Dynamic Learning Maps fusing curriculum maps with personal

Dynamic Learning Maps – fusing curriculum maps with personal learning Simon Cotterill http: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk

Introduction Dynamic Learning Maps – JISC Curriculum Delivery Programme • 2 year project • Newcastle University • Medicine • Psychology • Speech Therapy XCRI project – incl. embed course information feeds in DLM Innovations project – Geography DLM Dentistry OER Rapid Innovation projects - with DLM integration Embedding Benefits – DLM Project • 12 month project • Partners: • Bangor University • Bradford University • University of Cumbria Aims: • Evaluate in other contexts • Enhance wider uptake • Improve training materials • Enhance documentation • Implementation lessons • Wider dissemination

Workshop Overview Structure Presentation: Group work: Presentation: What are curriculum maps? What do you want from curriculum maps ? Dynamic Learning Maps / Demos 15 min Your views – feedback Mapping with DLM and future directions 15 min 25 min 50 min Tea/Coffee Group work: Presentation: http: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk 30 min

Intended Outcomes • • Develop a common understanding of curriculum maps in the School • Understand the role of curriculum maps for different stakeholders • Be able to identify key challenges for developing curriculum maps Understand Dynamic Learning Maps and how these could be applied to your curricula • Become familiar with ways in which technology can enhance curriculum maps • Understand conceptual and practical approaches for constructing online curriculum maps • Understand key challenges and opportunities in using technology to enhance curric. maps http: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk

What are Curriculum Maps? Who are they for? What do they do? http: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk

What are Curriculum Maps? “a diagrammatic representation of the curriculum” Different ‘windows’ onto the curriculum e. g. • Intended outcomes • Curriculum content /subject areas • Learning opportunities • Assessment • Learning resources • People (students / staff)

Curriculum maps elsewhere Willett TG, 2008. Current status of curriculum mapping in Canada and the UK. Medical Education 42: 786 -93 • Design – questionnaire-based survey Canadian & UK Medical Schools • Results – 31 responses – 20% completed maps • on-going upgrading – majority in progress • Outcomes – significant variation • software used in construction • elements included – challenges • • • complexity human resource demands medical ontologies, faculty development interface design

Maps: levels of detail Curriculum strands Module maps Session maps

Maps as a Metaphor Where have I been? Reflection Revision Where am I now? Stakeholders • Learners • Teachers (incl. occasional teachers) • Curriculum Managers • External Regulators • Administrators What should the students already know? Contextualisation Synthesis / Metacognition Where is my specialty covered in the curriculum ? Where am I going? Preparation Planning Where is topic X taught in the curriculum ? Curriculum choices Career choices http: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk Does the curriculum cover all the profes standards?

Curriculum Maps: Potential role in Monitoring & QA Identify ‘gaps’ in teaching Map to other Curricula (widens learning opportunities) Monitor access & equality of learning opportunities Identify duplication Declared curriculum Taught curriculum ‘Constructive Alignment’ Identify popular external resources Learning & development Ass Cu essed rric ulu m (curriculum – T&L – assessment) (QA + peer review) Better insight into learning outside the curriculum External resources Prior learning ‘Life-wide’ learning

What should be on a curriculum map? Example of different interpretations / implementations Delgaty L. . Curriculum Mapping: are you thinking what I’m Thinking? A VISUAL COMPARISON OF STANDARDIZED, PRESCRIPTIVE PROGRAMMES. ARECLS, 2009, Vol. 6, 35 -58. 5 clinical teachers mapped the ALS (Advanced Life Support) course. Short duration, highly specified courses - Yet great diversity in mapping

d in e d u l inc e b d houl s s t en m e l aps? e m t a Wh rriculum cu How a be us re/could c eful i u n you rriculum m r pro gram aps me? Group Work 1 Who a r their n e the main st eeds i n rela akeholders tion to a curric nd what ar ulum e maps ? Common themes http: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk Field specific ould h s iled s be? a t e d ap How ulum m ic curr Bilingual Support

Dynamic Learning Maps Key curriculum drivers for the project: Part of the Curriculum Delivery Programme 1: Modular courses - promoting cross-modular learning - mapping to transferable graduate skills / careers 2: Medicine: Communicating Complex Curricula Understanding linkages within the spiral curriculum (students & teachers) Occasional Teachers -some unintended duplication in teaching

