will ellis – head of digital learning resources drivers and blockers to teachers accessing,...

Will Ellis – Head of Digital Learning Resources

Drivers and blockers to teachers accessing, repurposing and sharing digital resources.

Learning Platform Service Framework

Launched December 2006

Aims to provide

• value for money• technical standards and interoperability• simplify aggregated procurement

Consequences regarding educational content and resource discovery

• Profile of technical standards raised• Platforms for content search, management and delivery

Technical standards for learning content• Tools for content development

• A better understanding of content conformance to standards

• Guidance on creating standards conformance content - SCORM application profiles

Findings

• An abundance of tools both commercial and non-commercial for SCORM and QTI

• Very poor conformance to standards (packaging, metadata, runtime, sequencing, XML)

• SCORM Vs Core SCORM Vs Common Cartridge Vs Assets

Technical standards for resource discovery

Becta has been involved in work in the UK to identify and encourage the adoption of standards for enabling resource discovery:

• Shibboleth and the UK Access Management Federation• OIA-PMH for metadata harvesting• ATOM for content syndication • SRU, SRW for searching

Some areas still require significantly more work

• Metadata profile for educational content including vocabulary management• Persistent Identity

Despite this research there is not yet a cohesive national strategy for ensuring the adoption of standards and linking repositories to users.

Study Into drivers and blockers for sharing and reuse

Becta commissioned a study in 2007 drawing information from:

• A range of relevant journal articles and previous reports from agencies such as Becta

• Consultation with academics and researchers working in the relevant areas• Evidence gathered directly from teachers via online discussion forums and

email lists • Level 1 (L1) - Technical• Level 2 (L2) - Organisational, relating to the school, LEA, or Government• Level 3 (L3) - Teacher-process, impacting upon the process by which teachers

work • Level 4 (L4) - Teacher-emotional, caused by teacher feelings and emotions

Study Into drivers and Blockers for sharing and reuseTechnological (L1) drivers

• Availability of Intranets, VLEs and other shared space

• Availability of Intranets• Availability of email, broadband access etc• Availability of and access to online discussion

groups and email lists• Availability of software that promotes grouping of

images, video clips etc• Availability of repositories populated by teachers• The online availability of complete schemes of

work• Huge quantity of freely available resources online• Ease in which some resources can be linked• Easier to locate software that allows repurposing• DLRs are often more up-to-date than text books• New technologies act as an affordance for sharing• Increasingly easy to share and upload

•Technological (L1) blockers

•Lack of learning design tools for non-traditional pedagogies of learning•Need more effective search engine ranking mechanisms•Too many repositories – where to start?•Good content is not visible enough•Difficult to repurpose many resources•Often difficult to tell whether the resource is current•Many resources are too large: should be smaller than a lesson•Repositories are too difficult to use•Poor resource quality and relevance•Above school-level technological constraints•Poor learning platform design

Study Into drivers and Blockers for sharing and reuseOrganisational (L2) drivers

•Potential to reduce costs•Schools promoting an environment of innovation•Increases school efficiency•Availability of support services•Financial incentive might promote sharing•Promotes sharing and collaboration between schools•Saves paper•Information is available from schools who have already trialled learning platforms

Organisational (L2) blockers

•Few pro-active IT support mechanisms•Training focuses on how to use IT, not how to make good learning with it•Insufficient or inadequate teacher training•Little year-group specific advice•Finding resources may be left to support staff•Perceived competition with other local schools•Teachers prevented by school or LA•Lack of a widespread sharing culture•No training regarding how to harness use of social recommendations and community tagging•Training occurs in isolation, with no follow-up to promote integration into teaching practices•Too few support staff to assist with creation and sharing•Managers unsure how to deal with inappropriate use•Lack of training can lead to ineffective use of platforms•Sharing as a culture’ is less well developed than is ‘taking as a culture’

Study Into drivers and Blockers for sharing and reuse

Teacher-process level (L3) drivers

•Teachers want access to useful datasets•Special needs teachers have the mindset to alter and adapt from the ‘norm’•Teachers acknowledge that ICT can have a positive influence on students•Saves teachers’ time•Improves quality of teaching•Teachers like to incorporate e-assessments and quizzes•Teachers increasingly influenced by students•Furthers personal knowledge and employability•Can reduce time and increase productivity•Allows teachers to personalise learning•Saves teacher time•Teachers can see how students work outside of school

Teacher-process level (L3) blockers

•Takes time to create materials relevant to a range of abilities•Requires technical skills beyond teacher competence•It can take more time to repurpose than create•Many teachers prefer to create their own than re-purpose•Teachers lack technical knowledge•Lack of an extensive culture of re-purposing•Teachers don’t want to spend time repurposing, and at most will only make minor edits•Teachers unsure how to search for and manage so much information•Low teacher and student technical ability•Confusion as to whether teacher owns the copyright•Teachers feel their resources are only relevant to their specific class context•Few teachers use learning platforms

Study Into drivers and Blockers for sharing and reuse

Teacher-emotional level (L4) drivers

•Teachers often curious to view other teachers’ work•The importance of a sense of ownership

Teacher-emotional level (L4) blockers

•Lack of a sense of mastery•Sharing is an informal, human action and should be recognised as such•Teachers need a sense of ownership over resources•Teachers are very picky about resources that aren’t their own•Teachers unsure whether to trust another’s work•Valid concern that work will be ‘stolen’ by others•Fear of looking stupid in a very public forum

Quality of learning resources

Quality Principles

• Developed through extensive research and lessons learned from COL and NLN material development

• Guidance and advice documents produced for practitioners

Bett Awards

• Annual awards as part of the BETT show in London• Becta creates the evaluation criteria and organizes the judging • Lessons show that it is difficult to identify “good” content out of context

Content repositories in the UKCurriculum Online

• Started Jan 2005 - UK Gov initiative involving ring fenced funding (eLCs) of £50 million (62.5 million euros)

• An online catologe of content (metadata registry) with tagging tool and vocabularies for providers

• Lessons learned = poor metadata, no quality control

Other national/regional initiatives

• National Grid for Learning – site providing links to online content• NGfl Cymru and NWLG• Glow - a central content repository for all Scottish schools• Jorum and FENC for FE

Content Repositories (commercial, charitable and state funded)

Users of learning content


Learning Platforms


Standards!


Learning Platforms


Resource discovery service

StandardsCompeting resource discovery service?

Quality

Contact…

Will Ellis

BectaMillburn Hill RoadScience ParkCoventry CV4 7JJ

T +44 (0)24 7641 6994F +44 (0)24 7641 1418E [email protected]

will ellis – head of digital learning resources drivers and blockers to teachers accessing,...

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