Background

With fewer teaching staff and extra students, the podcasts will enable core concepts to be delivered to students in a high quality, digital format. The files can then be made available on a virtual learning environment for student use.

Goals

Production of these videos will enhance vertical integration as the clinical significance of the material will be made clear to students in the early part of the course and the basic science concepts will be reinforced for clinical students (years 4 and 5).

Methods

The process of podcast production will involve the advance preparation of anatomical specimens, both dissected specimens and models, and the selection of students who will participate in some podcasts. Sophisticated audio-visual techniques will be used to produce high quality podcasts.

Results

Results will be available on completion of the project.

Next Steps

The project will take place in the summer of 2011.

Background

There is a distinct lack of digitized resources representing 19th-century Ireland.
Themes that are often focused on in instructional modules relating to history, English literature and Irish studies include Education, Emigration, Health, Famine and Communication in 19th-century Ireland.  Contemporaneous documents on these themes are often inaccessible to undergraduates in large classes. 19th century material is generally out of copyright and so is suitable for digitization.

Goals

• To enhance the teaching and learning experience for both student and teacher by providing access to 19th-century documents and ephemera in digital formats.
• To make previously inaccessible 19th-century documents available to students at all levels including first year.
• To make a select range of 19th-century documents available to lecturers nationally for teaching and learning.
• To implement a page-turning technology to ensure that extracts as well as complete texts can be downloaded by students and teachers.
  

Methods

The funding will enable us to digitize 19 items relating to education, famine, health and communication in Ireland in the 19th century and implement assistive technologies.

Results

It is expected that the Reusable Learning Objects created through this project will be available during the autumn of 2011.

Next Steps

Digitisation of selected items and implementation of page-turning technologies.

Background

IS10040 ‘From Papyrus to Cyberspace: Information & Society’ is a first year module (Semester 2) addressing the impact of the explosion of information on society, with particular emphasis on digital technologies.  

This project aims to provide a series of ePracticums that will guide students through the process of  planning, capture, creation and presentation of digital essay, addressing key topics examined during the course, e.g. information economy.

Goals

The ePracticums will guide students in making their digital essay.  Digital video, which includes digital audio and text, has been hailed as the “new text” and the “new PowerPoint”. The rapid growth of YouTube illustrates just how pervasive and persuasive video can be.  By showing students best practices with regards to planning, capturing, and editing a digital video essay they will learn important new skills. We also propose that they will be more engaged in the assignment and module content because they are more likely to enjoy the opportunity to creating a video and posting it on YouTube than making a PowerPoint presentation.

Methods

The e-practicums will focus on using both mobile phones and small video cameras (a number of these will be provided through the grant).  This blended approach offers students the choice to create content on their own mobile phone as an individual and as a group with the use of video cameras.

The reusable e-practicum will be created using both Articulate and the lecture capture technology. There are  a series of 4 practicums:

• Planning & organising group video tutorial
• Creating & capturing video content
• Editing video content
• Presenting video content

Results

Results will be available on completion of the project.

Next Steps

These will be presented on completion of the project.

Background

UCD School of Medicine has a vast array of high quality anatomical specimens currently contained with a Museum in the Health Sciences Centre.  These materials could be used by a wide variety of groups thoughout Health Sciences. However, due to the age and the awkward manoeuvrability of these teaching tools, only small numbers of students are able to view them.  These are a valuable teaching resource and should be shared with as many as possible.

Goals

The goal of this project is to create a 3D model of a skeleton to allow the staff and students of not only Medicine but also other faculties (such as Nursing, and Archeology) to be able to access this resource when needed.  Each bone would be scanned in and be fully rotatable in any plane.  A texture mapping process will also take place to ensure that the correct colouration of the specimen will be captured.  This will ensure that the specimens are seen by many but kept in a secure and safe manner.

Methods

The funding has enabled us to purchase a high quality semi automated 3D laser scanner.  This will allow us to scan some of the high quality specimens that are contained within the School of Medicines Anatomical Museum.

Results

Results will be available to use at the completion of the project.

Next Steps

At this point in time the scanner has been purchased and preliminary scanning has started to take place.  A meeting is organised to discuss with external groups any advice that can be given in relation to the capture of this content.

