Shaping Academic Communities Frank Benneker, University of Amsterdam Jacques Koeman, Edia Education Technology
Jan 12, 2016
Shaping Academic Communities
Frank Benneker, University of AmsterdamJacques Koeman, Edia Education Technology
Lay-out of the talk
• Introductions
• elearning ecology University of Amsterdam
• History of Sakai at UvA
• Communities, a new target audience
• Start of the IIS communities initiative
• The different use cases
• Observations
Established in 1632 as Athenaeum Illustre
A comprehensive university
Over 60 Dutch taught programmes
Numerous high quality research projects
Strong internationalisation programme
Variety of international (English) programmes
Close links with the city of Amsterdam
University of Amsterdam (UvA)
not a campus university …
ICT in education @ UvA
• Expert group within the Information Technology Centrestarted in 1999 as a “small” project
• staff members are educational technologists with a focus on both the technology and the didactics of ICT in education
• Since 2006 a new department (ODG) is operational combining the expertise of web developers, educational technologists, educators and video & sound specialists.
We shall deliver state of the art IT solutions for students, teachers, researchers and faculties in a cost effective, focused and fun method.
E-services for Education
at the University of Amsterdam,
a plethora of e-learning systems
Three-pillar model
Focus on 3 pillars
1. Technology
2. Communication
3. Didactics
Three-pillar-& Implementation model is used in our projects
Implementation model
Pioneering phase
Volunteering phase
systematic integration
time
Level of integration
top-down (environment) zero realisation of guidance in
conditions creating cohesion
OSP
personal pages academic staff
streaming media
On-line course catalog
Portals @ UvA
Blackboard
Evasys
QMP
Sakai
U-drive
wiki
Maple-TA
Sakai @ University of Amsterdam When to get involved?
Influence on a product Ready & run product
Our Sakai history
2004
First interest in Sakai
Choice: OSP as a portfolio tool OSP (Sakai) in production
Starting with QA
Developing automatic code review routines
Alan Berg Sakai Fellow
IIS (Sakai) community server online
Sakai Amsterdam conference
2005 2006 2007 2008
Cooperation with Edia
Building a Dutch Sakai User GroupSurf Foundation
UvA (Sakai)Communities
Implementation model & sakai
Pioneering phase
Volunteering phase
systematic integration
time
Level of integration
portfolio
Communitysystem
zero realisation of guidance in
conditions creating cohesion
Setting the stage for communities
According to Etienne Wenger:
Communities of practice are everywhere and people are generally involved in a number of them
Communities develop around things that matter for people and as a result, their practices reflect the members' own understanding of what is important
We belong to multiple communities
Source: http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
Shaping academic communities,we are the community
Wenger’s idea of belonging to multiple communities
• Heterogeneous population (not limited to the university) of lecturers, students, alumni, subject experts, corporate, and spectators
• Thematic approach to complex subject matters with multiple disciplines involved: e.g. sustainability, international law,
• Innovative didactics - e.g. collaborative scenario writing using wiki)
Shaping academic communities,Why ….
1. Collective knowledge management
2. Interest in exchange with experts in the field
3. Structural knowledge accumulation, building on previous achievements
4. course related activities
5. F2F with digital support
Generic new Tools developed by Edia for the community environment
• Skin manager• Enrollment tools• Google map• Fedora tool• Edurep tool• Sign up tool• Communications tool• Invite tool
• More info: http://sakaitools.edia.nl
Some figures
• In 2006 after a few months– 20 community sites & about 800 users
• By the end of the 2007– More than 200 project & community sites– About 6000 users
Developing ‘the blend’,Academic Communities in practice
• Mapping interdisciplinary education to communities in Sakai
• Development of tools to enhance community function
• Sharing tools with Sakai community
• Sharing good practices within the University and (dutch) higher education
And now, some of our use cases ….
TestweekLab
Researchers, world wide
New tools:•Repositoryintegration•Search & Find•skin tools
Sakai tools
• Wiki• Resource• E-mail
Goal:Community of researchers for psychological test data
Usage:under development (live september 08)
screenshot
ConflictStudies
Researchers, students & experts, world wide
New tools:•Google map•skin tools
Sakai tools
• Wiki• Resource• E-mail•Calander
Goal:This digital platform serves several courses on conflict studies and a growing community of scholars in this field.
Usage:most of it is .anon; open to the web
www.conflictstudies.nl
Forum forJudicial ..
national judges and magistrates .
New tools:• Sakai as external portal•User tools•skin tools
Sakai tools
• Wiki• Resource• E-mail
Goal:offering them the opportunity to upgrade their knowledge and expertise in international law.
Usage:under development (live september 08)
screenshot
Webclass
Prospective students
New tools:•user tools•skin tools
Sakai tools
• Wiki• Resource• E-mail
Goal: a three or 4 week pre-university introduction course,
Usage:a few hunderd users
screenshot
IIS- Community
Users:Researchers & students world wide
New tools:• user tools• skin tools
Sakai tools
• Wiki• Resource• E-mail• Quiz
Goal:Collective knowledge management. Interdisciplinary platform
Usage:a few hunderd students
screenshot
Proeve@UvA
Project Members
New:
Sakai tools
• Wiki• Resource• E-mail
Goal:bringing together project expertise and project planning
Usage:20 projectmembers
screenshot
Portfolio
StudentsTeachers
New:•Photo tool
Sakai tools
• OSP tools• Resource• E-mail
Goal:bringing together project expertise and project planning
Usage:700 students
Observations
• Communities are a new target audience with different needs then “regular” courses
• Look & feel are Important, each community is unique
• A community environment must be tailor-made
• Supporting the needs for a community is different than for regular e-learning environments, we didn’t find the right approach yet(cost effectively?)
Sakai implementation lessons
• Platform based approach instead of course based approach • No constrained to duration of course• Using new functions:
Wiki’s, search, podcast, rss etc..(social software)• Developing tailored functions: Open source if possible• Unique URL’s for sites within Sakai: e.g. www.conflictstudies.nl • Public access parts (.anon)• Skins per site (and per user)• User management per site
– On-site registration, enrollment and login– Access for experts, alumni, contract students– Access for externals required
Final remark
Our challenge:
Sustainability
Keep the teacher & student involved
Openness versus Governance
Contact:Frank Benneker ([email protected])
Jaeques Koeman ([email protected])