1. would you care to share? Sharing Resources, Collaborating and Community-Building with Next Generation Repositories in a Wild Web World Sarah Currier (Intrallect Ltd) Colin Milligan (University of Strathclyde) David White (TALL, Oxford University) Anoush Margaryan (Glasgow Caledonian University) Anne Hewling (Open University) David Nicol (University of Strathclyde) ALT-C 2006 Symposium 981 Wed. 6 th September 2006, Heriot-Watt University http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2006/timetable/abstract.php?abstract_id=981

2. Perspective 1: Personal Learning Environments: A Vision Colin Milligan, University of Strathclyde

6. A Personal Repository for a Personal Learning Environment Integration –With tools for creation, annotation, collaboration. Sharing –groups, global. Notification, Secondary info. Multi-layered discovery –local, group, global Transparent management of resources –Resource management, permissions

8. Perspective 2: Peer-to-Peer Filesharing: The SPIRE Project David White, TALL (University of Oxford)

9. Overview SPIRE project: Looking at the feasibility of P2P in UK FE and HE Focused on Penn States open source P2P system ‘LionShare’ which is a heavily modified version of the ‘Limewire’ project (released version 1.1 end mid June) Major difference between normal P2P and LionShare is the inclusion of Authentication and Authorisation P2P and Authentication + Authorisation is a complex mix

10. Question: What is good about Peer-2-Peer? Wide range of media contributed by a large amount of people Informal / Anonymous Easy and convenient to access Intrinsically scalable

11. Question: What is bad about Peer-2-Peer? Wide range of media contributed by a large amount of people (Easy to infringe copyright) Informal / Anonymous (Tricky to police) Easy and convenient to access (Anyone can look at this stuff!?) Intrinsically scalable

12. Very popular files Less popular files Normal file sizeVery large file size Peer-to-Peer The point of peer-2-peer from a network infrastructure point of view. (Invented to deal with the challenges of a slow network)

15. Thoughts Is this the easiest way to make materials widely available? Will people use an informal technology for ‘formal’ materials? Is the level of authentication appropriate? Need to consider the flow from the informal to the formal May benefit from an annotation feature

16. Project Site http://spire.conted.ox.ac.uk david.white@conted.ox.ac.uk http://spire.conted.ox.ac.uk david.white@conted.ox.ac.uk http://lionshare.its.psu.edu/main/

17. Perspective 3: Learning Communities and Repositories: The CD-LOR Project Anoush Margaryan, Glasgow Caledonian University

18. Dr. Anoush Margaryan Caledonian Academy Glasgow Caledonian University, UK anoush.margaryan@gcal.ac.uk Learning Communities and Repositories: Underpinning the Vision

19. 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

20. 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

21. Barriers Socio-cultural Pedagogic Organisational and info management Technological Margaryan, Currier, Littlejohn, & Nicol (2006) http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/cd- 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

22. 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)

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. Perspective 4: Wikis and Blogs: Case Study of a Red Herring?: The PROWE Project Anne Hewling, Open University

27. PROWE (personal repositories online wiki environment) Anne Hewling PROWE Project Officer Open University

28. PROWE – what is it? a JISC-funded Digital Repositories Programme Project between OU and UoL Combines: - new communications tools e.g. wikis and blogs - part-time distance tutors/associate lecturers - continuing professional development needs - communities of practice - repository theory and practice

29. What drives it? "In what ways could wiki and wiki-type environments be useful and useable as personal and informal repositories to support professional development within part-time tutor communities of practice?"

30. What has happened so far? - user needs assessment - tools assessment - metadata and other complicated repositories bits -elgg 1 – testing a technology - elgg 2 – testing practice

31. Matters arising - what is a typical tutor and what are typical needs? - "if it 'ain't broke, why fix it?" - why not/why? - PRMS

32. Personal resource management strategies - 1 Experience v. sense -Angela’s printouts and Kathleen’s PC Perception of security Known v. easier -George’s floppys Habit v. appropriateness Am I bothered? - HQ rules and Pavlov Comfort zones

33. Personal resource management strategies - 2 - Change has to come from individual motivation - Life is too short to experiment too much

34. A possible conclusion? Once a system is in place there is little chance of changing it - unless the user thinks change is their idea or unless some kind of stick is used…

35. Contact us: Webpage: http://www.prowe.ac.ukhttp://www.prowe.ac.uk Project email: info@prowe.ac.ukinfo@prowe.ac.uk Project Officer email (OU): a.hewling@open.ac.uk a.hewling@open.ac.uk

36. PROWE: “A community is like a ship: everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” Henrik Ibsen

37. Perspective 5: e-Portfolios: Personal Repositories by Another Name? David Nicol, University of Strathclyde

38. e-portfolios Dr David Nicol Deputy-Director (Head of E-learning) Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement University of Strathclyde September 2006, ALT-C Heriot-Watt.

39. Why the current interest in e-portfolios? Personal development planning Learner control and deep learning Bridging transitions – lifelong learning Knowledge economy – knowledge as asset Sharing resources with teachers, peers and employers.

40. Mapping the territory of e-portfolios Educational Terminology: progress files, personal development planning, records of achievement, learner profiles, shared workspace, transcripts Technology: No definition of what constitutes the technology of an e-portfolio (what tools) Purposes: multiple purposes for e-portfolios

41. What is an e-portfolio? e-portfolio digital repository Collection of student work in digital format. + services

42. Purposes of e-portfolios 1.Archive/showcase student work [evidence work/achievements – employers, tutors etc] 2.Support learning and personal development planning [self-regulation and reflection] 3.Support summative assessment [richer, authentic, competence proven]

43. Purpose E-toolsProcesses Digital Collection of Student’s Work Technology and e-portfolios

44. Archiving/showcasing Purpose = archiving/showcasing Processes = select, organise, store, share present, link, search. evidencing e-tools = digital multimedia repository, file galleries, wikis, hyperlinks, digital access card, authoring environment, search tools, tools to input non-digital formats

45. Learning portfolio Purpose = support learning and planning Processes = monitoring, reflecting, self and peer assessment, feedback and dialogue, planning (PDP), Tools = blogs, reflective journals, wiki pages, self- assessment forms, workflow management tools (goal setting, recording, meetings), communication tools, skills matrices, CV builder.

46. E-portfolio and assessment Purpose = assessing and grading Processes = testing, making judgements and marking, recording results, checking progress, identifying difficulties, reporting results Tools = criteria tools, reporting tools, assessment management tools (filing, recording, sending, verifying).

47. Learning using portfolio tools Student Control Institutional repository/tools Teacher Control External systems/tools

48. Technological Issues If e-portfolio tools/systems hosted by FE/HE -Is this a PLE? -Will it constrain sharing/participation? -What happens when students move on? -DRM and IPR and issues

49. Technological Issues If hosted externally -Integration, interoperability and security -What if all students use different tools -Keeping track of resources -What if ISPs change/increase charges? -How do the students locate themselves? -Independent systems providers

50. Educational Issues Putting students in control -How does PLE idea fit with a prescribed curriculum? -How will they acquire personal resource management skills? -Can informal learning (unstructured, organic, contextualised, self-activated) be used to enrich formal learning? -Should teachers facilitate communities? -What is the influence of assessment? -Integration with disciplinary teaching?

51. The End Questions and Discussion

52. Types of content in e-portfolio Coursework – assignments, projects Evidence of learning development (e.g. skills) Instructor feedback and records of meetings Links to awards and certificates Goals and plans Reflective commentaries Presentations and papers Personal information (e.g. education history, interests and activities)