JISC/CNI Meeting 6 th July 2006 the project a joint project with Strathclyde and Stanford Universities “digital libraries for global distributed innovative design education and teamwork” Neal Juster (University of Strathclyde) Larry Leifer (Stanford University)

the project a joint project with Strathclyde and Stanford Universities “digital libraries for global distributed innovative design education and teamwork”

Project Programme Transform the education process using innovative applications of emerging technologies and electronic resources JISC/NSF Project Digital Libraries in the Classroom Programme

Project Team One of four US/UK collaborations in DLIC Programme Stanford University Center for Design Research Department of Mechanical Engineering Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University of Strathclyde Department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management (DMEM) Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement (CAPLE) Centre for Digital Library Research (CDLR) Learning Services

Partner roles Stanford Laboratory based experiments small numbers Understanding impact of ICT and coaching on design teams and processes Strathclyde Adoption of ICT and pedagogy (including coaching) in classroom large numbers Evaluation of impact on student learning Both Global student design projects

Project Vision To enhance student learning opportunities by enabling them to participate in global team-based design engineering projects that give them experience of working within multi-cultural contexts. Make this possible through a range of information and communication technologies.

Project objectives Teach engineering information retrieval, manipulation, and archiving skills Measure the use of those skills in design projects Measure the learning performance affected by the provision of usually difficult to access information Measure how alternative sources of information and ICT affects performance in different cultural contexts Use the measurement results to annually redesign course content and digital library use

Nature of Design Engineering Negotiation and resolution of open ended design scenarios Distributed/global design projects – need collaborative working area and communication tools Need access to as wide a range of information as possible on demand Engineering skills must be complemented with information literacy skills All design is re-design

Design knowledge framework Team Learners Formalized PD Knowledge Process React Learning Facilitator Coach Apply Extract/ Publish PD History Management Contextualize Mediate Tacit PD Knowledge PD Practice Retain Reflect Improve Interpret INFORMAL (including tacit)FORMAL [Eris 03]

PD History Tacit PD Knowledge Formalized PD Knowledge PD Practice Coach Learning Facilitator Learners Process INFORMALFORMAL Learning Loop 1 Learning Loop 2 Learning Loop 3 Team Instructor Design knowledge framework

Informal Design Knowledge Informal knowledge is found in casual design documents (notes, sketches, photos, , blogs, draft documents) Informal knowledge is created during design activity and reflection. Authorship is often ambiguous Difficult to capture, share and re- use How do we support students to do this?

Classroom Model Project-based design learning hands on approach, learn by doing open-ended scenarios demanding creativity no pre-defined information requirements no right answer Learner support blended learning coaching team Approach to Project-based learning find, create, and reuse information using the widest possible range of resources

System Wiki based system ‘LauLima’ Developed from open source wiki – ‘Tikiwiki’ Extensively customised and enhanced Powerful permissions system for wiki pages and ‘file gallery’ file storage system Two discrete parts to LauLima system; Learning Environment (LLE) and Digital Library (LDL)

INFORMAL & DYNAMIC LauLima Learning Environment (LLE) a workspace environment: point of need Storing and sharing content Group Collaboration/ Team communication Cross team activities Workfow management (process) Manipulation of information Capturing tacit information Knowledge structuring LauLima system architecture LauLima Digital Library (LDL) longer term; reuse by staff and students Retrieval of resources Reuse of student-generated resources, design concepts and sharing processes Quality assurance Metadata and standards Granularity Browse/ search FORMAL & MORE PERMANENT

LLE groupware configured as a shared workspace and digital repository - hierarchical file galleries: organise, store and share content wiki pages (interlinked web pages): share, construct, manage and present information, ideas and knowledge; homepages, project logs, templates blogs communication tools: ‘shout’ facility, internal , forums. LauLima Learning Environment (LLE) a workspace environment: point of need INFORMAL & DYNAMIC

LLE supports - team working from any where at any time – collaboration, communication and co-ordination content sharing within defined teams (permissions) progress and decision-making can be recorded, revisited and reflected upon coaches can see progress recorded in the team logs and adjust support appropriately LauLima Learning Environment (LLE) a workspace environment: point of need INFORMAL & DYNAMIC

Digital Library (LDL) - Digital Library with browse and search functionalities Other contextual functionality (e.g. parse search queries to external services like EEVL, SMETE, University Library, etc.) Links to a comprehensive and authoritative set of external resources (e.g. patent information, major design & engineering gateways / portals, etc.) FORMAL & MORE PERMANENT LauLima Digital Library (LDL) longer term; reuse by staff and students

