1. Talis Aspire at MMU: this time it’s
personal … and mobile
Leeds | Nov 2012
Professor Mark Stubbs
Head of Learning & Research Technologies
m.stubbs@mmu.ac.uk http://twitter.com/thestubbs
http://slideshare.net/markstubbs
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 1

2. Context | an interesting place to work!
• Large, popular, multi-campus university
– 36,000+ students | 1,000+ courses | consolidating from 7 sites
• Pursuing an ambitious transformation initiative
– New Buildings, New Curriculum, New Admin Processes & Systems,
New Learning & Mobile Tech, New Quality Processes…

3. Context | priority project areas
League table rankings
A
Marketing &
Recruitment Reputation
Processes
C
B
Learning, Teaching, Assessment
Student Intake Student Retention
& Personal Development
(Aspirations, Attitude Success &
Processes, Facilities
& Abilities) Satisfaction
& Resources
Resource allocation
All Year Numbers
A Recruit to target B Improve satisfaction, retention & success C Inform decision-makers

4. Context | great online experience
B Improve satisfaction, retention & success
Great Great Great
Online Experience Learning Spaces Teaching
(Seamless, personalised)

5. Context | learning tech review & EQAL
Replace WebCT?
Flat-lining NSS
Learning Technologies
Strategic imperative:
Review (2010)
Step-change improvement
Core+ VLE
(Moodle,
TalisAspire…) EQAL Change Programme
Intended Benefits:
• Simpler curriculum
• Better organised courses
• Seamless, personalised online experience
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 • … 5

6. Context | the need for transformation
In the current climate
Diminishing unit of resource
Everything depends on everything else
>DVC “Out of patience”
error at line 1 We are large and risk averse

7. Context | the “who dares wins” response
 In the current climate
?
vc Diminishing unit of resource
θ
Everything depends on everything else
We are large and risk averse

8. Context | EQAL
In the current climate
• A coordinated strike for step-change improvement Diminishing unit of resource
New Curriculum Everything depends on everything else
• designing new units, … We are large and risk averse
New Admin Systems & Processes
• personal timetabling, …
New Virtual Learning Environment
• Moodle & myMMU web/mobile, Talis Aspire…
New QA & QE Processes
• facilitating curriculum transformation

9. Context | coordinated change
Curriculum Design Course Admin
Design Review Approve Set up Design
Produce Publish
New New New Curriculum Teaching
Timetables Timetables
Curriculum Curriculum Curriculum in SRS Schedules
Design Set up
Publish
Assessment Submission
Deadlines
Schedules System
Learning Technology
Input
Great
Set up Build Online
Pedagogic Courses in Courses in Experience
Input VLE VLE (Seamless,
Set up Publish Personalised)
Library Input Reading Reading
Lists Lists
Learning, Teaching & Assessment Resources & Facilities
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 9

10. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Wrapping the institution around the learner
megamashup
mws
10

11. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Wrapping the institution around the learner
Unit code
Resource list
Relevant resource
11

12. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Wrapping the institution around the learner
megamashup
mws
12

13. Mobile | mymmu app

14. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Mobile | reported device ownership (Q4 2010)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60% iPod Touch
50% iPhone
Blackberry
40% Android
30%
20%
10%
0%
F < 20 M < 20 F 20-29 M 20-29 F 30-39 M 30-39 F 40+ M 40+

15. This work is licensed under a Attribution-
NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
Mobile | use when studying (Q4 2011)
Checking deadlines/timetables
Discussing/arranging coursework
Listening to music/blocking noise
Accessing learning materials
Looking up references
Taking notes
Producing coursework
Voting/interacting in class
Commenting on learning
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
% of respondents

16. Mobile | timetable access (Q3 2012)

17. Summary
• Pursuing joined-up approach for making a step-
change improvement in student experience:
– Wrapping resources around the learner
– Using personalised web-services (increasingly
delivering mobile content)
• Hand-ins
• Timetable
• Reading lists…
– Requires good partners with good APIs!

18. Find out more …
• Our initial drive for responsive curricula
– http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/29224166/Supporting%20Responsive%2
0Curricula%20%28SRC%29%20project
– http://www.celt.mmu.ac.uk/src/
• MMU’s EQAL curriculum transformation
– http://www.celt.mmu.ac.uk/eqal/index.php
• Our review of learning technologies
– http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/ltreview
• How we built our integrated VLE
– http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/w2c
• Where we’re going next with Assessment & Feedback
– http://lrt.mmu.ac.uk/traffic/
• UCISA Mobile presentation
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X17yrTbdTHs