The Library Observation Study – An Update

We reported that we were planning to observe and photograph students in the existing Library before one of its’ key components, the Integrated Support Services (ISS) Help Desk, was removed from the premises forever to it’s temporary home in the Erasmus block. The study took place between 27 April – 3 May, 2009.

The library survey is now complete and had 275 responses. Unfortunately, the OMR scanner that we are using went down, so we are not able to provide a full report just yet. However, the project researcher was able to provide a brief report was.  The survey showed that about 50% of the students currently bring their own laptops (which was higher than we expected) and that 77% of the students would borrow an iBorrow netbook, only 2 of them said that they wouldn’t use a netbook as they felt that they would be blamed if there was any damage done to the netbook.

This all looks very encouraging and we hope to have a full report in the very near future.

weCAMP Assembly

On 29th May, 2009, a delegation from Canterbury Christ Church University visited the University of Sheffield to take part in a JISC sponsored assembly with the weCAMP Project team.

The assembly explored the potential for collaboration between the two projects. weCAMP providing the visual platform upon which the iBorrow location tracking data could be displayed to facilitate the research and dissemination of  project findings. The weCAMP team demonstrated progress with the uCampus platform. The iBorrow team were able to explore how data could usefully be displayed in the models. Coloured zones and ‘clouds’ or individual laptops were discussed as was the usability of 3D Models in this context. Although no firm decisions could be made without experimentation the consensus was that 2D+ projections with transparent floors would be a possible starting point. If the user could pick from a range of fixed views and associate these with subsets of the data available from a menu this was most likely to be user friendly. It was highly unlikely that the level of expertise to create new views, fly-throughs or edit data would be available outside of specifically trained personnel within an institution. CCCU/iBorrow offers an opportunity for a full scale demonstration of the uCampus system informing research and delivering a rich source of information which can inform institutional decision making.

The weCAMP demonstration also highlighted the potential for adding “user-generated” data to the model. Students or staff could add text, pictures and podcasts thus potentially creating an “experience database” which could be explored by others across the web. The potential of this was felt to be exciting in terms of the iBorrow pedagogic research strand which would add to what the sector knows about large scale learning spaces and dissemination to the sector.

The teams agreed that there was enormous potential for the respective projects to benefit from a close association.

Agreed actions:

• weCAMP  to generate a guide for CCCU to develop a digital model that can be uploaded into uCampus.
• Evaluation this will assist weCAMP  in its dissemination.
• iBorrow will employ a designer to generate the digital model asap
• A further assembly was agreed for November to be held in Canterbury with some sector stakeholders invited too, e.g. SCONUL, AUDE.
• Explore joint bid to JISC for benefits realisation funding

Package Sequencing with App-V

March 2009

The following applications have been sequenced to run under App-V, these include:

• Office 2007 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Publisher, Onenote, PictureManager)
• SPSS 16
• Minitab 15
• Adobe Photoshop CS
• Crocodile Clips (this is just for a test and is not part of the iBorrow suite of software)
• Adobe Reader plugin
• Adobe Flashplayer plugin
• Adobe Shockwave plugin
• Java plugin

This will be the bulk of the software that will be provided fo the iBorrow netbooks. The plugins, themselves, will be exposed as part of one local Internet Eexplorer 7 session.

Attempts have also been made to sequence Adobe Design CS3. Unfortunately, there are issues with the Photoshop CS3 component that have yet to be resolved.

For the time being, the team suggests that :

• installed Design CS3 locally on the terminal server and make it available through the RemoteApps component.
• performed comparison with the App-V installation of Photoshop CS on terminal server.
• when accessed on the terminal server, i.e. through remote login, bothversions performed equally well in the freehand doodle test.
• however, when the team ran the RemoteApps version on a Microsoft Vista client, the performance dropped significantly compared to the (locally executed) App-V version (i.e. RemoteApps doodles were a lot more angular than App-V doodles.)
• this simple test highlights the difference between RemoteApps and App-V. RemoteApps executes on the server, App-V executes locally. For graphical applications, where there is a lot of communication between the host and the client this leads to performance degradation.

