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Cover Sheet for Proposals
(All sections must be completed)
e-Learning Programme
Name of Call Area Bidding For (tick ONE only):
Call I: Transforming Curriculum Delivery Through Technology (JISC funded) X
Call I: Transforming Curriculum Delivery Through Technology (Becta funded)
Call II: Assessment demonstrators
Call III: Course description and discovery
Name of Lead Institution: University of Bristol
Name of Proposed Project: eBioLabs^ A personalised virtual environment to support laboratory-based bioscience.
Name(s) of Project Partner(s): Department of Biochemistry, University of Bristol Department of Chemistry, University of Bristol Learning Science Ltd
Full Contact Details for Primary Contact: Name: Dr Gus Cameron
Position: Research Fellow Email: gus.cameron@bristol.ac.uk
Address: Department of Biochemistry, University Walk, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD Tel: 0117 331 2139 Fax: 0117 331 2168
Length of Project: 24 months
Project Start Date: October 2008 Project End Date: September 2010
Total Funding Requested from JISC:
Funding Broken Down over Financial Years (April - March):
April 08 – March 09 April 09 – March 10 April 10 – March 11
Total Institutional Contributions:
Outline Project Description
This project aims to transform the delivery of laboratory-based courses in the biosciences by deploying and evaluating a personalised learning space. Today’s larger and more diverse learner cohort coupled with the decreasing unit of resource has tended to make laboratory sessions more facile and “cookbook”-like so it is no surprise that learners say that practical classes are long, boring and tedious and are one of the least popular parts of the curriculum. It is the aim of this project to transform the delivery of laboratory-based courses and realise their potential to be some of the most active, discovery-led sessions learners encounter in their university careers. eBioLabs will achieve this by building on the experience and expertise gained by the AIMS and ChemLabS CETLs to provide learners with tools that allow them to interact with and contextualise the tasks to be accomplished within a multilayered virtual environment. As well as possessing an electronic assessment functionality, the environment will contain an individualised repository for learners to record and reflect on their achievements, as well as tools to allow learners to interact with each other and with their instructors. This rich functionality will facilitate the redefinition of laboratory classes from sessions where learners are passive consumers to ones where they can interact more positively with the subject material, each other and staff. I have looked at the example FOI form at Appendix B and included an FOI form in the attached bid (Tick Box)
YES
I have read the Circular and associated Terms and Conditions of Grant at Appendix D (Tick Box)
YES
Withheld Information Form
We would like JISC to consider withholding the following sections or paragraphs from disclosure, should the contents of this proposal be requested under the Freedom of Information Act, or if we are successful in our bid for funding and our project proposal is made available on JISC’s website.
We acknowledge that the FOI Withheld Information Form is of indicative value only and that JISC may nevertheless be obliged to disclose this information in accordance with the requirements of the Act. We acknowledge that the final decision on disclosure rests with JISC.
Section / Paragraph No. Relevant exemption from disclosure under FOI
Justification
1.1.6. In addition to pre-laboratory user-driven on-line assessments and post-session on-line submission of work we aim to carry out short viva voce assessments in the laboratory. This procedure has two main advantages over existing arrangements. Firstly as an assessment technique it is rich, individual and accurate. It provides immediate feedback while being immune to plagiarism. Secondly the viva voce will empower a second community of stakeholder, the postgraduate instructor or demonstrator.
1.1.7. Postgraduate instructors currently receive very little formal training and may feel little responsibility towards the learners. We intend to challenge this by involving demonstrators more fundamentally in the learning and discovery process and we will achieve this partly by making them responsible for named learners. We will develop a demonstrator training course using material similar to that designed for the undergraduate learners but extended into specific areas required for them to succeed as instructors and assessors. Although our research indicates that simply making tutors responsible for direct and individualised learner assessment encourages them to engage more deeply with the material and the learners, the instructors will be required to complete the relevant course prior to the laboratory session. Successful completion of the instructor course will contribute towards their postgraduate skills training portfolio (http://staffdev.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/staffdevelopment/courses/directory/).
1.1.8. Prior to and during the laboratory session staff will be able to check the results of the pre-laboratory assessments from a networked device to identify particular areas where learners are experiencing difficulty. This will inform the instructors in real time of any remedial action required by the learner or learners. Of particular note here are any issues of laboratory safety – these can now be identified before the start of the session with obvious benefits. Learners may be inputting data acquired during the experiment directly into their e-portfolio using devices located in the laboratory or may be recording data for input at a later date.
