Exploring Tangible Benefits of e-Learning:

The following is a summary of a number of case studies found when 'Exploring Tangible Benefits of e-Learning',JISC (2008). I have also tried to identify what is my opinion the main areas of innovation covered and the driving factors.

The case studies cover the following areas:-

• Working together collaboratively
• Innovative Online training 
• Staff training to raise the profile and awareness of e-learning
• Video conferencing sharing of modules across a number of universties.
• Eportfolio system
• Adoption of moodle
• Blended approach to learning
• Developing partnerships with local trusts 
• Exams designed to support disabled students
• VLE to support worldwide students
• Online learning for eteaching practice
• Podcasting to see real images instead of photographs
• Blended approach to training use of moodle, podcasting and handset voting
• Simulation gaming to help produce blended learning
• Elearning resource for sharing best practice amongst staff
• Website for the support of learning with wide ranging needs and support
• Elearning to support paper based distance learning material
• Virtual farm to enable collection of real time data
• Eportfolios fro reflecting on teaching practice
• Eportfolio to help support first year students
• Course design to accommodate childcare arrangements 
• Audio commentaries to accompany archaeology images
• Creation of a virtual space for sharing elearning resources for staff 
• Online assessment for medical staff reducing the assessment time required

In general the site offers examples of innovation that covers the following areas:-

• e-assessment
• Online learning
• Eportfolios
• Collaborative working
• Podcasting
• Gaming and virtual simulations

The driving factors apparent from these case studies include:-

• Improving the learner experience
• Developing staff effectively 
• Sharing best practice as both a student and staff level
• Performing assessment more efficiently
• Provision of support material for all areas of academic work

JISC (2008) Exploring Tangible Benefits of e-Learning: Does Investment Yield Interest? [online],
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/publications/publications/info/tangible-benefits-publication (Accessed 12 November 2009).

A quick Reflection, Plenty of innovation this week.

Another busy week in the classroom, started with my OU Tutorial, six students helped to make it a worthwhile event and the disappointment within the group with respect to the location of the next tutorial led me to produce an online poll. I won't post it here because I don't want any extra votes:-) that I am not expecting.
With 26 students seven days after the poll only 12 have answered which is disappointing, it’s only a 10 second task. Here I am considering moving my tutorial to suite the students and many haven’t even responded. I have also produced a Google map showing all there locations to help me identify groups for the next activity another innovative idea thanks to Google.
Most of my working week was spent teaching the only rest bite was a Technical visit to Mitsubishi UK on Friday, where an update on the latest technology in controls was experienced. What’s this got to do with H807 I may well ask, well innovation is all around my life and the sharing of ideas and concepts within the tutor group is both invigorating and rewarding. I wish I had more time to follow up some of the discussions I know now I should be completing the TMA as I go along but I intend to reflect on this during the week and go back over some of the discussions.
The week ahead sees my students complete a practical controls project using all the latest technology I will experience innovation in practice this week, its always interesting to see how as a group they approach this they should divide the work up programming the controllers, touch screens and SCADA system to make the solution but I bet they don’t.
In addition to this a few of my colleagues are finally starting to show an interest in the VLE so I might strike while the irons hot.

e-Assessment in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/edinburgh/index_html
University of Edinburgh, e-Assessment in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine

The Online System for Clinical Assessment was developed in-house by the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine's Learning Technology Section to support the delivery of online assessments in the undergraduate medical degree programme and undergraduate veterinary degree programmes. Objective, Structured, Clinical Examinations are an essential component of assessments for medical and veterinary students.

The system was used to replace the labour intensive testing methods already in place and also to speed up the assessment process.Some of the Clinical Examination would be replaced by assessments, testing the same competencies/skills but delivered in a secure technological environment requiring no staff support thus enabling all students to be examined in two sittings over a single day instead of two days.

This innovative approach would enable electronic marking, a greater variety of scenarios yet still test the competencies and skills required.

The Learning Lab staff development initiative Swansea University

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/swansea/index_html
Swansea University, The Learning Lab staff development initiative

Summary
The Learning Lab is an informal collaboration between schools and departments on all aspects of e-learning. A forum to discuss, formulate and disseminate ideas and best practice and an area where learning and teaching rather than technology drive the process.The plan was to learn by actually performing a number of e-learning tasks; a hands on approach.

The learning lab is a website of shared resources and information to help support the University in engadging staff in participation and self learning. Sharing of best practice and ideas because a number of staff had very little idea when it came to using the tools or indeed understanding what e-learning was actually about.

