Networked and Social Learning Environments - Final
Report
Partnership Project Report
Period Report: Jan-Jun 2015
Faculty: Arts
Project Name: Networked and Social Learning Environments
Department: Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies
Academic Lead: Dr Margie Borschke
Project Manager: Lucy Arthur
Current Project Team: Victoria Taylor, Ollie Coady, James Hamilton, Vanessa Fredericks
Project Background Overview:
This project aimed to design and develop aspects of a brand new unit in an emerging field: MECO826: Data Journalism. A new
content area for the Academic Lead, the learning outcomes and content for the unit were defined, developed and refined
simultaneously with the process of developing a learning design.
The unit aims to give students hands-on experience with data-driven reporting techniques and producing data visualisations.
Learning in the unit is to be collaborative and student led, reflecting some of the principles of an online community of inquiry,
with a strong element of discovery. The learning environment would therefore need to be flexible and highly interconnected
with the web, allowing students to develop a communication network with each other, to easily find and share stories, and to
curate and aggregate examples of data journalism practice. In addition, one of the aims of the project was to enable students
to be able to select and use some of the content generated in the unit as part of their professional portfolio.
The cohort for MECO826 is expected to be small (5-10 students for the initial offering), allowing for a greater degree of
experimentation than might be possible with other units, but within that small cohort students will have different levels of
statistical and digital literacy, something which needed to be taken into account in the design of learning activities and
assessment tasks.
Project Goals
The project defined three main areas of focus:
1. Collaborative Learning Environment
Create, test and implement a collaborative learning environment, and provide recommendations on how best to customise
and manage this environment. As well as the possible expansion of this approach to other units, findings from this project may
also contribute to development of the University's new strategic focus on the connected learning community and students as
partners in their learning.
2. Data visualisation
Develop learning activities for the data visualisation component of the unit, initially creating a collection of possible
'off-the-shelf' software tools and evaluating their suitability for use by students.
3. Analysing data
Develop a learning and teaching approach to the content area dealing with data analysis. This includes a review of the
literature on developing statistical literacy.
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What was achieved:
1. Collaborative Learning Environment
The project began by developing a set of prioritised requirements for the Collaborative Learning environment (set out in this
document.) Based on these requirements, and taking into account scalability and sustainability factors, as well as the
University's strategic directions in this area, the project team in consultation with James Hamilton as Head of Learning
Technologies made the decision to proceed with creation of a new Wordpress site, hosted by the LTC and located at http://mec
o826.ltc.mq.edu.au/.
Work-in-progress Wordpress site, April 2015
Once the Wordpress site was created, the project team began a phase of experimentation, testing different themes, plugins
and layouts to find the best fit for the aims of the unit. This was documented in order to to provide recommendations on how
best to customise and manage this environment for Session 2 (view these here). A number of plug-ins were chosen, for
instance BuddyPress allows students to have discussions and communicate with each other privately via messaging and
forums; social media integration is provided by Jetpack, Twitter, and Storify plug-ins.
The sequence of learning activities and assessment tasks builds in regular student contributions to the Wordpress site,
including the progressive development of "critical portfolios" (collections of blog posts, annotations and examples), as well as a
final project.
In addition to the goals outlined in the Scoping document, the project team also decided it was valuable to build in some
scaffolding for students around how to use and participate in the Collaborative Learning Environment. This included a
Wordpress category called "Weekly Agenda" which provides students some guidance on what was expected of them each
week; these posts will be emailed out to students (using the MailPoet plug-in) along with a recap of student posts from the
previous week. This aimed at keeping students engaged with the site throughout the unit, and providing some structure to
what is otherwise quite a fluid and collaborative space. A production and style guide for students, covering how to post and
expectations of students as contributors to the space, is also being produced.
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Wordpress site at completion of FPP project, July 2015
2. Data Visualisation
The project team produced a collection of potential tools for data visualisation and provided an initial analysis of the suitability
of these tools. One of the (anticipated) challenges that emerged from this initial investigation was the sheer range of different
tools available to students and the degree of difficulty involved in using many of them. Over the course of the project, thinking
evolved so that the emphasis of the unit shifted away from being on developing student competence in using specific tools
and moved towards developing student understanding of the use and limitations of data journalism in telling stories using
visualisations. In short, development of literacies in data visualisation. The design team came up with a range of suggested
learning activities that, in keeping with the 'blended community of inquiry' approach, attempted to achieve a balance of social,
cognitive and teacher presence.
