Annual Report for FDTL Project 82/96
Experience-Rich Anthropology (ERA)
1 . Activities during 1996-97 academic year
Experience-Rich Anthropology (ERA)
ERA
management structure
ERA
Project Plan (see attached)
ERA
's WWW site - http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/Fdtl/
Dr.David Zeitlyn and the Computing Officer have developed the
Mambila riddle machine
Q
Dr.Janet Bagg has developed a teaching & learning element based on a
conference paper
on the population history of the S.Italian town of Ascoli written
Dr.N.Colclough.
Dr.Michael Fischer has been active in converting existing teaching resources to
make them available on the WWW in accordance with the original proposal. 50%
will
be converted by 31 July 1997.
The Computing Officer has produced a report on multi-media and the internet
which
is already on our web site.
Dr.Michael Fischer is developing a suite of programmes to allow our Consortium
partners
to produce their own material with little scripting experience.
Milestones
First workshop rescheduled for September 1997 due to the ramped start and the
exigencies
of the academic timetable more to show and discuss.
Identification of initial material completed.
Identified copyright and potential problem areas.
Successes
Promoted two test sites (Oxford University & Queen's, Belfast) to full
Consortium
Partnership status achieved within budgetary limits.
One Consortium Partner (University of the West of England) has been
redesignated
to play a greater role in the evaluation process achieved within budgetary
limits.
ERA
web site established
Access has been secured to extra valuable and unique ethnographic material in
the
UK (Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford and Queen's Belfast), USA (Choctaw Nation - native
Americans).
Contact with researchers at the Association of Asian Studies.
New contacts made for producing curricular material in the USA, S.Africa and
Poland.
2. Plans for 1997-98 academic year
Main milestones for the 1997-98
Adoption of teaching & learning elements in some Consortium sites outside
of their
development site.
Initiate evaluation process.
Run workshops.
Create specifications for Consortium Partners and necessary activities to
ensure
delivery availability for the 1998/9 teaching year.
Completion of the conversion of existing UKC material to run via the WWW.
Changes to original plan & budget for 1997-98.
NB
This Project had a cold start - no prior project existed to be continued or
further
developed under the FDTL umbrella. A ramped start was therefore agreed with the
HEFCE/FDTL. This allowed the necessary bureaucratic framework to be put into
place
allowing main project work to begin in January 1997.
Staff expenditure reflects statutory pay rises and the above shift in the
financial
year.
Some staff time has been rescheduled to Year 4 to reflect anticipated intensive
activity in the final stages of the project proper and to accommodate the above
financial
year shift.
Induction of two test sites (Oxford University & Queen's, Belfast) to full
Consortium
Partnership status.
One Consortium Partner (University of the West of England) has been
redesignated
to play a greater role in the evaluation process.
The Co-ordinator was appointed earlier than originally anticipated in response
to
a clear need.
The post of Project Manager was created to ensure the smooth running and stage
by
stage success of ERA
, and fulfilling HEFCE management requirements.
Initial work to identify material for teaching & learning elements
demonstrated
that an existing UKC source was ripe for incorporation into the the project
framework.
Discrepancies between proposed and actual in the first year were mostly due to
the
shift in the financial year.
Dr.M.D.Fischer Dr.D.Zeitlyn
Co-director Co-director