By allowing staff to use and explore the use of the tools it was hoped that they would be able to identify the benefit to their classes where appropriate and start using some of the tools. However the Learning Lab site is a community and where everyone had an opportunity to partake, there was to be no dictation by 'Learning Technologists'.

A team-based approach to developing e-resource at Warwick

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/warwick/index_html
The University of Warwick, A team-based approach to developing e-resource

Summary

The aim was to introduce a planned approached to the development of elearning resources that would gradually develop rather than leave it to a few enthusiastic but isolated individuals.

It involved a number of planned activities designed to promote understanding and share best practice. It took the form of online support, face to face sessions and hands on training in the ICT suite.

Staff were encouraged to attend a number of sessions lured by the free hot lunch and invited to share ideas and suggest future activities

The innovation with this case was the fact that innovation was being used to sell innovative ideas and encourage the adoption of new practices and facilities. By learning about the e-resources in a combination of events it was hoped that staff could see and indeed embrace the benefits. This case did highlight the fact the staff lacked confidence in the use of the the tools available and the online conferencing.

Formative e-assessment in Economics at Derby

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/derby/index_html
University of Derby, Formative e-assessment in Economics

Summary
The purpose of this innovation was to support private study with the aim of reducing failure rates on the micro-economics first year module.

The idea was to put in place a number of formative e-assessments available to the students so they could be completed in addition to the lectures and tutorials. By putting these assessments in place and allowing students to take them multiple times it was expected that the students would be able to address common areas that were found to be a problem on previous courses.

The courses were already using a VLE and this was just an additional component. However to ensure that students actually completed them a support and follow up mechanism was put in place. This enabled the identification of students that needed additional support early on in the course.

 A slight problem was that of connectivity; the e-assessments could only be accessed on campus  through the network and were not available outside of the campus. Part of the reason for this was the file size, in fact initially it was found that many of the PCs on site were not up to specification.

Innovative
In terms of innovation, e-assessment is common place now it does enable repeat tests and students to self help. In the case of this study the assessments have been designed in house therefore cost effective and the case study emphasises the fact that the tests have been designed with extensive feedback loops therefore supporting the natural progression of the student.

Case Study Investigations

By exploring the JISC website it is planned to perform a review of four case studies looking at the background information about the approach taken. My blog will be used to record my views and share with fellow H807ers. For each case study that I consider, I will add a blog entry. I start today by listing my selected case studies.

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/derby/index_html
University of Derby, Formative e-assessment in Economics

  http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/warwick/index_html1
The University of Warwick, A team-based approach to developing e-resource

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/swansea/index_html2
Swansea University, The Learning Lab staff development initiative

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/edinburgh/index_html
University of Edinburgh, e-Assessment in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine

Concept Map Elearning

There are a number of concepts and themes associated with elearning. When placing on a concept grid What pattern is formed? Were they evenly spaced or in a cluster? My analysis and perception led to a grid that created a cluster towards the new side implying elearning technologies. 

1.      To what extent should we think of elearning as a distinct discipline with a need for its own concepts and vocabulary?

Learning is learning I am sure in years to come the this will become more apparent but with the introduction of m-learning could we pose the same question in this direction. I think there are clearly new technologies and practices that have come about as a result of elearning which warrant their own distinct discipline and technical vocabulary the learning technologist for example has a role of introducing technology into the classroom; do they need to be teachers or technologist? Or dare I say both.

2.      Do you think the formal–informal divide is more or less evident in elearning than in more traditional forms of learning?

Yes although I feel the advent of elearning has generated a fresh look at how we indeed learn. The introduction of social learning via the web is not new, social learning has always gone on in the playground, down the pub blah blah but with social sites enabling participation from a wider audience and the ability to join like minded group social learning has become more predominant and accepted.

The speed of electronic assessment has made testing easier and perhaps more realistic in some cases. However the vast amount of information at our disposal has meant thet plagiarism is more of an issue now. I could go on the introduction of m-learning may well exasperate it even further.

3.      Did you find any of the concepts difficult to place on the grid provided? If so, why was this?

Work based learning has always been around; the apprentice that is guided on his tools to attain a skill or profession I wasn't sure where to put this I tried to detach this from elearning however if work based learning is not the traditional approach and indeed involves using a computer package to learn a skill then it would need to move to the right. 

4.      Can you think of two different axes for such a grid that might also help categorise elearning concepts?

Initial thoughts lead me to think perhaps splitting the skills required by a teacher as opposed to a technologist and then whether the activity was an individual effort or collaborative in the form of group work.