Background

Third Level Peer-Mentoring has been successfully implemented in many universities worldwide. Programmes have been shown to benefit both mentees and mentors, as well as the hosting schools involved. While mentees gain support, and access to the information resources of their more experienced peers, mentors gain pedagogical knowledge and experience that will benefit their careers. Finally, the hosting schools benefit from the increased retention and proficiency of their students, as well as unburdening of staff time spent dealing with student queries. Although Peer-Mentoring has been shown to be successful, it traditionally has involved extensive in-person training and co-ordination of mentors and mentees.

Goals

The goal of the project is the implementation and evaluation of an innovative and successful Peer E-Mentoring Programme in the School of Information and Library Studies in UCD, utilising available Social Media Technologies. The project will facilitate the mentoring of incoming first year students by their second and third year peers, using rich multimedia online facilities and resources.

Methods

An Action Research Project, involving:

• recruitment of mentors and facilitators for mentees;
• preparation of suitable facilities and resources in order to ensure successful mentor-mentee relationships;
• surveying of participating students, before, during and after the pilot stages of the project. Monitoring and adjustment of project in order to ensure successful outcomes.

Results

Results will be disseminated upon completion of the pilot stage of the project.

Next Steps

The selection of suitable social media technologies and the design of online multimedia resources in preparation for the 2011/2012 Academic Year.

Background

Practical skills in recognising parasites is a vital requirement  for  Veterinary students as the accurate identification of parasites involved in disease processes is necessary for applying appropriate treatment and control measures and to reduce the associated economic losses. However, students still find it difficult to apply what they have learned during lectures and practical classes in a practical way. A collection of high-resolution pictures of various parasite stages (Para-ID) to assist students in Veterinary Parasitology with the identification of common parasites of veterinary importance has been developed during the summer of 2008.

Goals

The aim of this project was to build upon the PARA-ID project by creating a range of interactive formative assessments to support the following learning outcomes:

• Recognise the key morphological features of parasites.
• Distinguish between common animal parasites using identification keys.

Methods

Using the high resolution parasite pictures a bank of True/False, Matching Questions or Multiple Choice Questions were generated. From this question bank formative assessment exercises were compiled in Blackboard e-learning environment and made available to students during the Veterinary Parasitology course once the specific section of material was delivered in lectures and practical classes.

Results

A bank of 447 questions was generated. Students were provided access and could complete the exercises as many times as they wanted and progress was tracked through the blackboard environment. More than 80% of the student used this resource with multiple attempts. A module feedback survey was available for students to complete but final data is not yet available. Informal feedback from the students was very positive, the majority of the students found the resource very useful in supporting their learning.

Next Steps

The Blackboard e-learning environment was not very user-friendly in managing the resource. It is planned to investigate alternative assessment management software, such as “Questionamark” to package and manage the formative assessment exercises. It is planned to improve the resource by providing specific feedback to students when they answer questions incorrectly as well as providing additional information (i.e. hyperlinks to other relevant web-based resources) to further the students' learning.

Background

Students of 3rd year Veterinary are required to perform practical laboratory techniques relevant to veterinary microbiology. These are often taught in a large class laboratory format of approximately 80 students. This cohort will increase to 120 in September 2010 with the merger of the veterinary graduate and undergraduate cohorts.

Students must be able to carry out these procedures correctly in order to appreciate the handling of cultures and the process of identification of bacterial and fungal pathogens. The current strategy for teaching these procedures involves hands-on demonstrations.  However, in many cases it is difficult for students to properly view the techniques due to the large class size.

Goals

The aim of this project is to incorporate video instruction to improve student learning of several essential practical laboratory techniques in microbiology.

Methods

A range of video clips and associated materials were developed during the summer of 2010 using a strategy which incorporated the following stages:

• Describe procedure and range of applicability.
• Preview procedure in chunks.
• Review component concepts.
• Review situations that require the procedure, its individual steps and order, how to evaluate correctness of application.
• Self-assessment: identify critical characteristics of situations required for the procedure, order of steps.
• Practice.
• Provide feedback and remediation to enable correct completion of procedure.

The student employed on the project interacted with the team at each stage in order to ensure efficient completion of the work.

