UNIVERSITYOFEASTLONDON

TheUseofEresources.
A snapshot of eresource use among Linking
LondonLLNpartnerinstitutions

KarinaBerzinsandAnthonyHudson

January2011

Contents
ExecutiveSummary.................................................................................................................................3
Introduction/BackgroundtotheResearch.............................................................................................4
DefinitionofEresources....................................................................................................................4
HeadlineFindings....................................................................................................................................5
Methodology...........................................................................................................................................6
SurveyResults.........................................................................................................................................6
UseofEresources..............................................................................................................................7
TypesofEresourcesUsed..................................................................................................................7
SocialNetworking...............................................................................................................................9
UseofSocialNetworkingToolsforLearningandTeaching................................................................9
FutureuseofEresources.................................................................................................................10
SupportofEresources.....................................................................................................................10
PositiveandNegativeOutcomesFromtheuseofEresources........................................................11
EresourceTraining...........................................................................................................................12
Collaboration.....................................................................................................................................14
AccessibleWiFi..................................................................................................................................15
VLE.....................................................................................................................................................15
XCRI...................................................................................................................................................16
Eportfolios........................................................................................................................................17
ComputerBasedAssessment............................................................................................................18
PlagiarismSoftware..........................................................................................................................18
ElearningStrategy............................................................................................................................19
Research............................................................................................................................................19
Casestudies..........................................................................................................................................19
ECollaboration:BloomsburyLearningEnvironment.......................................................................19
MobilePhonetexting:StudentServicesandLearningandTeaching,UEL.......................................21
BlendeddeliveryEarthSciences,Birkbeck.......................................................................................22
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................23
AppendixA:Phoneinterviewquestions...............................................................................................25
AppendixB:SurveyQuestionnaire.......................................................................................................26
AppendixC:SocialNetworkingUse......................................................................................................36
AppendixD:Bibliography......................................................................................................................37

ExecutiveSummary
ThisreportprovidesasnapshotoverviewoftheuseoferesourcesamongLinkingLondonpartners.
Eresources are increasingly important to all aspects of education from teaching and learning,
throughtothecollectionofstudentdata,administrationandmarketingactivitiesthoseinstitutions
engage in. For this research eresources are defined in the broadest sense and includes Virtual
LearningEnvironments(VLEs),platforms,researchsoftware,andothereresources(suchastheuse
of Web 2.0 technologies, social networking technologies, mobile phones or Audio Visual
technologies) as they relate to systems used to aid learning, teaching, administration or
management.
The research used mixed methods including surveys, interviews, documentary analysis and case
studydevelopmentofareasofgoodpractice.Theresearchwasconductedoverthreemonths,and
we obtained over 40 responses via the survey and phone interviews. The findings were then
triangulatedwithinformationfromonline(andother)sourcessuchasinstitutionalwebpages,and
prospectuses.
Thefindingsconfirmtheimportanceoferesourcestopartnerinstitutions,astheyareuseddailyby
staff in all areas of their work. We also found that there are many areas of good practice and
innovativeuseoftheseresourcesforadministrative,marketingandteachingandlearningpurposes.
Thereisalsoaconsiderableamountofresearchbasedontheuseoferesources,particularlyfrom
HEIs, and the HE sector has more widespread use of eresources than FECs or specialist colleges.
Most institutions have either a formalised elearning strategy, elearning committee structure, or
personnel who are employed as elearning leaders; and all institutions offer staff training in this
area.Therearetwoareasoferesourceuse thatareparticularlywell developed;firstlytheuseof
socialnetworkingsites(FacebookandTwitter)aswellastheyoutubewebsite,andpodcastingfora
variety of purposes, e.g. for marketing and as a learning and teaching aid. The second is VLE
developmentasallinstitutionshaveaVLEanduseeitherBlackboardorMoodle,withthemajority
usingMoodle.
However,oneofourmainfindingswasthattheuseoferesourceswithininstitutionsisextremely
varied,andoftenthemostinnovativeusesandusersarenotsupportedcentrally.Indeed,inmany
institutionsthereisalackofcommunicationbetweenITservicedepartmentsandotherpersonnel
who are responsible for the pedagogical aspects of elearning. Instead, innovative use and good
practiceoftencomesfromindividualacademicorsupportstaffwhocanbeseenaschampionsfor
eresources who introduce these initiatives. It is clear from the findings that eresources and e
resourceuseisoftennotdisseminatedwidelyenoughthroughoutindividualinstitutions.Also,aside
from the Bloomsbury Learning Environment there is little collaboration or sharing of resources
betweenLinkingLondonpartnerinstitutionsalthough thereis agreat deal ofwillingnessamong
thosesurveyedtoengageincollaboration.
Despitethefactthateresourceuseisahighpriorityforinstitutions,therearetwomainproblems
thatareholdingbackthewiderutilisationofthesetechnologies.Firstly,withininstitutions,differing
skillsetsofpersonnel,andthelackofinternaldisseminationoferesourceusefindings,meansthat
theadoptionoftheseresources,whichmighthavealreadybeentrialledinonesubjectarea,isslow
to spread to other areas. As institutions have developed elearning strategies and units, this may
3

wellbeovercomeintheshortterm,andthesepersonnelwillbeabletooverseetherolloutofnew
elearninginnovations,beabletohelpwiththedisseminationoffindings,andhelptotrainstaffin
theuseofthesetechnologies.

Introduction/BackgroundtotheResearch
Eresourcesandelearningareincreasinglyimportanttoallaspects,andalllevelsofeducation.The
varietyoferesourcesusedbyeducationalestablishmentsfromschools,throughFEandHEarevast.
ThisreportprovidesfindingsbyContinuumtheCentreforWideningParticipationPolicyStudiesat
the University of East London, from the Linking London commissioned research that seeks to
illustratethecurrentlandscapeinthisareaamongLinkingLondonpartners.Theresearchhasbeen
conducted over three months, and has involved a stock take of the kinds of eresources that are
being used in the LLNs members. The methodology has necessarily used mixed methods, and
includedanonlinesurvey,onetoonesemistructuredinterviews,phoneinterviews,andcasestudy
developmentofparticularlygoodexamplesofwhereeresourceusehasmadeadifferenceeitherto
learningandteaching,administrative,managerial,orcollaborativeprocesses.
Atthetimeofresearchtherewere25LinkingLondonmembers.Theseareasfollows:
Birkbeck,UniversityofLondon
CityUniversity
LondonMetropolitanUniversity
LondonSouthBankUniversity'sSchoolofHealth
MiddlesexUniversity
TheOpenUniversity,London 1
TheSchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudies,University
ofLondon
UniversityofEastLondon
UniversityofWestminster
BarkingandDagenhamCollege
BarnetCollege
CityLit
MorleyCollege

CityandIslingtonCollege
CityofWestminsterCollege
KensingtonandChelseaCollege
LewishamCollege
NewhamSixthFormCollege
SouthwarkCollege
CollegeofHaringey,EnfieldandNorthEastLondon
HackneyCommunityCollege
TowerHamletsCollege
WestminsterKingswayCollege
CityandIslingtonCollege
MaryWardCentre
WorkingMen'sCollege

DefinitionofEresources
Fortheresearchwearedefiningeresourcesinthebroadestsense,asagreedwithLinkingLondon.
ThisincludesVirtualLearningEnvironments(VLEs),platforms(suchasXCRI),researchsoftware(such
asNVivo,EndnoteorSPSS),andothereresources(suchastheuseofWeb2.0technologies,social
networking technologies or mobile phone technologies) as they relate to systems used to aid
learning,teaching,administrationormanagement.

