OERCaseStudy

=Project Title= =Opening up Educational Resources = =Executive Summary =

Project Site: @http://wikieducator.org/TasmanianPolytechnicOER

=Background=

We have established and successfully trialled wikis in five subject areas across the Polytechnic. Based on this trial we are now ready to update Polytechnic strategies and policies to support open educational resources, and to select a wiki platform for use by teachers and students.

=What was done=

We kicked off the project with a couple of workshops for the trial leaders that explored the concepts of open educational resources and also introduced them to a couple of wiki platforms. We also explored a number of existing wikis and from that the trial leaders started to develop their ideas about what form their trial would take. Following on from the workshops the trial leaders and project team met to discuss learning design, development and implementation approaches specific to their trial. Each trial leader was paired with a support person who provided ongoing support and guidance as they developed their open wiki solution.

We came together as a whole group so that the trial leaders could show each other what they had designed and developed, and talk about their implementation stories as well. The teachers found this experience invaluable as a way of picking up new ideas, considering their options, and also learning from those who had already started their trials with learners. As a result of this workshop some of the wikis were redeveloped or altered to integrate approaches that had worked for others.

Trial leaders worked with their support person to continue design and development of the wikis, and also started using the wikis with students. As a result of student feedback and ongoing observation and evaluation by the teachers, some changes were made to the learning activities and the wikis. This included improving the type and style of guidance provided on the student portfolio, also known as "Student Central" pages, especially in relation to what was expected and also useful tips and guides for editing wiki pages.

Throughout the project, an interactive process has been used to inform a strategic approach to supporting open educational resources, and working towards a set of criteria for selecting a wiki platform (or two). We have reviewed existing learning resource policies and procedures and key influences have been from participation in the University of Canberra's Recent Changes Camp and the Creative Commons Seminar held in Hobart. The opportunity to share and discuss open approaches to education was invaluable and also learning from other organisation's experiences has helped us form plans for 2011 already. Learning more detail about the Tasmanian Government Information Licensing Framework (pdf) also confirmed our proposed direction would be in alignment with overall approaches to information management.

We have also formed links with Otago Polytechnic in the area of Tourism resources and are currently exploring ways we can collaborate.

=Benefits experienced by=

Many of the trial leaders have commented on how easy, and non-technical working in a wiki environment has been. As soon as material is saved to a wiki page it can be available to students and other teachers, even to those outside the Polytechnic. Other teachers, support staff and parents or friends can also view the students work where their portfolio pages are public.

From an organisational perspective, this project has shown that open educational resources and wikis are an important part of the mix of elearning offerings for the Polytechnic. It has highlighted the need for related policy changes, eg to allow release of materials under Creative Commons licences, and also a decision around which wiki platform(s) will be supported through training, just in time support and possibly licensing, subscription fees or in-house hosting.

One trial group specifically targeted Year 10 students at local high schools who were participating in a “Taste of Polytechnic” program in Hair and Beauty. This program leads into a pre-apprenticeship course and offers the opportunity to experience training in this industry area as part of a career pathway process. Katrina Hatfield led this wiki, building on her 2009 work.

Other courses typically attract a mixture of school leavers, mature age learners, career changers and women returning to the workforce. The added flexibility offered through the changes to the learning design have made a positive difference for learners and also teachers.

Students in Community Services have enjoyed the change from printed workbooks. Their teacher Kate Morrison noted that rather than having to mail their learning activities back to campus, and have the next workbook sent out, students are able to move straight on to the next learning cluster, to be able to see the whole of the program and receive feedback on their work as soon as the teacher has commented online. Teachers are easily able to provide feedback and guidance directly on the student's portfolio pages at a granular level as needed, and also assess sections of work, rather than students completing a whole unit before posting it in to their teachers.

The effect of this project was not just those who were directly involved. Through the project teachers in other areas such as equivalent teams in other regions, and teachers based on the same campus as trial leaders have heard about the wikis, and in several cases have started design and development work ready for implementation in 2011. The Southern Children's Services team are planning to adopt a similar approach to Kate Morrison's 2010 wiki for their flexible intake in April 2011. Many teams have talked about how much easier it is to start using a wiki compared to a full Learning Management system.

The Business Services trial led by Susanne Borg used a different approach, combining the use of a wiki for some activities, WebCT for online resources, and a simulated business environment, the "Swaggies model", as their main location for learning. Each tool for learning has been selected for a specific need that it serves best and combined to create an impressive whole.

John O'Donnell's wiki was an initial foray into wikis based around a project undertaken by Tourism students in conjunction with the Devonport Jazz Festival, encouraging businesses to have displays about the Festival. Students used the wiki to record group work, and also their business contact management. Students were able to access learning resources and activities in related topic areas to support their hands-on project based learning.

Video Interviews with Trial Leaders
All video files are available in .wmv format Feedback Approaches Used: [|wmv] Kate Morrison on Introduction to Childrens Services Wiki including Learning Design [|wmv]

An article in the Devonport Times Newspaper about the collaboration between Hair & Beauty, Fashion and Photography students for the final project for Hair and Beauty students: http://www.devonporttimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/style-for-the-camera/1959670.aspx
 * Public Promotion of the learning outcomes supported through this project**

An Article in the Advocate Newspaper highlighting the work done by Tourism students in promoting the Devonport Jazz Festival

=Lessons learnt= These could be divided into three main areas:
 * Teaching**

In many of the trials, students were encouraged to reflect on their learning, and also document it as they proceeded. Through the trials we found that the most effective approach was to give quite specific instructions to the students about what could be done. Wikispaces offers a ‘template’ option which is basically a pre-prepared page of content. Here is an example of a ‘student template’ that was used. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

In another wiki, written questions were included in the template that formed part of assessment tasks so that students could directly enter their responses on their own page.

