PLE Project: Progress Report July 2008

Since the last report in April the main events have been Ethics Week 23-27 June 2008, and
the first Library Training day 17 June 2008. Our next focus is the development of the 12
week SSM course beginning in September.

Meetings
A list of project meetings can be seen below. Full details are documented on the project
blog at: http://pleproject.wordpress.com/

• May 9, 2008: Blackboard & Security.

• May 14 2008: Integrating Blackboard into the project.
• May 23 2008: Library perspective.
• June 6, 2008: Resources on Blackboard for Ethics Week.
• June 20 2008: Final meet up before Ethics Week.

Medical Ethics & Law Week

As work on developing the resources for the Medical Ethics and Law Week progressed it
became apparent that the course tutor required a level of authentication for 270 students
which was not viable on externally hosted software. After considering other options it was
decided to use Blackboard and to include web 2 resources either on Blackboard or links
outside.

A Blackboard module dedicated to Ethics Week was set up. It combined traditional
Blackboard use with web 2. On it was:

• Course reading material and videos.

• Case study assignments & module handbook.
• Web 2 communications technologies for the students to communicate with us:
Twitter, Seesmic and a Meebo chatroom.
• A Blog: students submitted their work here. The tutor wanted all students to see
each others work and to comment on it.
• Information resources:
- law citation guides,
- direct links to relevant databases,
- a Google custom search engine based on over 100 websites recommended by the
course Tutor.
- a simple Pageflakes page of direct links to recommended journals, RSS feeds from
PubMed and the Journal of Medical Ethics, and a video cast of how to set up an RSS
feed on PubMed.
- A link to Google Documents.
• Student feedback questionnaire.
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During Ethics week Sarah Whittaker and Alan Cann demonstrated the resources to the
students at the very beginning of the week. They are available for students to consult online
and also at drop in sessions every day in the MSB coffee bar.

Summary of Outcomes from Ethics Week

Students were mostly positive about the resources, in particular the custom search engine
(this is supported by statistics for the site). Blackboard statistics were not useful since they
are unreliable and do not collect data from the blog tool students used on this module for
online submission and sharing of case studies. It is not easy to collect statistics on the
external AJAX pages, except for the Google custom search engine which was created for
this module and proved to be popular. Students did not use the Web 2 communication
channels, however we feel that this is because of the constraints of a one week intensive
course where students are focused on getting through a lot of material, and we aim to
develop this for the SSM. The questionnaire (run on Blackboard) responses indicated that
the tools used on the module were generally popular (see Appendix).

Library Training Day 17 July 2008

A training morning was held open to any interested library staff (both librarians and library
assistants) called ‘ Opportunity to learn more about Web 2.0’. A group of five librarians who
are already web 2 enthusiasts were on hand as ‘expert users’ to showcase a web 2
technology (RSS feed readers, Facebook, Blogs & Twitter, Social Bookmarking, Online
Office Suites). The emphasis of the session was for people to have a go and discuss ideas.
A wiki Web 2 and UoL Libraries was created to facilitate this (we only realistically expected
people to use this on the day).

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There was some general debate on issues surrounding libraries and web 2 technologies.
Informal feedback on the session was very positive. Another session will be set up in
November.

Three outcomes are:

• We are in the process of getting Thwirl installed on staff PCs to encourage use of
Twitter as an instant and informal means of communication.

• Creation of UoL Library Blog: http://uollibraryblog.wordpress.com/ . The blog is

intended as a place for library staff to debate ideas informally rather than as a public
facing ‘corporate’ blog. Initially this is to be established by core of enthusiasts, then if
successful open to all library staff (and perhaps the wider world). The aim is to keep
it informal and current, to encourage participation. For now the blog is not public (it
cannot be found by a search engine).

• Interest in the project has been expressed by Museum Studies Digital Heritage
programme. Dr Andrew Sawyer was aiming to attend the session but was unable
at last minute, however since we have had a meeting to discuss how the library
can integrate into their programme using web 2.

Plans For Next Period:

• Work on how to make the Web 2.0 resources more integrated into the SSM and not
just as an ‘add-on’.
• Build on the success of the library training day to keep interest and momentum.
• Development of the library website integrating Web 2.0 elements.
• Meetings with Museum studies to discuss their Digital Heritage programme and how
the library can integrate using web 2.