DuetothedistancelearningdeliverymethodoftheOU,thisinstitutionwasnotconsideredinthefinalanalysis.

HeadlineFindings

Innovationsinthisareaareoftenled byindividual championswithinaninstitution,who

oftencomefromacademia,ratherthanITservicedepartments

InmanyinstitutionsthereisalackofcommunicationsbetweenITservicedepartmentsand
otherpersonnelwhoareresponsibleforthepedagogicalaspectsofelearning

Mostinstitutionshaveaformalisedelearningstrategy,elearningcommitteestructure, or
personnelwhoareemployedaselearningleaders

TheHEsectorhasmorewidespreaduseoferesourcesthanFECsorspecialistcolleges

Allofthosesurveyeduseeresourcesdaily

All partners use social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter) as well as the youtube
websiteforavarietyofpurposes,e.g.formarketingandasalearningandteachingaid

Informationabouteresourcesisbadlydisseminatedthroughoutparticularinstitutions

AsidefromtheBloomsburyLearningEnvironmentthereislittlecollaborationorsharingof
resources between member institutions although there is a great deal of willingness
amongthosesurveyedtoengageincollaboration

There is much good practice in this area, and a substantial amount of research occurring
withininstitutions

There are three main areas of focus for these technologies within institutions IT service
departments,academicchampions,andLibraryservices

Allinstitutionsmakeuseofsocialnetworkinginsomeformtoadvertiseand asateaching
andlearningaid

All institutions have a VLE and use either Blackboard or Moodle, with a majority using
Moodle

Allinstitutionsprovidesomestafftraininginthisarea

Methodology
The main information for the stocktake was intended to come from an online survey of current
partners (of which there are currently 25). The survey was sent to the following departments of
partnerinstitutions(whereapplicable)toensurefullinstitutionalcoverage:ITdepartments,library
andlearningservices,studentservices,distancelearningdepartments,administration,andacademic
staff.Weemailedover150colleagueswithasurveyrequest.Afurtherthreereminderemailswere
sentout,andwefollowedupwithphonecalls.Despiteourbesteffortstogetcolleaguestorespond
to the (short) online survey, we only had 19 responses in total, representing 8 of the 24 partner
institutions under review. To counter this, brief phone interviews were conducted with IT service
departments,orelearningpersonnelateachinstitution.These phoneinterviewsdidnotreplicate
thesurveyinitsentirety,butsoughttogleanthemostimportantinformationforthestocktakeofe
resources.Afulllistofthesequestionscanbefoundat(AppendixA).Throughtheonlinesurvey,and
the phone interviews we obtained over 40 responses. In conjunction with this, much information
was trawled from online sources, institutional web pages, and prospectuses, which helped us to
triangulateourfindings.
Alongsidethesurveyanddocumentaryanalysis,wealsohavebeendevelopingcasestudiesofgood
practice, and innovative use of eresources. These have been drawn from one to one semi
structuredinterviews,aswellasdocumentaryanalysis.

SurveyResults
As discussed in the section on methodology, we have received a very low response rate for the
onlinesurvey,withonly19responsesatthetimeofwriting.These19responsesrepresentonly8
out of the 25 partner institutions. The institutions from which we have received some survey
informationare:

HackneyCommunityCollege
LondonMetropolitanUniversity
MorleyCollege
Birkbeck,UniversityofLondon
CityofWestminsterCollege
SouthwarkCollege
MiddlesexUniversity
UniversityofEastLondon

Despitethepoorresponserate,thereisstillmuchusefulinformationwecangleanfromthesurvey
results. In particular, the openended questions that were included have yielded reliable
information.Alongsidethis,resultsorinformationfromotherquestionshasbeenincluded,withpie
charts outlining the responses, but these should be understood in the context of both the lack of
respondents,andalsoinlightofthefactwereceivedadisproportionateamountofresponsesfrom
oneinstitution.

UseofEresources
Ascanbeseenfromthefollowing,thevastmajorityofrespondentsuseeresourcesonadaytoday
basis.TherespondentwhorepliedinthenegativeisaDirectorofLibraryResources.

Dailyuseoferesources
No
6%

Yes
94%

TypesofEresourcesUsed
The following list of eresources is the collation of responses in answer to the question: What e
resourcesdoyouuse?

VLE(BlackboardandMoodle)
Studentrecordsystem

Email

Powerpoint
Visualiser
Interactivewhiteboard
MP3recorder
iPod
Facebook
Twitter
Delta(studentrecordsdatabase)
Texting

Emeraldejournals
Elsevierejournals
Ebookswesubscribeto
Web2.0
Officeapplications
RFID(RadioFrequencyIdentification)
Laptops
AVequipment
7

Examstutordatabase

CMEducation

InfoTrac

IssuesOnline
KnowUK
BritannicaOnline
Sharepoint(forsharingdocuments)
Selfandcolleaguecreated

interactiveresources
NLNlearningmaterials
WebeditingofLibrarywebsiteusing

Plone

Varioussubjectspecificdatabases
LearningObjects
Accessdatabasemanagingour

digitisedreadings
LinkedIn
Athens
JISConlineresources

BBCNews

Perhapsthemostsurprisingresponsewas:Asaseniormanager,veryfew.
Alongside the above list, the following eresources were cited as being used by colleagues at the
respondentsinstitutions.

SPSS
Blogs
Docuwiki
Screenreaders(JAWS)
Interactiveresponsesystems
(TurningPoint)
Virtualhospital
InVue
Lulu
WebMarkEntry
Wikise.g.VirtualSchools
Computercontrolledlabequipment
Specialistdisabilitysoftware
Skype
City Mutual's Health and Social Care
database
MarketLine
EconoMAXdigitalmagazine
Dartfish
Teacher'sTV
SubjectLearningCoachresources
ExcellenceGateway
Ferl

Xerte
Windows2007
StudentInformationSystems
ContentManagementSystemtotrack
studentqueries
DigitisationofreadingsforVLE
LibraryManagementSystemHorizon
EverythinginELESIG
Athens
GroveMusicOnline
BritishLibrarySoundArchive
StudentRecordsystemSITS
VLEBlackboard
Onlinedatabasesandjournals
ReusableLearningObjects
Socialnetworkingtools
Referencingtools

EBSCO
FilmandSoundOnline
InfoTrac
KnowUK
GaleVirtualReferenceLibrary
Zetoc

Itisclearfromtheseresponsesthatthemostusederesourcesfallintoafewcategories,thelargest
ofwhichincludesonlineresourcessuchasejournals,andsubjectspecificonlinerepositories(such
asFilmandSoundonline)infact30%oftheanswersgivenfallintothiscategory.Thenextlargest
category of eresources would be grouped under social networking including the use of twitter,
blogsandsitessuchasFacebook.Nearly9%oftheresponsesfallintothiscategory.Thenextlargest
categorieswithjustover6%ofresponsesarestudentrecordssystems,specialistdatabases,andAV
software and equipment. It is clear also, that from these responses there is some use of highly
specialised eresources in partner institutions, such as interactive virtual hospitals, computer
controlledlabequipment,andLulu(onlineebookpublishing).
StudentRecords
Thesurveyaskedspecificallywhichstudentrecordmanagementsoftwarewasusedinthe
respondentsinstitution,theresultsareasfollows:

QLS
Delta
Don'tknow
Don'tknow
SITS
SITS
Banner
midata
REMS

BSIS
QWEST
GURU
BONES
Collage
BSIS
UnitE
SITS
UnitE(Capita)

Thisfindingisinteresting.Althoughwehavehadresponsesfromonly8institutions,thereareclearly
more than 8 student record management software systems named here. One explanation is that
manyoftheseareaninstitutionalversionofSITS(e.g.DeltaisaversionofSITS).

