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The impact of mobile learning research on practice in a global context

Summary of the impact

Our research on learning using mobile technologies has impacted on:

  • the process of developing new mobile learning platforms within Nokia and Guinti Labs
  • the work by UNESCO, Nokia and Pearson on the Education for All challenge and policy briefing for UNESCO on mobile learning for social inclusion
  • the use of mobile learning to improve English teaching in Bangladesh. The English in Action project is now impacting on over 4500 teachers. Within the pilot, teachers' and pupils' use of English exceeded 70% and 80% respectively, and pupils' English scores increased significantly. Funding is secure to 2014 to reach 12,500 teachers and 2.8 million pupils. This mobile learning model is now being established in Nigeria.

Submitting Institution

Open University

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

The Wookie Widget Server

Summary of the impact

The delivery of interchangeable services across a range of educational platforms has been a long-term problem in the field of technology enhanced learning. The Institute for Educational Cybernetics (IEC) identified widgets as having a potential role in resolving this problem, and developed a widget server, Wookie, to provide a research tool to investigate this. The research is summarised in [4] and [6]. The work attracted international attention, and the server has been reused in a number of other projects to provide interoperable services, both in education and beyond, and including a number of European funded initiatives. The impact of the work was recognised and enhanced by its acceptance by the Apache Software Foundation as an incubator project. It has now graduated as Apache Wookie, and is a full Apache project.

Submitting Institution

University of Bolton

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Information Systems
Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Enhancing the effectiveness of educational games and learning tools

Summary of the impact

The use of technology to enhance student learning is known to have a significant impact on achievement in all subject areas and across all stages of schooling and learning. Educational computer games and online tools help engage students — making learning enjoyable and therefore more effective. Computer scientists at Leicester are expert in the analysis of online learning tools and educational games. They have used this expertise to evaluate whether and why such games or tools work and, most importantly, how they can be improved.

The research has been used by:

  • The software industry to develop new products for the e-learning and games markets.
  • Schools and higher educational institutions to create tailored e-learning tools which enable better learning experiences and improved outcomes for students.
  • Industry to design and improve effective e-learning modules for employee training.

Submitting Institution

University of Leicester

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Information Systems
Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Intelligent Constructionist Tools for Learning and Teaching

Summary of the impact

This case study describes impact arising from research into designing constructionist tools that provide personalisation, support and guidance to learners and teachers, resulting in software used in several schools, FE colleges and universities world-wide. Constructionist learning is founded on the principle of constructionism which argues for the pedagogical importance of building artefacts as a way of building mental representations. A key computational challenge in the design of tools that foster constructionist learning is to provide intelligent support that guides users towards productive interaction with the tool without constraining its creative potential.

Submitting Institution

Birkbeck College

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Development of model-driven software methods that support knowledge-based, process-driven (mobile) service oriented architectures

Summary of the impact

This case study reports the impact on businesses and practitioners of model-driven software architecture research, workflow-based application development, and intelligent computing through a series of connected JISC, Knowledge Connect projects, and, especially, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.

Key impacts for software companies, related to their software development processes and products, include the adoption of the model-driven architecture approach, showing:

  • Improved software development processes for workflow-based and mobile applications.
  • Early adoption of software product lines (SPLs).

Integration of intelligent computing in the form of data mining and decision support in software processes and products.

Submitting Institution

University of West London

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Computer Software, Information Systems

The Use of Semantic Web Technologies developed for Teaching, Learning and Research

Summary of the impact

Our research explored the ways the emerging Semantic Web can support teaching and learning. It identified case based learning as a key area and outputs were used to enhance the unique research council funded Economic and Social Data Service public collections and pioneers pages. Results informed the thinking of accountancy bodies on e-assessment via the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants/International Association for Accounting Education. An exemplary user case study derived from the research was selected by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The research supported the aggregation and presentation of Open Educational Resources via JISC. Project software and documentation was released as open source. Outcomes provided the `Liverpool, City of Radicals' Project timeline.

Submitting Institution

Liverpool John Moores University

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Information Systems
Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

VC Learning Theory and Support Vector Machines

Summary of the impact

Results of research at Royal Holloway in Machine Learning — Support Vector Machine (SVM), kernel methods and conformal-prediction techniques — are at the source of the analytics and `Big Data' revolution, whose impact is transforming the economy (and society), from data mining to machine vision, from Web search to spam detection.

Although SVMs were not invented at Royal Holloway, our contributions include the original reference monograph (Vapnik 1998), basic underpinning theory (such as [3.2]), the first widely distributed open-source implementation [3.1], the first accessible textbook (Cristiniani and Shawe-Taylor 2000), and multiple extensions (such as [3.3] and [3.4]).

Submitting Institution

Royal Holloway, University of London

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Statistics
Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Information Systems

Enhancing Learning by Targeting Learner Needs

Summary of the impact

Our research into learning through digital technologies has increased the focus on the importance of learning processes and context. The research developed new models of strategic evaluation and learning framework analyses as well as a new concept of MEGAcognition. These have shaped the development, customisation and implementation of more appropriate digital educational resources, nationally and internationally. Our research has involved and influenced key national and international companies and groups. Its users have been policy makers and developers, as well as teachers and pupils in primary and secondary schools. The research has: 1) influenced policy and practice developments nationally and internationally (in UK government departments and the e-strategy agency, and in five major resource development companies and corporations with international reach); 2) increased awareness of and engagement in learning opportunities (in four local authorities); 3) built capacity (in three resource development companies and projects); 4) offered insights into ways to develop, refine and customise educational products for specific audiences (in six resource development companies and local authorities); 5) raised awareness and understanding of educational concepts to non-academic audiences nationally and internationally (through 35 public and private seminars and keynote sessions to national and international audiences); 6) raised awareness of learning and pedagogical practices (in six major resource development companies and corporations).

Submitting Institution

Lancaster University

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Implementing User-designed Multimedia Learning Tools in Healthcare Contexts

Summary of the impact

Research by the University of Nottingham's Education and Technology for Health team has benefited healthcare students, professionals, users, carers and institutions both in the UK and internationally by establishing a participatory methodology for high-quality, sustainable multimedia Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs). These learning tools are now used in 50 countries globally to facilitate individual access to knowledge, enhance learning within curriculums and deliver continuing professional development, with feedback showing satisfaction of up to 100% in some nations. They are also being used to train healthcare professionals in resource-poor countries, further strengthening the University of Nottingham's role as a global education provider.

Submitting Institution

University of Nottingham

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Developing Learning and Leading in Small Firms

Summary of the impact

Impact is primarily economic and organizational, resulting from more effective leadership processes and practices by small firm owner-managers. The mechanism of impact was a programme known as LEAD (leadership, enterprise and development), which drew a significant community of owner-managers of smaller firms in Greater Merseyside into the Management School, to enable them to use research findings about managerial and entrepreneurial learning, leadership and business support in the running of their firms. The resulting impacts were on management practices and processes, and firm performances. Practitioners engaging with the University of Liverpool Management School (ULMS) LEAD programme experienced turnover increases averaging 21%. The beneficiaries are small firms, their employees and business support partnerships.

Submitting Institution

University of Liverpool

Unit of Assessment

Business and Management Studies

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services: Business and Management

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