E-learning and Digital Cultures 2011

part of the MSc in E-learning at the University of Edinburgh

E-learning and Digital Cultures 2011

the final assignment


You are required to submit an assignment on an aspect of the course content defined by yourself. You must present this digitally. Similar to the opportunities for assignment submission for ‘An introduction to digital environments for learning’, this might be a web essay, a video, a build in Second Life, and so on. The idea is that you explore the possibilities presented by digital, networked media for representing formal academic knowledge. You should agree the topic and medium for your essay with your course tutor before embarking on it.

You should choose a technology which is most suitable to your own levels of technical ability. For example, if you are not able to, or have no interest in, authoring a web essay or making a video, you might build a simple hypertext essay using a free wiki like PBworks. Technical prowess is not formally assessed – we are rather looking for imaginative and rigorous ways of presenting your academic work online.

Please note that, while we welcome assignments which reflect the instability of digital texts and ways of working, assessment regulations require that at least a version of the assignment is stable enough to be preserved for several months beyond the end of the course. Please speak to your tutors about this if you have any doubts.

As with ‘An introduction to digital environments for learning’, you are asked to submit up to three of your own assessment criteria to complement the core criteria given below.

Assessment criteria

The core criteria for assessment are as follows.

Knowledge and understanding of concepts
Does the assignment show a critical engagement with the content of the course? Does it demonstrate breadth of understanding of the concepts and theories covered?

Knowledge and use of the literature
Have the relevant key references been used? Have other relevant sources been drawn on and coherently integrated into the analysis? Is a critical and creative stance taken toward the new kinds of literatures which exist on the web?

Constructing academic discourse
Is the assignment produced with careful attention to the quality of the writing and the skilful expression of ideas? Does it use digital modes in an effective and appropriate way? Is it scholarly in its approach to topic and form?

We also ask you to nominate your own criteria in addition to these, which should be appropriate to the particular medium and topic you have chosen. You should discuss these with your course tutor before embarking on the assignment.

The assignment and assessment criteria must be submitted, in WebCT, by midnight 8 January 2012.

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