3. Analysing Data
MECO826 will focus on how to find, utilise and analyse data sets. As students may not have any background in statistics, there
needed to be some coverage of basic statistical concepts for journalism. A key challenge was to to make this engaging and
accessible for students. The project team considered strategies of how to incorporate this with the identification of external
courses by Intersect which are run at the University. There is also potential for some collaboration with the Library in this area,
particularly around locating and using data sets. A review of literature on developing statistical literacy, to inform the approach,
was produced by Vanessa Fredericks.
Additionally, to all that was achieved as described above, the project team worked closely together to continually develop
ideas and concepts for the structure of the course and the learning activities within.
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Project closure recommendations:
The MECO826 Wordpress site was approved for hosting and maintenance by the LTC as a proof of concept only. If the student
experience of the site in Session 2 is successful, consideration will need to be given to the ongoing status of the site and how to
manage the possible expansion of the model for use by other units in the Masters of Future Journalism program (one of the
initial intentions of the FPP application). A forthcoming paper for the Learning Technologies Subcommittee seeks to formalise
the status of Wordpress as a blogging platform for individual student blogs; however there is no formalised status of Wordpress
for use as a group blog / portfolio tool. It is hoped that the outcomes of this project and the subsequent evaluation of the
student experience of the collaborative learning environment will be useful data for the university in considering its strategic
approach to this important area.
Evaluation:
1. Formative evaluation carried out to date:
Evaluation is built into the project design in so much as one of the outputs of the project was to produce a set of
recommendations about collaborative learning environments based on experiences in the project. Since Ollie Coady has
returned from leave just as the project ended, he has begun conducting a QA of the Wordpress site in order to inform these
recommendations and make any adjustments prior to the beginning of Session 2.
2. Summative evaluation completed or planned for future:
Margie plans to involve students in designing and evaluating their experience during Session 2, with a view to developing an
Innovation and Scholarship Program grant proposal.
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Learning Collaborations - Final Report
Partnership Project Report
Period Report: Jan-Jun 2015
Faculty: Arts
Project Name: Learning Collaborations through Multimedia Texts
Department: Sociology
Academic Lead/s: Pauline Johnson, Shaun Wilson
Project Manager: James Meek
Current Project Team: Victoria Taylor, Olga Kozar
The key idea of this project was to more deeply consider the use of electronic annotations as a way of focusing the attention of
students on key and original texts. The project looked at adding annotation layers to original texts in Sociology, but the
technologies and pedagogies that it considered will have broad applicability.
From the point of view of the involved LTC staff, this project produced two main, concrete and shareable products:
·
a Matrix comparing several candidate technologies, and
·
a Guide to assist in using Mendeley where students are collaborating over annotations.
Along the way, some prototyping was done to develop our understanding of the following candidate annotation tools:
·
Annotate.co
·
Mendeley
·
Adobe Acrobat Pro
·
Google docs
The first three of our candidate annotation tools add layers of additional information ‘over’ pdf (portable document format)
documents. The last one is useful where the underlying text is available in free, editable text form.
Our Sociology colleagues worked on refining their pedagogical position in relation to annotation technologies and on further
developing the designs of their specific units that will in future make use of such. They also progressed the specific detail of
annotations that they are attaching to a range of their seminal texts. This FPP ran concurrently with the academic leads'
Enhancement Grant and the substantial work done by the academics there will be complemented by the achievements of this
project.
More information on the technologies considered and access to prototype examples is available from the LTC team. More
information on pedagogies, plans and progress on their designs is best sourced with our Sociology colleagues.
Self-serve copies of project products:
·
Options Matrix (pdf - 82KB)
·
Mendeley Guide (pdf - 4MB)
·
Mendeley Guide (Word - 3.4MB)
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Planning Career Futures iLearn Project - Final Report
Partnership Project Report
Period Report: Jan-Jun 2015
Faculty: Arts
Project Name: Planning Career Futures iLearn Project
Department: Arts L&T and Careers
Co-Leads:
Tania Currie and Beth Saunders
Technology Team:
Alex Thackray and Mike Catabay
Project Manager:
James Meek
Additional Input and Review:
Josh Dymock, Michael Grant, Theresa Winchester Seeto
Core Project Team (L to R) - Alex,
Mike, Beth, Tania and James
Project Background, Overview of Action
This project was about providing a gentle, partly playful prompting to early stage students in Arts in connection with rising
'employability' agendas. It was proposed as a collaboration between Arts Learning and Teaching and Careers' representative in
the Faculty.