1.1.9. After the session has finished learners may take part in group activities such as the sharing of results and preparation of reports. These activities will be facilitated by the Moodle-based system that will take advantage of “e-learning 2.0” constructivist features to enable efficient peer-to-peer collaboration. Learner created material will be placed into individual e-portfolios for on-line assessment by staff. This will greatly assist in the reduction of the administrative burden placed on staff at present – in the School of Medical Sciences alone we estimate that 20,000 individual pieces of student work per annum derive from laboratory sessions. At present this work is marked and returned to the learners by hand with the almost inevitable yet deeply unsatisfactory result that occasional pieces of work go missing.
1.1.10. Feedback will be delivered to the learners via their e-portfolios which will give them an opportunity to respond and reflect at a time best suited to them. Results of the assessment and learner reflections will be immediately available to staff which will allow them to engage in high level analysis of the outcomes of the laboratory sessions in a way barely possible at present due to the difficulties inherent in collating handwritten feedback from multiple instructors.
1.1.11 Flow chart / timeline.
1.2. Community Value. It is our firm belief, backed up by published reports^5 and conversations with colleagues from academia and industry that our problem is not unique to Bristol and that the solutions that we propose have value to any course that is reliant on laboratory or field work. The technological and procedural systems that we will develop, deploy and evaluate during this project will be transferable to many courses, not just within Bristol and not just within the Biosciences. Colleagues from areas as diverse as engineering and modern languages have stated to us that our approach could be used to improve parts of their curricula. For example colleagues have reported that learners are often underprepared for modern language workshops. It is possible to see how placing material required for the tasks within an eBioLabs- like framework would allow the learners to more easily research the subject matter, test their skills prior to the workshop and record their findings afterward for on-line assessment.
1.2.1 The immediate scope of this proposal is to deliver between four and six laboratory sessions in biochemistry to a cohort of around 230 year 1 students and 18 instructors. Once we have the initial results of our evaluation (early in 2010, see Workplan) we will be in a position to consider extending the scope in other directions. We have various plans - expanded upon later in this document – that will ensure we maximise the appeal of our approach and ensure sustainability. But please note especially the attached letter of support from the HEA Centre for Bioscience Subject Centre endorsing our bid and seeking to extend our approach to all of the 26 disciplines they support.
1.2.2. An important yet under-recognised feature of laboratory sessions is the opportunity they provide for social interactions. Not only do they enable the community of learners to interact constructively with each other, they also provide a rare chance for year 1 learners to interact with members of staff in a relatively informal setting. These interactions can have major benefits in terms of peer-to-peer learning and group cohesion and is something that we intend to formally recognise and encourage. We will do this partly by assigning each learner a personal named instructor but also by designing collaborative working, assisted by the technology, into the curriculum.
(^5) 1. Brown CA et al, Bioscience Education eJournal, 6-2, 2005.
- Learner logs into eBioLabs and uses the material to research the upcoming laboratory session.
- Learner checks knowledge and skills using diagnostic self- assessments.
- Instructor check results of pre-lab assessments before and/or during the lab session.
- Instructor identifies learners having problems with the material and takes remedial action.
- Learner uploads experimental results into their e-portfolio during and after the lab session.
- Learners use eBioLabs to share data and analyse experimental results.
- Learner completes the laboratory report and emails their personal instructor.
- Instructor logs on to the e-portfolio, assesses the work and leaves feedback.
- Senior instructor engages in high level analysis using data export tools within eBioLabs. Modifications are made to the curriculum as necessary.
- Curriculum design and implementation team place background material and assessments into eBioLabs.
- Learner uses eBioLabs to revisit areas causing difficulty.
- Learner uses eBioLabs to communicate with peers and plan session.
- Learner enters lab session with confidence having assessed their knowledge and skills.
Pre-Lab
In-Lab
Post-Lab
suitably qualified people from outside the University of Bristol to ensure the wide appeal of our approach is maintained. See section 5.2.7 for details of membership.