May 2009

Additional applications have been sequenced to run under App-V, these include:

• Serif PhotoPlus 10
• Serif MoviePlus 4.0
• Dolphin EasyConverter
• Symbol Draw
• SCalc
• SimPress
• SWriter
• OpenOffice (Writer, Math, Impress, Draw, Calc, Base)
• Crocodile Physics 605
• Audacity
• ATLAS.ti 5.2
• Paint.NET

The Highs and Lows with the ASUS 1000H

April 2009

The User Technology Team started to configure the ASUS 1000H with Microsoft Vista as part of it’s 3 icon strategy to bring it in line with the University’s overall Vista strategy. The start up times were proven to be slow, and the connection to Eduroam was equally slow. Once they managed to get logged in, the performance was acceptable after defragmenting, indexing, and removing any surplus start up programs.

The team believed that Sophos (the antivirus application) is the main culprit for the ASUS’ slowness and came to the consensus of opinion that Microsoft’s Vista is too slow to run on a N270. The Team went about using a  cut down version of Windows XP called Windows XP Fundamentals. This, basically, just provides an RDP session to a terminal server; there’s no Internet Explorer, Wordpad or IP config. Although Sophos was installed, it did raise the questions whether it was entirely necessary. This configuration demonstrated that getting a connection to a Terminal Server was taking upto 4 minutes, for the following reasons:

• Delay with Sophos initiation
• Delay in obtaining IP address via Eduroam?? Could this be the DHCP?
• Delay in authenticating Eduroam?? Was this down to the connection?

With regards to TS2008 with App-V; this seems to be very slow in installing applications. So initial tests for this set up have not been encouraging. The model is based upon the one provided by the University of Kent, but the launching of applications via App-V have been slow and not within an acceptable standard. It is thought that the separation of the App-v SQL server from the Management Server may not be an efficient model as trials in NDR were far better, but the model was for SQL and Management on the same server. So, the team were looking to trial this model in NHR hence the new APPVMGMT request.

May 2009

It appears that the ASUS 1000H has been dropped by the manufacturers! We will need to order 200 by the middle of May. We’ve spoken to suppliers XMA and GeTech regarding this dilemma, and why the product has been dropped. They reported back suggesting that consumers preferred the 160 GB HDD to the 40GB SSD. It’s interesting to note that the Dell Mini 10 has just been made available and this only has 8GB SSD – does this reflect the fact that local storage should not be an issue?

In the end, we have ordered 200 white ASUS 1000H. However, these come with standard hard drives, so a further 200 8GB solid state drives (SSD) have also been ordered. We are currently have a configuration issue with the netbook in that, if it is left idle for too long then it will shut down.

Despite our best efforts to get the netbooks to work under Vista (as part of our Vista strategy). We have to concede that we will be using Microsoft XP Fundamentals, as Microsoft XP is clearly the operating system of choice for the Atom processor.

During the monthly Working Group meeting, it was felt that an information/user leaflet would need to be developed which will include specific things that students should be aware of,  i.e. the netbook will not work outside Augustine House; if left idle, the netbook will shut down; and issues regarding charging the netbook up and battery life etc.

The User Technology Team continued to develop the Microsoft Terminal Server 2008 along with Microsoft App-V. They have developed a procedure that, once connected to the network, the users will log in and obtain software through application streaming strategies. What this effectively means is that no software will be installed on the terminal server, thus enabling greater flexibility in software delivery (differing versions of the same product) and software development.

The configuration of the App-V software is heavily reliant upon open Firewall ports , which was the problem in April 2009. The system are now working effectively. However, the Eduroam connection still remains a problem as it requires PKI certification. On a positive note, the team confirmed that further applications could be added to the device as the process had gone well and they are confident that the baseline service has been achieved.

The Fourth Symposium on Social Learning Space

On 6th April, 2009 in “The Reinvention Centre” at Oxford Brookes University, Phil Poole and Wayne Barry attended the Fourth Symposium of Social Learning Space: Learning Outside the Square. The Reinvention Centre is “a collaborative project based in the Sociology Department at Warwick and the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes, is part of a national HEFCE initiative to create Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs)”. One of the key aims of the centre is to “integrate research-based learning into the undergraduate curriculum”. This means that students are given the opportunity to not only develop research skills, but to become involved in research and to be part of the research cultures of their disciplines.

Nicki Lee, from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, is the Academic Director of the Swinburne Professional Learning unit. She gave an overview of some of the “curriculum-led, non-teaching learning spaces” that were being built to support the needs of the students. The learning spaces that were being designed were technology rich and promoted a greater sense of social and collaborative learning.