Results

A total of 9 short video presentations covering basic laboratory techniques used in veterinary diagnostic facilities were prepared during the summer of 2010.  In addition, short self-assessment exercises on each technique were completed for use with the video material.  The videos were used extremely successfully with 3rd year veterinary students during the practical microbiology classes which took place in Semester 1 of the 2010-2011 academic year.  Demonstration of techniques using videos greatly improved the understanding of the students as to what was involved in carrying out these basic procedures.  The videos were uploaded onto Blackboard and were available to students to view in their own time, together with the self-assessment exercises.

Next Steps

It is hoped that further video may be developed in response to student needs.

Background

Veterinary Medicine at UCD is currently expanding its range of educational offerings at all levels from undergraduate, through graduate/professional, to life-long learning for both veterinary practitioners and nurses. Increasingly, electronic resources, tools and learning environments are being integrated with traditional teaching methodologies to enhance the quality of tutor instruction and support a ‘student-centred’ learning philosophy. To foster this development amongst staff, ready access to instructional and technological supports in a context that supports their application to professional education, is required.

Goals

UCD Veterinary Medicine sought to develop a physical centre to provide staff with:

• A dedicated space to facilitate development of learning resources;
• A centralised range of specialised hardware and software for the development of rich multimedia components;
• Professional assistance with technological and pedagogical innovation;
• Support to enhance the quality of teaching and learning for all undergraduate veterinary medicine, veterinary nursing, and graduate programmes;
• Create a bank of high quality learning resources that will: promote self-directed student learning in undergraduate teaching; facilitate student revision in later stages of the programmes, provide material for online summative assessments;
• Promote the development of online learning activities for Veterinarians and Veterinary Nurses subscribing to CPD courses.

Methods

A physical environment had to be designated in the Veterinary Sciences Centre to allow flexible and secure access to the hardware and software. An educational support specialist was required to support staff in resource and curriculum development and to be responsible for the management of the new centre.  Funding received the centre must support the purchase of the necessary hardware and software required for:

• Video editing,
• Image manipulation and creation,
• Audio editing,
• Podcast creation,
• 2D scanning.

Results

To date a range of equipment and software was purchased to setup the Learning Resource Centre. A dedicated space in the learning resource room of the UCD veterinary library was designated for equipment. This space provides a workstation where staff and students can work on specific projects with the support of a learning technologist. Two mobile units have been greatly utilized by staff providing a flexible user-friendly setup to develop learning resources.

The Learning Resource Centre has been a pivotal resource to support the development of a range of learning objects for veterinary in the past 12 months, for example:

1. Distance learning materials to support students on a new programme: the Graduate Certificate in Dairy Herd Health
2. Projects which received funding from the NDLR in 2010 and 2011
      a. Veterinary Anaesthesia
      b. Veterinary Microbiology
      c. Veterinary Parasitology
      d. Veterinary Anatomy
      e. Animal Behaviour
3. Video editing of anatomy dissections
4. Distance learning materials for the Continuing Veterinary Education initiative

Next Steps

The Learning Resource Centre has been a great success to date which a vast range of resources being developed. There is a high demand for access to the equipment and software on a weekly basis. The project team aims to expand the use of the centre to include more disciplines in veterinary.  A range of guides, posters and resources to support instructional design and reusable learning resource development are being developed and will be made available within the centre.  These educational resources will promote UCD teaching and learning best practices and initiatives.

Background

Final year veterinary students attending the Veterinary Anaesthesia rotation in UCD Veterinary Hospital are taught to monitor cardiovascular and respiratory parameters in anaesthetised  patients.  Many students have little background experience before the rotation. To support students' preparatory work before commencing the rotation, a range of videos demonstrating how and what to monitor were required.

Goals

The goal of this project is to develop a short video demonstrating the methods available for monitoring the cardiovascular system of anaesthetized small animals (dogs and cats).

Methods

The funding provided by the NDLR allowed the project team to pay for a student bursary to assist in the development of a video over the summer months. Lynne Hughes had responsibility of overseeing the accuracy of video’s content; and technical support was provided by Diane Cashman. The Learning Resource Development Centre in veterinary medicine was utilized to author the video.

Results

A 10 minute video with sound track has been developed and is in use as a teaching aid. The video is available through UCD intranet so students may view it as often as they wish.

Next Steps

Additional videos are in development and an evaluation of the current content is in process.

