Slide1: Funded by | Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education sarah currier | project librarian dept. of social work, university of strathclyde sarah.currier@strath.ac.uk


Stòr Cùram : Stòr Cùram Formerly known as the Knowledge Transfer project. Funded by the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education till July 2005: £800,000 To build a national digital repository of learning objects for social work education.


Stòr Cùram objectives: Stòr Cùram objectives Build a web-based learning object repository. Populate it with learning objects – new and existing. Help, support, encourage, advise, guide, cajole social work educators to embed the materials in the curriculum.


Stòr Cùram staff: Stòr Cùram staff Project Manager Librarian Learning Technologist Administrator eLearning Adviser (Robert Gordon U) eLearning Adviser (U of Edinburgh) U of Strathclyde


Stòr Cùram advisory group: Stòr Cùram advisory group Glasgow Caledonian University Robert Gordon University Open University (Scotland) University of Dundee University of Edinburgh University of Glasgow University of Paisley University of Stirling University of Strathclyde Scottish Organisation for Practice Teaching Social Work Services Inspectorate NHS: Common Services Agency Scottish Social Services Council


So what is the Stòr?: So what is the Stòr? A library or repository of learning objects for social work education (using IntraLibrary). Searchable by key words, educational attributes, etc. (using the IEEE LOM). Browseable by specially developed Stòr Cùram social work taxonomy (more later). Accessible by all social work educators in Scotland (and talks in progress further afield). A way of enabling Scotland wide collaboration in the creation and sharing of high quality, flexible, learning resources.


Learning objects?: Learning objects? We say: a learning object is a digital resource designed to support the achievement of a single learning objective. The project has developed templates for two types of new learning objects: Conceptual – explanation of a key idea or ideas. Case based – presentation of a real world problem.


Existing learning objects?: Existing learning objects? There are many existing learning resources in a range of formats that would also be valuable additions to the store – we will repurpose some. We are prioritising existing multi-media material but will also trawl other materials digital and non-digital. Eventually we want social work educators to be able to deposit their own materials.


Collaborative development: Collaborative development eLnet – project advisory group Agreeing the taxonomy Prioritising topics for development Creating and reviewing learning objects Evaluating the experience


Learning object production: Learning object production Specification written by content expert. Pre production peer review. Passed to Learning Services for production. Post production peer review. Installed in repository with metadata. Available for download.


eLearning advisers: eLearning advisers eLearning awareness Advice and guidance eLearning workshops eLearning clinics eLearning conference


Stòr Cùram Taxonomy - what are the issues for social work?: Stòr Cùram Taxonomy - what are the issues for social work? Social work is a field where: Language and concepts are hotly contested, highly politicised, and subject to continual change. Within the field itself, user centredness is a key value. The vocabulary Appropriateness of terms, e.g. disabled vs. handicapped etc. The conceptual structure How do the concepts fit together, i.e. what are the “natural” relationships? For instance, is social work a subset of social care (or vice versa), are they on a par, or are they the same? And … what message will the browse tree on the screen convey about social work values?


Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans…: Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans… Review social work / social care subject vocabularies (we also need a thesaurus for key word indexing). Stòr Cùram taxonomy – user centred design methodology.


Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans…: Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans… Social work / social care subject vocabularies. Classification based on SiSWE Framework learndirect Classification System PR,PS,PT JACS classification scheme for social work DDC 360s: Social problems & services CareData Thesaurus, which is being turned into a taxonomy for SCIE eLSC And is based on the NH Thesaurus HMIC Thesaurus (soon to be integrated into NH Thesaurus) CareKnowledge Keywords Others? Let me know …


Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans…: Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans… Social work / social care subject vocabularies. Classification based on SiSWE Framework learndirect Classification System PR,PS,PT JACS classification scheme for social work DDC 360s: Social problems & services CareData Thesaurus, which is being turned into a taxonomy for SCIE eLSC And is based on the NH Thesaurus HMIC Thesaurus (soon to be integrated into NH Thesaurus) CareKnowledge Keywords Others? Let me know …


Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans…: Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans… Stòr Cùram Taxonomy – user centred design methodology Initial focus groups with social work educators Card sort / cluster analysis methodology Previously used by Joe Tennis of U-Washington for Audience field in DC-Ed.


Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans…: Stòr Cùram Taxonomy plans… Card sort / cluster analysis methodology Gather terms from existing sources (ca. 100). Subjects are given a pile of cards with terms on them. They sort the cards into ‘clusters’ that make sense to them. They name the clusters. ‘Think-aloud’ while sorting to gather more qualitative data. Card sort data entered into software which shows clusters for whole group of participants. Analysis of cluster names and ‘think-aloud’ data. Draft Taxonomy drawn up from all data and evaluated again by participants / wider group of social work educationalists. V1.0 Taxonomy will be used to classify existing LOs and browse repository – ongoing iterative developments.


Finding out more?: Finding out more? neil.ballantyne@strath.ac.uk sarah.currier@strath.ac.uk www.sieswe.org Or visit the project blog: http://storcuram.blogs.com/weblog/