Transcript PROWE (personal repositories: online wiki environments) using new networking tools and shared repositories to support part-time distance tutors’ professional development Lara Whitelaw & Anne Hewling Open.

PROWE
(personal repositories: online wiki environments)
using new networking tools and shared
repositories to support part-time distance tutors’
professional development
Lara Whitelaw & Anne Hewling
Open University
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
PROWE – what is it?
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Combines:
new communications tools e.g. wikis and blogs
part-time distance tutors/associate lecturers
continuing professional development needs
communities of practice
social networking tools
repository theory and practice
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
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?"
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
What does that mean in practice?
• What are the CPD needs of part-time
teaching/tutoring staff?
• What kind of sharing do these staff already do,
or need to do, or want to do?
• What can new technologies like wikis, blogs etc.
offer in response to these needs and wishes?
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
Institutional context - OU
• Around 150,000 undergraduate and more than
30,000 postgraduate distance students
• Nearly all students are studying part-time
• About 70 per cent of undergraduate students are
in full-time employment and more than 50,000
students are sponsored by their employers
• More than 25,000 OU students live outside the
UK
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
Staffing context: OU
• More than 7,000 tutors with diverse
backgrounds
• All dispersed around UK, Europe and
elsewhere
• Highly structured
learning/teaching/working environment
• Distance-only institution
• Moving towards Moodle in 2007
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
Institutional context - UoL
• Around 10,000 undergraduate and 8,000
postgraduate
• 6,000 students are studying part-time distance
courses both in UK and overseas
• 65% of postgraduates are on courses with a
significant distance learning, often online,
element
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
Staffing context: UoL
• Approximately 350 Associate Tutors
• In at least 11 departments
• A wide range of tutor roles, duties,
activity/involvement levels
• Blended environment
• Moved to Blackboard in 2005
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
What has happened so far?
• user needs assessment
• tools assessment
• elgg and Plone – testing environments
• metadata and repository set-up
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
Personal Repository Metadata
• As these are personal repositories the metadata
profile has been developed to be as light as
possible
• The project is looking at the use of folksonomies
for the development of a community based
vocabulary
• Librarians will be reviewing metadata and the
supporting documentation throughout ensure the
profile an vocabularies are appropriate and
sustainable once the project come to an end.
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
Continual Professional Development
• Personal/Continual Development profiles for users
mapped to IMS LIP/UK LEAP/FOAF
• Further investigation into staff needs regard CPD.
Exploring the possibilities of:
• Developing some form of indicative internal assessment of CDP
from activities within the environment
• Developing mechanism for exporting CPD evidence for external
assessors where evidence needs to submitted in set formats
• Integration with staff management system to reduce duplication
and the amount of data asked of the user up front when they first
create their user profile
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
What happens next?
• bigger and better trialling (more people,
longer, more directed activity)
• development of documentation and
models
• evaluation
• reaching some conclusions…
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
Matters arising
• Is anyone out there interested in sharing?
• What are their existing pedagogical
models and how do they expect things to
roll out?
• what is a typical tutor and what are typical
needs?
• facilitation
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
PROWE: “A community is like
a ship: everyone ought to be
prepared to take the helm.”
Henrik Ibsen
http://www.prowe.ac.uk
Contact us:
Web page: http://www.prowe.ac.uk
Project email: [email protected]
Project Officer email (OU):
[email protected]
Metadata Development Manager:
[email protected]
http://www.prowe.ac.uk