2.6. Evaluation & Measure of Success. Evaluation will commence with the pilot and will continue throughout the project, feeding back into the development process. Evaluation design will begin right at the start and will draw from the model put forward by JISC (www.jisc.ac.uk/elearningeval). Learner-centric measures of success will be evaluated against statements like, ‘An increased number of Bristol students continue their education at PhD and masters levels as a result of inspirational laboratory courses’ (tangible) or ‘we make biochemistry more fun and more relevant’. Where possible, tangible measures of success will be sought but it is expected that many measures, such as the students’ attitude towards the laboratory, are less tangible and evidence of success will be more anecdotal. By the end of the project we will have developed between four and six new laboratory sessions and tested the system “live” on a cohort of around 230 Biochemistry students and 18 instructors. Thus one measure of success (from the instructor viewpoint) will be whether we were able to successfully assess the outputs of between 920 and 1380 laboratory sessions in 230 individual e-portfolios. Successes will be measured in many ways, but our ability to train staff in the new system and ensure a seamless transition from the current paper-based system to an electronic one will be evaluated using interviews and focus groups and through forums such as the staff Teaching Committee.
2.7. Risks.
Risk Probability (1-5)
Severity (1-5)
Score (P x S)
Action to prevent and/or mitigate risk
Staffing issues 2 3 6 Most key staff are already in post. Expertise is widespread and replacements are available if necessary. Technical aspects too complex.
1 4 4 Technology being used is well-understood and similar to previous work. We will seek appropriate and pragmatic solutions. Partnership fails to work effectively.
2 4 8 Effective project management techniques will be used to ensure difficulties are resolved and targets are met in a timely manner. Timescales 2 4 8 The project will follow an iterative model to ensure any problems are addressed at the earliest opportunity. User functionality will be the priority. However, the team’s track record of meeting deadlines is excellent. Low learner engagement
2 5 10 Effective consultancy at all stages of the project. Close monitoring of material delivery and staff training programme. Low stakeholder (non-learner) engagement
2 5 10 Effective consultation throughout the project lifespan coupled to the resolute and professional dissemination of a shared vision. Over ambition 3 2 6 This project will only tackle a limited and defined area of the curriculum. The management group will need to be aware of the potential for scope creep. Solution becomes subject or institution specific
2 5 10 Stakeholders from other subject areas and institutions will be included on the management team and consulted throughout.
2.8. Indicative Deliverables.
- A reusable model for providing personalised, portable, flexible tools to assist with the delivery of laboratory courses in biochemistry, but adaptable to other subject areas that are reliant on laboratory or field work.
- Enhancements to Moodle to support this model.
- Reports and case studies detailing our findings
o Evidence for whether this model provides a more engaged learner cohort with a better understanding of practical science and skills that will help them develop as proactive lifelong learners. o Evidence of tangible administrative benefits: a reduced administrative burden with fewer marking and recording errors. o Postgraduate instructors with better developed transferable and interpersonal skills.
2.8. Time Commitment. This project engages with support services for ICT at the University level, though the Education Support Unit and at Faculty level though the e-Learning Support Officer and also draws upon more specific expertise from within the University. An appropriate proportion of staff time has been allocated.
3. Engagement with the Community
3.1. Identification of and engagement with the community. We are committed to identifying and engaging with key stakeholders and communities, including those in other subjects and institutions in order to ensure the project’s long-term success.
3.1.1 We will spend the initial planning period of the project identifying key stakeholders and establishing relationships with key partners in relevant areas. The size and importance of the problem we are tackling does mean that we will engage stakeholders’ attention relatively easily. For example note the attached letters of support from 1) Dr Snowden, Vice President at GSK, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world and one of the largest employers of bioscience graduates in the UK, 2) Dr Adams, Head of the HEA Subject Centre for Bioscience and 3) students who have seen something of what we are attempting to do following exposure to the ChemLabS CETL. As this project will go live in October 2009 we will have the opportunity to fully evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of eBioLabs and produce a final system that caters to the needs of various types of stakeholder.
3.1.2. The Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Bristol are committed to the JISC Support and Synthesis project and will release staff at all levels to allow them to contribute 35 and 25 days to the project in years 1 and 2 respectively.
3.2. Dissemination. Dissemination will begin early in the lifespan of the project in order to inform colleagues of the upcoming changes to the year 1 laboratory course. Internally this will be through awareness and training events at Departmental, Faculty and University level. To engage with the wider community we will draw upon the outreach experience of the AIMS and ChemLabS CETLs, using media such as newsletters and events organised by HEA Subject Centres, professional bodies such as the Academy of Medical Sciences and conferences such as Alt-C. We will also produce publicity material for distribution to colleagues both within and without the university but especially to departments at other Universities with whom we have a good measure of influence. Interested parties will be driven to the project website which will include a demonstration version of e-learning elements and pedagogical approaches. The fact that this project will have a very tangible output that will be showcased in a highly visible manner year after year will make dissemination easier. See section 3.1 for how we will identify key stakeholders and communities.
