1. JISC e-data collections for teaching and learning: making connections and getting funding Louise Corti Economic and Social Data Service Head Qualidata, and Outreach & Training, UKDA E-learning event, 13 October 2004

2. What I’ll cover JISC X4L call Prior experience in e-learning Solidifying connections to enable bid Writing joint bids… What came to light after the project What we’d do second time around

3. JISC circulars Being well connected/networked: Jiscmail Lists Jisc-development Jisc-announce Lis-elib(JISC Electronic Libraries Programme Word of mouth Partnerships with Data Service Providers e.g. ESDS, AHDS etc.

4. About the X4L Programme The Exchange for Learning (X4L) Programme was motivated by the drive to make the most of the considerable investment that has taken place in a range of JISC resources for teaching and learning. The programme is exploring a range of strategies, methods, tools and metadata standards that will enable the repurposing of e-learning materials. Running 1 Jan 2003 for 2005

5. Aims and challenges of the JISC Exchange for Learning (X4L) Programme encourage HE/FE institutions to actively take a role in defining the kinds of content that would best fit their learning aims challenge to demonstrate how UKDA materials can be re-used to support learning pedagogical outcomes at the heart of the programme - focus on learning activities and outcomes explore sustainability and widespread adoption of e-learning materials - by unlocking the potential of complementary areas of work

6. Meeting the programme objectives assemble ‘chunks’ of content which can be identified as learning objects to create new learning materials make more direct connections between available resources and the 16+ curriculum and to create learning pathways document the processes used to re-purpose learning materials and to provide case studies and exemplars test the usability of materials within the context of an institutional environment submit these learning materials for sharing to suitable learning materials repository tag/catalogue the ‘learning objects’ using appropriate metadata to trial and evaluate their use within the community

7. UKDA project idea UK academic community has access to a unique and expansive range of digital data resources whilst individual datasets used extensively in academic research they are significantly under used in T&L programmes within HE, and rarely used in Further Education UKDA has the potential to offer its resources to the T&L communities for developing more ‘packaged’ resources BUT needs the advice and input from instructors in the classroom on how to re-purpose and apply the content widely recognised in the UK that the skills shortage of quantitative analysts is now critical - introducing concepts early on in post-16 education is one way to redress this shortage

8. JISC Town Meeting Short time between announcing call to town meeting —call Jan 2002 —Town meeting 1 Feb 2002 —bid due in 28 Feb Very little time to get partnerships in place Worried that we would be unprepared Attended meeting to find that all were unprepared! But if you have ideas about collaboration, touch base informally...anticipate the calls

9. Initial challenges not a widely established history of JISC service providers working closely with FE institutions some instances - EDINA/MIMAS with NLN UK Data Archive —few active links with FE (16-18) —no dedicated resources/staff expertise to support this community explicitly —occasional seminars run largely about resource discovery and data potential But, not sufficient time before hand to ‘get to know each other’ well

10. UK Data Archive Project existing strong links with HE: —University of Essex Government Department formed a quick link with FE: —local FE college Social Science department project focus on teaching politics at undergraduate and A’ level (16-18 academic qualification) levels Initially: Exploiting UK survey data sources for teaching political science: experiences from the classroom

11. Survey Data in Teaching: a resource for students and teachers UKDA project aimed to increase the use of real data sources held within the JISC portfolio of HE/FE research, teaching and learning resources in the classroom. A grander mission is to improve the data literacy of GCE A level and university students to: enable a better understanding of the use of social science data as applied to real-life problems enhance skills in manipulating numerical data in textbooks, newspapers or reports become critical consumers of this data

12. Survey Data in Teaching Project : enhancing critical thinking and data numeracy X4L Conference, 6/7 July 2004, Brighton

13. Project objectives produce teaching datasets from more complex socio- economic datasets develop integrated web-based T&L resources that link together resource discovery tools, and data exploration and extraction tools (NESSTAR) with teaching materials that help address substantive issues for political science teaching gain evaluation and feedback from piloting this re- purposed content - political science teachers and students suggest models for improving the productivity of teachers by reducing the resources required to incorporate data related resources into T&L promote increased and more effective use of a national data services for problem-based learning in the classroom

