Whilst there is a wealth of experience across the sector in supporting digital and information literacies with our learners, it is often dispersed and difficult for students most in need to access at the appropriate point in their studies. They need the very skills they are searching for before they can find them. Using the LLiDA findings (http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/) our response was the development of a digital learning literacy environment (http://alle.uwl.ac.uk/). The literacy environment is comprised of a series of learning objects organised in three parts: the Academic Journey, the Library Learning Journey and Digital Tools for Learning. The literacy environment has been used and evaluated by over 200 first-year business students (http://hermes.uwl.ac.uk/learnerjourney/). As well as creating new resources, existing interactive materials customised for generic reuse were brought together in a cohesive and structured framework enclosed in a wraparound shell (http://www.glomaker.org/). We will share how we made effective use of ‘best’ pedagogy knowledge and resources to maximise OER potential.

1. Learning Journeys: Resourceful solutions
for learner digital literacy acquisition
Anytime Learning Literacies Environment (ALLE)
A JISC Funded LTIG project
Presenting team:
Lyn Greaves, Claire Bradley,
Prof Tom Boyle and Andy Turner

2. Our Aim was -
 To fully scaffold all digital literacy activities in a UWL
module with interactive Learning Objects that „explain‟
the concept and house them in a single user interface
– the Learner Journey
 To design and build our Learner Journey using the
JISC LLida project framework categories
http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/outputs.html
 Use materials from the OER community to ensure
maximum reuse of our „Learner Journeys‟ across the
sector and maximum flexibility

3. Why did we want to do this?
 Already had some success with building in Learning
Objects from the RLO CETL (JISC RePurpose Project
BL4ACE, 2009)
 Had learnt a great deal about our learners and our
institution from participating in the JISC LLiDA audit,
2009
 Had experienced the benefits for our learners (and
tutors!) of Learning Objects strategically built in to the
curriculum
 The GLO Maker Tool was at a development stage to
customise/repurpose Learning Objects

4. Context: UWL West London
Business School
 First year core module dedicated to
preparation for study and PDP. Carefully
designed curriculum to support learner
progression and success.
 drawing together the processes, encounters
and engagements that make for good learning
 making explicit digital and information literacy
processes that underpin critical thinking
 immersing learners in weekly activities that
practise digital and information literacy
processes
 building up to a final written artefact (essay)

5. Delivery approach
 1 hour large group lecture (300)
concept explained e.g.
„Searching on a topic‟
 7 hours Independent task
execution
 1 hour peer & tutor supported
sharing discussion in BB during
the week
 1 hour small seminar (25) peer
and tutor feedback on task
processes

6. An example of weekly activity:
Concept scaffold framework for Module Professional skills for Business and Finance

7. The Challenge – support non f2f activities
 After contact session learners are left to
identify and select suitable support materials
to reach an understanding of how to tackle the
task
 Might have missed the concept explanation
 Support is often dispersed and difficult for
students most in need to access
 Personalised learning approaches mean
students arrive at „understanding/s‟ at different
points in time/study

8. Merging the personal and the technical
Enabling and supporting the learner to acquire their
understanding at a pace, place and time of their own
choosing.

9. Meeting the Challenge - Support for
our learners
 To fully scaffold all digital literacy
activities with interactive Learning
Objects that „explain‟ the concept and
house them in a single user interface –
the Learner Journey
 Ensure the materials were designed for
reuse across the sector

10. Designing the Learner Journey
 RePurposed the LLiDA Framework
 Agreed a shared understanding of each
component
 Storyboarded each component into a stand
alone Learning Object
 Searched for OER materials to reuse or
created new materials
 Involved students at each stage of the design
process
 Students designed and created Learning
Objects

12. Designing the Learner Journey
 RePurposed the LLiDA Framework
 Agreed a shared understanding of each
component
 Storyboarded each component into a stand
alone Learning Object
 Searched for OER materials to reuse or
created new materials
 Involved students at each stage of the design
process
 Students designed and created Learning
Objects