Overview of Dynamic Learning maps Personal Learning Personalised, sharing , reflective notes and evidencing outcomes Curriculum Maps Overview , Prior learning, Current & Future learning Linking Learning Resources Curriculum & External Resources Interactive ‘Web 2. 0 Sharing , rating and reviews Harvesting multiple sources (‘Mashups’ ) Facilitating communities of interest

Personal and Social Learning Aims to be an interactive & participative environment • changing experience & expectations of learners • students and staff can add and connect topics • reflection / portfolio learning directly embedded in curriculum • add and rate external learning resources Clear differentiation between ‘core curriculum’ and community +ability to filter Share, rate, discuss Integrates with portfolio (Leap 2 A) Extend maps & connect topics

Choice of views I Prefer: Diversity and strong polarisation of personal preferences for visual, text or other views Text-based interface Mind-map style interface Further evaluation results: https: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk/ n=193 (student response system)

Choice of other views ‘List view’ (focus groups saw relevance for revision) Tag Cloud

https: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk A DEMONSTRATION

Technical approach: breaking boundaries Curricula databases Library databases Learning Resources e-Learning Student Information Systems ID-MAPs project Curriculum map Community Learning Maps Repositories Personal learning discussion adding resources, rating & reviewing reflection evidencing External Feeds (topic-specific) http: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk e. Portfolio / blog Life-long Learning Record

Network structure Simplified ‘neural network’ of connected nodes (aka ‘topics’) • Topic Types (extensible) e. g. – – – • Learning Outcomes Modules Session Assessment Skill Specialty May include curriculum structures, syllabus, careers, skills… Scope and level of detail vary according to programme requirements Adding a new topic: Connections between topics (curriculum, community or personal) – – – Parent / child General connection Pre-requisite / Post-requisite Co-requisite Equivalence • Meta data (optional) Maps provide a mix formal and common ‘folksonony’ – – Formal taxonomies e. g. Me. SH Module / session codes These provide ‘hooks’ into external data sources. E. g. Library reading lists +automated updating with data sources e. g. timetable & module catalogue

Search over the curriculum utilises ‘semantic’ connections made between topics and with resources

Plant your trees, watch the forest grow! Taxonomy Start simple - hierarchical taxonomies Add formal ‘meta data’ -draw in relevant content from your existing data sources Ontology Experts / Community - extend the map - make linkages between the topics Resources / Tagging -links informal terms to taxonomy -learns the strength of relationships between topics

The map would benefit my learning 80% of students agreed Clinical teachers (focus group) “Excellent way of linking learning and thought processes”. “Hopefully minimises learning occurring in isolated chunks. ” “Potential for more joined-up thinking for patient care” n=193 (student response system) “If assessment is not linked to it how much will it be used? ”

Knowing how a teaching session relates to the rest of the curriculum is important to me 77% Agreed “Will increase relevance of Phase I lectures to clinical presentations/experience” From a students point of view, one could be much clearer on ‘the big picture’, as you have a curriculum map laid out in front of you. . . ” Stage 4 Medical Students - Focus groups n=193 (student response system)

Having the map will be useful for revision 91% Agreed “Excellent revision tool” ? “Any way of ticking off lectures revised? ” Stage 4 Medical Students “Helpful revision tool” Clinical Teacher n=193 (student response system)

It would be useful to add notes and reflections to teaching sessions and other parts of the map “[liked] linking the portfolio (which may appear otherwise abstract) with the rest of a student’s education”. “link to portfolio may increase its usage!” Stage 4 Medical Students (Focus Group) 73% of students agree But clinical teaching staff skeptical: “Can this really be used for portfolio (if voluntary) ? “ n=193 (student response system) “How to engage student with e-portfolios – won’t work without their engagement”

I frequently supplement my learning with external resources on the web 72% agreed n=193 (student response system) I only want information and resources provided by teaching staff 26% agreed n=193 (student response system)

Using Dynamic Learning Maps “Learning maps are an excellent tool for reminding students where they’ve studied curricula content. I found the mapping function especially useful …. learning maps allowed me to quickly and easily search for content and collate links to previous sessions into one ‘toolkit’ of relevant SSC resources for our students. ” (Senior Lecturer, Anatomy and Clinical Skills) Clarity of purpose: Staff Students Think of the bigger picture not just my module topics should indicate context e. g. in paediatrics: ‘perscribing for children’ rather than just ‘perscribing’

