Programme - Day Three

Abstract: "There is a view that knowledge management (KM) is primarily a business concept that can bring increased profitability for commercial organisations. However, the management of processes such as knowledge creation, capture, sharing and use are not exclusive to business; good KM practices can bring benefits to all organisations. Given higher education’s (HE) priority of developing knowledge assets, a culture that prioritises KM can be used to underpin a university’s organisational processes including, not least, its teaching activities. This paper illustrates how attention to a particular part of the KM cycle, the knowledge creation (KC) process, can inform the delivery of a KM module; in turn, it shows how the author attempts to practice what she teaches. Evaluation of the module from various perspectives has provided very positive feedback. Lessons for the design and delivery of other modules (KM-based or otherwise) can be drawn from this paper."

Abstract: "This paper introduces the aims of a single optional module in Knowledge Management which is part of an MSc Information Systems programme. The content of the module is enhanced by material generated from collaboration in applied research projects and by enquiry in related modules. The paper argues in favour of participatory learning as a means of engaging students with issues in the field, and of developing stimulating case-study materials. The combination of student involvement in real-world environments and the application of emerging technologies provides opportunities to extend applied research and learning initiatives. "

Abstract: "Creation of multimedia could be a valuable diversification of assessment methods within non-technical modules. The apparent popularity of sites with user generated video such as YouTube and also podcasting suggest that relevant skills and interest are becoming more mainstream. Translating book learnt knowledge into visual forms involves a specific type of intellectual challenge. It seems possible that generating short multimedia presentations will increasingly come to be part of organisational communication, making it an increasingly authentic form of assessment. It could simply be a fun and creative variant of the group presentation. However, there is an entrenched cultural view of the visual as superficial. The “technical skills” involved may give unfair advantage to some students. Any change process is likely to meet resistance and raise novel and unexpected obstacles to its perception as a fair form of assessment. The paper explores the issues and outlines the planned investigation of them in the MAIK project. It discusses in detail justifications for the design of the assessment task in this context."

Abstract: "This paper reviews the development of a set of transferable learning resources aiming to facilitate the tuition of Computer Forensics, an emerging, and currently popular amongst students, computing subject area. As this field is new, a number of different approaches have been so far adopted in the tuition of the specific skills and the delivery of the professional mindset to the students. Over the past few years different learning approaches and their challenges have been debated, particularly at HEA's relevant workshop. We present the challenges of developing learning resources for computer forensics and a method for the development of such reusable artefacts. We aimed at the development of learning materials tackling part of those issues in a manner that could be replicated across interested institutions that deliver courses in computer forensics, either in the sense of re-using the actual resources, or by following the method presented. "

Abstract: "In the past few years, we have designed a set of multiple-choice questions for our computer science concepts module (undergraduate, level one). Selected questions are used at the end of every lecture as an in-class test. Although this weekly in-class test is not an assessed test, it has played an important role in helping students to test whether they have understood the lecture, and has helped the teacher to identify how well the content has been received. In this paper, we report how this in-class method is implemented, and we summarize its advantages. We also present the result from a small scale empirical study on the relation between in-class tests and online tests. We conclude that combining lecturing and in-class tests together is an effective teaching and learning method."

Abstract: "This paper reports on an HEA-ICS Development Fund project which explored the development of video-based learning objects to teach human-computer interaction (HCI) across degree levels. Four video-based learning objects were created to illustrate four key HCI themes: Know the User; Paper Prototyping; Evaluation; and Accessibility. These were evaluated by students from undergraduate levels 1 and 3 and from postgraduate level M to assess their effectiveness and appropriateness to each level. Students were offered options of viewing on the web or downloading (to computer or to mobile) via subscription. The results showed that the students across levels found the learning objects useful and that the majority preferred web streaming as a mode of access. "

Abstract: “Universities should treat learning always as consisting of not yet wholly solved problems and hence always in research mode”. In my paper, I shall argue that this view, put forward in 1810 by Wilhelm von Humboldt, remains just as compelling - and just as challenging to educators and institutions - at the start of the 21st century. With reference to current debates on the often problematic relationship between research and teaching in higher education today, I shall argue that modes of learning based on inquiry and research are essential if our aim, in the ICS disciplines, is to prepare and empower students for life and work in a profoundly uncertain and complex world - and that our students will benefit from inquiry-based learning being firmly embedded at the heart of our curricula from the first undergraduate year.

‘Inquiry-based learning’ is learning driven by students’ self-directed inquiry or research, with all learning and teaching resources and activities designed to support the inquiry process. Students conduct small or large-scale inquiries that enable them to engage actively and creatively with the questions and problems of their discipline, guided by academic and learning support/development staff. Different pedagogic approaches encompass case- and problem-based methods as well as research projects of different kinds, including field-work and experiential learning projects. It is a key characteristic of much inquiry-based learning that inquiry tasks facilitate exploration of issues or scenarios that are open-ended enough for different responses and solutions to be possible.

My paper will present some of what is being learned through the activity of CILASS, the Centre for Inquiry-based Learning at the University of Sheffield. Drawing on different examples of inquiry-based learning from a range of disciplines, and highlighting themes from research evidence into the student and staff experience, I hope to convey some of the excitement and value of this mode of learning and teaching from the perspective of both students and tutors, while at the same time raising some of the questions and challenges it throws up.