Library:STATS Content Curation Project

Background

The STATS FLTLEF project is working on the development of modular online materials suitable for use in any introductory statistics course taught at UBC or any UBC course or lab with an introductory statistics component. The plan is to produce a collection of modular online content including: animations, mini lecture, screen capture videos or podcasts, online homework and quizzes, individualized online experiments, a repository of interesting data sets, and in-class active learning (clicker questions and activities). The content will be:

Resources that support consistent quality of introductory statistics instruction across campus
Expanded active learning approaches in introductory statistics instruction;
Online modules for use in introductory statistics instruction
Widely and freely available introductory statistics instructional resources.

Principal Investigator:
CTLT Project Manager:
Liaison Librarian and Flexible Learning Coordinator: Erin Fields
Research Assistant:

Library Involvement

Recognizing that there is a wealth of open education resources available, the project team is looking to curate content for the project. This content could include videos, quizzes, data sets, etc. The Library was identified as a potential partner in this process. In collaboration with project team, UBC Library will:

Identify open education repositories and open dataset sources
Outline a process of content curation, including:
Descriptive information needed for categorizing content (e.g. title, author, description, location, copyright, etc.)
Copyright process for rights and permissions of content identified
Sustainability and maintenance of the process over time, including staffing resources.

Media Types

Faculty identified the following media types as priority OE resources:

Videos (animations, screencasts)
In-class activities
Clicker questions
Applets

Subjects

The following are the initial subjects requiring open education resources. This subject list will modify over time.

Displaying and summarizing categorical data
Displaying and summarizing quantitative data
Correlation
Covariance
Linear regression
Population versus sample; parameters versus statistics
Sampling methods
Observational studies and sample surveys
Design of experiments
Counting rules
Probability rules
Conditional probabilities
Bivariate probabilities
Bayes Theorem
Independence of events
Random variables
Mean and variance of random variables
Binomial distribution
Joint distribution of discrete random variables
Covariance of random variance
Normal distribution
Sampling distributions of proportions
Sampling distributions of means
One-sample inference for proportion
One-sample inference for means
Two-sample inference for proportions
Two-sample inference for means
One-way Analysis of Variance

Process

I. Identification Process

The location and selection process will take numerous people to complete:

Faculty – Needed to develop subject lists for searching and selecting final resources for inclusion.
Librarians – Needed to develop and support search criteria and the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Needed to train and support the content curation process and copyright.
Other – Needed to search the OER to find subject content listed by instructors/faculty. Needed to assist in the development and updating of the document search process.

Resource Entry Form

II. Permission Process

This will be a time intensive process and will require both an education and liaison piece to the work.

Instruction for students’ working on the project can be delivered by the Scholarly Communications and Copyright Office which will enable an understanding of how content can be used under the permissions provided by the license. This will also create a direct link between the research and permissions process to minimize time spent in administration.

Timelines are important in this process. It can take a long time for permissions to be given for the use of resources. The SCCO may need to contact individual developers and organizations to gain the rights for use of the content. Additional negotiates around curating and archiving the content may add time to the process. It may be impossible to gain permissions for an item. If there is no alternative resource, linking to the resource can be done without permissions.

III. Description Process

The purpose of ensuring rich metadata at the outset of the project is to support the eventual creation of a searchable interface. While decisions about how the interface will be searchable (e.g. keyword, subject, tagging) need to be discussed, beginning the project with more robust metadata will make decision making easier when a content curation infrastructure is being developed.

Suggested metadata fields and descriptions can be found below. Additional fields can be added depending upon perceived benefit to findability.

File:Content Curation Metada.docx

Additional Metadata

Course – The title and course code in which the item is being used. This would be useful for planning across course curriculum and will support building competencies over the degree program.
Unit – The unit the resource is attached to in the course curriculum.

IV. Inclusion/Exclusion Process

Inclusion Process

Once material is collected, faculty go through an evaluation process before the content is approved for the final curated list. The following Google Forms are used for evaluation of video and applets.

Faculty Process for Video Evaluation
Faculty Process for Applet Evaluation

Once the final evaluation is complete, the resources can be added to the final content curation list.

Exclusion Process

Once an item is excluded, the item is reviewed. If a pattern emerges where the location of the information is frequently excluded (e.g. several videos from the MIT source), the resource will be excluded from the search. The exclusion search list is located in a google doc: OER Exclusion List

Location of Approved Resources

Unfortunately there is no system currently available to curate and archive OE materials. A decision needs to be made for the interim about where the content should reside.

Decisions about interim location of the curated open education material should be based on:

Ease of Use Is the tool simple to use to upload content? Does it have the ability to sort or search the content?
Ease of Data Extraction Can the data be downloaded? What file formats does the tool provide for downloading?

For this project, Google Forms will populate an excel sheet. This is an interim measure while discussions around content curation process and needs continue:

GOOGLE FORM NEEDS TO BE DEVELOPED