1. Mind the gap: bridging the two communities
Sarah Holyfield & Christina Smart
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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Experience
in taking e-l forward in institutions
teaching
Moving from early adoption
New technologies
before the web
the web appeared
then vles
then mles
now we’re all using the web for all sorts of things – and so are our students
And Information Services depts have had to cope with all this buffeting and expectations
and just when things seem to settle with big systems along comes something new – first the web and now soa
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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Other factors – especially in universities –
silos – we don’t have to talk to each other – and that includes computer science and educational research
Teachers –
But now we’re wanting to use technology everywhere
And we see what’s possible
And we don’t really understand why we can’t do what we want
But we don’t understand all the technobabble
Technologists –
And we don’t understand why people are so unreasonable and why they want to use all these anarchic tools –
and won’t behave themselves
And they don’t understand how hard we work to keep things working
and the responsibility of just keeping the network, internet and going
And part of the problem is we don’t understand each other’s worlds
And we don’t have a common language
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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And none of us really understand how our organisations work and why it’s so difficult
And we’ve all seen terrible IT implementations – its in the papers everyday – millions of pounds of public money –
we need to start to try and understand so technology is designed to meet our real needs, and we can really exploit it to the full in all its potential
So that’s the polemic
We’re going to do something now to explore this a bit further – we’ve split you into 2 broad camps – and we want you to try and identify with these camps only
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

5. Scenario – The University of the West Coast
The University has as a new VC
She is keen to promote the identity of the institution as a pioneer in its use of e-learning
Needs to:
Develop new 5 year strategies
Improve and update technical infrastructure
Current situation
VLE is no longer supported
Have Finance, Student Records, Library systems
The University of the West Coast has a new VC
Technology is seen as strategic issue, both for enterprise systems and teaching and learning –change of direction – identity of institution as innovative user of elearning, distance learning, partnerships etc
is now to improve and update technical infrastructure over next few years
vle they have is no longer going to be supported as vendor’s been taken over and no longer going to support product
they have several legacy systems, finance, srs etc in place that they will
strategy for next 10 years
no of options including
another off the shelf vle,
developing in-house,
a combination of the 2
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

6. Scenario – The University of the West Coast (2)
A Task group has been set up to develop strategies for teaching and learning, and infrastructure
The Task Group needs to get a better understanding of issues
There are two groups they would be interested in hearing from:
Teachers who are experienced users of technology and what they would like to be able to do
Colleagues from Information services who are convinced about the value of taking a service oriented approach
Both groups have been asked to make a short presentation to the Task Group
Decided to develop strategies in coordinated fashion – t+l, IS and e-learning which has foot in both camps
As part of this committees have decided to get better understanding of issues they realise they may be unfamiliar with, recognition that these ‘camp’s may not have good understanding of each other
Particularly important as is so expensive, and of such strategic importance
Task gp to look at whole thing
both gps have to make pres will be looking at all issues including t+l
will present one after the other
and will be present
strategy for next 10 years
no of options including
another off the shelf vle,
developing in-house,
a combination of the 2
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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The exercise
two presentations are needed for the Task Group
Teachers
What would we like to be able to do and why?
Technologists
Why we think a service oriented approach is a good idea for us
explain your world and issues to this set of people –
in understandable terms
you are free to talk in your own language to each other
the other group is going to listen – and you are not allowed to contribute!
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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Discussion
Technologists reflections
Martini?
L tech understood more about educ than tech
Personality profile
Myers briggs
Learning approaches depending on individuals
Learning styles
Hard to tie in things to tech
Capturing a teachers performance - ?
Systems with kind eyes (usability)
Technologists led developments may not provide appropriate T+l tools – why is that the case?- suggestions – lack of merging of the worlds of techers/learners and technologists
Free for all
What thoughts did you have when you were listening to the process?
What’s still missing?
What does this suggest for how to move forward?
Idea that both gps are becoming far more analytical and recognising need for precision (eg what a coder needs) – but still in different languages
Realities
Language and discourse
Wanting teachers to get more involved
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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Discussion
Teachers reflections
Inauthentic situation
Executable file
Legacy
DBA, MIS, API
Techies – process data
Teaching side – more complex – personality
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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Discussion
SOA - SOAP, AJAX and Flash!
Convert human concepts into human language – sometimes and whenever!
Extreme programming – participatory design
Teachers and techies sympathic to each other – but still a gulf
How can we be more precise about what we do in t+l or whatever –
Something about modelling
Comfort zone thing
Those p who’ve dev dl have had to rethink whole thing
Why is it so hard for teachers to do this – re tech
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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General points
Need for precision in how we talk
Artificial intelligence – capturing the art
Teachers continually shifting their meaning
Educational researchers another group
Should have asked – what do you teach?
Gathering teaching requirements takes a long time
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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Discussion (cont)
AI digitizing thoughts and ideas
Capturing a complex T + L process – can be a tall order for technologists
Can do lots of T+L with tools that are already available
Need clarity from both camps about what they want and what they can provide
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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What next?
Multidisciplinary teams – extreme programming prototyping? Cross institutional teams ?
Can do requirements and prototyping at the same time
Should feed into something
Phase before that – what are the problems first
Weakness – never get past requirement gathering process
What is our aim – in pedagogical terms?
Aim is “lets explore?”
Aim improve learning experience for students
How to move from WebCT to SOA in 5 easy steps!
Simplier user interfaces and tools
Ideas
Feeding into next projects?
More meetings like this?
Communities that exist – SIGS are about standards
And so do HE Academy
This is about bridging
But not just 2 gps – is whole landscape of communities
Mapping of communities
Identification of who gps are who should inform this process
Getting 2 communities talking
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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What next (2)
Teachers want to simplify the admin so can focus on teaching (and research!)
CoVARM project – course validation is doing that
Are teachers making in roads to understand the technology?
Do teachers need to know about admin systems?
Do teachers need opportunities to see what has come out of toolkit projects?
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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Link to demonstrator projects – an event about dissemination of toolkit demonstrators?
Need a method of extracting data on student use of VLE for use in the institution
Tracking student engagement was important in Mark’s case study
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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Sixth form colleges – registration and ? E-learning is way down the list.
Demonstration events – ideas for pedagogy and enterprise SIGs – future programmes?
Learn by example – teachers – “I really like this because…” - technologists can pick up common approaches
In what other ways gave lecturers give technologists information? – model, diagram, use case diagram
Less technical the better
Changing rooms portfolio – I like that design
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Show and tell – my favourite tool
What people (teachers) like to do and what they don’t like to do (eg aligning learning outcomes and assessment
How do you explain to the teacher what the benefit is for them in their institution – closing the circle
E.g. Participatory design in student groups use of hand-held devices to document what students are doing – teachers need to see state of the art ideas
Don’t forget the learners!
18th Oct 2005 : Joint Enterprise SIG & Pedagogy Forum

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