DIVERSE

What is this project about?

DIVERSE (Development and Integration of Varying Educational Resources and Student Engagement) will investigate the use of ‘Resource Clouds’, a tool for the peer-review and validation of subject specific lecture materials. The Principal Investigator is Dr. John Murray in the School of Computer Science. The project funds two Masters by Research student positions, undertaken by Max Woollard and Ben Trott. The project is supported by Joss Winn in the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD).

Why are we undertaking the project?

The predominant format used in lectures, known as the ‘Instruction Paradigm’, is a process whereby knowledge is transferred from academic to student in a one-way (or consumerist) approach. Whilst the advantages of this process are well understood we feel a more fluidic two-way approach is warranted, drawing on the notion of the student being the producer of knowledge, as opposed to just the consumer.

What will the project achieve?

This project will investigate the use of DIVERSE a (previously developed) tool for building resource clouds by crowd-sourcing subject specific materials. Resource clouds are populated by students adding links to useful sources and materials they have discovered online. There are initially expected to be three main beneficiaries of this research:

• Students – Currently there is minimal opportunity for students to engage with their peers in a way that is conducive to their studies outside of the classroom. Using DIVERSE students can share materials they have discovered with their peers, allowing them to validate (by a process of voting up or down) these resources providing direct feedback on the relevance of the materials.
• Academics – A large proportion of student learning takes the form of self-engaged study outside of the classroom; this creates a disjuncture between teacher and student. The use of DIVERSE will allow the lecturer to see the resources students are sharing (and rating up) allowing them to check for correct interpretation and understanding of the subject, based on the resources being added and voted up.
• University Library Services – As library resources move ever increasingly away from physical media such as books and towards online educational resources (OERs) such as e-books and e-journals it becomes much easier to modify and change these subscriptions. The use of resource clouds via the DIVERSE tool will allow for journal and other OER resources to be tracked and altered accordingly based on usage. Therefore allowing DIVERSE to build usage statistics, informing module book and reading lists.

When is the project taking place?

June 2011 – May 2012

What is the project cost?

Total project cost: £49,370.05. Funding received: £39,432.81.

Where can I find more information?

Project website