SocialNetworking
All institutions have a strong presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, and twitter.
Mostalsohavechannels,oratleastaudiovisualcontentontheYouTubewebsite.Themainthrust
oftheuseofsocialnetworkingsitesisforadvertisingandmarketingpurposes.Allinstitutionalweb
pages,forexample,allowtheusertofollowupdatesonawidevarietyofRSSnewsfeedapplications
andpages,aswellassocialnetworkingsitessuchasMyspaceandFacebook.Forafullstocktakeof
theuseoftheseresourcesatpartnerinstitutions,pleaseseeAppendixC.

UseofSocialNetworkingToolsforLearningandTeaching
Not only are social networking technologies being used by partner institutions for marketing
purposes, there is innovative and pioneering use of these technologies for learning and teaching.
However, this work is conducted by a minority of academics and tutors within the institutions, is
often not supported by centralised IT service departments, and is not well disseminated between
subjectareasorschools.TheseeresourcesaremoreoftenthatnotbeingusedbyhighlyITliterate
staffwhocouldbeseenaseresourcechampionswithintheirinstitutions.
When asked the question: Do any of your staff use social networking resources for learning and
teaching?20%saidtheywerenotsure,and79%saidthattheydid.

Socialnetworkinginlearningand
teaching
21%

79%

Although most institutions use these eresources, the types of social networking tools used in
partner institutions vary. For example, there are many Facebook pages for specific subjects or
tutorialgroups,whichareusedinconjunctionwithVLEsandwikisasinforminglearningsitesandfor
thedisseminationofcourserelatedinformation.Therearealsoanumberofmoreinteractivesocial
networking tools being used for learning and teaching purposes. For example, in Second Life, the
Internetslargest3Dusercreatedvirtualworld,onlytwoLinkingLondonpartnerinstitutionshavea
presence UEL and Middlesex. Again, the reasons for the institutional presences here vary from
marketing,andthedeliveryofIAGtoprospectivestudents,butsomeofthemoreinnovativeuseof
Second Life is for learning and teaching. For example, UEL has provided virtual laboratories for
training health and biology students in laboratory methods before they take classroom labbased
assessments.

FutureuseofEresources

Arethereanyplanstousemoree
resourcesinthefuture?

Don'tknow
29%
Yes
71%

Itisunsurprisingthatthemajorityofrespondentsconfirmedthattherewereplansforfutureuseof
eresources. This was validated by the interviews as many institutions are already expanding,
updating,orincludingneweresourcesintheirinstitutions.
WhenaskedWhatcurrentmanualoperationscouldbeautomated?theresponseswere:

Studentregistration
Staffrostersforservicedesks
Databases
PCBooking
PrintManagement

SupportofEresources
Throughtheinterviewswefoundthatmanyinnovationsaroundtheuseoferesourcescamefrom
particularindividualsinavarietyofacademicschools,whohadaninterestinspecificapplicationsof
10

eresources to learning and teaching. Much of this work is done without the support of the
centralisedITservicedepartments.However,wealsofoundthatoncesome ofthesetechnologies
hadbeenpilotedinthisway,ITdepartmentswillthenaccommodatetheuseoftheseeresources.
WefoundthistobethecasewithpodcastingandvideoconferencinginoneHEI.Itwasonlywhen
academic staff had initiated the use of these technologies, and had used them for learning and
teaching or for research purposes (sometimes for years), that IT departments began to support
them.
Thefollowinglistwasinresponsetothesurveyquestion:WhateresourcesaresupportedbytheIT
department?

Blackboard
Studentrecordsystem
Email
Mostoftheonespreviouslymentioned
Librarysupportsalleresources
Centrallysuppliedsoftwaree.g.Office
AlmostallresourcesaresupportedbytheITdepartment
GeneraltechnicalsupportfromITdepartmentonalleresources&ITproblems
Toomanytolist
MSOffice
SPSS
Inspiration
Otheraccessdisabilitiessoftware
ITSuites,openaccessPCs,standardsoftwareset:MSOffice,AdobeCreativeSuite
Specialistsoftware:Sibelius,Earmaster
Accessibilitysoftware:Inspiration,Supernova,JAWS
AllEResourcesarenowmanagedbytheLearningResourcesService

PositiveandNegativeOutcomesFromtheuseofEresources
Thesurveyaskedtheopenendedquestion:Whathavebeenpositiveoutcomesfromtheuseofe
resources?Theresponseswereasfollows:

Greaterandquickeraccessforstudentstomaterialstosupporttheirlearning
Moreinteractioninfacetofaceandblendedteaching
I can't think of anything specifically as using VLEs and email are pretty much industry
standard.
Consistentdeliverybetweendifferentmembersoftheteamduetosharederesourcese.g.
powerpoints.
Muchmoreeffectivedeliveryoflecturesusingonlinefilmclipsetc
Studentslikepodcasts
Easeofuseandimprovedcommunicationwithstudents
Easeofuseandincreasedwaysofcommunicationwithstudents
Satisfaction because it provides equitable access to offcampus work based and offshore
learners
Extendedaccess,managementdata,simplifiedservices
Theinformationobtainedwasofgoodquality,peerreviewedandreliable
Improvedstudentsuccess.
UptakeofLRCworkshopsessionsbasedoneResources
11

Morestudentparticipation,accessingmaterialswhenoffsicketc
Allows24/7accesstoresources,notlimitedtowhenthephysicallibraryspaceisopen
Canbeeasilycustomisedtomeetdifferingneedsofusers
Accessibility to all (including disabled students), and downloading individually versus print
runs
HigherattendanceandretentionreportedbyLanguagesManager
Enhancingstudentexperience
Accessibility
Accesstoresources
AvailabilityatanytimethroughtheVLE

It is clear that the majority of these answers are around the improvements that these resources
providestudentssuchasincreasedaccessibilitytoresources,andlinkstohigherattendanceand
engagement.Thesecondlargestcategoryhereisthesimplificationofadministrativetasks.