3.3. Embedding and Sustainability. Sustainability means that changes to curriculum delivery must be embedded into current practice and become a permanent change. We believe that the project as proposed is consistent with this ideal as the tangible output of the project will be a self-contained delivery vehicle requiring no further development. We fully expect that eBIoLabs will quickly become an integral and indispensable part of the first year experience
3.3.2 The cost of maintaining and supporting the hardware and software is being met by the University of Bristol. The School of Medical Sciences has made a commitment to e-learning that includes the creation of a new permanent post that will support this project for the foreseeable future.
3.3.3. The changes we are proposing to postgraduate instructor training makes this community an important stakeholder in eBioLabs and there is an increasing pressure from funders to provide evidence of transferable skills in this group. We will investigate ways of matching these two observations in order to extend the development of eBioLabs. We will also look into including learner-generated content, a practice which is already being successfully piloted in the Department of Physics and at the Veterinary School at the University of Bristol.
5. Previous Experience
5.1. Scope of the project. The task involves transforming the delivery of techniques and skills currently taught in bioscience laboratories onto an interactive e-learning platform. The scope is this project is to meet the very diverse needs of the large student body in year 1 Biochemistry. This represents a small portion of the bioscience laboratory curriculum and excludes, for example, explaining apparatus that is specific to a particular piece of equipment to allow us to focus on generic skills. 5.1.1. The scale of the task is exceptionally well understood because key partners have developed similar resources (AIMS and ChemLabs CETLs). The consortium can thus be confident that estimations regarding staff time and web development are accurately realistic.
5.2. Key Staff. The team we have assembled includes practicing scientists who have decades of experience teaching and practicing laboratory-based science (and who all have experience developing e- learning material), and e-learning specialists who have the relevant technical expertise and scientific background. The team have had previous experience in managing projects of this nature or larger.
5.2.1 Dr Gus Cameron (Research Fellow, Department of Biochemistry, University of Bristol). Gus will be project coordinator. Before taking up his post at Bristol Dr Cameron taught a diverse learner cohort at South Bank University for five years. This was in addition to spending three years teaching at a FE college where he developed and delivered a highly successful and innovative Biochemistry course to learners from non-traditional backgrounds. Dr Cameron has been intimately involved in course management and curriculum redesigns and has an on-going commitment to widening participation. Dr Cameron has recently held a faculty-wide e-learning role while still remaining active in his research laboratory. Dr Cameron has years of experience as project manager of a multinational public-private drug discovery project whose members spread across two countries and three sites. He can justifiably claim to have an excellent understanding of the needs of the many types of stakeholders impacted by this project.
5.2.2. Dr Paul Wyatt (Director of Bristol ChemLabS). Paul will act as senior consultant on the eBioLabs project. As well as being involved in laboratory design, IT hardware and laboratory infrastructure, Paul’s major role has been in the educational design of the new labs. He chaired a Working Party which considered the skills students needed, the experiments they needed to do, the timetable and the integration of the different years, the new role of demonstrators and the modes of assessment. For the first time, representatives from different Sections of the School literally sat round a table to discuss what was wanted for the students’ laboratory experience in what was the most significant root-and-branch rethink of practical laboratories that the School has ever undertaken. Dr Wyatt was responsible for the pedagogic shift that has been made in the School of Chemistry This radical, integrated, rethink started with considering the skills the students needed to have by the end of each year. The period when students think about the experiment was reconsidered (to be before rather than after the lab) as was the period when students are assessed (to be during rather than after the lab). These approaches now ensure that the student gets the most from the lab and is assessed on the work they do rather than their ability to write up after the event.
5.2.3. Dr Tom Podesta (Teaching Laboratory Manager, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol). Tom will coordinate the skills mapping required to convert the current laboratory curriculum into the eBioLabs vision. Dr Podesta is an expert in the design and implementation of practical science classes and an integral member of the ChemLabS CETL team. He was a key member of the working party responsible for the recent redesign of the Bristol BSc Chemistry curriculum. As well as advising the group on all aspects he was responsible for coordinating the output from the groups to produce a selection of practical courses. He was involved in all aspect from writing the experiments, resourcing the equipment through to training the demonstrators. He has also been deeply involved in the design and production of electronic teaching material.
