LessonPlan is a social media platform for module reviews. Its aim is to offer existing and prospective students a source of information about the available modules on each course offered by the University.
Initial module information will be taken by the module details pages from the University sites. The system will allow categorisation of those modules into compulsory and optionally available groups. From there, users will be able to provide feedback on them, rating against a set of criteria (for example, difficulty, engagement, type of coursework, size of class etc). The system will offer the ability to suggest suitable modules for a particular user according to course enrolment. Suggestions will be decided according to user patterns (for example, a particular module preferred by students from a particular course).
Expansion of this basic idea can lead to useful (and currently unavailable) applications in everyday university life. For example, a unified platform of communication between students enrolled on the same module, greater engagement with the module materials, opportunities for peer support/peer learning, instant feedback from module leaders/academics, first-hand information to prospective students. Design and features of the platform will be informed by opinions from expected stakeholders’ sample groups, so as to ensure maximum user satisfaction. Economic, social and ethical considerations will also be taken into account.
This project stemmed from a perceived deficiency of the current feedback procedures at Higher Education Institutions. At the moment, Universities in the UK limit student provided feedback to paper or electronic surveys, distributed at the end of every semester. Apart from the weaknesses that this method entails for the actual feedback process (What are the response rates, for example? Or, How does this feedback inform future decisions about module planning?), we think that it severely limits the value that student provided feedback could have for the students themselves.
As a result, we decided to design an alternative method of feedback for modules that could take advantage of the possibilities that a Web 2.0 environment provides (hence the ‘2.0’ at the end of LessonPlan!).
Web 2.0 is a term coined to describe web services that emphasize user interaction. Web 2.0 sites revolve around social actions (aka. user generated content, knowledge sharing, interoperability). Web 2.0 environments facilitate not only the creation of such content (by the wide adoption of media formats), but also its distribution (with available outputs like RSS or JSON). Subsequently, they have resulted in a wealth of collaboration communities (social networking sites, blogs, wikis). User generated content coincides with the growing popularity of crowdsourcing – the idea that contributions can come from a large group of volunteers, rather that from commercial businesses or suppliers.
LessonPlan believes the Web 2.0 could add value to the provision, analysis and use of student feedback, leading to interesting new applications, as exampled above. Informed from Network Theory, we believe that an addition of LessonPlan to the existing infrastructure of Universities will enrich the student experience, providing direct, indirect and cross network effects (practical examples can be found here). Using an analogy from the well-known student stereotypes, LessonPlan aims to take advantage of different strengths of students for a ‘tipping-point’ effect[1]:
- The Party People – the students with a plethora of social contacts, who can serve as connectors between other students (‘Social Glue’)
- The Career Climbers – the students dedicated to learning, who have specialized information about their modules (‘Information brokers’).
- The Activists – the students who can promote an idea, backing it up with facts and cues (‘Evangelists’).
In order to achieve wide adoption, Roger’s ‘Adoption Criteria’ were considered in the design of LessonPlan:
- Relative Advantage (LessonPlan will provide a better platform for module feedback than the competition: University feedback is a non-transparent procedure and commercial sites for module reviews are targeted to a large number of Universities – each University has very little representation in them)
- Compatibility (LessonPlan is designed with the current generation of Digital Natives in mind. As a result its social media features should provide students with familiar features and capabilities from their experience on the Web)
- Complexity (LessonPlan is designed to be integrated into the existing University networks. As a result, it is adaptable to layout/design modifications to reflect the University’s interface and, thus, provide the minimum learning curve possible for new users)
- Trialability (LessonPlan offers a read-only function to non-registered users. That translates to an unlimited evaluation period for anyone that is unsure whether to use it)
- Observability (Its integration in the University network will provide visibility for the platform. Its incorporation of the user accounts database will allow for new users to easily and seamlessly start using it)
[1] For an introduction on the ‘Tippint Point’ by M. Gladwell, see here.