14. Designing the Learner Journey
 RePurposed the LLiDA Framework
 Agreed a shared understanding of each
component
 Storyboarded each component into a stand
alone Learning Object
 Searched for OER materials to reuse or
created new materials
 Involved students at each stage of the design
process
 Students designed and created Learning
Objects

15. Magpie activity
Examples of the sources we scavenged
from:
 http://web2practice.jiscinvolve.org/wp/
 http://www.rlo-cetl.ac.uk/
 http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk
 http://www.glomaker.org/community.html

16. http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/conclusions.htm

18. Designing the Learner Journey
 RePurposed the LLiDA Framework
 Agreed a shared understanding of each
component
 Storyboarded each component into a stand
alone Learning Object
 Searched for OER materials to reuse or
created new materials
 Involved students at each stage of the design
process
 Students designed and created Learning
Objects

19. The GLO Maker Tool was used to create the
Learning Objects to populate the interface
Website:
http://www.glomaker.org
Wiki:
http://glomaker.wetpaint.com

20. Ease of transferability
GLO Maker:
 The GLO Maker allows for
rapid easy transferability and
customisation across sector
and educational contexts
 The website has tutorials;
examples and a thriving
community of
academics, developers and
librarians
 One of the project outputs is
how we can transfer to
different contexts: workplace
learning; study, home, but
also is suitable for specialist
customisation, as the
example GLO here shows
http://www.glomaker.org/samples/MarketingFemaleForm/GLO_Player.html

21. The learner journey
The learner journey is in
3 parts:
 The Academic
journey
 The Library learning
journey
 Digital tools for
learning

22. „The learner journey‟ is a resource designed for repurpose and use
across a range of contexts (e.g. workplace, community or placement).
The Learner Journey
encourages anytime,
anyplace user engagement
Students can access it via
mobile phones

23. Has it been Effective?
The Learner Journey was implemented
at the University of West London and
London Metropolitan University.
What did the students and the tutors
think about it?
 Interviews with tutors at both institutions
 Focus groups with students

24. What did students like?
 „Wordle‟ visualisation of comments from 80 students
http://www.wordle.net

25. What did students like?
 “They are a valuable resource and have helped me
with my out of contact work.”
 “It was very helpful. It helped me develop my skill and
broadened my knowledge horizon.”
 “It helped to develop my reading and writing skills. It
gave me support to complete my portfolio.”
 “It enhances learning, making available the right
materials needed for any kind of assignments.”
 “Very good, passed the link on to friends who found it
useful as well.”
 “Nicely organised and easy to use.”

26. Our evaluation suggests yes…
 We‟ve had positive reactions to the learner
journey from both students and tutors
 Initial analysis of the data indicates that
students‟ digital skill levels have increased,
although it is difficult to isolate the impact that
the learner journey has had in this
 Students at UWL who were heavily scaffolded
show a higher increase in their digital literacy
skills

27. Benefits and Reuse :
Benefits Reuse
 Locates existing essential resources  Can be used in a variety of contexts
for learners in an authentic context across the disciplines; or individual
e.g. workplace, home, prior to sections as required
university, point of entry, within the
curriculum designed for their needs  Easy to locate resources in current
academic practice, e.g. websites,
 Staff can have confidence in using Virtual Learning Environments, on
the resource drawing upon research memory stick or DVD
based practice
 Potential to use as part of cloud
tagging and other web 2.0
technologies
 An important generic resource at cash
constrained times for academics and
students to use immediately

28. We would like you to use the
Learner Journey with your students
It‟s free (Creative Commons) and it‟s easy
to use
Contact us for access to the files:
lyn.greaves@uwl.ac.uk
To repurpose the materials:
http://www.glomaker.org/

29. Questions?

30. Contact details
 Learner Journey:
http://hermes.uwl.ac.uk/learnerjourney/
 Project Wiki: http://alle.uwl.ac.uk
 Lyn Greaves: lyn.greaves@uwl.ac.uk
 Claire Bradley c.bradley@londonmet.ac.uk