Cross-institutional implementation and evaluation of digital dialogue games for inclusive and personalised learning

Outline Project Description This technology-focussed collaboration project for the e-learning strand of the JISC Capital Programme will take a ‘state-of-the-art’ collaboration and social-software tool (InterLoc) and its related learning activities (digital dialogue games) from the current pilot phase of development to integrated exemplary implementations and embedding in five HE institutions that have a particular focus on widening participation, flexible delivery and lifelong learning. The project will run for twenty eight months from September 2006 to January 2009 and will lead to more widespread dissemination of the approach within the UK HE community by the end of the project. The InterLoc tool and digital dialogue game approach is particularly suited to addressing problems of widening participation and providing engaging learning experiences throughout the lifelong learning cycle in formal, semi-formal and informal settings. Although the nature of the dialogue games already supports personalised learning, the current InterLoc tool will be adapted to produce an advanced version that is more personalised and integrated, leading to a more pervasive gaming approach. So this project will: adapt the current Open Source InterLoc tool (version 1.0E), built according to JISC’s ELF, to achieve greater personalisation and integration (e.g. through facilitating mobile interaction and integration with other e-learning environments and tools); trial and refine the advanced InterLoc tool; Implement the advanced tool in five HE contexts; and, embed and disseminate the approach. By the end of the project we will deliver a fully evaluated approach to supporting highly engaging dialogical learning that is inclusive and personalised, and embedded within five HE Institutions. This approach will be supported and made available to the wider HE community for further adoption via the project web-site (www.interloc.org) that will maintain and extend the dialogue game user-community. The LTRI, who have a long-term commitment to this line of work, will sustain the InterLoc tool, web-site and user-community after the end of the project.