News, Stories and Case Studies

News about the Project, useful stories, help and case studies created by either members of the consortium or external interests.

News update: 9th June 2005
A 71-page transferability report is available from the project documentation page. This outlines how the TLTP3-86 systems have developed, how they compare with commercial and other open-source offerings, and provides a wealth of information on such topics as cost, portability of data and inter-institutional sharing and collaboration.

Newsflash:19th July 2002
Dissemination documentation is now available. This consists of reports, documents, scripts, letters of understanding, presentations, case studies, technical descriptions of how to create an NLE and, where appropriate, source code. You can download these documents from here.

Newsflash:8th October 2001 A two-year position is available to further develop the NLE. Further details are available. This post is now filled.

Newsflash!:We are currently writing documents that detail how the NLE is constructed, how we managed to integrate with other systems and many other topics. Think of it as a 'recipe book' for creating your own Virtual Learning Environment. We'll announce the release of the documents here and on various mailing lists when they're done.

See the project documentation including reports, planning documents and a list of documents produced for general consumption

See the project frequently asked questions for information about the technicalities behind the NLE and if you are considering becomming a member of the project.

Introduction and Philosophy - a short article about the philosophy behind the project - based on processes not on products, and working with change.

Software Architecture for the NLE - an overview of the architecture used in the docuement management system.

Student Support and Tutoring via Computer Mediated Communication (SST-CMC) data tables and technical outline.

SST-CMC Administrator's Guide an outline of the administration required to keep SST-CMC running with fresh data and dealing with enquiries.

Output to RTF: A difficult aspect of managing curriculum documentation (apart from making sure that the content is maintained) is ensuring annual version control. Newcastle has input hundreds of complex word processed documents into its NLE, and we are now working on ways of getting these complex documents back out into RTF. A recent breakthrough may enable us to have only one version of a document - the on-line version. More details will be published when available.

Module Outline Forms at Newcastle The project made a database of module outline forms (MOFs) available in the Faculty of Medicine, with output to RTF, PDF, and other added-value features with ease-of-use (30 mins training time). The MOFs have been scaled up to encompass all the University Module Descriptions and discussion is under way to discover whether such a tool could be used to manage the annual production and change of these documents.

Sheffield Medical School Joins TLTP3-86 The University of Sheffield Medical School visited Newcastle (twice) and Nottingham (once) before they decided to join TLTP3-86. They are considering changing to a problem based curriculum. A short article describes the benefits to Sheffield and the project.

TLTP3-86 Becomes Involved in Data Protection Issues Following Introduction of the Data Protection Act 1998 The NLE processes data differently to the way in which data processing may have been conducted in the past, and uses personal data (Schedule 2 of the Act) and sensitive personal data (Schedule 3 of the Act). Therefore this project has explored the implications of obtaining explicit consent from students and staff.

Faculty of Medicine at Newcastle wins the Funding Councils' Learning and Teaching Support Network Subject Centre Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine The LTSN-01 will be provided from the University of Newcastle in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians.

JISC 7/99 Call for Proposals for Managed Learning Environments The University of Newcastle responded to the JISC 7/99 Call for Proposals "Managed Learning Environments" for the category 'systems to support learners'.

Virtual Classroom for Health Informatics Members of the TLTP3-86 project are also partners in a project to investigate virtual learning environments for the NHS.

Issues Raised by All Partner Sites - a list of issues which can be predicted in all sites endeavouring to increase the use of communication and information technology.

Making Suitable Learning Resources Available for Student Use - a summary of the issues that need to be overcome in order to make learning resources (such as existing CAL materials) available and embedded in the curriculum.

http://medical.faculty.ncl.ac.uk/common/itic/list_map.html links to the information technology induction course used by over one thousand new under- and post-graduate students in the Faculty of Medicine each year.