EDU Project Owner's Guide

Welcome!

This resource has been created in the form of a guide to support you in your role as the Project Owner (PO) of an EDU project.

This resource will:

• Provide you with guidance on how your project will be taken forward for development by the EDU;
• Outline the respective roles and responsibilities of the PO and the EDU.

The quality of the source material in a project is critical to its success, and POs are instrumental in ensuring productive links between writers and the EDU. Experience tells us that our most successful projects occur when POs are fully engaged with their project and actively work to facilitate the link between the EDU, the subject specialists (content writers) and teaching staff who will use the material.

The primary function of the PO is to support the project lead (PL) to deliver the expected outcomes. Your input at the start-up of the project is particularly important in ensuring that the Project Initiation Document (PID) is an accurate reflection of your requirements and expectations. Your role is also key in encouraging effective engagement of content writer(s) on the project and the wider teaching team, and in making decisions if required during the project lifetime.

We understand that for staff to find the time and resources to dedicate to projects such as these can be challenging, and every effort is made to accommodate this in the project plans. You are asked to assist by taking every opportunity to promote the project within the Faculty and encourage Academic Staff to become involved. This may be as a peer reviewers, contributors, interviewees, etc. Good staff engagement during the project will improve relevance, speed-up production and encourage widespread use of the materials when they become available.

Your responsibilities as a Project Owner fall into four main areas:

• Agree the project terms of reference by contributing to and signing off the PID.
• Facilitate EDU engagement with the faculty and the wider UHI. This may take a number of forms including: the promotion of the project within the Faculty; engagement, for example in peer review; and to recruit student reviewers.
• Signing and commenting on the Project Handover/ Signoff report.
• Accept (or delegate) ownership of any materials post-project. Promoting and disseminating the finished materials are crucial in maximising usage and impact.

The success of an EDU project will ultimately be based on the positive impact the new materials have on student learning experiences, which will be determined, not only by the quality and quantity of materials developed, but also by the extent to which the materials are adopted and used by teaching staff.

When we receive a project proposal, one of the EDU team is asked to undertake an appraisal of the potential project. This will involve you and possibly other staff being asked lots of questions to assess the state of readiness, potential resource requirements, timescales etc. We may also suggest a scoping meeting to bring together the programme team to discuss the best approach for the project. By the end of this process we will have a clear brief of what we are being asked to do.

The HEDU will then appoint a project lead, a lead developer (if required) and agree a start/end date. This allows us to maximise our efficiency by not allocating staff until everything is in place for the project to start.

Project initiation document (PID)

The EDU has found the use of a well-constructed PID to be invaluable in keeping the project on track, clarifying what the project seeks to achieve and defining the roles of those working on the project.

The development work cannot be started until the PID has been written and signed off by the PO and HEDU. Your project leader may approach you for clarification when constructing the PID and will give you electronic access to review it before signing.

The EDU will work to the specifications set out in the PID so it is essential that it is clear and accurate. It is likely that several people will be involved in your project and their roles and responsibilities will be outlined in your PID.

In curriculum focused projects, the group who contribute most to making a project a success is the academic staff. Their engagement has several benefits [click panels for more information]:

To support staff in their learning and teaching with a particular focus on using technology to enhance the student experience the EDU has produced a suite of resources: the Support Portal.

Engaging with relevant employers can be very beneficial to a project. They know the skills required of students entering the workplace so they can provide valuable insights and advices on the resources developed, and can help identify any omissions or issues, particularly with currency. In some cases, the faculty may already liaise with local employers and these can be explored when undertaking this engagement.

As part of an EDU project, employer engagement can be included as an output. Employers and sector organisations can inform the relevance, currency, accuracy of learning content. In addition, an EDU project can provide an opportunity for teaching staff to engage directly with relevant employers and sector organisations as part of their wider engagement strategy.

Evaluation and dissemination

A programme of dissemination may be developed as part of the project deliverables (and listed in the PID as an output), to promote the use of the new resources to the teaching team or relevant staff. It is the responsibility of the PO to identify the methods of dissemination and the staff who will be involved in the dissemination.

The EDU Project Lead will produce a hand over and sign off report which will include an evaluation of the project outputs against the stated expectations as detailed in the original PID.

As PO you will be expected to comment on and sign this report. Providing this valuable feedback supports the EDU to learn lessons from conducting projects and continue to improve the service the team provides the university.

When the project ends

At the end of the project, if materials have been developed, ownership will be handed over to the PO or a designated staff member along with relevant user and tutor guides.

On request, and where resources permit, the EDU will undertake future revisions to the materials and continue to support staff as required, particularly during the first delivery of the resources.