Shirley Pickford, 9 December 2005, Towards Patchwork, 8th ITTE Research Seminar, Cambridge
Abstract
The Ultraversity research project is based at Ultralab, a leading education and research department at Anglia Ruskin University. We are seeking to evaluate the impact of new technologies in teaching and learning in an online undergraduate research degree. Assignments are presented in a multimedia e-portfolio, following Richard Winter's patchwork assessment philosophy. This has developed into what we are now tentatively calling Patchwork Media. We are attempting to articulate research findings by also using a patchwork approach in a collaborative learning community.
Shirley Pickford, 17 February 2006, Online Learning with Ultraversity and WebCT, Joint e-Learning Seminar, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford
WebCT Vista Evaluation Steering Group, November 2006, WebCT Vista Evaluation, Anglia Ruskin University (internal publication)
Lydia Arnold, Shirley Pickford, 6 November 2006, The importance of learner-centred design, Becta Annual Research Conference 2006, International Convention Centre, Birmingham
Lydia Arnold, Vivien O'Dunne, Shirley Pickford, 30 August 2007, Real world research: Inquiry led undergraduate work-based learning in a virtual paradigm, AISHE Conference 2007, NUI Maynooth, Ireland
Abstract
This paper seeks to explore how a combination of work-based learning and inquiry-based learning can be blended together with social technologies and balanced facilitation to create a highly personalised fully online undergraduate experience. Whilst the literature base is established for each element separately, less is known of the combinational possibilities of these approaches to learning. Based around the experience of the highly successful BA Learning Technology Research degree based at Anglia Ruskin University, Essex, the paper shows how elements of the blend can act to enable participation in higher education from previously excluded groups. The case study establishes the benefits and challenges of this real world approach to learning for the students as individuals and with respect to the emerging calls for
particular skill sets in the super-complex age, where learners have multiple frameworks of understanding, of action, and of self-identity. The paper goes on to explore how learner defined inquiry based learning is both scalable and replicable and suggests lessons for other courses and institutions. Within the case study the paper also identifies challenges posed by the blend combinations and makes tentative suggestions on how they may be addressed.