Appendix:
Question 15: Any other comments, in particular the use of online resources on this
module:

• Online resources very straight forward and easy to use

• Online resources were very helpful - much better this year uploading our work as opposed to
the posters from last year.
• The online resources were good and easy to access.
• Online resources were very useful

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• The peer learning that was encouraged in this module by asking us to upload our answers for
each sessions is a good idea and proved useful.
• Online resources were good and opportunities to learn how to use these were plenty.
• I like the use of blackboard. Makes some things a lot easier, although the use of it wasn't
explained clearly enough, as well the assessments.
• I think its great that a lot of resources have been made available to us, I hope to make much
more use of them in the future.
• Resources online were very helpful. My main concern is the fact that ethics week should not
be placed during the time it has been allocated. It's very difficult to get into a subject (this is a
very interesting topic) when you have the pressure of the qualifiers exams to deal with.
Ideally, for future students it would be better to place this at the begining of the next semester
as this would not only ease students back into university after the summer break but also
people would be more focused on the task rather than worrying about retaking the exams!!!
• Very good online resources
• I think the on-line resources are excellent. I have browsed through them and happy in the fact
the resoucres are constantly evolving (unlike students) and can be accessed throughout my
time here. Excellent!!!!
• Blackboard is an effective resource which is easy to use.
• Its a brillant resource
• It is really helpful in encouraging sharing of knowledge between peers. I enjoyed using it.
• I think the online resource use would be better once I get used to the blackboard.
• Be more specific and clear in assigning students works as the assignment relating the use of
blackboard was not very clear at first.
• The online resource was good especially the limited Google, this is something that should be
set up for the whole course.
• Blackboard is ok, but i feel the LE is much more easier to use and access. Also we have
spent an entire year getting used to this so this seems very much different!
• The whole module was very enjoyable to me and I think it is necessary to introduce ideas of
ethics in medicine at early stage as some of them are complicated and definetely take a lot of
time for one to work out one's own oppinion about them
• The simplistic nature of the resources was useful.
• This is a good way to get used to using Blackboard.
• Online resources were good and useful.
• What was expected of us on Monday evening onwards as regards blackboard input was not
made clear and needs to be stated clearly in the handbook.
• First time using blackboard, but it was explained well in the lecture and the support was
available every day
• Run through what is required of each group at start of week and how to submit work.
• Online resources are good, I like the blackboard
• The module handbook was very difficult to use as case studies were not in a structered order,
there were many mistakes and wrong terminology e.g. download instead of upload. The
online resourced were good but there were to many to find what you need some subheading
would be useful.
• Resources were very helpful ie. the specialised google search engine.
• Excellent online resources which were easy to use. Good support available for any problems
with the online resources.
• The online resources were useful
• They are good but there seems to be too much information on the main page and it all looks
like it has been jumbled together rather than having a clear order.
• Blackboard is not as good as the LE, in time it will probably grow on me though
• All necessary rescources were availiable from material/notes taken in lectures and from the
journals online
• Blackboard is easy to use; very clean interface.
• I think transferring to blackboard really confused this module.

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• The use of online resources was good.

• Information regarding the online template could have been given to us at the beginning of the
week as we thought we had to answer each individual question
• Blackboard seems like a useful learning tool.
• Using the online resources was very straightforward, though viewing all the group entries was
quite difficult and messy.
• I am a health science graduate and was mixed in with the 5 year cohort. whilst i found this
reasonably enjoyable, it is not the best way to achieve good teamwork. Most graduates i
know felt slightly isolated from the groups as the 5 year students often did not include us in
discussion.
• I personally have not used the online resources yet
• Very good and easy to use online resources.
• Very good, very clear, very enjoyable.
• Online resources were very thorough and easily accessible.
• The online resource use was overall very good, though it would have been more useful to
have had an upload tool for the final presentations, so that a powerpoint slideshow with notes
could have been produced and uploaded.
• The long list of all the web posts is also a little daunting, arrangement by topic would have
been useful.
• Online resources will be useful to come back and look at later on in the course when we are
more familiar with clinical settings and when it is more relevant to us.
• Online resources were very helpful
• There were plenty of resources and support available
• Blackboard is excellent
• The use of online resources was very helpful in gathering information and looking at other
groups views on different case studies.
• Uploaded documents in a variety of formats - can the blog made more universal and therefore
less cluttered and easier to read and follow?
• Personally i think that the assignment posting page could have been organised better into
categories for each assignment and each post reduced to a link. I feel this would make it
easier to navigate.
•