Digital Library (LDL) supports - Longer term storage of quality resources Including student generated Retrieval of resources Reuse by staff in support of classes Reuse by students in design learning and project work FORMAL & MORE PERMANENT LauLima Digital Library (LDL) longer term; reuse by staff and students

LauLima Will be made available for free down load soon Conflicting shareware licences Being adopted more widely at Strathclyde and Stanford Growing use at other Universities

Class contexts LauLima has been used in several teaching and learning contexts: PDP industrial projects (4 th & 5 th years) 40 teams of 4 Cross-Atlantic operations management class project (2 nd year) 100 students UK, 100 US (Iowa) Formula student (cross-departmental, several years) 40 students Paper bike 16 students – 3 Universities (Olin College) See Larry

Class contexts 3 rd year product design engineering class, working in teams of students total 6-week project to design and prototype a: Can crusher (2003/04) Ice crusher (2004/05) Fruit squeezer (2005/06) Can crusher (2006/07)

Class contexts impact use LauLima LDL LauLima LLE Class activity Capture: create and upload resources Wiki pages: interlink resources Groupware: communicate & share ideas Digital library: find relevant information and examples Wiki pages: store development Reuse: search and re-use previous material

Typical project format end Wk 2Wk 4 start Wk 6 Concept map on LauLima Sketches on LauLima Model on LauLima & demo INFORMATION INPUT CONCEPT GENERATION CONCEPT EVALUATION Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3

Coach Lecturer FORMALINFORMAL LLE (practice, tacit knowledge) LDL (process, formalised knowledge) Team information from other sources Revised Design Knowledge Framework (after Eris, 2003) Learning Loop 1: supporting the design process Learning Loop 3: formalising and re-using content Learning Loop 2: coaching

Changes to class framework The class has been altered over the last 3 years using LauLima to facilitate Project Based Learning improvements in the 3 loops of the Design Knowledge Framework: CLASS FEATURELEARNING LOOP Pool laptops1 Interlinked wiki pages1 Concept maps1 Project logs2 Multi-disciplinary coaching team2 Harvesting material3 Metadata3

Supporting the design process: pool laptops Laptops were made available to teams during class – they were encouraged to use them as “project hubs”

Supporting the design process: interlinked Wiki pages Students had to think about hierarchy of their resources - analysing, organising and reflecting.

Supporting the design process: concept maps Creating a concept map encouraged students to reflect on what information was relevant.

Coaching: multi-disciplinary design team The multi-disciplinary coaching team broadened the scope of the project. student experience Learning technologist provided on-going information literacy support Lecturer gave tailored mini- topics highlighting key issues and tasks Coaches provided on-going process and technical support Librarian gave tailored session on information searching and sources

Coaching: templates as shareable learning objects Templates minimised work in transferring information, capturing rationale and linking resources to concepts.

Formalising & reusing content: harvesting material Staff harvest the best material when marking student sites – then stored in LDL for both to use.

Workflow LLE to LDL content placed in the LLE by students and staff – stored and made accessible though permissions feature academic staff identify content that warrants inclusion in LDL LIS evaluates content following verification and metadata modification. item is placed in LDL LauLima Workflow further subject (keywords) educational context suggested use modify student metadata check metadata accuracy modify metadata rights information further subject (keywords) date added file format depositor identify project name title creator/author source citation subject (keywords) description media type metadata actions generated by depositor Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 generated by academic staff generated by LIS uploading identifying approving automatically generated

Formalising & reusing content: metadata Applying metadata encourages reflection, but burden of process must be minimised… for staff and students.

Effects on learning Feedback indicates LauLima is a useful tool - structured exercises and Information Literacy tutorials necessary. Usage statistics for 6-week project

Student survey This year’s graduating MEng cohort have used LauLima for 3 years. Comments from “exit” interviews: Some felt forced to use LauLima Use in appropriate classes – i.e. Global design Supports team management and information sharing Liked access to previous student examples Benchmark of quality – not re-use! Staff find it useful to track progress – students find it time consuming to upload files

Conclusions Support: Pool laptops provided project hub Wikis encouraged sharing and reflection in design process Concept maps helped create knowledge structures Coaching: Necessary to provide IL as well as design support Structured logs can assist with autonomous learning Formalising knowledge: Diverse resources go through two-stage process before being stored in LDL Student generated material provides a rich source of informal information that is difficult to obtain elsewhere.

But… Students still rely on sources they are familiar with Goggle not ‘digital libraries’ Narrow and shallow search Student reluctance to add metadata Poor file descriptions and names icecrusher1, icecrusher2…. Little recognition of need for metadata tagging

Further information

Further Information System demo…