Howevertherewerealsocommentsexpressedthatshowedthenegativesidetoeresources:

Haven'tgotcompletesinglesignonsousersneeddifferentusernames/passwordstoaccess
externallyhostedblogsetc
Perceptionbyacademicsthatifyouputthematerialsonlinethestudentswon'tattendthe
classes
Whenthesystemdoesn'tworkyoucanbelefthighanddry!Nolecturenotesandnomeans
todeliveryourcontent
AccesstoVLE;breakdownofsystemsduringteachingsessions
Reducedfacetofacecontactwithstudents
Fearfromstaffaroundnewtechnologies
Concernaroundlossoffacetofacecontactwithstudents
Somelicensingrestrictions
Plethoraofpasswordswithinsufficientlydevelopedportals
NetworkfailurescanruintheexcitementofusingEresources
Teachertime
Canbeasteeplearningcurve
Raisesexpectationsthatsometimescannotbemet
Lackofskills,GRRRRRRRRRRandteethgnashingwhensomethingsimpleturnsoutnottobe
sosimple
Increasedworkloadforparttimetutors
MoresupportneededfromalreadyoverstretchedITdepartment
Lackofaudittrail
Needtotrainstafftousethem,changeofcultureinteachingmethodology,exclusionofIT
illiteratelearnersandresistancefromITPhobicstaff

Here,thenegativesmainlyrevolvearoundthepossibilityofreducedtimewithstudents,andfailing
systems.

EresourceTraining
All institutions provide staff training on a wide range of eresources from Audio Visual training,
research software, student records systems and the use of social networking for learning and
teaching. However, most of this training is not compulsory, and as a result individuals skillsets
withinaninstitutioncanvary.Thechartsbelowshowthesurveyresponsesforthequestionsaround
eresourcetraining.
12

Haveyoupersonallyreceivedtrainingin
theuseofanyeresources,forexample,
aparticularsoftwarepackage?
No
25%

Yes
75%

Here,75%ofthosesurveyedhavereceivedtrainingontheuseoferesources,andbelow,itisclear
thatwhilethelargestgroupofrespondentsdonotbelievetheyneedfurthertraining,asignificant
minorityof38%feeltheydo.

Doyoufeelyouneedmoretrainingfor
thesetypesofresources?
Don't
know
13%
Yes37%

No50%

AVtrainingforstaff
ThroughtheinterviewswefoundthatallpartnerinstitutionsprovideAVtrainingforstaff,although
itwasnotedinoneinterviewthatveryfewstaffutilisethisfacility.

13

Collaboration

Doesyourinstitutioncollaboratewith,or
shareeresourceswithanother
institution?

Yes
27%
Don'tknow
33%

No
40%

In response to the question, what is the nature of this collaboration? the responses were as
follows:

L7consortium;JISC/RSCcollaboration
Bloomsburyconsortiumof5collegessharingtheVLEBlackboard
Consortium(BLE)
OpensourceRLOs(reusableLearningObjects)

While existing collaboration between Linking London partners is small, and mostly involves those
institutions involved with the Bloomsbury Learning Environment VLE, there is the desire to
collaboratemorefully.Asseeninthechartbelow,60%ofthosesurveyedwouldwelcomethismove,
andnorespondentansweredthattheywouldnotwanttocollaboratemorefully.Whenaskedwhat
areasthiscollaborationshouldtakeplaceintheresponseswere:

Learningmaterials
Subjecttolicensing
Sharedinvoicing
Anywaythatworks
Tostandardisetheteachingacrossthesector,toavoidrepetitionofworkandinreturnto
improvethequalityofteaching

14

Wouldyoubeinterestedincollaborating
andsharingeresourceswithother
institutions?

Don'tknow
40%

Yes
60%

AccessibleWiFi
Thequestion:DoyouhaveaccessibleWiFioncampus?wasaquestionintheonlinesurvey,andin
the phone interviews. Interestingly there was a discrepancy in answers between two FEC colleges
betweenthesetwosurveyingmethods.Thesecollegesrepliedintheonlinesurveythattheydidnot
have WiFi on campus; however subsequent phone interviews revealed that they did. Again, this
reinforcesthefindingthattheknowledgeabouteresourceswithininstitutionsisnotevenlyspread,
with some colleagues being particularly knowledgeable about what services are offered, while
others are not. With the online survey and phone based interviews combined, we can see in the
chartbelowthatasignificantmajorityofpartnerinstitutionsofferWiFitobothstaffandstudents.

DoyouprovideWiFioncampus?
NotSure
8%

Yes
92%

VLE
VirtualLearningEnvironmentsareusedinallpartnercolleges.TherearetwoVLEsinuseMoodle
andBlackboard.Ascanbeseenbelow,MoodleisbyfarthemostpopularVLE.

15

WhatVLEdoyouuse?

Blackboard
33%

Moodle
67%

ThereisasplitherebetweenFECsandHEIshowever,withonlytwooftheeightHEIsusingMoodle,
the remaining six use Blackboard. This can be explained by the use of the shared Bloomsbury
LearningEnvironmentVLE,whichrunsontheBlackboardsystem.Ininterviewsitwassuggestedthat
thepopularityofMoodlewasthatitisopensource,andfree,unlikeBlackboard.

XCRI
The XCRI course advertising profile was developed via a JISC funded project between partner
organisations: the University of Bolton, Manchester Metropolitan University, and KaiNao Ltd. The
main thrust of this project was to develop an XML specification for the course advertising profile
(XCRICAP). The intention was to develop and promote a national standard for online course
materials that enable interoperability between course materials of different institutions, and
betweencoursematerialsandstudentrecordswithinaninstitution.TheXCRICAPspecificationis
compliantwiththeEUstandardsinthisarea,andhasthepotentialtostreamlinethewayinwhich
courseinformationispresentedonline.Thebenefitsofadoptingthisspecificationataninstitution
mean a lower administration burden and compatibility between course advertising and student
data.Forstudents,thebenefitsareaclearercompatibilityincoursematerialsbetweeninstitutions,
resultinginaclearerprovisionofIAGsothattheycanmakebetterinformedchoices.

InitialfindingsforthiscasestudyindicatethattheXCRICAPspecificationisnotusedatanyLinking
London partner institution, aside from Middlesex, which was involved in its piloting and
development. London Metropolitan University has at least trialled the system, however personnel
responsible for this subsequently left the institution and the trial ended without XCRI being
implementedbytheUniversity.
Alongside this, the knowledge in partner institutions about this specification is very low. The
following chart is from the online survey, with 14% answering definitively that they did not know
aboutthisstandard,withthemajoritynotknowingiftheirinstitutionusesthisstandardornot.

16

DoesyourinstitutionuseXCRI(thecourse
advertisingprofile)toadvertiseyourcourses?
No
14%

Don'tknow
86%

While the online survey only represents eight institutions, subsequent phone interviews also
revealedthattheXCRIspecificationwasnotwellknowninLondonpartnerinstitutions.Whilesome
ofthiscouldbeexplainedbythetypesofcolleaguesinterviewedwhomaynotbeinvolvedinthe
courseadvertisingorITarea(somewerefromacademia,somefromLearningServices,andothers
fromITservicedepartments),thislackofknowledgeaboutthespecificationisaconcern.
Itistimelythen,thatLinkingLondonarehostingtheXCRIawarenessraisingeventtoenablepartner
institutionstoadoptthespecification,whichhasthepotentialtostreamlinetheonlineinformation
institutionsprovide.AlthoughthespecificationislittleknowninLondon,manyinstitutionsinWest
YorkshirehaveadoptedtheXCRICAPspecification.Thishaslargelybeenduetotheinfluenceofthe
WYLLN(WestYorkshireLifeLongLearningNetwork),whichworkedwithinstitutionstolookatthe
ways in which XCRI could benefit both institutions and prospective learners. As London partner
institutionshaveexpressedadesireforanincreasedlevelofcollaboration,thiswouldbeonearea
wherethebenefitsofsuchcollaborationwouldbefelt.

