University of Aberdeen
School of Education
Outline Project Proposal 2004-2005
Learning Technology Unit Programme
The School of Education has
an ongoing programme of online course development which is based round a well
coordinated Learning Hub concept.
All courses offered on an online basis are accessed through the Hub.
To facilitate further
innovation and development within this area the School of Education wishes to
provide as many staff as possible with an opportunity to have expert support to
design, create and author new courses for online delivery. This requires continued development of
the existing schedule and plan for training and support to enable staff to
engage effectively and efficiently with the processes of design and production.
It is also essential that the
School of Education develops and is seen to be developing online methodologies
and practices to ensure that practice is current, innovative, developmental,
and is based on the best supporting research evidence.
For various reasons it is
essential that a range of new courses are developed within the period in
question to ensure that:
In addition to extending the
range of courses it is also important that the form and the style of the
courses developed reflect best practice.
The School of Education has thus a need to provide a range of new tools
and facilities to supplement and to complement what is already available to
course developers. It is hoped
that through this bid a range of tools will be investigated and/or developed to
match aspirations outlined in enclosed papers. These tools can then be rolled-out to developers through an
appropriate education and training schedule.
The enclosed bid, which has
been compiled from a set of innovative responses from staff, as a result of a
request for project proposals, is fully consistent with the C&IT Policy and
C&IT Strategy of the School of Education and its Academic Plan. These
individual responses have been included here (LTU4/5.2 to LTU4/5.16) for
information and to provide additional details. The School of Education outline bid is however summarised in
the form numbered LTU4/5.1.
The enclosed bid is large and
complex but there are several themes which run across the projects
submitted. Identification of these
common themes within the suite of projects is essential to effective planning
for implementation of the proposal and this will only be possible through a
comprehensive analysis of the individual projects. Once themes are identified ÔgeneralisationÕ of tools
developed should thus be possible to avoid further duplication in design and
development effort. An overall
project management role is thus key to the development of the suite of
individual projects. It is hoped
that the LTU will undertake this project management role to maximise the impact
of developments across the complete range of projects proposed.
It is hoped that the LTU will
be able to provide support for the complete set of bids, however, if this is
not feasible the School of Education will be pleased to receive support for as
many of the identified projects as is possible. If required School of Education prioritisation of bids can
be provided.
Terry Allan
School of Education
2 March 2004
1 Including
the Chartered Teacher Programme.
2 Exemplified through the continued
development of a distance learning PGCE(P) course
3 Nationally funded initiatives including
Masterclass, NGfL and Spark set standards and expectations which require to be
matched.
4 The MEd, PGCE(S) and PGCE(P) programmes are
all supported by developing online environments. These require continued development along with other
programmes where an online presence is as yet not significant.
UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
Learning Technology Unit Programme
Outline Project Proposal 2004 - 2005
Title of project: School
of Education Learning Hub 2004-2005
Department/School/Faculty: School
of Education
Contact Name: Terry
Allan
Tel no: 01224 274573 E-mail: t.allan@abdn.ac.uk
Name and code of course(s) which will be affected by this project:
This
submission incorporates bids from staff representing a number of areas and all
programmes within the School of Education. The bid is also fully consistent
with the School of Education C&IT Policy and with the C&IT Strategy for
2002-2006.
Number of students affected by this project:
All
students who participate in any of the programmes offered by the School of
Education including those offered on a part-time and on a distance learning
basis will thus be affected.
Proposed date of use with students if applicable:
Rolled out a available
What
are the aims of the project?
á
to give practical expression to the School of Education C&IT
Policy through a range of well planned implementation projects;
á
to further develop a rich, coherent and extensive virtual learning
environment to:
o
enable wider access on flexible bases through a high quality
provision;
o
maintain our professional credibility and competitiveness;
o
facilitate different modes or learning and styles of teaching;
o
incorporate relevant research and developments findings into
courses.
á
to facilitate and encourage involvement of a wider range of
academic staff in the development and use of the virtual learning environment;
á
to have all programmes actively engaged in the developing virtual
learning environment strategy;
á
to provide development opportunities suitable for staff consistent
with the requirements of the developing virtual learning environment;
á
to make as full use as possible of University facilities and
services to facilitate the development and maintenance of an environment which
is technologically and pedagogically forward thinking;
á
to take advantage of appropriate technological developments as
they occur;
á
to ensure that our programmes and courses are not merely
conforming with professional requirements regarding the application and use of
C&IT and matching the expectations of students, staff, and the professions
we service but that the School of Education is seen to be providing an
education which is providing direction to the professions in this area;
á
to ensure that the professional practice adopted by academic staff
in their teaching is not only consistent with the expectations of their peers
but is providing direction to others in the use of C&IT in learning and
teaching.
More
specifically the intention is:
á
To build on and
consolidate School of Education approaches to the design and use of online
learning environments centred on collaborative and Ôcommunities of practiceÕ
approaches to learning through the development of new courses, tools and the
wider involvement of academic staff
á
To provide an opportunity
for the exploration of a range of interactive approaches to learning in online
settings
For details of aims for each project see
enclosed proposal forms.
What will be the outcomes of the project?
