SLN eLearning – eWP?

Nigel Gibson

Objectives• To give an overview of the SLN project• How the OU participated• How the eLearning team worked• How and why we used OpenLearn• To show you where we are and invite you to come and

see what we’ve done

Overview of the SLN Project• Sussex Learning Network• Set up in 2005• The first lifelong learning network (LLN)• A partnership of all HEIs and FECs in Sussex

PartnersUniversities

• Chichester • Sussex • Brighton • University College

Hastings• The Open University

Colleges of FE

• Northbrook College• City College• Central Sussex College• Sussex Downs• Hastings College of Art

and Technology• Plumpton College

About 70 miles by 30 miles

Structure of the SLN• Focus on curriculum areas• “Specialist” topics

– IAG– eLearning

OU Involvement• Members of the partnership• Contributed members to the IAG group• The eLearning project team

eLearning team• Director – Robert Catt (also FELS

Staff Tutor)• Researcher – Jenny Lynden (Social

Sciences)• eLearning consultants – Liz

Thackray and Nigel Gibson (both Technology ALs)

• Details of the team are at http://conclave.open.ac.uk/sln-wiki/index.php/About_the_team

Our practice• We all have different experiences of using technologies

to support learning and we used those perspectives to inform the team’s work

• Our main engagement with other partners was through an Advisory Group – we worked with educators more than learners

• Members of the Advisory Group were invited to attend regular meetings, workshops and conferences

Online presence• Wiki• Blog (which didn’t take off at all)• OpenLearn spaces• Flickr, Slideshare, YouTube

Our online footprint

Wiki

FlickrYouTube

OpenLearn

SLN ZoneForums

Slideshare

Blog

Crowdstatus

Twitter

Wiki• The wiki documents the progress of the project• Used for planning and promoting events• Distributing notes from meetings• Signposting interesting technologies• Linking to other wikis used in education

Why OpenLearn?• A practical example of eLearning• Flexibile• Extendible• Support

How we used it• To create a space• To collaborate• To share resources• To distribute resources created by the project

SLN Zone• Forums• Area where we linked to other things• Hosts videos and presentations• http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3027

Chunking resources• Identifying OpenLearn resources of interest to specific

groups

http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=212975

Creating resources• Workshops supported by the OL team• Created a number of units• Also remixed some units to “localize” them

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ainamorato/sets/72157603384352139/

OpenLearn Workshop 4th Dec 2007

http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3193

Working online

http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3230

Writing skills

http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3329

Number skills

Action Research• Jenny Lynden led an online action research set using

FlashMeeting• From this a unit was written explaining how to use the

tools

Why OpenLearn?• It gave us a platform not available in any other way• It’s something which has practical application

immediately - works “out of the box”• It’s got the OU logo – we mustn’t forget what that

means to people– Credible– Quality assured– “Trusted”

Events• In order to reach a wider audience we organised “show

and tell” events

Conferences• A wide range of practitioners were invited to speak at

conferences

Events were “hands on”• Informal with speakers and

chatting and active participation• And we wrote on the walls!

Please note• This is just a quick peek – there is a lot more online• This presentation will be online by the time you see it

Summary• We’ve learnt a lot from this project• We’ve probably finished up with more questions than

answers• Of the technologies we’ve looked at OpenLearn was

certainly a winner

For further detailsWiki

http://conclave.open.ac.uk/sln-wiki/index.php/Main_Page

OpenLearn SLN Zone

http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3027

Nigel Gibson

ng264@tutor.open.ac.uk