14. Course aspects covered Substantive areas: national issues/controversies in politics —voting behaviour —crime and social order —race and immigration Empirical orientations: research methods in politics —potential of survey data to answer questions —survey measurement; sampling —basic data management/basic data analysis —resource discovery skills Essex HE course already combines these components Local college course does not ‘use’ data; no hands on data manipulation; no aim to improve statistical literacy

15. Datasets selected Plan to use British Election Studies BUT FE syllabus dropped voter behaviour module SO using British Crime Survey and British Social Attitudes Survey Create mini cut-down teaching datasets for BCS and BSA - publish in NESSTAR But, shift meant 2 months of ‘wasted’ work

16. Staffing levels Project Manager.1 SDiT Project Officer.4 Web resources Officer.3 FE tutor15 days over life HE tutor unspecified Months 6-16 Project Manager.2 SDiT Project Officer 1 Web resources Officer.3 FE tutor10 days over life HE tutorabout 20 hours Proofing20 hours

17. Non-staff resources Plenty of travel money Printing budget Proofing budget Small incentives for testing resources Consultancy should be built in where possible Project length – extension granted for 3 months

18. Materials created Web-based learners' and teachers' guides - tutorials and exercises User guides to aid resource discovery, web-based data extraction and data exploration/visualisation of the teaching datasets via the NESSTAR software suite, suitable for student use Enhancement of the teaching datasets and learning text/exercises through adding and linking other relevant information sources Metadata of the learning objects for submission to the Repository A fully documented ‘warts and all’ report on the processes used to re-purpose and pilot the learning materials

19. Initial work Web site established Report on existing resources in the field finalised Steering committee established Memorandum of agreement drafted Metadata – following developments FE Issues draft in progress, but delays… HE materials drafts but delays… –Biggest problem - linking the two…. Teaching dataset defined and prepared for NESSTAR + tailored user guide in draft Stat. software licence being negotiated with Norway Evaluation plan v.1 prepared

20. Evaluation 3 phase basic evaluation strategy: formative I - project team and steering committee —interview; system log formative II - sample of teachers/students —interview; questionnaire; observation; system log summative - sample of teachers/students —questionnaires; system log; essay competition we promised a little too much, ensure your plans are small and doable, and will generate relevant and useful feedback (quota sampling/’friends’ is best)

21. What to evaluate - pedagogy Cover substantive issues comprehensively? Enhance student understanding of substantive issues and the role of data & statistics? Four staged learning resource for HE - how far could FE proceed? Feasibility of introducing into teaching - when, how? Are we addressing key skills? Time taken to use resources - burdensome? Usefulness of the teacher support materials

22. What to evaluate - resources Look and feel, navigation, basic functionality Integration of text, Powerpoint shows, exercises, quizzes and data exploration (NESSTAR) Preferred use of specific statistical software? System requirements and load testing Technical bugs Sequencing and dissaggregation - feasibility of stand alone learning objects

23. Metadata Metadata format not defined at start of project Eventually X4L programme used the UK Common Metadata Framework (UKCMF) We kept abreast of developments But hard to follow dynamic development! Keep focused on the aim of your project Important to learn from other X4L projects

24. Assumptions made It would be easy to reach out to FE teachers FE and HE teachers would have time to write/test resources It wouldn’t take long to author the materials The key project staff would be part-time It would be easy to manage the project 16 months is long enough for the project

25. Reflections Allow plenty of lead time for securing evaluators and testers – teachers are very busy/inflexible Linking with key skills – very useful Awareness of developments of NLN Reaching out to FE – teachers and ILT staff: Hunt down the champions Need for extended checking/proofing of all materials promotional and outreach work should not be underestimated if you want your project to work. Don’t undercost human resources

26. Helping with Key Skills At the time, not considered that the resources would cover many of the Key Skills’ requirements for 16-18 year olds, and indeed, beyond. The investigation of crime from a sociological perspective, and the application of statistics and data handling covered in the resources address: Application of Number, Information Technology and Problem Solving, while the group exercises cover Communication. The web resources, which can be used as self- paced exercises, may further contribute to Improving own Learning and Performance

27. Future steps Advocate collaboration with other e-learning projects Share best stories/practice Use JISC service provider (ESDS) to promote X4L project experiences and the specific learning materials created for this particular project Recommend sharing of modules/components instead of re-investing the wheel (including beyond the UK) Facilitate collaborative working via educational organisations with similar mission

28. Louise Corti Associate Director UK Data Archive corti@essex.ac.uk 01206 872145