Eportfolios
Theresponsetothequestion:Doyourstudentsuseeportfolios?canbeseeninthechartbelow.It
is clear that a majority of institutions use eportfolios, however, from the interviews it was noted
thatwhileaninstitution mightusetheseinonesubjectarea,theyarenotnecessarilyusedacross
theboard.OneintervieweefromanHEIstatedinresponsetothisquestion:Yes,andno.Theyare
usedintheITdepartment,andmaybeinMedicine,buttheyarenotcommoninstitutionwide.

17

Doyourstudentsuseeportfolios?
Inprocess
4%

Notsure
21%

Yes
58%

No
17%

ComputerBasedAssessment
Allinstitutionsusesomeformofcomputerbasedassessmentofstudents.Again,fromtheinterviews
however,thisfollowsasimilarpatterntoothereresourceswherebycomputerbasedassessments
might be well used within one subject area, but are not embedded practice in an institution wide
context.

PlagiarismSoftware
Theresponsestothequestion:Doyouuseplagiarismsoftware?canbeseeninthechartbelow.
Most institutions use the programme Turnitin, which can be embedded in the Moddle VLE. Other
responses from the phone interviews indicated that their staff did not use formalised plagiarism
software,butusedGoogletocheckforplagiarisminstudentswork.

Doyouuseplagiarismsoftware?

Notsure
21%

Yes
54%
No
25%

18

ElearningStrategy
Whilefewinstitutionshaveaformalisedelearningstrategy,manyhaveanelearningsectionintheir
teachingandlearningstrategy,andamajorityofinstitutionshavepersonneldedicatedtoelearning.
However,thewaythisisorganisedwithinaninstitutionvaries.Forexample,someinstitutionshave
an elearning specialist based within schools or subject areas. Some have a centralised elearning
unit, for others these roles sit under Library or Learning resource departments. There was no
discernableHEI/FECsplitinthewayelearningwasorganised.

Research
The following are responses to the question: Does your institution conduct research around e
resourceuse?

WewerepartoftheJISCbenchmarkingandpathfinderprojects
Iconductedresearchbutdon'tknowifanyoneelsehas
Idon'tknow
Don'tknow
Notsure
Yes
Yes
Notsure
Idoubtit
ParticipationonMoodlemonitored
Notreallyassuchwedoundertakeanannualusersatisfactionsurveyviathewebsite
HoweverthisyearaseparatesurveyonuseoftheLibrarywebsitepriortoredesigningitwas
carriedout
YesbutIcan'tname[it]
No,butthisisanareaIwouldliketodevelop

Research in this area is actually more developed than these answers imply. Most institutions
monitorinternallyuseoferesourcessuchasinteractivewhiteboards,orVLEparticipation.Thiskind
of internal monitoring is widespread, perhaps due to the ease of recording eresource use. In
addition to this, many institutions conduct surveys around IT and eresources. Alongside these
internalmonitoringactivities,manypartnerinstitutionspersonnelhavepublishedontheiruseofe
resources,anddisseminatetheirfindingsnationally,andinternationally.

Casestudies
ECollaboration:BloomsburyLearningEnvironment
Background
VirtualLearningEnvironments(VLEs)andtheirearlierprogenitorsarenolongerexclusivelyusedto
support distance learners they are now an integral part of learning and teaching supporting
studentsthroughblendedlearning.TheBloomsburyLearningEnvironment(BLE)isasharedplatform
developed by and deployed across all six of the University of London Bloomsbury institutions.
Established in 2003 by the three founding partner institutions: London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and the School of Oriental and
African Studies (SOAS) the partnership now includes the School of Pharmacy (SPharm) Institute of
Education(IoE)andBirkbeckCollege(BBK).

19

The partner institutions are all recognised leaders in their respective disciplines in the UK and
internationally.Theyserveadiversepopulationoflearnersincluding:campusbasedundergraduates
andpostgraduates,parttimestudents,workbased/workplacementlearnersanddistancelearning
studentsbasedintheUKandoverseas.Theinstitutionscollectivelyhaveover20,000undergraduate
and14,500postgraduatestudents.(HESA2008/9)

The BLE is the first example of a crossinstitutional implementation of the Blackboard Academic
Suite in the United Kingdom. The remit of the BLE has developed from initially sharing a common
Blackboard Academic Suite licence and server to sharing expertise, knowledge and technology
betweenpartnersonbothatechnicalandpedagogicallevel.
Blendedlearning
TheBLEenablesacademicstafftouploadlearningresourcesinavarietyofformsrangingfromthe
traditional lecture notes and PowerPoint presentations to the less traditional, but increasingly
popularandcommonpodcasts(recordedaudio)andvideosoflecturesandpracticalsessions,which
learnerscanaccessremotelyatatimeandplaceconvenienttothem.

Uploadinglecturenotesandpresentationsinadvanceenablesthelearnerstofamiliarisethemselves
withthegeneralcontentandvocabularyofthelectureorpresentation.Thisisparticularlyimportant
forlearnerswithdyslexia;learnerswithphysicalorotherspeciallearningdifficulties(SpLD)canalso
makeadjustmentstomaterialsbyusingascreenreaderorchangingfontsizes.

LearnersarealsoabletosubmitelectroniccopiesoftheirassignmentsthroughtheBLE,savingtime
and effort for them as well as reducing the administrative burden on support staff. An added
advantageofelectronicsubmissionistheabilitytouseTurnitinsoftwarefororiginalitycheckingand
plagiarismprevention.UsingTurnitinprovidesanopportunityforacademicstafftoengagestudents
intheprocessofacademicwritingandaddressacademicintegrity.TheBLEcanalsobeusedbystaff
andlearnerstotracktheirperformanceandprogress.
Studentledlearning
The BLE also enables learners the opportunity to communicate, collaborate and create content
throughavarietyoftoolsincluding:discussionboards,wikisandblogs.
Sharedserviceswithanindividualidentity
Each partner college has their own individual BLE interface whilst benefiting from a single licence
and shared services. This collaborative approach brings a number of cost efficiencies not only in
termsofthelicencefeebutalsointermsofhosting.AstheservicehasgrownanddevelopedtheBLE
is hosted on remote external servers providing added resilience and reducing dependency on
individualpartners.
Communitiesofpractice
The BLE has fostered the development of communities of practice, not just in terms of technical
supportanddevelopmentthroughtheBLETechnologyGroup,butalsointermsofpedagogythrough
theBLEPedagogyGroup.Thesegroupscometogetherinjointlyorganisedeventstoshowcasetheir
work.TheappointmentofaBLEServiceManagerisevidenceofthecommitmentofthepartnersto
theBLE.
Successandrecognition
ThesuccessoftheBLEisduetorecognisingandaddressingtheinterestandneedsofthefourkey
stakeholders: academic staff, developers and technical staff, researcher staff and learners. A
committedteamdelivertechnologicalsolutionsthatare:agile,accessibleandinclusive.

