ALT - C 2011 Thriving in a colder and more challenging climate

So I have finally got on top of pulling all my ALT-C loose ends together, with respect to accommodation Crowdvine, profile etc. Just need to decide how to get to Leeds, plane, train, automobile etc. and to decide which events to attend. The dilemma of splitting time between presentations that link to my strategic professional roles and also, seeing new innovative developments. If I am lucky I may be able to catch both in one presentation!.

Research Methods and Open Activity Design

I know there has been quite a bit of exploratory work in the area of designing open activities, particularly by Diana Laurillard 

My team is currently investigating whether epistemological research methods approaches have specific learning activities or whether more general learning activities are used and the specificity sits with the integrated content and resources. The aim of this is to see if research methods need to have their own online activity sequences or whether we can reuse existing activity sequences. For example a common activity sequence for online research methods is:

• read article/overview etc.
• answer questions on the article/overview etc.
• share answers or reflect on what you have learnt

Now this activity sequence is very common in other subjects even though I still think it is quite a stretch for academics to acknowledge the generic nature of some of the learning and teaching they do. The only thing that differentiates the activity or defines it according to its discipline and level, is the embedded content and resources e.g. the article and questions. With respect to our research methods challenge we may need to dig further e.g. are probing questions structured in a particular way, are specific areas covered, what about activities for quantitative stuff e.g. statistics. Watch this space.