5.2.4. Suzi Wells (e-learning Support Office, Faculty of Science, University of Bristol). Suzi will bring pedagolical e-learning expertise to the project. Suzi is the e-Learning Officer for the Faculty of Science at the University of Bristol, a post she began in November 2006. Her work involves promoting and supporting e-learning within the science faculty at Bristol. Before working at Bristol she was a consultant / project manager at Futuate, a company specialising in the use of e-learning and web technologies. Her work at Futurate included project management for clients including the Association for Learning Technology and the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Agency, being on the evaluation team for the JISC Distributed eLearning Tools strand and usability consultancy for the Museums Libraries and Archive Council and the Natural History Museum.
5.2.5. New Appointment (e-Learning Developer). A new position is being funded by the School of Medical Sciences, University of Bristol, to help accelerate the development of e-learning projects. The incumbent will develop and deliver material and map the present curriculum onto the eBioLabs vision.
5.2.6. Dr John Eastman (Learning Science Ltd). John will lead the technical design and implementation of the system. John has previously worked with us on the ChemLabS CETL and has a background as a research chemist and in e-learning systems development. John is an expert in the design and scripting of Moodle-based e-learning systems.
5.2.7. Management Group. The Department of Biochemistry will be responsible for managing the project. The management group will include Dr Pete Lund (Deputy Head of Academic Programmes, School of Bioscience, University of Birmingham). Dr Gus Cameron (Project Coordinator, Biochemistry, Bristol), Dr Paul Wyatt (Director of Bristol ChemLabS), Suzi Wells (e-Learning Support Officer, Science, Bristol), Gill Clarke (Director of Education Support Unit, Bristol), Prof. Judy Harris (Professor of Medical Science Education and co-director of AIMS CETL) and Dr John Davis (Academic Director of e-learning, School of Engineering, Bristol). We believe that having a spread of people from differing academic areas and locations will be a valuable evaluation and dissemination tool.
5.3. Previous successes. Central to the project is the experience gained by the two University of Bristol CETLs, AIMS (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cetl/aims/) and ChemLabS (http://www.chemlabs.bris.ac.uk/). The projects pioneered by these two groups are inter-related and aim to deliver technological solutions to less tractable problems in science education. AIMS has developed a virtual microscope to deliver histology teaching and assessment online and runs a Mobile Teaching Unit to facilitate a range of outreach activities. Their sophisticated Human Patient Simulators have allowed the vertical integration of pre-clinical and clinical years. The ChemLabS project developed a prototype of the laboratory manual proposed here, combining online content with new laboratory space to help transform the way students related to practical work. The ChemLabS project is now in its third year and has expanded the manual to the second year students, with the third year due to come online in October 2008. Senior staff from both CETLs will help to manage eBioLabs.
5.4. Alignment with University objectives. The University is committed to excellence in teaching and is explicit in its objectives. The University’s overall intention is to offer a rewarding student experience. It will provide students with:
- An opportunity to engage with the latest thinking and research in their subject area
- Excellent and creative teachers
- A stimulating and supportive environment in which to learn 5.4.1 The Education Strategy includes key objectives and two particular examples relevant to this project are:
- To build on good practice in learning, teaching and assessment, and related administrations, in a co-ordinated way that supports quality and efficiency
- To respond to student needs in all aspects of university life and to ensure students’ views, and also the views of those who deliver the teaching, are taken into account in academic, social and cultural matters 5.4.2. Of particular relevance is the University’s e-Learning Strategy. All the fundamental principles in this strategy are congruent with the proposed project:
- Delivering student-centred teaching and supporting student learning
- Implementing appropriate and sustainable us of e-Learning in an integrated, blended educational framework
- Ensuring effective and efficient formative and summative assessment.
- Ensuring that our students are regularly updated on their own learning progress and that teaching is informed by student feedback
- Encouraging self-directed learning and peer-support
- Being sufficiently flexible to suit the needs of a diverse student population 5.4.3. Additionally, several objectives for delivering the above principles are aligned with the proposed project:
- Enabling academic staff to take the lead in embedding e-learning in our teaching and learning
- Providing high quality, appropriate e-Learning tools and resources
- Ensuring e-learning is accessible to all students whatever their individual circumstances 5.4.4. Relevant projects and initiative. The university is currently rebuilding the Faculty library to include more social learning space with improved group learning and IT facilities. This project will provide learners with ideal spaces in which to interact with the pre- and post laboratory material. The faculty has also agreed to appoint a full time e-learning specialist who will spend 50% of his/her time working on the eBioLabs project.