20

The BLE has been recognised by both industry (Blackboard Catalyst Award for Community
Collaborationin2009)andmorerecentlybytheacademiccommunity(Commendedatthe2010ALT
LearningTechnologistoftheYearAwards).

MobilePhonetexting:StudentServicesandLearningandTeaching,UEL
The use of utilising text messaging within Higher Education contexts is not new. There has been
some research conducted on the various ways in which this kind of Eresource has been used in
particular organisations, such as an aid for retention (Riorddan and Traxler, 2005), as a tool to
facilitatetransitiontoHE,andasatoolforlearningandteaching(Garneretal,2002;Griffithsand
James,2005;Markettetal,2006).WhilethisresearchdoesoccurwithinthecontextoftheUK,in
termsofLinkingLondonpartners,thebestpracticecaseoftheuseofthesetechnologiesasatool
forretention,administrationandlearningandteachingisthewayinwhichthesetechnologiesare
usedattheUniversityofEastLondon(UEL).
UELhavebeenusingthesetechnologiesonaninstitutionwidescalesince2003,althoughtherewere
earlier instances of individual academic and administrative staff communication with students via
textmessagingbeforethis.UELusesthewebbasedtxtools,developedbyEdutxt.Thereisonepoint
ofcontactfortheservice,whichcurrentlysitsunderStudentServicesasthiswasthemainareaof
use. However, as the system has become more popular, a second point of contact has been
establishes within the IT service department. Training staff members on how to use the service is
vital,asimproperuse,oroveruseofthesystemcouldbepotentiallytoointrusivetostudents,and
lessen the effectiveness of the system. As a result a communications protocol for the use of text
messageshasbeenestablished.
UELusesthistechnologyfor:

Studentinformation
Asatoolforstudentretention
AsatoolforteachingandlearninginthedepartmentforHealthandBioscience

For student information, the service is used for whole subject areas, as well as for smaller groups
suchastutorialgroups.Academicscantexttheirstudentsimportantinformationsuchaschangesto
thetimetableorrooms,andexamandassessmentdetails.
Intermsofstudentretention,therehasbeengreatsuccessinusingthisservice.UELfirstusedthis
onthelaterscampaignaimedatstudentswhoenrolledlate.Thiswaspromotedacrossthecampus
withpostersandflyers,andonthewebpageandviaemail.Studentswhoenrolledlatetextedthe
wordlatetothefreetextnumberandreceivedaweblinktoaFAQwebsitewithinstructionson
lateenrolments.
Asatoolforlearningandteaching,textmessaginghasbeenadopted,inparticularintheschoolof
HealthandBioscience.Therationalebehindthiswasthatitwasfeltthatsomefirstyearstudents,in
large lectures, were unwilling to ask questions in front of their peers. During the lecture, a text
number is given out and the students are able to text in questions that the lecturer receives on a
laptop (that is not displayed to the groups) and then the lecturer can incorporate the answers to
these questions in the rest of the lecture. The students were surveyed about the use of this
technology, and approximately 70% said they liked the service, although the level of interaction
21

within the lectures has not increased. Other findings include that students whose first language is
notEnglish,foundthesetechnologiesparticularlyuseful.

BlendeddeliveryEarthSciences,Birkbeck
In2003EarthSciencecoursesatBirkbeckbegantoberunasblendedlearningcourses,withtwohalf
courseunitsbeingdeliveredinthisway.Duetothesuccessofthis,bythe2005/6academicyear,full
degreecoursesinEarthScienceswerebeingdeliveredinthisway.Thedecisionbehindmovingtoa
blendeddeliverysystemwasduetothepoorlevelsofrecruitmentofstudentsoncertaincourses.
Inthistypeofdeliverytherearetwotypesofstudentsfacetofacestudentsanddistancestudents,
although here are no differences between them in terms of fee structure or administration
internally.Thisenablesstudentstoessentiallyswitchbetweenthetwocategoriesforexampleifa
face to face student cannot make the evenings lecture they become a distance learner for that
time and access the online materials like a distance learner would. Similarly, those enrolled as
distancelearnerscansitinonlectures,andithasbeennotedthanevenoverseasdistancelearners
will occasionally come to London for a week and attend lectures on campus, which helps them
identify as Birkbeck students. Although initially the university was hesitant to enable this type of
switchingbetweendistanceandfacetoface,becauseofadministrativeimperatives,thesuccessof
this type of delivery means that it is now supported. Indeed, allowing students this flexibility has
beenseenasoneofthesuccessesofthisstyleofdelivery,andhasresultedinsignificantlyreduced
dropoutratesintheblendeddeliverycourses.
Thestudentprofileofthesecourseswasasurprisetothoseinvolvedinrunningthem;asitwassoon
discovered that around 50% of those who enrolled as distance learners were actually living in the
greater London area. This style of provision tapped in to a new student cohort those who lived
locally,butwhocouldnotcommitthetimespent(andtraveltime)tobeoncampusthreeeveningsa
week, for three hours a session. This flexibility is clearly desirable to students and student
enrolmentsinthesecourseshavetrebledinthelastthreeyears.
The kindsof online materialsprovided largelymimicthefacetofacedelivery, andactually donot
rely on some of the more innovative Eresources that are being pioneered at partner institutions.
Thelecturesthataredeliveredarefilmedandthenuploadedforthestudentstoview.Lecturenotes
tothelecturearealsoprovidedasa.pdffile,withthefulltextofthelectureincludingdiagramsetc.
Aswellasthehourlonglectures,therearetwohourlongpracticalsessionsforbothfacetofaceand
distance students. For the distance students, the practical exercise is provided as a complete .pdf
document with everything that they need (e.g. graph paper). The students print the practical and
completetheworkintheirownhandwritingthensubmittothecoursetutor.Abouthalfstudents
rescanthisdocumentandsubmitelectronically(gettinga.pdfdocumentreceipt)andtheotherhalf
mailintheirwork.Whileseeminglylowtechthefactthatstudentswritetheirworkoutmanually
hastwoadvantages:firstlyitisfaster,andsecondly,tutorscancomparehandwritingtoensurethat
thestudentisdoingtheirownwork.
Thecoursesdonotusemanyothereresources,suchassocialnetworking,althoughthereisanotice
board on the VLE. One lecturer uses audio feedback that is emailed to students, but the use of
thesekindsoftechnologiesisuptotheindividuallecturersandtutors.

22

Overall,deliveringthecoursesinthiswayhasbeenvastlypositive.Howeveritmustbenotedthat
thisreliedontheITskillsofacademicstaffthemselves,andthetechnologiesusedinthismodelwere
notsupportedbytheITservicedepartment.Duetothesuccessofthis,staffwhoareinvolvedinthis
departmentoffertrainingtostaffinothersubjectareaswhomightbeinterestedinmovingtothis
styleofdelivery.
ThemovetoblendeddeliveryofdegreecoursesinEarthScienceswasmonitoredandtheresearch
waspublished. 2 Theresearchcomparedassessmentdata,studentnumbers,studentretentionand
finalresultsoffacetofaceanddistancelearners,againstsimilardatafromyearsbeforethedistance
deliverywas offered.Findingsshowthatdistancelearnersscoreaswell,ifnotbetter thanfaceto
face learners, student numbers have increased, student retention and attendance have been
maintained,andexaminationresultshavebeenmaintained,andinsomecasesimproved.

