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* Evaluate the value of the resource and document the project for the benefit of the JISC ''April 2007 - April 2008''
* Evaluate the value of the resource and document the project for the benefit of the JISC ''April 2007 - April 2008''
===JISC PROJECT OVERVIEW===
The WIKI VET Community of Practice has been established to explore the potential of second generation e-learning technologies building on existing collaborative partnerships between the UK veterinary schools. This new Community of Practice will enable academics and technical experts to work together in new ways on developing and sharing innovative e-learning resources.
This project grew out of existing collaborations between veterinary schools including the CLIVE and vetschools.ac.uk initiatives. Whilst these projects have been successful and widely used, there is now a need for the collaboration to evolve in parallel with the explosion of social networking tools such as wikis and blogs. Three of the schools have already taken the initiative in developing a collaborative wiki in the context of undergraduate and postgraduate Veterinary Pathology. The HEA funding will allow this model to be expanded in a more ambitious way to benefit all the UK veterinary schools.
Veterinary students and academic staff are familiar with e-learning as medium to supplement and complement traditional teaching and learning as part of a blended learning approach. However, with the rapid growth of material on the web, it has become increasingly difficult to find appropriate content which has been peer reviewed. This lack of signposting can result in students and staff wasting time searching for material or even chancing across second rate or incorrect information.
Emerging web technologies (sometimes referred to as Web 2.0) could offer a number of solutions to these problems. Crucially they provide a set of social networking tools which enable communities of practice to work effectively together on line. This will be used in the project to enhance existing face to face meetings and create new ways of working together. Wikis and folksonomies offer new ways for the community to order, index, signpost and rate digital content. This content could be in the form of text written collaboratively by the partner institutions or existing resources such as CAL, video, images, documents and Powerpoint (including some previously generated by the CLIVE and vetschools projects).
On a practical basis the project will utilise a wiki as the central framework for content development. It will adopt and extend the preliminary model already being trialled for the collaborative pathology wiki and extend its scope and user base. This work will be overseen by subject experts and enthusiasts who will employ students to help compile and develop the wiki. Good practice in communities of practice (emerging out of the JISC Emerge CoP project and from experience elsewhere) will be drawn upon for the effective functioning of this community.
The intention is to set up a dedicated server and software which will be hosted by the University of London Computer Centre. The costs of server hosting and software have therefore been included in the budget of this proposal. The Year 1 budget also allows for the development of an informative web site and fact sheets to be distributed to fellow academics.
The initial project steering group from the Cambridge, Edinburgh and London veterinary schools as well as the LIVE Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning currently meets on a virtual basis using Skype as a conference facility. However, it is felt that face to face meetings would also be important and so an annual meeting has been included in the budget with additional delegates to cover for a predicted expansion of the group to represent the other UK veterinary schools (contacts at each of the schools have already been established as part of the pathology wiki collaboration). Project consultation has been incorporated into the budget to enable members of the steering group to travel and meet with colleagues in other veterinary schools, thereby ensuring that the initiative is inclusive.
Project management will be provided by Edinburgh, Specialist coordination will come from Cambridge and Technical support will be provided by the RVC. Project support represents a minimal cost to cover technical support of the wiki servers. It should be pointed out that the participating institutions have committed to cover their own staff time and overhead costs which are estimated to exceed this project budget presented in this bid.
===EXPECTED OUTCOMES===
* The establishment of a collaborative community of practice linking the UK vetschools with active and committed partners and full institutional support;
* Inter-institutional collaborative education and research projects based on the use of the Wiki Vet in veterinary education;
* Sharing expertise and good pedagogical practice between partner vetschools on the development and use of new e-learning technologies;
* Regular synchronous electronic discussions between steering group members as well as email lists and occasional face to face meetings;
* Building of cross institutional expertise and understanding of the pedagogy associated with the application of wikis and other web technologies in veterinary education;
* Enrichment of existing teaching resources and improved learning opportunities for students through the use of novel and contemporary web technologies
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