The key task was to make a small, adaptable module to be used in provoking earlier thought among Arts students on the
direction of their studies. It was to encourage a greater sense of purposeful and strategic ownership of the experience of being
a student. Plan was to mix inspiration and big thinking with practical, and to include a spectrum of personal and
career-oriented thinking. The module's elements would provide flexible and vivid input and a useful structure to assist with a
range of explorations. It was to include helping focus imagination and at least some tentative action on satisfying life after
university - including career.
In action, the project was an enjoyable and an effective collaboration:
We clarified our purposes
We gathered interesting and relevant material
We trialled a range of structure/concepts
We culled to a key set of messages
We scripted a neat lead-in animation
We found a unifying shape, rhythm and rationale
We began to build our site and its parts
We consulted with colleagues
We began to develop 'embedment' strategies
We finished the first cut site
We consulted again on our near-complete prototype
We tidied-up, readying our site for its first testing with students
We finished the key site/product and passed it to Arts L&T and Careers for trial!
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What was achieved
Above: Snippets from top level of module, plus example of supporting cartoons.
"eXplore Your Potential" was created in the form of an iLearn site. It comprises an animated lead-in scene-setter and 3
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"eXplore Your Potential" was created in the form of an iLearn site. It comprises an animated lead-in scene-setter and 3
sections: eXplore Me, eXplore Opportunities, eXplore Goals. It collates a mix of resources and activities suggesting and
supporting exploration of self, situation and direction. Its parts can be used in any order, according to need or preference. It
includes some external source materials, some sourced within existing Careers area resources and some created especially for
this purpose - including an interactive crossword and a self assessment quiz. Each section follows a common structure, proving
some vivid stimulus Activities, going deeper on a particular factor in a Snapshot and then providing a selection of optional
Further resource/activities to eXplore.
The site and its various elements now exist as an adaptable and readily modifiable core set of materials. Plan is to use this assist
ongoing efforts by Careers to integrate direction-orienting activities into selected 'early stage' units across Arts. The whole set
may be deployed with small modification as a single block or specific parts could be taken and integrated with other unit
materials. Some support has been given around 'embedment strategies' and first pilot adaptation is already running within the
Bachelor of Security Studies using the fruits of this FPP. Materials purposefully vary from big picture and inspirational through
to focussing activities. They are designed to work for purposes of both school leaver students and people further along their
journeys.
eXplore Your Potential contains selectively assembled elements of Career thinking and Emotional Intelligence development.
As such, it should also serve as useful prototype and input for a range of further activities in adjacent areas, including the
recently mooted CareerWise. It may even provide a little inspiration too.
Above: Frame snippets from scene setting animation.
Project closure recommendations
Further consideration of already identified mid-stage and final year follow-ons is definitely encouraged.
A pilot is in train but a trialling in a range of settings - both as a whole and in parts - would be useful. It would make sense that
this is done with the direct involvement of Careers and Arts L&T staff in the processes of 'embedding'.
Later consideration of whether the site (or its separate elements) could be effectively shared through iShare may be
worthwhile, even noting that some elements will sometimes need alteration to suit the particular unit in which the materials
are being used.
After a period, reconsideration of the balance of various aspects in the module may be in order. Naturally, this would be
informed by student (and lecturer) feedback. Examples: Thinking vs Doing. Personal attributes vs Career direction. Fun vs
Serious ...
Further consideration of promotional opportunities in relation to the module could be useful. For instance, sharing access to
the standalone product (or parts only) may be in order. Via - say - a related article and free access in Student mode through the
Mq Teche Blog?
Evaluation
1. Formative evaluation carried out to date
A range of activities have provided useful (and reinforcing) feedback to this point. These include:
Reflection in action by the project team
Commissioned commentary from a colleague in Learning Skills
Commissioned commentary from Accessibility/Universal Design specialist
Brief reactions sought from a range of senior and parallel-level colleagues as elements were developed.
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2. Summative evaluation completed or planned for future
A pilot is running in Semester 2 within the Bachelor of Security Studies. This will provide further feedback on the bigger idea
and specific implementation. This is not yet technically summative evaluation, however some of the follow-on evaluation
strategies for this project include:
Sharing of the project at Arts Faculty Learning and Teaching Committee
Contributing a segment as part of the FPP Symposium at Learning and Teaching Week 2015
Fielding of student reactions during the pilot - including via an 'ideas and reactions channel' built into the module
Incorporating of relevant questions into the LEU for the (new) plot unit host.
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