Developing Personal Repositories to Support the Development of Part-Time Tutor Communities – a First View of the PROWE Project Roger Dence, University of Leicester and Anne Hewling, The Open University “Pushing the Boundaries” Beyond Distance Research Alliance Conference Leicester, 10th January 2006

Scope Profiling the JISC-funded PROWE project –  Personal Repositories Online: Wiki Environment Outlining the research approach Tutor communities of practice (CoPs) in context Identifying barriers to adoption and enabling factors Further research and development issues

Project Profile A JISC-funded digital repositories project Led by OU (Library, Institute of Educational Technology), with UoL (Beyond Distance Research Alliance) Investigating use of wikis / blogs as informal repositories Aimed at part-time tutors on distance education programmes Focus on potential for sharing and storing resources to meet professional development needs

Institutional Context Associates in several faculties < ~ 100, mostly in UK Mainly distance-learning tutors, but some on full and part time courses Diverse terms and conditions of engagement Limited, ad hoc access to staff development activities Mostly own services; a few Blackboard VLE deployed April now ~1000 sites, but used by few tutors

Quotes “There is little sharing at the moment. Staff may do something on an ad hoc basis between close associates.” “With uncertain objectives and benefits, a light touch is needed. A simple interface is a vital necessity, otherwise barriers will be created.”

Some Enabling Factors Technology use needs to be intuitive Must have clear benefits for associate tutors re meeting interests and opportunity cost of time Needs current and relevant material in repository Meeting specific needs / opportunities Encouragement needed – difficult to mandate Identifying advocates and champions

Institutional Context - OU More than 7000 tutors with diverse backgrounds Around students with diverse backgrounds All dispersed around UK, Europe and elsewhere Highly-structured learning / teaching / working environment Distance-only institution Moving towards Moodle in 2007

Activity Timeline Focus groups and survey Appraisal of options Technical specification Small trial for volunteers Reappraisal Larger trial – open group (s) Evaluation and ‘toolkit’ with demonstrator

Progress to Date – OU … User aspirations: Integration Ease of use Control Themes and pointers Multi-media capture and storage

… continued Project developers’ aspirations: Possibility for widespread integration Web hosted not server bound Transferable Largely self-moderating Light touch infrastructure

Some Initial Issues Arising Encouraging the routine sharing of resources for altruistic reasons and social ideals Acknowledging the context of successful CoPs, ie being self forming, self managing and self sustaining Facilitating professional and personal development in pedagogy, as well as in subject / discipline areas Recognising and rewarding contributions

Thank you for your interest and attention! Anne Hewling, The Open University Roger Dence, University of Leicester