Sheen Sharing Overview Slides: Hea Meeting, 9 June 2009

Meeting with HEA

York 9 June 2009

Sarah Currier, Project Consultant

SHEEN Sharing Project

 Introduction

to SHEEN Sharing – Cherie  ECN as a community of practice  ECN requirements gathering  Initial sandbox: project blog, RSS feeds, Twitter, Delicious bookmarking  SHEEN Sharing Groups  Trials period: Diigo / Netvibes  Cherie‟s reflections as a CoP member

Project outcomes will include: Increased ease of sharing of resources and practice amongst the ECN, leading to more effective use of resources, better support for their professional development, and enhancement of their community of practice.  Support for discovery and dissemination of relevant employability resources to stakeholders outwith the ECN, e.g. academics, staff developers, student support departments, national services, funders, etc.  Dissemination of the project findings for the benefit of the wider education community, and the FE and HE funding bodies across the UK. 

Planned Project Outputs: 

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Snapshot review of Web 2.0 technologies and their potential application to resource sharing and community building. Review of literature / outputs from similar Web 2.0 initiatives. Report on user and other stakeholder requirements, including review of current practice and skills of ECN. User training sessions with accompanying HowTo guidance. Report on user trials of Web 2.0 technologies and tools. Regular progress reports. Dissemination event in September 2009. Final report detailing findings, exit strategy and sustainability plan for project.

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Experimental Developmental Iterative Flexible: able to change track quickly if something isn‟t working Must have ownership and involvement of ECN as first priority for it to succeed Safe communication spaces vital as well as open dissemination spaces Must not be driven by traditional project reporting outputs CoP = sharing of knowledge, experience and peer teaching within community CoP = room for mistakes, learning from trial and error, reporting what doesn‟t work as well as what does, supporting each other Validated 100% by Project Review!

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Looked at existing literature on CoPs / resource sharing / UK HE: • PROWE, CD-LOR, SPIRE (JISC DRP 2005-2007) • JISC Emerge, Pathfinder DMU Learning Exchanges • Interviewed key people

“[...] the pedagogical, social, and organisational aspects of these communities have not been at the forefront in the design and development [...]. Research has consistently demonstrated that the most substantial barriers in uptake of technology are rooted in these factors” Margaryan, Milligan and Douglas, 2007. CD-LOR Project

“Ultimately it is the sharing of artefacts and outcomes in practice which determines community ownership and sustainability.

“Lessons learned: • There is a need to be aware of individual visibility and to identify

•

• • •

those that may remain invisible so as to ensure equitable opportunities for participation. This may mean addressing the digital literacy skills of those within the community; Agile and flexible approaches are required to support a community as community requirements change over time in unanticipated ways; Designing for „purpose‟ requires transparency in the technologies deployed; Benefits for both individuals and organisations must be focused; Resourcing is one of the key driving forces behind community development, participation and governance.”

JISC Emerge Project, 2009

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National (across Scotland), and geographically distributed, with some members, particularly in the north of Scotland, less able to attend centrally based meetings; Mostly female (76% female / 24% male); A mix of part-time and full-time (59% FT / 41% PT); A mix of professional backgrounds; A mix of institutional situations, in terms of: • the type of department they are based in (59%

educational/staff development / 41% careers service), some being co-located in different departments; • the emphasis required by their institution on employability work (including working at a policy level; working on curriculum and course development; and working directly with academics and students, embedding employability). • university type, from red brick to the ancients, including the Open University and the UHI Millennium Institute.

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Temporary: funding will not continue beyond the next couple of years.

Despite their differences, the ECN has worked from the beginning as a community of practice, engaging in a process of collective learning about their roles and remits. Given the affordances Web 2.0 can offer to a distributed CoP, the SHEEN Sharing project has much to offer in their continued work, learning and professional development.

 Significant

time pressure on ECN members;  Range of professional and institutional cultures, priorities and communication styles affecting ability to participate;  Institutions with different support for use of technology (for instance, one institution blocks use of certain Web 2.0 tools on campus; another doesn‟t allow use of Flash);  There is a sense that the work accomplished must somehow not be lost after the end of the ECN‟s funded tenure in this role.

 Communication:

• Mutual support; • Sharing experience, practice and learning.

 Resource

sharing, comprising:

• Resource discovery, sharing, recommending

and rating; • Sharing experiences of use of resources; • Targeted resource dissemination to all stakeholders.

 One-stop

shop for employability

• New employees coming in

As noted in the recent report of an independent Committee of Inquiry into the impact on higher education of students‟ widespread use of Web 2.0 technologies (entitled ‘Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World’): “[...] the dispositions developed through engagement with Web 2.0 technologies – to communicate, participate, network, share etc – overlap with what are viewed both as significant 21st century learning skills and 21st century employability skills.”

Hughes, A. (2009) Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World: Report of an independent Committee of Inquiry into the impact on higher education of students’ widespread use of Web 2.0 technologies. JISC. Available: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/heweb2.aspx

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Communicate less frequently than they‟d like

• time constraints • issues of information overload • all forms of communication tend to occur monthly or less.

Use bookmarking, Google and email Some experience with social media and educational tech: not all positive  Medium/low confidence in efficiency / effectiveness at resource discovery, sharing, dissemination  Strong support for:  

• sharing opinions, practice tips and ideas around

resources with ECN colleagues and other stakeholders, • improving their own efficiency and effectiveness in sharing resources.

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Weekly FlashMeeting dropin webinars Project blog: dissemination and sandbox / demonstrator • • • • •

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All project news here Encouraged ECN to set up feed readers and subscribe Encouraged ECN to comment on postings Those who wished were given “Author” role to post Showed how feeds from other resources can be displayed: Delicious, Twitter, Scribd

Twitter feed Delicious as social bookmarking trial

• Initial use of sheensharing and sheenshearing_web2 tags • But now we‟ve moved to Diigo!

 Diigo • Social bookmarking with bells and whistles • Group space for discussion: public and private • Highlight, comment on and discuss resources tagged

and bookmarked

 Share these as URLs and feeds

• Determine a set of group tags so that tag-based

feeds can be provided

 Netvibes • Dissemination route for tagged and annotated

resources, discussions • Pull in highlights from other Web services

 Workplace Voluntary

(Fiona Boyle)

Sector Project

• Helped set up blog, Twitter feed, think through

requirements.

 PDP

(International Taught Post-Grads) (Joy Perkins)  e-Portfolios (David McCall)  Student experiences: podcasts, vidcasts, blogs and wikis (Pam Andrew)  Action Learning Sets? (Cherie Woolmer)

Image on 1st slide by ycc2106: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ycc2106/103383461/ available under Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en_GB Slides by Sarah Currier, Consultant, SHEEN Web 2.0 Resource Sharing Project http://www.sarahcurrier.com/ [email protected] Slides © Higher Education Academy, 2009.