1 Update
and development of the existing Learning Hubs and the Learning Hub provision
through the addition of new online courses, materials, resources and
facilities;
2 A
range of generic modules and resources which can be accommodated within the
Common Resources areas of the Learning Hub and can be made be available for use
across the whole University;
3 A
range of new online course development tools/resources to enable more active
and collaborative and well supported learning and research to occur;
4 Integration
of current research findings and observations into online course design and
provision to enhance course provision and to facilitate and encourage ongoing
research activity and publication.
5 Systems
to facilitate the addition of Ôcommunities of practiceÕ models of learning into
programmes;
6 Staff
with increased skills in the design and production of online courses using a
range of tools and methodologies;
List the relevant learning outcomes for the course(s) involved, indicating how the introduction of this project would help to achieve them:
Course
descriptors with learning outcomes are available on request, the intention is
to exploit the interactive features of the WebCT environment and other
available online facilities as fully as possible to support learning outcomes
consistent with a model of learning which stresses participative, exploratory,
active and reflective activities.
Further
details area also available in the attached proposal forms.
What benefits will result
from this project:
For the students:
1 Greater
range of online courses and resources
2 More
flexible learning opportunities
3 Greater
support for leaning and research
4 More
interactive courses
5 More
opportunities for collaborative learning
For your Department/School/Faculty/the University:
1 Greater
range of online courses and resources to be used by undergraduates and
postgraduates
2 Potential
for increased use of flexible learning within courses
3 Exploitation
of new markets: for example by distance delivery of Chartered Teacher Programme
4 A
range of tools will be available for course developers to enable more
interactive and collaborative learning environments to be created.
5 Materials,
tools and resources will be produced which can be used/deployed by staff
throughout the University
For you:
Not applicable
Estimation of magnitude of project (to be completed by LTU):
Long Ð 3+ months
This proposal has been discussed with a member of the Learning
Technology Unit. I understand that if the project proposal goes ahead it will
be a collaborative effort with the LTU, with my school or faculty being
responsible for the academic content, and the LTU providing pedagogical support
and design and technical input.
Signature of applicant(s): Date:
Signature of Head of School or Dean: Date:
Signature of LTU Manager/Support Officer: Date:
UNIVERSITY OF
ABERDEEN
Learning Technology
Unit Programme
Outline Project
Proposal 2004 - 2005
Title of project: Building and Sustaining a Community of Enquiry in
Educational Research
Unit/School/College: School of Education
Contact Name: Norman Coutts Douglas Hay
Tel no: 274584 Email:
n.coutts@abdn.ac.uk
Name and code of course(s) which will be affected by this project:
MEd (Taught Masters Dissertation) and Research Degrees
Number of students affected by this project: 140
Proposed date of use with students if applicable: October
2004
What are the aims of the project?
Over the last two sessions, with the help of the LTU, we have made
significant progress in the use of online resources hosted in WEB CT to deliver
courses within the MEd. While we
need to consolidate and enhance our existing practice using a
socio-constructivist approach to the delivery of materials and activities
within individual courses, we also need to expand our practice to encompass the
use of shared approaches and materials across courses and between
programmes. This represents good
learning practice and will delivery efficiency gains.
The idea of the Ôcommunity of practiceÕ (Wenger 1999 2002) provides an
interesting and timely conceptual starting point for such an initiative. This project will aim to provide a test
environment in which the LTU and the School of Education can experiment with
ideas associated with building and sustaining a form of community of practice
(enquiry) focused on educational research. The community will aim to meet the shared needs of School of
Education MEd students engaged in the research phase of their studies and full
and part time research degrees students.
Ideas associated with the community of practice include co-working of
experienced and less experienced practitioners as the latter are inducted into
the community or practice and its discourses, through the joint development of
cultural tools and resources Ð in this case related to the purposes of
educational research and study.
A secondary aim is to provide a vehicle to support participation of
School of Education and LTU colleagues in the Applied Educational Research
Scheme (AERS) nationally.
A third aim is to provide a focus and vehicle for groups of
practitioner researchers in schools who would work with University tutors on a
collaborative participatory practitioner research model. It is anticipated that this model would
attract external funding and support from a number of Education Authorities.
This will allow coordination of the efforts of Research Degrees,
Chartered Teacher, Scottish Qualification for Headship, and other Masters
participants in the shared development of materials and resources. The materials resources to be developed
would be the equivalent of 8 PG Masters modules.
What will be the outcomes of the project?
The project will allow us to develop:
Understanding of the design principles that can help create a vibrant
and successful community of practice (enquiry) within full and part time
research students studying on and off campus.
Shared tools and resources to support student wider interaction and
participation and so reduce the isolation of (meantime relatively few) full
time PhD students on campus and those practitioner researchers who study off
campus and part time.
A sustainable forum for practitioner research in local schools centred
on a School of Education hub.
Practice informed insights into the successful operation of online
learning on an innovative supra-course level to support research and
publication.
List the relevant
learning outcomes for the course(s) involved, indicating how the outcomes of
this project would help to achieve them:
Not appropriate at this point
- as Ôcultural toolsÕ produced within the community of practice and the
design and shape of the must emerge from the practice and discussions of the
community members.
At the appropriate point in the design specification these would be
precisely matched to learning outcomes of validated courses/programmes
What
benefits will result from this project:
For the students:
Richer learning opportunities designed and developed with the active
participation and engagement of leading practitioners and research students.