Fall, pp. 24-42.

• Marton, F. (1994) “Phenomenography as a Research Approach”, Husen, T. and Postlethwaite, N. (2nd ed) The International Encyclopedia of Education, Vol. 8, Pergamon, pp. 4424-4429, available athttp://www.ped.gu.se/biorn/phgraph/civil/main/1res.appr.html [accessed 7 Feb 2012].

• Mills, D (2006) Problem-based learning: An overview, available at http://www.csap.bham.ac.uk/resources/project_reports/ShowOverview.asp?id=4[accessed 5 Feb 2012]

• Savin-Baden, M (2003) Facilitating Problem-Based Learning, Illuminating Perspective, Maidenhead: SRHE and Open University Press.

• Scardamalia, M. and Bereiter, C. (1994) ‘Computer support for knowledge-building communities’ in The Journal of Learning Sciences, 3(3), 256-283.

• Siemens, G. (2011) Moving beyond self-directed learning: Network-directed learning, 1 May, available at http://www.connectivism.ca/?p=307[accessed 27 Jan 2012]

• Wenger, E., Trayer, B. and de Laat, M. (2011) Promoting and assessing value creation in communities and networks: a conceptual framework, Rapport 18, Ruud de Moor Centrum, Open Universiteit, available at http://www.social-learning-strategies.com/documents/Wenger_Trayner_DeLaat_Value_creation.pdf [accessed 3 Feb 2012]

• Wiley, D. (2006) Open Source, Openness, and Higher Education, innovate, Oct/Nov, Volumne 3, issue 1, available at http://www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol3_issue1/Open_Source,_Openness,_and_Higher_Education.pdf [accessed 28 Jan 2012]

Using existing resources and expertise more effectively through sharing and exchange with other institutions.

Developing and delivering sessions, modules and programmes in collaboration and partnership, thus enriching institutional offers.

Utilising freely available social media tools and technologies, accessible to or owned by learners, enabling enhanced connectivity, thereby increasing buy-in.

Providing learners the opportunity to connect with other learners beyond module and programme level and become active members of more open learning communities.

Adapting and creating resources collaboratively, preferable as OER and sharing with other learning communities.

Using opportunities for collaboration and shared pedagogical and subject-specific research and scholarly activities to raise standards of teaching and create good relationships among institutions, transforming competitiveness into cooperation –aiming for a common good.F

lashcard

s:

benefits

of sharing

quotes

cross-institutional collaboration

"Communicating with people from other institutions was one of the best aspects of the trial, it was good to exchange ideas with people from other institutions [...] it was novel and exciting – this aspect kept me going on the trial really!"

multi-disciplinary groups

“It was very positive. Especially because we all came from different backgrounds. Enriching my experience a lot. Because, I was a scientist and I looked at the problem in a very scientific way. Divided it in my head and categorised it. And they were more global and social and personal. I didn’t think very much on the personal aspect, aspect, as I told you, first of all, I was very sort of puzzled by the scenario and I felt, because I didn’t see the problem to solve. And they saw the problem more globally and they had that insight that I didn’t perhaps have.”

group size

“Actually we lost one person and that might have been a blessing actually. Just in terms 3 people are easier to organise than 4.”

rules

“The basic manners and etiquette must be clearly communicated at the beginning; For instance at the beginning I was apologising to cut other's writing, but I later found out that it was taken for granted. I wished that we had a discussion on those very basic ethics and manners working online within our team.”

community

“real human contact–eye-to-eye, smile, feeling the other’s real presence”

“the sense of writing into a black hole”

“I would have liked to come away feeling it was more of a community being created”

facilitation

“The chief thing that the trial highlighted for me was the importance of the facilitator to the success of the project. It is a lot more work doing things this way, and the facilitator needs to be pretty “hands on" in the absence of face-to-face meetings between group members.”

technologies

“I was curious about the choice of tools. Were they what facilitators felt comfortable with? I am happy online. I forget how daunting people find the technology. [...] Oh!, it is really complicated. [...] How to buy in? To give them the initial knowledge-base. People are selective of which platforms they use.”

towards free-range academic practice an example from Academic Development

Chrissi Nerantzi, Academic Developer, University of Salford

In this session we will explore the benefits and challenges of free-range/open and cross-institutional learning using an online Problem-Based Learning framework.

We will share findings from an experiment and take you on a journey towards an open academic practice implementation at the University of Salford.

Do institutions, teachers and students benefit from such initiatives and how could we use such an online PBL framework to provide enhanced opportunities to connect, communicate and collaborate beyond institutional walls?

Chrissi NerantziAcademic Developer

@chrissinerantzi

Edinburgh Napier University10 May 12 Edinburgh

towards free-range academic practiceexamples from Academic Development