Today saw the launch of BU’s new curriculum design and visualisation tool, LEAP (the Learning Excellence Acceleration Programme) which was previewed in an earlier post.

With a solid base in research from Jisc, UCL and Diana Laurillard, LEAP is a way of creating a visual representation of a unit.  The unit comprises 6 learning types of acquisition, investigation, collaboration, discussion, practice and production which are colour-coded to allow the intended learning on a unit to be quickly appreciated.  The learning types are then augmented with the way in which the learning happens, using TEL and/or more traditional methods.  Finally, formative and summative assessments are indicated to complete the picture.  The unit can then be reviewed and changes modelled by moving around the component parts.  In addition, the linkages between units in the programme can also be assessed for consistency and improvement.

The staff on the PG Dip TEL unit worked on LEAP this morning and then were able to work in Brightspace during the afternoon to build new or modify existing units based on the outputs from LEAP.  We found that the process worked well for academic units and also in learning contexts within Professional Services.

The feedback from the participants was very positive.  They noted that the process makes you think analytically about the unit structure and can also be used to gives confidence that a unit is structured well.  Someone noted that the process gives a tangible output that can be shared and discussed with colleagues.  The benefit of being able to view the structure of units in the same programme was also identified.  One of the suggestions for improvement was to link the unit structure to the ILOs to make the linkages between content and learning outcomes more evident.

The following pictures capture this morning’s work:

Sue and Steevie assessed how LEAP could benefit ALS

Alan started the process by identifying the purpose of each week of the unit

Sue tweeting her unit descrition to #leap_bu

The learning types are shown here in their different colours.  This day long session demonstrates the varied approaches to learning adopted during the day to engage students.

Kaouther and Suranjita working on LEAP

Andrew planning out his unit

A LEAP work in progress ..

The next step for LEAP is a series of sessions planned for PLs in December.