Week 1 H807

Having completed week one of this course I think its safe to say it is going to be an interesting course . There is a  good mix of students with varied backgrounds to influence the discussions throughout the course. The first group work activity started slowly, in fact I thought I was on my own for a few days, then suddenly the conference burst into life  and the outcome was a successful one.

On reflection I may have jumped in a bit quick but I knew I had little time at the start of the working week so felt I had to contribute during the weekend. This mean't there was not a great deal left for the late arrivals to do. It apparent from the off that the conference activities have got to work this year there is too much emphasis on them in the assignments, but its been a good start and there's certainly been aplenty of good discussion within the group.

What is Innovation.

My experience within the area of teaching is where I would like to focus on this area, what have I experienced that is innovative over the past 15 years.

The introduction of many learning technologies that have included:-

•     Powerpoint and multimedia
•     Social communications 
•     Touch screen interfaces and whiteboards
•     Electronic testing and marking
•     3D virtual worlds and graphics    

I guess for me innovation means using modern technologies in the classroom for the better of the student learning experience. If you get it right there is a certain buzz in the classroom and good results naturally follow.

Rich, M. and Holtham, C. (2005). The innovation was taking what was a new technology and adding it to the general makeup of the course. The use of email within a face to face training environment, can you believe this was seen as innovation now its taken for granted that email is available when learning.
Lück, M. and Laurence, G.M. (2005).The addition of video conferencing was technically more challenging and indeed even now it creates challenges for students and their systems there is a such a wide range of platforms and limitations as a result make it inevitable that some learners will not be able to see videos easily. In this example it was seen as a change and valuable addition to the course and certainly seen by students as a useful addition to the course. It was mean't to enhance F2F not replace it.
Generally innovation brings increased productivity and with it increased profits, this is not always the case but it is safe to say that innovation generates interest albeit in some cases only for a short time. It is important that new ideas are generated and experimented with after all many technological leaps have come about because the ideas of an individual have been shared and developed by someone else.

I teach in a College my students are being paid to be there and generally want to be there. Yes a strange but true notion. I have a captive audience but students of today want more and want to do less. They don't see the point of exams, would prefer to do an assignment or project, they struggle to see the need to memorise something that is just a few clicks away.

I see innovation in my place of work as trying to embrace the modern student and improve the learning experience but I am surrounded by some dinasours who still think that using a 10 year old viewfoil is acceptable. Over the years I have developed web sites and supportive material to help the students but let me share a frustration with you.

I spent ten years developing a DVD with all my lessons on and resources which I used to issue students the content is in web format and therefore accessible I have been working in the cloud for years too. Due to security measures put in place all PCs in the college are now locked down, no USB access no DVDs and the internet is filtered to stop me having access to web 2.0 apps and 'Cloud Working', The college put in place a Moodle VLE and have basically left use to get on with it. No training, no guidance and so I now have to consider moving all my lessons into this environment.

Whilst I welcome Innovation, its needs to be considered as part of the whole picture. I am certainly an activist trying to address this issue but in the meantime its all a bit frustrating.

Reflection 

Reading what most contributors made of this theme it was clear the most thought that innovation is good it as long at it improves the learning experience. Time is seen as the enemy many educators are already overburdened with bureaucracy and forms and just do not have the time to implement new ideas. It is not until demonstrations of the real benefits are seen that the additional effort can be seen as worthwhile.

We live in an innovative world the transistor was invented just over fifty years ago and all this technology has come about as a result, scary, its no wonder some cannot keep pace with the developments let alone any new innovations as they come along.

There is also a clear goal for an educator, 'educate', 'inspire' and 'enthuse' the student, enable their creativity and help them find what they aspire to. Can this be possible without innovation, of course, as has been pointed out many talented teachers can inspire their class with good teaching and many talented innovators can overdo the the technology at the expense of the teaching.

References
Lück, M. and Laurence, G.M. (2005) ‘Innovative teaching: sharing expertise through videoconferencing’, Innovate, vol.2, no.1 [online]http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=59 (Accessed 6 November 2007).
Rich, M. and Holtham, C. (2005) ‘New technology in learning: a decade’s experience in a business school’, British Journal of Educational Technology – Special Issue on Innovation in Elearning, vol.36, no.4, pp.677–679; also available online athttp://libezproxy.open.ac.uk/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2005.00545.x (Accessed 6 November 2007).