Where students were given guidance and assistance with reflection and collaboration it did start to appear. In our own reflections as a project team we have thought about this issue and observed that many students may not have been introduced to reflective practice as part of learning previously. In addition, the design of assessments and activities needs to take into account the open nature of the wikis.

Assessments, where there is not ‘one correct’ response, are needed, so by the nature of openness, more sophisticated learning and assessment design is required. This was one of the unexpected bonuses from the project – a questioning of assessment practice in some trials.


 * Technical**

There were some very memorable days with students where they were not able to upload files to their wiki pages due to unknown changes in our network configuration. In addition, on days where the network speed was slow, students and teachers would find their changes would not be applied, or would be overwritten by an earlier change made minutes earlier. After much troubleshooting we were able to identify this as a network speed issue by isolating all other variables. At times through the year it was not possible to upload video to the site, again due to network permissions and speed issues. Each of these instances detracted from the credibility of wiki use, and elearning in general for those moving into this practice for the first time. At one stage there was a technical change at Wikispaces which affected naming conventions for new files but that was very quickly remedied when reported to their support area.


 * Talent Release**

The involvement of a wide group of people meant that in some cases talent release or image permission forms were not completed as required. As a result outputs concentrate on use of images sourced from Flickr and Wikimedia Commons under open licensing. =Comparing Wiki Platforms=

At the outset of the project we planned to trial both Wikispaces and WikiEducator, however all live student trials took place in Wikispaces. The main reason trial leaders and the support staff gave for this choice was the flexibility in look and feel, and also, as the trials progressed, the flexibility in access controls for dealing with images of under 18 students in the hairdressing and beauty course. After participating in the RecentChangesCamp in Canberra, Kirsty formed some draft options for hosting wikis for the Polytechnic (blog post at @http://www.otheredge.com.au/klogs/blog/?p=252) however, in the project debrief, the importance of the factors listed above became more apparent and we believe this will have a significant impact on uptake. Part of the project plan was also to test a Polytechnic-hosted Mediawiki site to explore customisation options, the installation was not completed by the end of the project by the IT Support area, so could not be evaluated. In 2009, a comparison of these platforms was completed and included this summary table: Full Final Report from 2009 Project at [] = = =The 2010 results=

Outcomes:
 * more people using more wikis in an open education manner
 * criteria for selecting a Polytechnic wiki system (or two) developed
 * policy changes prepared for 2011
 * links with Open Education Community established and strengthened.

How we evaluated the project:
 * student survey
 * teacher interviews
 * ongoing support and debriefs
 * viewing of wiki pages including student pages
 * bouncing ideas off colleagues inc Leigh Blackall.

Plans for 2011:
 * flow on effect is already being seen with other teachers adopting and adapting materials and approaches developed this year for 2011 plans. In addition the learning activities that have been developed are integral to the delivery plans of the trial leaders for 2011. During 2010 we saw one of the trial groups use a 2nd year resource that was originally developed in 2009 with new sections added and images and activities added. We plan to support similar growth in the subject areas using wikis for the first time in 2010 as they move forward
 * discussions are underway with wiki hosting providers and our internal Learning Technology team about the best possible wiki solution for 2011. The move of the Polytechnic into the Department of Education will bring us under the Tasmanian Government Information Licensing Framework which encourages the appropriate use of Creative Commons licensing for government produced materials.

=Project Outputs=

Links to all project trial wiki areas are available at @http://wikieducator.org/TasmanianPolytechnicOER Links to Outputs in Toolbox Repository will go here Links to Outputs in the Resource Database will go here

=Framework connection=

The materials developed this year have been mainly open to the public, and teachers have been sharing with colleagues internally and interstate. We are also in discussion with Otago Polytechnic about possibilities for online collaboration in the Tourism training area. During August, the Project Manager, Kirsty Sharp, participated in Recent Changes Camp held at the University of Canberra where the wiki work underway was discussed and links shared. This also provided an opportunity to seek input and feedback from other practitioners about initiatives underway elsewhere.

The trial wikis have been showcased both within the project (spreading the word across regions and industry areas) and also external to the project. We have updated a project page at [] and also http://tasinnovations.wikispaces.com/Opening+up+Educational+Resources. Through participation at the Recent Changes Camp in Canberra (Aug ’10) information about the project was shared with other educators from NSW, ACT and Victoria. Briefing notes about project progress have been prepared for senior management.

=Acknowledgement= This is a Tasmanian E-learning Innovations project output, developed by the Tasmanian Polytechnic, with seed funding from the Framework and financial and in-kind support from the Tasmanian Polytechnic.

=For more information=

For more information about this project: Kirsty Sharp Resource Development Manager, Tasmanian Polytechnic Phone: 03 6233 8604 Email: kirsty.sharp@polytechnic.tas.edu.au

For more information on the Australian Flexible Learning Framework: Phone: 07 3307 4700 Email: enquiries@flexiblelearning.net.au Website: flexiblelearning.net.au