Below is a list of all the appendices for my thesis as many people have been asking for individual copies. The table below lists the name of the Appendix, the link to the appendix and a summary of what is in the appendix and why I used it. Continue reading
sooner or later a tale of two e-portfolios systems from Paul Stephensen on Vimeo.
In this research I have examined how ePortfolios can be designed for Music postgraduate study through a practice led research inquiry. This process involved designing two Web 2.0 ePortfolio systems for a group of five post graduate music research students. The design process revolved around the application of an iterative methodology called Software Develop as Research (SoDaR) that seeks to simultaneously develop design and pedagogy. The approach I implemented to designing these ePortfolio systems applied four theoretical protocols to examine the use of digitised artefacts in ePortfolio systems to enable a dynamic and inclusive dialogue around representations of the students work.
Recently I was asked to provide some advice to a fellow interaction designer wanting to develop a WordPress system for a creative arts learning environment. I provided the following document which I hope can be used as a quick reference guide for other interaction designers. I hope this is useful for others interested in doing the same.
When I first started the project with my supervisor I found that I was unable to install open source software on the web server that was provided to me. In line with Schöns action research method I had developed a methodology of studio based research which required me to download a number of open source content management systems which may have meant the requirements of the key stake holders. During this experimentation phase I discovered that none of the software I uploaded to the server would install. I would visit each vendor’s website and document the server requirements and make sure that server was compatible with server I was using. It was only after I contacted the faculty’s I.T support team that I identified the technical reasons as to why the server was not suitable for my project. I was advised that they would be prepared to help me have access to one of their servers for my project. The I.T support team informed me that I needed to ask another faculty based key stakeholder to officially negotiate access to the server. I set-up a meeting with the faculty based key stake holder who owned the server. This person was very helpful and supportive and they where impressed with the design of my project and allowed me to access their server as a shared resource. With the help of the I.T support team and the key stake holder my project was given special project status.
