[Xerte-dev] FW: Expanding the Sakai TWSIA Award to include all applicable Apereo projects

[Julian Tenney]

Anyone see any reason not to progress this?

From: janice.smith [mailto:janice.smith at threecanoes.com]
Sent: 12 October 2015 21:45
To: schulte at id.ethz.ch; Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk
Cc: Ian Dolphin; Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams; Luisa Li
Subject: Expanding the Sakai TWSIA Award to include all applicable Apereo projects

Hello Olaf and Julian

I write to you as a member of the Apereo TWSIA committee, the group that organizes what used to be the Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award. Last year Ian Dolphin encouraged us to expand the TWSIA award process to include all applicable Apereo projects. Since then our committee has been discussing how best to carry out Ian's request. More recently we spoke with him and he referred us to the two of you as representatives of the Xerte and Opencast communities.

The TWSIA award is for innovation in teaching and learning and could be awarded in association with the use of any Apereo tool, but is most suitable for Apereo projects that are specifically dedicated to learning. The Sakai, OAE, and Karuta communities already participate in the award process. Ian has suggested the Xerte and Opencast communities are the most suitable of the remaining Apereo projects for participation. He gave us your contact information to see if either or both of your communities are interested in participating in the TWSIA process. There is no requirement that you do so, but we want you to know that the door is open whenever you might choose to join us.

At the end of each calendar year, our committee opens the award process for early entries. Each entrant fills out a form describing their project and how it uses one or more Apereo tools to provide an innovative approach to learning. Currently entrants rate themselves on one of two TWSIA rubrics, one for courses and one for portfolios. The early entry process is followed by feedback from TWSIA committee members on ways to make their entry more competitive for the award. Additional entries (as well as re-submissions of early entries) come in during the winter months and in early spring, TWSIA committee members then apply the rubrics to rate the entries and determine which ones will receive a TWSIA award. Apereo pays the travel expenses of any awardee who comes to the conference to present their project.

We are considering adding a third rubric to the award process. The third rubric could be called something like "content creation" and would be intended for use evaluating projects featuring Xerte and/or Opencast to support innovative learning processes. Alternatively, entries featuring Xerte and/or Opencast could be rated using the course or portfolio rubrics, but to our thinking, our existing rubrics do not empathize the learning principles your communities espouse in relation to the software you have created.

If either or both of your communities choose to join us in the TWSIA award process, we would have several expectations:

  1.  Designate one or more individuals to represent each of your communities on our committee. Currently we meet via Big Blue Button most Tuesdays at 11 AM Eastern but would be willing to modify the meeting day or time.
  2.  Collaborate with us in creating an entry form and rubric empathizing the learning principles on which your software is based.
  3.  Designate one or more individuals from your communities who are willing to provide feedback on early entries to the award process.
  4.  Designate several individuals from your communities who are willing to use your rubric to rate entries for TWSIA awards.

We are now in the process of examining our existing entry forms and rubrics in anticipation of opening the award process in December. With some amount of efficiency, it would be possible for us to work with members of your communities to create a third rubric and entry form before we open the award process. Alternatively, either or both of your communities might decide to join us for the 2017 award process or decline entirely.

Please discuss this proposal with the appropriate members of your community and with Ian as needed. I have copied Ian as well as the chairs of the TWSIA committee in case you have questions or concerns. We hope to hear back from you sometime soon.

Thanks for considering this opportunity for collaboration under the Apereo umbrella!
Janice

Janice A. Smith, Ph.D.
Karuta Project Lead
Three Canoes LLC
1204 Laurel Avenue
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55104, USA
651-642-9069, 207-841-6262 (cell)
janice.smith at threecanoes.com<mailto:janice.smith at threecanoes.com>
http://threecanoes.com
http://karutaproject.org
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