Research Projects
eLanguages is involved in various research projects developing and studying aspects of eLearning pedagogy and practice. We are leading the following projects:
- L20 Sharing Language Learning Objects
- MURLLO (Management, Use and Re-purposing of Language Learning Objects)
- Design tools for creating online learning materials
- CLAReT (Contextualised Learning Activity Repository Tools)
L20 Sharing Language Learning Objects
L2O aims to test a model of collaboration in the creation and sharing of online language-learning resources, between a group of regional HE/college partners. It aims to enhance understanding of the issues surrounding the sharing, re-using and re-purposing of online material. This is an e-learning Regional Pilot Project funded by JISC. The project is due to be completed in April 2007. Work and findings on the project have led directly to the three other projects listed below.
What we've achieved so far:
Creation of resources: Each partner institute has provided existing
online language-learning resources and used them to generate 'online
re-usable learning objects (RLOs).' These 'RLOs' are
created using tools and processes developed through 3 years of research
by the eLanguages team, and include such elements as style guides, design
templates, and pedagogic process models showing how pedagogy underpins
our use of technology. eLanguages has created its own prototype repository
to hold the RLOs while they are being developed.
Sharing of resources: Working on the 'sharing' aspect of the
project has revealed an essential need for RLOs to have metadata which relates
specifically to the teaching and learning context attached to them. Contextual
metadata gives the teacher/learner key information about the RLO, such as
topic, level of activity, learning aim, ideas for further use, etc. This
information enables a teacher/learner to decide if they want to use that
RLO as part of their teaching or learning programme.
Work in progress:
We have been
testing our prototype repository over the last two months with teaching
staff within their institutions.We held a flagship
event in February, 2007: 'Finding, sharing and
re-using online resources: Personalising the experience for the teacher
and the learner'-
at which we engaged with over 50 institutional/regional/national stakeholders
and continued to substantiate earlier findings. We are
keen to ascertain the appeal of the concept of such a bank of learning
material; to assess its 'user-friendliness,' and
to assess the effectiveness of the metadata in guiding educators
to appropriate resources. These issues are key to understanding how
online resources can be shared, re-used and re-purposed.
MURLLO: Management, Use and Re-purposing of Language Learning Objects
MURLLO will initially look at different ways of collecting context-rich metadata; and test models for Intellectual Property Rights management of online resources, and for identifying suitable business models for licensing content. An analysis of the results will inform the development and testing of 'open source' tools.
These tools aim to enable users to easily add their own learning materials,
along with metadata and IPR information to a digital repository. Innovative
development by our programmers will allow users to use a Wiki-type
tool for editing online learning material for their own purposes and
then storing the revised content for others to view or use. The project
also plans the creation of an 'online shopping trolley'-type tool to
simplify the selection of learning activities from the repository,
and the export of collections of such activities to a user's
own computer.
Design Tools for Creating online learning materials
This is a project funded by JISC / the Higher Education Academy to create tools to enable educators to produce pedagogically-sound online learning material in an easy and effective way. The project also involves the creation of proactive support mechanisms to enhance the use and understanding of the tools.
The project has created a toolbar and template for effective online activity design; along with companion installation, technical and pedagogical guides. These have been delivered with workshops in the testing phase at Durango University, in Mexico, in January 2007. The tools and guides will be made available through the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, along with comprehensive support resources to users. There will be a review and assessment of the tools and support pack in the light of practice.
What we've achieved so far:
The project has created a toolbar and template for effective online
activity design; along with companion installation, technical and pedagogical
guides. These tools work in tandem with Dreamweaver and are simple and
easy-to-use.
Work in progress:
The tools are being delivered with workshops in the current testing
phase at Durango University, in Mexico. Feedback to date is extremely
positive, but we plan to revise and assess the tools, guides and workshop
techniques in the light of the testing.
The future:
The tools and guides will be made available through the Subject Centre
for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, along with comprehensive
support resources to users. The Subject Centre intends to run workshops
throughout this year on how to get the best use out of these free tools
and support resources. If you are interested in taking part in any of
these workshops, then please contact us.
CLAReT: Contextualised Learning Activity
Repository Tools
The CLAReT project began in October 2006, with funding from JISC, to explore how we can use teachers' knowledge and experience to create innovative and easy to use interfaces for learning technology. Potential benefits to the teaching community are:
- Customising and sharing teaching resources
- Customising how searches are deliver
- Using semantic technologies to enable easier resource discovery
- Using social networks to share ideas and good practice
The project explored the domains of both languages and teaching and learning, to develop a domain ontology and concept maps. These were created from the shared understanding of the Community of Practice. These formed the basis of an interface to CLARe, the prototype Learning Object Repository based on EPrints (developed through the L20 Project). CLAReT integrated social networking services with the repository to allow both browsing for resources using terms provided by the creator, and also to add personal terms to be shared with other teachers.