Managing Project Work with eUreka: Create, Discover, Innovate

Managing Project Work with eUreka: Create, Discover, Innovate
by Daniel Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Sheryl Wong, Nanyang
1991 inauguration of the university (1 of 4 in Singapore) – 29,000 FTE
Mostly were doing knowledge transfer in e-learning, but wanted to do knowledge discovery (web 2.0 style)
https://edventure.ntu.edu.sg/


Traditional role of a university
-generate and transmit knowledge
-scientific research
-services
-skill training and workforce development


Now:
-research more important
-policy institutes
-think tanks
-regional initiatives
-CPD for workforce


Project work – authentic learning, self-discovery, good way to do application, creation and discovery of knowledge, good for group work
year 3 for their students, do a 6-month professional internship/placement
year 4 – final year project


Normally, students use a logbook to record their observations, work done. Supervisors read this log regularly. Eventually students publish a paper or other result
Not as many institutional tools to help with managing research and technology


Because there is no central system, the learning in the project book can be lost at the end of the year when the student throws it away. So they wanted an online system to store the project work assets, and this can help it be shared and monitored. Also, can add in more opportunities for reflection and authentic assessment.


Fully integrated with Blackboard as a building block, built entirely in Java


Single-sign on with security to ensure it is safe (especially important if an idea is patentable, etc.)
Has access control on specific documents – can work so project supervisors can't see some things but students and employers can (company private docs for instance)


Built in scaffolding and coaching processes to support instruction


Learning processes – communication, reflection, knowledge representation
eUreka does not replace face-to-face sessions, but allows you to check on your students between sessions, examine their work, also when on placement. Means time with students can be focused more on learning (reflection, challenging their ideas, etc) and less on describing what the student is doing.


Has a work flow for the different stages they might do while doing the research (e.g. proposal, darft, introduction, etc.) Has a timeline for the different elements to tell them when It is due, how far they are in each timeline. Alerts can be sent for each milestone (x due in one week)
Also want to help professors manage research information – can they publish their workbook to the world?


Differentiation between pre-project process and post-project process
pre:
proposal, selection of project, allocating project to a specific student
post:
oral presentation allocation, selecting a project moderator
enter project grades into system


Inside the product:
What recent activities are there, what new tasks completed?
Can be used for any institution event – organise study groups, plan social events, plan own studying
Like a type of institutional memory
Appears as a tab in Bb – launches like Parature support centre – otherwise not connected to Bb.
Can also allow external users to login to it – not through Bb but separate login screen


Staff can use it for their research too - like a VRE


Past final year project data is repopulated into the system each year, but you can add new project info there too.
8 tabs for each project (Information, Announcements, Activities, Project Files, Discussion Board, Members, Weblogs, Links, Assessment)
Information – summary page, contact details for members of the project
Own repository to dump the project into – default folder hierarchy set up, but you can change it
DB for all students to talk to each other (students own the site, so they can set up the Dbs)
Individual blog for each project member – can embed, images, video, charts, attachments – can have comments, hide some posts


Programmed by a company called Relevanz Project Management


Assessment – has a grade rubric with criteria and the points they have received in that criteria, to get the total


Improved supervision tools for instructors too – more timely feedback, more up to date with the projects' progress


Can also save the project map and thing as a read-only archive for them to refer back to, so they can learn from them in the future, find out what mistakes they made. Can potentially see other students' projects too.


4,500 active project sites now (introduced in 2004)
Ad-hoc projects are growing quickly (450 now)


Available at low price – US 5,000 dollars sitewide license per year


Daniel was very interesting, clearly had thought this stuff through well. Was a great comprehensive tool for managing research projects, staff research and just whatever the students wanted to manage. Definitely one of the best sessions.