Anoush Margaryan Learning Communities and Repositories ALT-C 2006 Conference Symposium 981 “Would you Care to Share?” September 6, 2006 Dr. Anoush Margaryan Caledonian Academy Glasgow Caledonian University, UK Learning Communities and Repositories: Underpinning the Vision

Anoush Margaryan Learning Communities and Repositories ALT-C 2006 Conference Symposium 981 “Would you Care to Share?” September 6, 2006 Vision  Learning Object Economy  Creating and sharing resources locally and globally  Collaborating with peers across boundaries  Communities coalescing around LORs  Transformation of learning practices  Enhancement of learning experience

Anoush Margaryan Learning Communities and Repositories ALT-C 2006 Conference Symposium 981 “Would you Care to Share?” September 6, 2006 And the reality?  Learning Object economy not achieved  Technology push rather than pedagogy pull  “People in their contexts make it complicated” (Collis and Moonen, 2005)  Misalignment with users’ needs and contexts

Anoush Margaryan Learning Communities and Repositories ALT-C 2006 Conference Symposium 981 “Would you Care to Share?” September 6, 2006 Barriers Socio-cultural Pedagogic Organisational and info management Technological Margaryan, Currier, Littlejohn, & Nicol (2006) lor/learningcommunitiesreport.pdf  Cultural preferences and expectations related to sharing, collaboration, hierarchies and roles within communities, HCI, culture of disciplines and sectors  Decontextualisation, user skills and information literacy, loss of educational narrative, diversity of pedagogic approaches in communities  Lack of alignment with organisational strategy, need for new management processes, incentives, information management (IPR, DRM, metadata)  Reference models, database technology, technology for services, interoperability with others LORs and tools used by communities

Anoush Margaryan Learning Communities and Repositories ALT-C 2006 Conference Symposium 981 “Would you Care to Share?” September 6, 2006 LOR Communities Types of communities 1. Learning-oriented communities 2. Research-oriented communities 3. Work-oriented, communities of practice 4. Hobby-oriented communities of interest/ fantasy Seufert, Moisseeva & Steinbeck (2001) Community dimensions 1. Purpose 2. Dialogue 3. Roles and responsibilities 4. Coherence –close-knit or loosely confederated/ transient 5. Context 6. Rules 7. Pedagogy Margaryan et. al (2006)

Anoush Margaryan Learning Communities and Repositories ALT-C 2006 Conference Symposium 981 “Would you Care to Share?” September 6, 2006 Dimensions of LORs Purpose – types of resources exchanged; preservation of materials; sharing of resources Subject area or discipline Scope - departmental, institutional, regional, national, or international Educational sector - school, higher education, further education, lifelong learning Contributors - teachers, students, publishers, support staff, projects Business model - business, trading and management framework underpinning repository

Anoush Margaryan Learning Communities and Repositories ALT-C 2006 Conference Symposium 981 “Would you Care to Share?” September 6, 2006 Linking LORs, communities, issues, and solutions LORs JORUM SIESWE IVIMEDS Spoken Word Aberdeen University University of Ireland Galway UHI Millennium Institute LORE LOR dimensions Purpose Discipline Scope Sector Contributor Business model Community dimensions Purpose Dialogue Roles Coherence Context Rules Pedagogy Issues Cultural Pedagogic Organisatio- nal Technologi- cal Solutions Cultural Pedagogic Organisatio- nal Technologi- cal

Anoush Margaryan Learning Communities and Repositories ALT-C 2006 Conference Symposium 981 “Would you Care to Share?” September 6, 2006 Prerequisites for success  LORs should only be introduced if they are a solution to a problem meaningful to users  Design of LORs should be based on needs of the communities  Product innovation should involve process innovation  LORs linked to institutional and national strategies for teaching and learning  Demonstrated impact and added value for users