Background

This Stage One E-Practicum project, funded by the NDLR in mid-2010, consisted of four phases:

1. Phase One: The design and development of four e-practicums using the Articulate software suite. The aim of the project was to create two interactive e-practicums for use in two Stage One (100 level) modules in the School of Information & Library Studies (IS10010 Introduction to Information Studies & IS10020 Information Literacy).
2. Phase Two: Usability testing of the e-practicums took place in late September, before they were “released” to the Stage One students. An additional research assistant, Jesse Coffey, was hired to design and implement a usability testing protocol, to evaluate the ease-of-use of the e-practicums, and to identify any glitches that were apparent. Jesse ran eight tests (two for each e-practicum) with five student volunteers. His report describes the outcomes of this testing process. 
3. Phase Three: Student completion of e-practicums. At the start of the semester, module coordinators and tutors spent some time discussing the e-practicums with students, and how they were intended to support independent learning and practical skill development. The e-practicums were subsequently “released” to the students. During the Autumn-Winter semester, students in both Stage One modules completed the e-practicums independently, and in their own time. Each e-practicum contained a multiple-choice quiz, for which the students were required to achieve a 100% correct response rate, before they could print off a“certificate of completion” which was submitted as proof of work. The e-practicums were easily accessible via Blackboard. All students had completed e-practicums by December 2010, the end of semester.
4. Phase Four: Evaluation of students' experience of the e-practicums. Following completion of the e-practicums, an anonymous online evaluation survey was distributed to all students in the IS10010 and IS10020 modules, in order to explore their experience of online learning, and to gain useful insight into their perceptions of the process. The questionnaire is hosted on SurveyMonkey; a link to the survey was sent via email to all students in December 2010. Announcements, which included the link, were also posted on Blackboard, inviting students to participate. When the survey was closed on January 14th , the final response tally stood at 114. We are currently analysing this data, with a view to producing a journal article within the next 2-3 months.

Goals

The four e-practicums were designed to facilitate interactive learning for the following module-related topic areas:

• Introduction to wikis
• Comparing wikis to other information sources
• APA Referencing
• Boolean logic and search strategies
  

Methods

A research assistant, Colm Talbot, was hired to complete this task over Summer 2010, in consultation with the two module coordinators. The e-practicums were completed in early September 2010, in readiness for the forthcoming semester. They were subsequently mounted on Blackboard, and included in the assessment protocol for each module.

Results

Deliverables in phase 1: Four interactive e-practicums developed using the Articulate suite.

Additional deliverable: Special guide: “Creating E-Practicums using Articulate Presenter and Quizmaker” prepared by the research assistant.

Deliverables in phase 2: Usability testing protocol and report of test results.

Deliverables in phase 3: Students' completion of e-practicums as part of the assessment protocol for modules IS10010 and IS10020

Deliverables in phase 4: Report on students' experiences and perceptions of online learning in the two modules.

Next Steps

The project team is currently engaged in the final stage of the project, i.e. evaluation of project outcomes.

Background

Since November 2008, four new graduate and undergraduate programmes have commenced in veterinary medicine, in addition to a new initiative to provide Continuing Veterinary Education. Animal behaviour and welfare are core components of each programme. To facilitate this increased demand a series of eLectures have been developed and are presented on Blackboard as part of a blended learning approach. 
Developing multimedia resources in animal behaviour, welfare and ethics is essential to enriching eLectures, providing context-specific resources to support understanding and to further engage and stimulate learners.

Goals

• To develop an archive of video clips and photographs of animal behaviour and issues relating to animal welfare and ethics.
• To create a series of podcasts with veterinary practitioners and experts in animal behaviour, welfare and ethics.

Methods

An audit of eLectures was conducted to identify photographic and videographic requirements.  A list of the requirements together with the timeframe to capture each behaviour was prepared. Weekly visits to UCD Lyons Farm commenced in January 2011.

Results

The development of the archive is ongoing. Some behaviours are seasonal e.g. parturient and neonatal behaviour and/or infrequent and thus require an extended timeframe in order to capture the behaviours.

Next Steps

These will be presented on completion of the project.

Background

Following the successful digitisation projects carried out by the UCD School of Architecture for the pilot NDLR platform phase two of their initiative is now in production. This encompasses a dedicated Mahara site to enable the wider community of architectural librarians, technicians, practitioners and academics to contribute and develop the process of creating and managing a sustainable collection of Irish images.