Professor Ian Bentley, Emeritus Professor of Urban Design at Oxford Brookes University, spoke about using the city as a “social learning system”. In order to do that, academics would need to borrow ideas from popular culture to make “culturally-relevant academic knowledge” more accessible to the larger learning commuity by being “cool” and “sexy”. He cites a number of examples in the Netherlands and China where their universities have opened up their social learning spaces so that is meshes seamlessly with the outside world.

We picked up upon a number of themes and issues from the day that we could usefully apply to Augustine House. There was a clear message for academic staff who needed to be fully engaged in terms of linking their teaching with the learning spaces.  It was also apparent that students needed some kind of “signposting” or “emotional cue” to differentiate the different types of spaces and how they could use them. It was felt that if this “signposting” or “emotional cue” was not in place, the students would regard theses areas as closed to them.

Plans for an Observation Study

Things are hotting up on the pedagogic research front. We have a small window of opportunity to observe and photograph students in the existing Library before one of its’ key components, the Integrated Support Services (ISS) Help Desk, is removed from the premises forever to it’s temporary home in the Erasmus block.

Once Augustine House becomes “online”, the ISS Help Desk will move into the new library and learning centre and will be rebranded as the “iZone” with the remit of being the first port of call for students who seek help and advice on a range of issues that cover accommodation, finance to IT and library matters.

One of the things we would like to do on the project is to compare and contrast the existing Library with Augustine House. In order to do that, we will need to observe how it is currently being used by our students. As part of our observational study, we are considering breaking the Library up into different “zones”, which might look like this:

• The Loans and Returns area
• The ISS Help Desk area
• The Group Study area
• The main Library area
• The Quiet Room area
• The Open Access area

Each “zone” has a different kind of student activity within it. This would be useful for us to capture and record and to compare it against Augustine House and to see what kind of changes to student learning behaviour has taken place. Obviously, it would not be a complete like-for-like comparison as Augustine House is a far greater learning space that encompasses a many elements to it that was never afforded to the current library space.

We hope to start the observation study in the week commencing Monday 27th April, 2009.

Other IIP JISC Projects

When JISC put the call in for projects in May 2008 as part of its’ second phase of the Institutional Innovation Programme (IIP), they had received well over 70 proposals for projects looking for a share of the £13.08m investment “aimed at supporting existing institutional strategies by providing solutions to institution-wide problems, based upon proven practices, technologies, standards and services“.

By September 2008, it was known that of the 70-odd proposals, 26 were eventually accepted; of these a couple are of particular interest to the iBorrow Project Team. These being:

• The Erewhon Project at The University of Oxford [website | blog]
• The weCAMP Project at The University of Sheffield [website | blog]

The aim of the Erewhon Project is to:

“…use intelligent geolocation services and improved mobile access to provide a dramatic increase in the range and types of access to information in the University of Oxford for students, researchers, administrative staff and teachers.“

We would be interested to see the work that they are undertaking with geolocation services, mobile devices and the technical and ethical issues that they will be confronting in order to achieve these aims.

The weCAMP Project has a very interesting angle on learning spaces with their project, their aims being to:

“…address a key area of institutional concern, that of effective planning for and use of future learning spaces and other estates assets. The project aims to develop an innovative Web-based interactive campus visualisation modelling platform … as a real in-service institution-wide system to facilitate effective planning and design of future learning and other estate spaces.“

Whilst the iBorrow would be looking at the pedagogical use of such learning spaces, the weCAMP Project is an important one as it will be looking at how to manage and plan such spaces to facilitate enhanced learning and student / staff engagement.

The Second JELS Workshop

On 24th February, 2009 in the “The Automatic” at the Liverpool John Moores University, the project’s external evaluator, Stephen Steadman, attended the second JISC Evaluation of Learning Spaces (JELS) project. The JELS project, which has been running between early Autumn 2008 to the end of MArch 2009, is based at the University of Nottingham’s Learning Science Research Centre, directed by Elizabeth Hartnell-Young and Ian Pearshouse. It’s aim is to capture the nature of recent and on-going Learning Space Evaluations – which is of obvious interest to iBorrow – and to produce an annotated compendium of the methods and tools being used. In trying to understand the impact of learning spaces upon learning and teaching, the JELS team is considering the interation of four elements:

• Learning and learners;
• Teaching and teachers;
• Space;
• and Technology.

