When creating digital content that is to be shared across different systems it is important to use standards that are supported by multiple platforms. Using a widely supported standard also increases the likelihood of the content being reusable in future when current software systems have been superseded.

The IMS Common Cartridge is a specification for sharing educational content consisting of web and other documents, quizzes, forums and web links in a standard form that can be potentially imported into almost any Virtual Learning Environment. A number of major educational publishers have indicated support for the Common Cartridge format, and content providers including the Open University have made a large amount of material available in CC format. The Open University's Common Cartridge content is freely available from their LearningSpace site.

CCPlayer is a new open source, cross-platform tool for previewing, and using Common Cartridges without the need for a full VLE. By delivering the package content from the local disk through the user's preferred web browser it provides a similar experience to a VLE without requiring access to a web server. The main purpose of the software is to provide teachers with a simple way of previewing Common Cartridges that they are considering integrating into their teaching, however it also has potential users as a tool for learners who wish to access Cartridges off-line. CCPlayer provides equivalent behaviour, as far as possible, to a conventional VLE, however it runs on the user's desktop computer, with no requirement for an Internet connection.

A second purpose for the software is to provide a full open source implementation of a Common Cartridge player that can be used as a reference, or a source of code for others wishing to implement this specification. Java was chosen as the language for developing CCPlayer because it is widely used in universities teaching purposes, and therefore can be assumed to be a language which will be understandable to most professional programmers. The code is released under a the Apache 2 open source license, allowing reuse in both commercial software and in other open source projects.

Background

The SCORM standard has become synonymous with elearning. The paper positions SCORM – the main standard for traditional e-learning – in an increasingly mobile world. This is a critical issue since many mlearning projects try to mimic traditional elearning (typically in shorter form) on mobile devices.

Description of approach used

Before we can have a real discussion about mlearning we need to understand whether it is simply an extension of what we have now on computers or a different thing altogether. The session starts by defining mobile learning (based on current literature and research) and looking at different projects around the world making use of it. This will provide a look at how organisations are dealing with today’s pedagogic and technical challenges, placing it firmly within the “at the sharp end” theme of the conference.

Review outcomes

The outcome of the review is a contextualising matrix that connects learning characteristics with types of mobile learning. This will challenge the way that mlearning is seen (as devices to access the internet in the classroom or a way to deliver traditional elearning) and offer a way of adapting the design of mlearning projects to the learning characteristics they intend to trigger.

Conclusion

The paper proposes extensions to SCORM which would help it adapt to some of the emerging lessons coming from m-learning projects. The relevance of standards and the nature of mlearning will form the basis of the discussion.

This paper outlines the experiences of Welsh Higher Education Institutions engaged in a University of Glamorgan led community of practice, which was established using the JISC Collaborative Approaches to the Management of e-Learning (CAMEL) model as a means of “collaborating, scavenging and sharing to increase value” across the Welsh HE sector.

Collaborative approaches to the development of technology enhanced learning resources are phenomena that have been increasingly used throughout the 21st Century (e.g. Burge, 2001 and MacDonald et al. 2005). With higher education facing increasing austerity measures, collaborative approaches, which suggest more efficient ways of working, look increasingly attractive as University staff seek to minimise costs whilst maintaining the quality of the learner experience with ever diminishing resources. This paper will explore how this has been achieved through the establishment of the Welsh ELESIG regional group as a model that can be deployed in regions throughout the UK.

During the summer and autumn of 2010, the CELT Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team at the University of Glamorgan was provided seedcorn funding to host a series of four CAMELs. The purpose of these CAMELs was to share Best Practice and to nurture collaborative relationships within the group of Welsh Universities who had participated in the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales Gwella project (HEFCW, 2008).

The four CAMELs were themed in areas of common interest across the sector in Wales. These were e-Portfolios/ PDP; Online assessment; Social software; and Virtual Learning Environment review. This paper will review the context to the work and will offer a reflection on what was learnt to inform future practice and future collaboration in Wales.

We will conclude by showing how the experiences of a collaborative approach can lead the sector to deliver longer-term efficacy and efficiency. We will use our evidence to argue that the value added of collaboration between HEIs in Technology Enhanced Learning can overcome the nugatory competition which might occur during times of financial pressure when HEIs are competing in other elements of their delivery.

In January 2010, JISC awarded funding to a consortium of six medium-sized HE institutions to develop a shared media service. The Bloomsbury Media Cloud project builds upon a portfolio of shared licenses and collaborative approaches to support learning, teaching and research, and aims to establish a media platform that participating institutions can use to store and promote digital media.

The main objective of the project was to identify and use Cloud-based tools and open access technology to store and distribute digital content, particularly podcasts and vodcasts. The project investigated a range of options, including the creation of a shared iTunes U site and establishing a consortium-wide media service. The suitability of a shared platform that meets the needs of the consortium partners was reviewed.

As part of the project, the team developed a number of podcasts and vodcasts featuring interviews with pro-vice chancellors, academics, researchers and students. Documentation of those recordings resulted in several good practice guides to assist staff/students in producing quality media to support learning and teaching, institutional promotion and marketing. The consortium is now using the open-source media platform MediaCore as a repository for digital content and as an environment to showcase new and existing material. As a hosting solution, a cost-efficient, Cloud-based infrastructure was selected for improved resilience and scalability.

The consortium has considerable experience in managing a successful shared e-learning service over seven years. This new addition to its portfolio is now ready for deployment across the partner institutions. Lessons learned from the project show that users are finding the flexibility of the tool a vast improvement on alternatives for media distribution (e.g. iTunes U) and repositories (e.g. SharePoint). Initial evaluations from consortium members indicate that not all participating institutions currently have a need for a media service as they either are locked into existing arrangements with system providers or do not produce digital content. It is anticipated that such members will benefit from cross-institutional sharing of content. The flexibility of the Bloomsbury Media Cloud service can complement, replace or integrate with existing services, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

This presentation reports on a small project that is exploring the affordances of mobile technologies to support students writing their postgraduate projects when they are in a placement setting. Students typically struggle with the placement/academic work balance and rush their research project at the end, and have reported disappointment with their grades. They find it difficult to develop the level of academic skills required by the assignments, including research skills and critical review of appropriate literature, as there is very limited time to teach these skills.

Key intervention points have thus been mapped according to the students’ school experience and academic preparation for the project, and we will post key readings onto the course VLE, and engage the students via txttools, a medium for sending and receiving SMS messages. These key readings and supported ‘chat via text’ will focus on very short bursts of information over 24 hours, aimed to support student writing over the period. Thus the students will have the opportunity for critical engagement with their peers and tutors at key points on their placement experience and scaffold the preparation of their academic work. SMS was chosen because it was available and accessible technology within the school setting, it was familiar, and data in txttools is secure (Twitter was rejected because of the potentially sensitive information being shared).

Students were also asked to capture the stages in student writing over their placement in the form of filmed research diaries, so that we can capture previously ‘invisible’ aspects of our students’ lives outside the classroom (students were loaned Flip Video Cams if they required them).

By analysis of the video diaries and focus group interviews afterwards we will identify a framework for key interventions that will provide staff supporting students in other contexts with insights into the key ‘tipping point interventions’ that make a difference to the student experience. Whilst other projects have focused on facilitating communication with students on placements with mobile devices (e.g. Wishart, 2011), we have focused on supporting students’ academic skills, and hope to see this reflected in their project grades.

During the presentation we will outline the framework developed and the findings from the student and tutor evaluation, showing what was successful, what wasn’t, and what we have learnt from the project.