Conclusion

The use of eresources is certainly commonplace in all areas of partner institutions from
communicationsandadministration,marketing,andmoreinnovativeusesofthesetechnologiesfor
learning and teaching. While innovations in this area may be led by individual champions who
introduceanewresource,oranewutilisationofanexistingresource,itisclearthattheuseofe
resources in partner institutions has become increasingly important over the past years. This
importance, in particular to learning and teaching outcomes, is reflected in the way in which
institutions have developed elearning strategies, embedded elearning imperatives into other
strategies,andhavedevelopedcentralised(ordispersed)elearningunitswhichoverseetheuseof
theseresources.
Although eresource use is a high priority for institutions, there are two main problems that are
holdingbackthewiderutilisationofthesetechnologies.Firstly,withininstitutionsunevenskillsets
of personnel, and a lack of internal dissemination of eresource use findings, means that the
adoptionoftheseresources,whichmighthavealreadybeentrialledinonesubjectarea,isslowto
spreadtootherareas.Asinstitutionshavemovedtowardselearningstrategiesandunits,thismay
wellbeovercomeintheshortterm,andtheseunitswillbeabletooverseetherolloutofnewe
learninginnovationsandbeabletohelpwiththedisseminationoffindings,andtrainingstaffinthe
use of these technologies. Secondly, aside from the BLE, there is very little collaboration between
institutions. This means that there is potential here to optimise eresource use, for example by
encouraging partnerinstitutionstosharethefinancialburdenof thesetechnologies,orbysharing
good practice in this area. The research found that there is a high level of willingness amongst
partnerinstitutionstocollaboratemoreinthisway.
Perhaps the most encouraging finding is that there is a great deal of innovative use of these
resources already occurring in both HE and FE environments. While the dissemination of this, and

Roberts,G.P.,anddeFreitas,S.,(2003)DoesDoesdistanceelearningwork?Acomparisonbetweendistanceandface
tofacelearnersusingelearningmaterialsALTJResearchinLearningTechnology,Vol.11,Issue3,pp:6987.

23

the sharing of good practice might not be as advanced as it could be, it is clear that for many
individual academic and teaching staff, that innovations such as eportfolios, computer based
assessment, web 2.0 and social networking technologies are all used as an aid to learning and
teachingonadaytodaybasis.Tomaximisethepotentialoferesourcesinpartnerinstitutionsitis
clearthatthewayforwardwouldbetoassistthosecolleagueswhoarealreadychampionsinthis
area to disseminate their good practice, and to help them to upskill other colleagues to embed
theseresourcesinamoreevenwaywithinindividualinstitutions.

24

AppendixA:Phoneinterviewquestions

Doyouhaveanoncampuswirelessnetwork?
DoyouhaveaVLE?
WhatVLEdoyouuse?
DoyourstudentsgetanATHENSloginorsimilarwiththeirlibraryaccess?
Doyouhaveaformalisedelearningstrategy?
Doyouhaveanelearninggroup?Whereisthisplacedwithintheinstitution?
Doyouusecomputerbasedassessments?
Doyouuseplagiarismsoftware?
Doyouusesocialnetworkingtoolsinlearningandteaching?Doyouprovidetrainingforstaffon
this?
Doyourstudentsuseeportfolios?
DoyourstaffgetITtraining,andmorespecifically,AVtraining?

25

AppendixB:SurveyQuestionnaire

Exit
this
surve
y

EResourcesusedbyLinkingLondonmembers
Thank you for participating in this survey about the eresources used by your institution. For the
survey, we have chosen to look at the widest meaning of eresources that is any computer or
electronicbasedtechnologythatisusedbyyourinstitutiontohelpwithlearning,teaching,student
support or administration. For example this would include student management software, VLEs,
specialist software for disabilities, research software such as SPSS, and the use of web 2.0
technologiesandonlinesocialnetworkingsites.

1.Whatisyourjobtitle?

2.Whatinstitutiondoyouworkfor?

3.Doyouuseeresourcesinyourdaytodayactivity?
Yes
No
Notsure
4. What eresources do you use regularly in your day to day activity? Please list these
below.

26


5.Whatothereresourcesthatyouknowofareusedinyourinstitution?

6.Arethereanyplanstousemoreeresourcesinthefuture?
Yes
No
Don'tknow

Ifyes,whateresourcesarebeingplannedfor?

7.Whathavebeensomepositiveoutcomesfromusingeresources?

27

8.Whathavebeensomenegativeoutcomesfromusingeresources?

9. Have you personally received training in the use of any eresources, for example, a
particularsoftwarepackage?
Yes
No
Don'tKnow

Ifyes,whatwereyoutrainedon?

10.Doyoufeelyouneedmoretrainingforthesetypesofresources?
Doyoufeelyouneedmoretrainingforthesetypesofresources?Yes
No
Don'tknow

11. Has your institution conducted any research on how eresources are used, either by
stafforstudents?Pleaseexplainbelow.

28


12.WhateresourcesaresupportedbytheITdepartment?Pleaselist.

13.HowmanystaffPCsarethereatyourinstitution?(approximately)

14.HowmanystudentPCsarethereatyourinstitution?(approximately)

15.Doyourstaffgetinstitutionalsmartphones?
Yes
No
Don'tknow

16. Does your institution use mobile phone technologies for teaching, learning, or for
studentservices?
29

Yes
No
Don'tknow

Ifyes,whatisthisusedfor?

17.DoyouhaveaccessibleWiFioncampus?
Yes
No
Don'tknow

18.Doesyourinstitutionholdanydigitalarchives?
Yes
No
Don'tknow
19. What software does your institution use for the administration and management of
studentrecords?

20.Doesyourinstitutioncollaboratewith,orshareeresourceswithanotherinstitution?
Yes
30

No
Don'tknow

Ifyes,whatisthenatureofthis?

21. Would you be interested in collaborating and sharing eresources with other
institutions?
Yes
No
Don'tknow

31

22.Pleaseindicateyourlevelofengagementwiththefollowing:

Usedaily

Useweekly

Donotuse

Are
considering
usinginthefuture

Onlinecoursematerials

Email

Onlinechat

Computerbasedassessment

Onlinesubmissionofcoursework

Antiplagiarismsoftware

Onlinejournals

Onlinegroupwork

Podcasting

Richmediapresentations

Videoconferencing

SMStexting

32

Userarely

Usedaily

Useweekly

Are
considering
usinginthefuture

Wikis

VLEs

Games

Twitter

Studentrecordsystems

Research software (SPSS, bibliographic

softwareetc)

Specialistdisabilitysoftware

Grantfindingsoftware

33

Donotuse

Blogs

Userarely

23. Are there any activities that you currently perform manually, that you think
technologicalsolutionscouldhelpwith?Ifso,pleaseoutlinethesebelow.

24. Does your institution use XCRI (the course advertising profile) to advertise your
courses?
Yes
No
Don'tknow

25.Whichofthefollowingdoyouuseregularlyoutsideofwork?