The aims of the second workshop was to discuss current evaluations and to consider how evaluations for learning might be re-conceptualised; paying particular attention to identifying suitable tools and methods; considering the objectives of teachers, students and support staff as well as helping evaluations to better inform Institutional policy.

Pam McKinney, from the Centre for Inquiry-based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences (CILASS) at the University of Sheffield, explained how the application of an explicit Theory of Change (ToC) [download as a PDF file] model had been used to guide the development of CILASS and its evaluation. There was much emphasis in the way in which early discussion of desired outcomes with different stakeholders helped to identify relevant methods, tools and standards for evaluating the outcomes.

Hugh Andersson, the CEO of HAA Design, gaved a presentation that was leant heavily on photographs of HE learning spaces being used by students, and use of a pyramid diagram of Maslow-like ”needs”. This placed basic needs of sufficient work space, light, etc. below higher level necessities, all of which are required before the final outcome of enhanced student learning is achievable. He emphasised the difficulty of finding incontrovertible measures of enhanced learning. However, he believed that it was possible, in photographs and by direct observation, to demonstrate student engagement with learning.

The JELS project reports to JISC at the end of March 2009 which will be of enormous interest to the iBorrow project in that JELS has documented the intricate inter-relationship between the learning spaces, the support staff within them, the supporting IT / technical and other facilities, and the teaching / tutoring that brings about enhanced learning.

Scenarios and Comparative Studies

Professor Betty Collis, the project’s external pedagogic consultant, presented to the Pedagogic Research Team, in Jaunuary 2009, some potential scenarios on how the learning spaces at Augustine House can be utilised; coupled with these suggested scenarios was a “learning spaces” matrix that could be used as a tool to capture the various dimensions on how and why such learning spaces is being used either by students on their own accord or through an activity suggested by their tutor. The team are currently doing some more work on Professor Collis’ suggested scenarios and “learning spaces” matrix tool before identifying academic staff in all of the five Faculties – Arts and Humanities; Business and Management; Education; Health and Social Care; and Social and Applied Sciences – who would be willing to explore and discover with us how their students might use such learning spaces and what form that might take.

The team’s Project Researcher has devised a brief questionnaire to try and capture how students are currently using the existing library and learning environment so that we can make some appropriate comparisons between existing and future usage of learning facilities and to try and ascertain if any changes, however small, have occurred. The questionnaire will be delivered by student volunteers and processed through our optical mark reader (OMR) scanner. The questionnaire will take place at the end of April 2009. Students will also be given an opportunity to look and play with the iBorrow laptop before offering feedback on their thoughts, impressions about it and to tell us how they might use it.

The Ethical Consideration of Data

In January 2009, the Pedagogic Research Team needed to identify the types of demographical data that they wanted to use in order to build up a picture of how students were using the thin client laptops and how they were using the space in Augustine House.

The thin client laptops will each have a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag or chip that will allow us to track the location of the laptop within the building with the aid of geolocation software. Such data that we can expect from the RFID chip will be asset details, time, date and location of the laptop. When the student logs into the University systems with their computer username and password, this information will be used to join the geolocation data with the demographic data. There are some enormous ethical issues that we need to consider, most of which revolves around the student anonymity; the team needs to guarantee that they are unable to trace a student from the demographic data as well as reassuring students complete anonymity when they opt to use the special iBorrow laptops.

The team spent some time looking at the kinds of data and data fields that currently exists on its student records system, Agresso QL, before whittling it down to 11 items that include age, gender, mode of attendance, campus, subject discipline, etc. The were a couple of data fields that were contentious, these were disability and pseudo-identity.

Our student records systems has various different codes to denote different types of disability, such as visual impairment or mobility – whilst it would have be useful to know that student who were visually impaired or had limited mobility opted not to use the iBorrow laptops on the grounds of usability and accessibility, the team felt that too much specific information ran the risk of identifying a particular student, so we opted for a simple “yes” or “no” for the disability field. The other area of contention was this notion of pseudo-identity, the original idea was to have some means to capture repeat returns so that we could say that some students were using the iBorrow laptops repeatedly suggesting some sort of satisfaction or convenience of use. Although it could be done, the team felt that, ethically, we would best not use this field as again it could be used to identify a student.

Our chosen data set is currently seeking ethical approval; once that has been approved it will go to the Data Management Group who will explore ways in which the geolocation data and the demographical data can be combined in a meaningful way.