Goals

The IrishScapes site will provide a focal point for the creation and development of appropriate work practices in relation to the collation, digitisation, cataloguing, managing and disseminating Irish images.

Methods

The site will provide an open and authenticated environment.
Guidelines, references and resources will be available to the open community.
Work flows and development projects will be facilitated by the authenticated site.
All finite materials will be deposited in the NDLR, with only work in motion exempt.

Results

Already a central pool of Irish resources has been compiled to act as a catalyst to use the open site. The site development is now under way and independent projects are in evolution.

Next Steps

Completion by summer 2011.

Background

Landscape schemes are dynamic, trees and shrubs change in appearance with the seasons and over the years.  In their studies Horticulturists and Landscape Architects become familiar with the varied uses of vegetation in the sites they design and/or manage.  They learn the skills of plant identification, how to assess the suitability of vegetation for particular areas. They must develop the ability to organise these plants into planting schemes, foreseeing how such plants will grow and determine how planting schemes would be managed over the coming years.  This demands a visual imagination coupled with the ability to appraise resources on a particular site.

Goals

The goal is to develop an existing website (www.ucd.ie/plantmat) on trees in urban areas to provide images of trees, their identification, functions of trees in landscape schemes in urban and rural areas and the management of such trees.   
Becoming familiar with plant names demands familiarity with technical terms, therefore an illustrated glossary will be developed.
This digital learning resource can be used during class and also for group work and self-paced tutorials, plus self directed learning in the computer laboratory or off campus.
  

Methods

Design of website.  Following discussion with UCD Web Services staff, a framework to display a picture gallery of images was developed by them and training given to a member of the team to create, manage and publish content to the website. The website is part of UCD Content Management System.

Acquisition of images for the website.  Through the year images of trees were taken in arboreta and parks in the Dublin area, in present day landscape schemes such as the LUAS and post planting management along city streets and in public open spaces.

Images were then reduced in size and uploaded on to the site. An introduction was written for each section of the site.  Short text also accompanies each of the approximately 400 images on the site.  

Results

The site has four sections: Use of trees, Tree Identification, (25 genera) Winter Buds and Twigs and Management of Trees.  The site is navigable using a tool bar to the left of the screen.

Next Steps

The next step is to seek student response to the site, to note how they use the site for autonomous learning. 
Secondly, develop some self assessment quizzes using the images and information on the site.

Background

The Slide Library of UCD School of Art History & Cultural Policy is one of its core teaching and learning resources.  Since the move from 35mm slides to digital equivalents the School has been engaged in an ongoing programme of creating digital teaching resources from this collection.  It is currently concentrating on digitizing and cataloguing the Irish architecture holdings.  The project facilitated by this grant, concentrating on Dublin material, will augment a smaller project undertaken as part of the Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive, which resulted in two image databases of 200 slides of Dublin’s Georgian architecture.

Goals

The School is digitizing and cataloguing a sub-section of the Irish collection, specifically 420 images of Dublin’s built environment.
These digital resources will support teaching, learning and research activities, at a ‘local’ level within the school and more widely through NDLR, in the areas of architecture and the historic interior, as well as broader interdisciplinary studies related to political, economic and cultural geographies.
The digital resources created as part of this project & those in IVRLA will be contributed to ARTstor, the leading international image database for teaching and research in the humanities, in what could become a much larger Irish architecture digital database, greatly enhancing the visibility of Irish architecture in classrooms worldwide.

Methods

The project commenced with a survey of the Dublin architecture holdings of 35mm slides and the selection of 420 slides, comprising 170 slides of eighteenth century domestic architecture and interiors and 250 slides of public and ecclesiastical architecture.
A database cataloguing these slides was complied.  This includes descriptive information, together with additional notes where appropriate, to enhance the user’s understanding and to provide useful contextual information.
The 420 slides have been cleaned and scanned and the resulting digital images are currently undergoing an editing process.

Results

The collection of 420 digital slides and the corresponding database will be made available in NDLR.
In addition, a place-holder/mini index in NDLR will link to the two collections of slides on Dublin’s eighteenth-century domestic architecture housed in IVRLA.  These collections, Civic and Ecclesiastical Architecture of Georgian Dublin and Domestic Architecture Georgian Dublin, were digitized and catalogued by funding from IVRLA, which was funded by the HEA under the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI) Cycle 3.

Next Steps

Completion by summer 2011.