The slide deck was written to accompany a workshop at the UCAS Data Matters 2011 conference about preparing to deliver better pre-entry information to those interested in a place at university. It draws lessons from the JISC's Curriculum Design and Delivery Programme and contextualises themese raised with a case study of how Manchester Metropolitan University is responding to the agenda of informed choice. Links to reports and consultations mentioned are provided from the logos of the organisations referenced within the slides.

1. Preparing for better pre-entry information
UCAS Data Matters – the data journey
Hotel Russell, London, January 2011
Professor Mark Stubbs
Head of Learning & Research Technologies
Manchester Metropolitan University
m.stubbs@mmu.ac.uk | http://twitter.com/thestubbs
Monday, January 24, 2011 1

2. Informed Choice
‘Many prospective students do not get adequate advice or information
to help them choose a course of study’
Browne, Oct 2010
‘In our 2008 report, we suggested that universities
should publish a standard set of information setting
out what students can expect from their academic
programme – we are pleased to see that the
coalition government will be taking this forward’
National Student Forum, Annual Report 2010
‘The consultation proposes that providers of higher education
should review their approach to publishing information for
prospective students. It suggests that a standardised set of key
facts for each course should be published on institutions’ web-sites. closes Mar 7
This information would be called the Key Information Set (KIS)’
HEFCE, Dec 2010

3. Informed Choice | not a new agenda
• In 2005, UCAS supported a JISC project to address
– National agenda of „informed choice‟ about learning opportunities but
– feeling that education lags behind other sectors in making its „products‟ easy
to discover and compare.
– Standards exist for exchanging information about
people, groups, membership and learning objects but
– no standard way to exchange information about courses.
– Institutions developing ways to populate their prospectus from definitive
data but
– resorting to primitive data entry to populate aggregator sites, regional
portals, area prospectuses…
– Genuine interest from the community in a standard for exchanging course
info that facilitates joined-up thinking
• called eXchanging Course-Related Information

4. XCRI | project
• Opened dialogue with European partners in a search for
best practice
• Surveyed prospectus websites & underpinning business
processes
• Evolved a data exchange specification based on best
practice and large-scale trials
• Proposed an XML specification that drove EU-level
negotiations on a common information model for
advertising learning opportunities
• Endorsed by UK ISB for ESCS in Feb 2009
• Building XCRI-readiness amongst UK providers
Monday, January 24, 2011 4

5. XCRI | relationship shift
UCAS LLN NLD UCAS LLN NLD
Provider Aggregators
Re-keys & Poll &
Pushes for each Harvest from
Aggregator XML
Providers
Learning Learning
Provider Provider
Provider
publishes
XCRI prospectus
as well as web
Web Web prospectus
Prospectus Prospectus
Monday, January 24, 2011 5

6. XCRI | significance
• A European Norm on metadata for advertising
learning opportunities will be established in 2011
– MLO prEN 15982
• Member states should drop any competing
standards and pursue compliance
• Good news!
– XCRI 1.2 earmarked as UK implementation of MLO
– XCRI 1.2 can deliver Key Information Sets
– Significant XCRI capacity building in place
– BUT ... some sectoral process & systems hurdles
Monday, January 24, 2011 6

7. Course Info | state of the art
• Interim findings from the JISC‟s £8M 4 Year
Curriculum Design & Delivery Programme…
‘Many problems with the management of course-related
information can be put down to the fact that this is still a
document-based rather than a data-based system (and
paper-based at most institutions). This gives rise to
duplication of effort and of information, lack of version
control, poor re-use of relevant information for different
purposes, and a tendency for information to be designed
for approval rather than any other purpose.’
Monday, January 24, 2011 7

8. Course Info | systemic problems
Practice is too QAA commend our
We struggle to
varied to robust processes
interpret vague
systematise QA docs
Central systems don’t
Student Records
support local variety QA We keep it vague to
avoid tortuous QA
We re-type so we build our own
everything
into UCAS
We can’t get
Marketing concrete details on Course Teams do marketing
Why
courses for website, never have up-to-
so maintain our own date info about our
courses 8

9. Ingredients for change
• Introduction of market mechanisms
– Fees: “What will we get for our money?”
– Information: web-accessible Key Information Sets
• CSR questioning value of re-keying jobs
– Compelling argument for XCRI-CAP 1.2 data upload
• Recognition that curriculum needs managing
– Systems vendors stepping up to the challenge

10. Case Study | MMU
• Largest campus-based undergraduate university in England
• Comprehensive range of courses serving national and
regional needs (2nd most popular for UCAS applications)
• 37,000+ students | 1,000+ courses | 7 sites
• www.mmu.ac.uk
Monday, January 24, 2011 10

11. Case Study | XCRI-readiness audit
• 2007 report highlighted importance of:
– devising new business processes to unite previously disparate domains of
quality, marketing & enrolment;
– establishing clarity about ownership & maintenance of definitive course data;
– coordinating activity through suitable leadership
WEB PAPER UFI WEB PAPER UCAS UFI GMSA
3267
Prospectus UCAS ADVERTISED
435 1813
ADVERTISED Academic
TRANSFORM
DB
APPROVED ENROLLED
APPROVED ENROLLED
Monday, January 24, 2011
PROG QLS PROG 11
QLS
SPECS 1333 SPECS

12. Case Study | preparing to do better
MMU‟s comprehensive “EQAL” change programme
• New Curriculum Framework
• New Admin Systems + Business Processes
• Seamless Access
• Streamlined Quality Processes
Outcomes
• Every UG course & module will be re-written
– Entirely new first year goes live September 2011
– Data-based, not document-based course information

13. Case Study | joined-up design
• Co-designing an alternative to the status quo
• Blending specialist expertise without blinkers!
Student Records QA / QE
+ Enrolment + Definitive documents
+ Transcript (HEAR) Curriculum + Annual monitoring
Database
Marketing Curriculum Innovation
+ Prospectus + Learning Outcome mapping
+ UCAS + Competence development

14. Case Study | fine-grain course information

15. Case Study | foundations for better info
Aggregators
Curriculum + BI / Data
data.mmu.ac.uk?
Database Warehouse
Web Services Prospectus
[Meerkat at Adelaide Zoo by Adam Jenkins, 2010]

16. Further reading
• XCRI
– Knowledge: http://xcri.co.uk
– Development forums: http://xcri.org
• JISC
– Curriculum Design & Delivery Programme: Design Studio
http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/12458422/Welc
ome-to-the-Design-Studio
– Cumulus: Curriculum Management in the Cloud
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/flexiblese
rvicedelivery/cumulus.aspx
Monday, January 24, 2011 16

17. KIS | proposed timeline
Dec 2010 to Mar 2011 •Consultation open.
Nov 2010 to Mar 2011 •Work underway to pilot the KIS.
18 Feb and 3 Mar 2011 •Consultation seminars.
7 Mar 2011 •Consultation closes.
•Analysis of consultation responses and discussion at Boards of
Mar to May 2011
sponsor bodies.
April to July 2011 •User testing of the KIS with prospective students begins.
•Outcomes of consultation published, with guidance on
July 2011
development of information sets.
•Institutions develop key information sets, revise other information
July 2011 to July 2012
and start to publish this.
•Final deadline for publication on institutional web-sites of revised
August 2012
Monday, January 24, 2011 information and the key information sets.
MLE Workshop, Aytoun Library Seminar Room 17
2009-05-13 14:00