Yes

No

Don'tknow

Facebook

Youtube

Skype

Myspace

Igoogle

Instantmessaging

Flickr

Linkedin

Rssreader

Twitter

Yes

No

LastFM

Spotify

Grooveshark

Itunes

Prev

Next

35

Don'tknow

AppendixC:SocialNetworkingUse

Institution

Facebook Youtube Twitter

Birkbeck,UniversityofLondon

Y
Y
Y

Y
Y
Y

Y
Y
Y

Y
Y
Y

Y
N
Y

Y
Y
Y

Y
Y
UniversityofEastLondon
Y
UniversityofWestminster
Y
BarkingandDagenhamCollege
Y
BarnetCollege
Y
CityandIslingtonCollege
Y
CityofWestminsterCollege
Y
KensingtonandChelseaCollege
Y
LewishamCollege
N
NewhamSixthFormCollege
Y
SouthwarkCollege
CollegeofHaringey,EnfieldandNorthEastLondon N
Y
HackneyCommunityCollege
Y
TowerHamletsCollege
Y
WestminsterKingswayCollege
Y
CityLit
Y
MorleyCollege
Y
MaryWardCentre
Y
WorkingMen'sCollege

N
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
N
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
N

Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N

CityUniversity
LondonMetropolitanUniversity
LondonSouthBankUniversity'sSchoolofHealth
MiddlesexUniversity
QueenMaryUniversityofLondon
TheSchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudies,
UniversityofLondon

36

AppendixD:Bibliography

Booth,P.,&HendersonBegg,S.(2006)AcomparisonbetweenFlashandSecondLifeprogrammesas
aidsinthelearningofbasiclaboratoryprocedures.
GARNER,I.,FRANCIS,J.&WALES,K.(2002)AnEvaluationoftheImplementationofaShort
MessageSystem(SMS)toSupportUndergraduateStudentLearning,inS.Anastopolou,M.Sharples
&G.Vavoula(eds)ProceedingsofmLearn2002EuropeanWorkshoponMobileandContextual
Learning,Birmingham,UK.pp.1518.

GRIFFITHS,L.&JAMES,M.(2005)CampuswideImplementationofSMSTextServiceswithina
BlackboardVLE,inProceedingsofALTC2005ExploringtheFrontiersofelearningBorders,
OutpostsandMigration,Manchester,UK.

MARKETT,C.,ARNEDILLOSNCHEZ,I.,WEBER,S.&TANGNEY,B.(2006)UsingShort
MessageServicetoEncourageInteractivityintheClassroom,Computers&Education
46(3):28093.
Riordan,B.&Traxler,J.(2005)`TheUseofTargetedBulkSMSTextingtoEnhanceStudentSupport,
InclusionandRetention',inProceedingsoftheIEEE
Roberts,G.P.,anddeFreitas,S.,(2003)DoesDoesdistanceelearningwork?Acomparison
betweendistanceandfacetofacelearnersusingelearningmaterialsALTJResearchinLearning
Technology,Vol.11,Issue3,pp:6987.
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http://www.bbk.ac.uk/

http://www.city.ac.uk/

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/

http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/

http://www.mdx.ac.uk/

http://www.qmul.ac.uk/

http://www.soas.ac.uk/

http://www.uel.ac.uk/

http://www.westminster.ac.uk/

http://www.barkingcollege.ac.uk/

http://www.barnet.ac.uk/

http://www.candi.ac.uk/

http://www.cwc.ac.uk/

37


http://www.kcc.ac.uk/

http://www.lewisham.ac.uk/

http://www.newvic.ac.uk/

http://www.conel.ac.uk/

http://www.hackney.ac.uk/

http://www.marywardcentre.ac.uk/

http://www.southwark.ac.uk/

http://www.tower.ac.uk/

http://www.westking.ac.uk/

http://www.wmcollege.ac.uk/

www.secondlife.com

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/BirkbeckUniversityofLondon/112585022089917?ref=ts

http://www.youtube.com/user/BirkbeckVideo

http://twitter.com/BirkbeckAlumni

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/CityUniversityLondon/109812922377917?ref=ts

http://www.youtube.com/user/mycityunilondon

http://twitter.com/cityunilondon

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/LondonMetropolitanUniversity/113730348640726?ref=ts

http://www.youtube.com/user/TVServicesLondonMet

http://twitter.com/londonmetuni

http://www.myspace.com/londonmet

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LondonSouthBankUniversity/105631749471287?ref=ts

http://www.youtube.com/user/Londonsouthbankuni

http://twitter.com/lsbu

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LondonSouthBank
University/105631749471287?ref=ts#!/pages/MiddlesexUniversity/113412365338889?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/MiddlesexUni1

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LondonSouthBankUniversity/105631749471287?ref=ts#!/pages/Queen
MaryUniversityofLondon/107998909223423?ref=ts

38


http://www.youtube.com/user/QMULSchoolofLaw

http://twitter.com/qmul

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LondonSouthBankUniversity/105631749471287?ref=ts#!/pages/Institute
ofEducation/103153829725286?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/londonu

http://twitter.com/SOASFeed

http://www.facebook.com/OULibrary?ref=search#!/pages/UniversityofEast
London/105846959445759?ref=ts

http://www.youtube.com/user/videouel#p/u

http://twitter.com/UEL_News

http://www.facebook.com/OULibrary?ref=search#!/pages/Universityof
Westminster/103102583063724?ref=ts

http://www.youtube.com/user/UniOfWestminster

http://twitter.com/westminsteruni

http://www.facebook.com/OULibrary?ref=search#!/pages/BarkingandDagenham
College/127135203994389?ref=ts

http://www.youtube.com/user/earthkeptwarm

http://twitter.com/barkingcollege

http://www.facebook.com/OULibrary?ref=search#!/pages/BarnetCollege/107399475956762?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/barnetcollege

http://www.facebook.com/pages/CityandIslingtonCollege/103093503064439?ref=search

http://www.youtube.com/user/CandiCollege

http://www.facebook.com/pages/CityandIslingtonCollege/103093503064439?ref=search#!/pages/Cityof
WestminsterCollege/103991192971243?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/CityWestCollege

http://www.facebook.com/pages/KensingtonandChelseaCollege/108384939185860?ref=search

http://www.youtube.com/user/kccollege

http://twitter.com/KC_College

http://www.facebook.com/lewishamcollege?ref=search

http://www.youtube.com/user/collegelewisham

http://twitter.com/lewishamcollege

39


http://twitter.com/talknewvic

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SouthwarkCollege/138913752795659?ref=search#!/pages/Southwark
College/105575912810751?ref=ts

http://www.southwarkcollegetv.co.uk/channels/

http://twitter.com/collegeNELondon

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LondonUnitedKingdom/HackneyCommunity
College/111005951218?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/HackneyCC

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LondonUnitedKingdom/TowerHamletsCollege/53592896997

http://www.youtube.com/user/airTHC747

http://twitter.com/airthc

http://www.facebook.com/WestminsterKingsway

http://www.youtube.com/user/WKCOLLEGE123

http://twitter.com/westking

http://www.facebook.com/CityLit

http://www.youtube.com/user/CityLit1

http://twitter.com/citylit

http://www.facebook.com/pages/MorleyCollege/109816629044299?ref=search

http://twitter.com/morleycollege

http://www.facebook.com/pages/MaryWardCentre/104085212961918

http://www.youtube.com/user/marywardcentre

http://www.facebook.com/pages/WorkingMensCollege/103084939731985

40