Start date: 31 March 2008
End date: 31 January 2009
Funding programme: e-Learning Capital programme
JISC theme(s): e-Learning
Committees: JISC Learning and Teaching committee
Background
The Reusable Learning Object (RLO) paradigm has yet to fulfil its true potential. The reasons for this are rooted in institutional and academic culture. Many educators and managers either don’t know about RLOs, or imagine that there is something dauntingly ‘technical’ about them; and some of those who are aware, will not use them due to IPR concerns – concerns that do not otherwise stop academics from using others’ books. Funded RLO projects tend to focus on the creation of new RLOs than doing what the Learning Objects are intended for – reuse.
This Project will repopulate a core introductory module introducing Multimedia and the World Wide Web with RLOs, mainly using externally sources learning objects, complemented by institutional and new content. It will create a sustained and exemplary instance of the significant reaggregation of external materials within a coherent pedagogical strategy. As an exemplary case study it will offer quality, practicality and effectiveness: only materials that add value over and above passive and traditional learning materials and methods will be used; e-learning that utilises different cognitive channels, not simply different media; materials that provide simulation of abstract concepts or dynamic processes, or engage the learner in activity to facilitate the elaborative and active construction of understanding. The module content is ideally suited to the use of pedagogically sound interactive multimedia content, and at the same time is sufficiently generic to be a realistic exemplar of reusability that can be transferred to large cohorts. Where possible, the pedagogical potential of Reusable Learning Object communication with the VLE will also be exploited, and unpackaged materials will, subject to any necessary permissions, be packaged.
Aims and Objectives
The Project aim is to create a clearly defined case-study that exemplifies the possibility and the benefits of content reuse in Higher Education.
The Project will identify and catalogue external e-learning material and use criteria based on current research to select interactive, elaborative, and constructivist learning objects that add value to the learning process within Manchester Metropolitan University’s Computer Science Department’s core Level 1 unit, Introduction to Multimedia and the WWW. Where the materials are available in a suitable e-learning content packaging standard (e.g. in Jorum), the characteristics specific to Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) will also be pedagogically evaluated. Where the materials are not packaged for efficient reaggregation, and where it is possible to do so, they will be. Selected materials will be integrated into a Learning Design (LD), blended with other learning and teaching approaches, duly embedded into the VLE course, then used and evaluated. The reaggregation process will be pedagogically-driven, and the Project will explore the pedagogical, strategic and technical issues around and obstacles to the effective uptake of reusable content.
Project Methodology
Selection of objects will be based on the presence of added value, interaction, and cognitive elaboration within materials, in addition to their appropriateness and coherence.
Summative evaluation will be conducted by means of control groups (controlled for extraneous variables and equivalences), measuring focused understanding by means of pre and post tests.
Deliverables
- Interim Report
- Blog documenting progress and reflective investigation into barriers to learning material reuse
- Catalogue of all relevant learning objects and materials, including key characteristics
- Copyright clearance documentation
- Evaluation Report, including pedagogical evaluation and peer review
- Presentation based on Blog and Evaluation, for internal and external dissemination
- Practical Guide to reuse and reaggregation
- RLO packages: both repackaged materials and new materials specifically generated for this course.
- Completion Report
- e-Course Pack containing the technologically enhanced unit in zip format
- Conference and/or Journal paper
Stakeholders
- MMU
- MMU Department of Computing & Mathematics (DoCM)
- MMU Department of Information and Communications (DIC)
- Liverpool Hope University
- Student body
- Teaching Staff
- JISC
- Centre for Learning and Teaching (MMU)