Mimas Learning & Teaching Stories

Dr Jackie Carter

Senior Manager: Learning &Teaching and Social Science Data Services

» Mimas

» The L&T stories project

» Reflections - how this has benefited Mimas

» Story for JISC conference (April 13th)

This Project Briefing

Mimas» An organisation of

experts. Our role is to support the advancement of knowledge, powering world-class research and teaching. Technology is at the heart of everything we do.

Mimas» Centre of

Excellence, hosted at University of Manchester, UK

» Provide a portfolio of data and information services to academics

» Context

» What we did

» How we did it

» What we produced

» What we learned

» What we are going to do next

The L&T Stories Project

Context

» Quantitative data (metrics, KPIs)› We do this already through our Service

Level Agreements› http://www.jiscmu.ac.uk/sims/news/view/176

» Increasing need to demonstrate impact› Research and funding councils

› Narratives/Case studies/Stories› Value for Money measures

» Leitch Review of Skills report, 2006 (Prosperity for all in the global economy)http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/leitch_review_index.htmreport

» Economic & Social Research Council. 2009. Building a world class social science research base in quantitative methods: a national strategy. ESRC Society Today.

http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/AQM%20flyer_tcm6-34272.pdf

» MacInnes, John. 2009. Proposals to support and improve the teaching of quantitative research methods at undergraduate level in the UK. ESRC Society Today.

http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/Final%20Report_%20Strategic%20Adviser%20for%20Quantitative%20Methods_tcm6-35465.pdf

» UK Commission for Employment and Skills. 2009. Ambition 2020: world class skills and jobs for the UK: the 2009 report: key findings and implications for action.

http://www.ukces.org.uk/tags/key-findings/ambition-2020-key-findings

» Higher Ambitionshttp://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/higher-education/shape-and-structure/higher-ambitions

» Skills for growthhttp://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/further-education-skills/skills-for-growth

Context (references) of skills agenda

» 2009› Funded through our

Strategic Investment Fund› Procurement of services

» Sarah Currier acted as consultant www.sarahcurrier.com

» Librarian; Metadata; e-learning; Learning object repository projects; worked for Intrallect; co-moderator of DCEd Community; etc.

Who did it

Metadata, Repositories, Resource Sharing for EducationRequirements, Research, Implementation, Management, Policy, Training, Evaluation, Interoperability Standards & Web 2.0 Communities .. specialising in e-learning resource management and sharing, with a particular interest in metadata, controlled vocabularies, repositories, and the use of Web 2.0 tools for sharing of materials and practice, and for community development. 

 

» Aim 1› Collective showcase of

benefits of Mimas services to L&T community

» Aim 2› How do Mimas services

support skills base of undergraduates and taught postgraduates?

› Focus on employability» Aim 3

› Who delivers the learning? How can Mimas services be embedded in L&T?

» Aim 4› What can we learn?

» Stories based on 4 services› ESDS International› Census Dissemination

Unit› Intute VTS and Internet

Detective› Landmap

» Final report

The Aims and Outputs

» Collected stories (SC)› Uncover who’s doing what with the data in L&T

» Semi-structured interviews (SC)› Teachers and students› Recorded where possible

» Written up (SC with Mimas)› Googledocs› Sign off for web copy

» Extracted key issues (SC with Mimas)› Real world real data› News items etc.

What we did

ESDS International

Census Dissemination Unit - Casweb

Casweb

web interface to census aggregate outputs and

digital boundary data

Intute VTS and Internet Detective

Landmap

Who was involved

Mimas service Participants Story detailsESDS International Paul Turner, Loughborough University Second year undergraduate course in econometrics

Nick Weaver, Manchester University Applied economics course for first year economics students; Applied Development Economics Project (ADEP): MSc in Development Economics

and Policy; Masters level applied economics project with an evidence-based approach (planned

for 09/10 academic year).

CDU (Casweb) Prof. Philip Rees, Prof. John Stillwell, Dr. Myles Gould, Helen Durham, and Holly Shulman, Leeds University

Using census data to teach human geography to second year undergraduates over two semesters: research methods, MAUP and ethnic populations.

Intute Virtual Training Suite

Liz Wright & Joe Newsome, Librarians, Doncaster College (Liz supports FE students, Joe HE students).

Information skills training for new FE students in subject group cohorts, and for library assistants to ensure they can support students;

Information skills and academic writing training for HE students (undergrad and taught Masters) in English, social sciences, law, criminology and education.

Internet Detective Cynthia Patterson, University of South Florida Polytechnic

Academic writing and information literacy skills for applied degree students coming from community colleges and the workplace: annotated bibliographies assignment and using the Internet for companies analysis report assignment.

Bex Ferriday, Cornwall College, St Austell Campus

Using Internet Detective to support information literacy and academic writing and research for people gaining teaching qualifications.

Landmap Joanne Cheesborough, Sheffield Hallam University

Groundtruthing with Landmap – Undergraduate Education and GIS at Sheffield Hallam University.

» All stories still being worked on for service websites

» Will contain multimedia and be benefits led

» May be web-based articles with embedded short pithy clips of key benefits

» Story for JISC conference (13th April 2010) promotional piece

The Stories

The stories in development

Example stories

Example story

A student’s journey through econometrics data

Taught 2nd year course; 2 semesters; 10 credits

Learning objectives and skills

Subject knowledge and understanding; Subject Specific skills; Transferable skills

Activity

Students assigned combinations of countries (from 9) and variables (consumption, investment, imports)

Screencams at Youtube www.youtube.com/watch?v=288KaPjoOy8

And www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX_rdCVzVVk

» Real data Real world

» Helping economics students keep it real

» Census data: from the real world for the real world

Two news items – quick wins

» ELI2010 (after ELI2009)“L&T: telling stories about and with data (research based)”

» CNI Spring Meeting“Real Data Real World Real

Stories”

» JISC/CNI Conference“Using primary research data in

L&T”

» IASSIST 2010“Telling stories about and with data”

» ESRC Research Methods Festival

» Submitted – awaiting outcome› ALT (with Sarah Currier)

“Building Bridges between Education and the Workplace: Using Real Data to Prepare Learners for the Real World”

› EDUCAUSE 2010“Because we’re worth it”

» ALT-N

» Book chapter in “Teaching Quantitative Methods: Counting on the Social Sciences”

Presentations and Publications

» Theme 1 – Direct contact with teachers› Through routes that

teachers feel are authoritative

› Find innovative ways for service staff to build direct relationships with key academics teaching in subject areas

› Use email and telephone

» Theme 2 – Utilise existing networks, conferences and journals› Promote Mimas services

specifically for L&T in forums where teaching staff may look

› Be targeted

› Short pithy articles with visual examples

Recommendations

» Theme 3- Support open sharing of L&T materials developed around Mimas services› Open Educational

Resources (OER)› Will help embedding of

services into L&T› Put materials where the

users are› Maximise academic

exposure to ideas to support their teaching

» Theme 4 – Keep services usable and current› Up to date› Available› Integrated with other

services

Recommendations (cont)

» Digital Story Telling

» User focused, benefits led

» Marketing vs. Service Support

» Open Educational Resources (OER)

» Needs resource at service level

» Work with professional bodies

» Mimas well placed to build on this work

Reflections

JISC Conference

Thank you and questions

» Point One› Point One One

› Point One One One› Point One One One

› Point One One

» Second Point

» Third of the points

» Another point, the fourth one

Title and content slide

Title only slide