Getting the right balance Automation Saturation (too many Connections – ‘hairball’) e. g. MBBS: 60+ learning outcomes per module. High-level outcomes present in virtually every module. Refine relevance scoring Search – High volume of results mixed relevance Data on connected topics used to improve future automation/specificity (related keywords / strength of connections) Specificity & Granularity Initially reliant on manually making connections (curriculum & community) Maintenance cost as curriculum changes

Challenges for Curriculum Mapping ♯ 1 The curriculum changes over time Between major restructuring of the MBBS curriculum (aprox. every 5 -7 yrs): § stable: units (modules), programme outcomes § minor adjustments: sessions, cases, unit outcomes (responsive to evaluation / QA) § more variation in assessment & differences in delivery by 4 ‘Base Units’ (stages 3 & 5) Stage 5 Stage 4 Stage 3 Stage 2 Stage 1 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 ‘here and now’ teaching focus 2014/15 Student journey through the curriculum

Challenges for Curriculum Mapping ♯ 2 Stepped availability of study guides, cases and timetable data Semester 2 Available Semester 1 Available Sept 2010 Jan 2011 Sept 2011 Jan 2012 i. e. a fully detailed / data-driven curriculum map for the current academic year would not be available until Semester 2. A partial map would be no good at all! (Needs to be a semi-persistent map but drawing on latest information as it becomes available). Resources (presentations etc) are uploaded into the VLE on a ‘just in time’ basis.

Challenges for Curriculum Mapping ♯ 3 Existing data may not be in a readily usable MBBS study guide databases (baseline) § designed to support complex curricula with large number of contributors § using familiar Word documents (well formatted ‘portal documents’) § these populate databases and structure the VLE when they are uploaded § supports changing curriculum with views by multiple academic years Module Database (baseline) • outcomes are blocks of free text: variable formats and amount of detail Fit for purpose, but raise challenges for online curriculum maps: Key data is in the form of non-standardised text § e. g. learning outcomes, core presentations / conditions etc. § language is inconsistent between study guides (modified for context) § hard to differentiate between unit-specific and programme outcomes & content Codes used in VLE and timetable are not persistent § e. g. ‘PPD 2. 15’ may referrer to completely different teaching sessions from one academic year to the next § Problematic as resources are linked to these non-persistent codes

Recap: Summary of DLM Personal Learning Personalised, sharing , reflective notes and evidencing outcomes Curriculum Maps Overview , Prior learning, Current & Future learning Linking Learning Resources Curriculum & External Resources Interactive ‘Web 2. 0 Sharing , rating and reviews Harvesting multiple sources (‘Mashups’ ) Facilitating communities of interest

Next Steps • Setting up a DLM site for you • Mapping the high level curriculum – Pathways – Modules • ‘Hands-on’ training session? • Mapping the modules • Evaluation / refinements: feeding back into the DLM roadmap • Longer-term plan re: integration with University data

What we can offer Hosting • Setting up a DLM site for you • Option to host locally later Consultancy • Advice / help with mapping your curriculum • How to implement / integrate with your curriculum (paedegogy) • How to integrate with your other systems (technology) Training / Orientation • Tailored training - theoretical & ‘Hands-on’ Collaboration • Evaluation / refinements: feeding back into the DLM roadmap • Building/updating shared taxonomies (e. g. Me. SH, NHS Evidence/BNF) • Longer-term plan re: integration with University data

Curriculum Managers Analytical Tool (under development) We need a generic tool to answer questions such as: -Are all of the GMC/GDC outcomes covered in the curriculum? -What forms of assessment are used for module X outcomes? -How do session outcomes for provider-1 map to outcomes for provider-2? For the current topic (and all topics below it in the hierarchy) cross-ref with a TYPE: > GMC Outcomes Cross-reference with: List view (ordered): GMC Outcome 1 -Session Outcome 2 -Session Outcome 3 GMC Outcome 2 GMC Outcome 3 -Session Outcome 1 Display as: Heat Map by Stage: STAGE- 1 GMC Outcome 1 0 GMC Outcome 2 1 GMC Outcome 3 2 GMC Outcome 4 0 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 5 0 2 4 6 1 0 0 1 (Based on Meta data for Stage + Details on mouse-over number)

Project funded by Thank You Further information & Public Demonstrator: http: //learning-maps. ncl. ac. uk