RSC Northwest eLearning Focus Learning for Living and Work projects Earlier in 2008 the RSC held a conference at the City of Manchester Stadium to promote the Learning for Living and Work strategy and to encourage FE and Sixth form colleges to bid for funds to enhance the skills of learners with learning disabilities or difficulties (LLDD). The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in the North West had £800,000 to grant to colleges and invited them to take part in a competitive bidding process. The Learning for Living and Work Strategy is a national strategy to improve the employment prospects for learners with LLDD and was the response to the ‘Through Inclusion to Excellence’ report of 2005. 44 North West Colleges were successful and are running a number of interesting and innovative projects., including: Using the Nintendo Wii and DS to improve functional skills Using iPod nanos for quizzes and videos Using Tony Hawk headcams for producing video evidence Creating an online (specific subject) British Sign Language glossary Other colleges have used the funds to provide XDAs for learners with specific learning difficulties to use in their work experience to provide evidence, to enhance their time management and organisation skills, to link to the internet, and create and edit documents.
Volume 7 Issue 3 July 2008
Welcome... ...to the latest issue of the RSC Northwest Newsletter
In this issue Learning for Living and Work projects
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40 Facts about Federated Access Management (FAM)
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Supporting Providers in choosing and using ePortfolios
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Introducing three new members of RSC Northwest staff
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eProgress Review
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Langdon Lecturer prompts 10 new video sharing project Learning Innovation Grants 11 - £4m for Phase 4
Without exception the innovation and creativity that these colleges have shown will have an impact across the whole college curriculum and on all learners, not just those with LLDD. Learning for Living and Work: http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/Lsc/ National/Learning_for_Living_and_Work_Complete_2.pdf Through Inclusion to Excellence: http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/ lsc/2005/research/commissioned/through-inclusion-toexcellence.pdf
RSCs - stimulating and supporting innovation in learning
QIA Excellence Gateway - portal to resources...
The QIA Excellence Gateway is an online portal for staff in the further education and skills sector. The Gateway has resources to support teaching and learning and leadership and management, examples of effective practice and selfimprovement, teaching and learning materials, and suppliers of improvement services. You can register on the Excellence Gateway to give you access to participate in conversations and share best practice on the forums, to bookmark pages or save searches for quick reference later, and to choose from a range of news feeds for up-to -date information on your areas of interest. http://excellence.qia. org.uk
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40 Facts about Federated Access Management (FAM) 1. FAM is an authentication and authorisation infrastructure system capable of granting individual learners with secure, anywhere, anytime access to educational resources which are available online. 2. Shibboleth, an example of Identity Provider software, is a Hebrew word that means an ear of corn, stream or flood. The word comes from the Old Testament (Judges 12:1-6). The Ephraimites who lived to the west of the river Jordan invaded Gilead on the other side of the river and were defeated. Retreating, their way was blocked by the Gileadites who controlled the fords. They had different accents and the Ephraimites pronounced the "sh" sound as "si". To differentiate friend from foe, those crossing the river were asked to pronounce the word "shibboleth". According to the bible, the 42,000 who pronounced it "sibboleth" were killed. 3. Implementing FAM can mean learners only need to enter one institutional ID and password, thereby removing the complexity of multiple IDs, passwords and authentication challenges whilst also reducing the possibility of identity theft. 4. If you intend to continue using IP authentication and do not require off-site access to resources, then you do not need to do anything. 5. A Federation Access Management glossary of terms is available on the JISC site at: www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/themes/ access_management/federation/federation_glossary.aspx 6. The decision to adopt a Federated Access Management solution is of strategic-level concern due to issues such as the changing access management landscape, questions over identity management, single sign-on and other strategic drivers and should be made in conjunction with all stakeholders such as the Library and Network Managers.
UK Access Management Federation 7. A federation is a group of institutions and organisations that sign up to an agreed set of policies for exchanging information about users and resources to enable access and use of resources and services. The federation combined with identity management software within institutions and organisations can be referred to as federated access management. 8. The UK Access Management Federation is currently funded by JISC and Becta and managed by JANET(UK).
9. Membership of the UK Access Management Federation is free. The recommended software, Shibboleth, is also free to download and use. 10. Irrespective of the technology that institutions are planning to use to access their online resources off-site after July 2008, they will still need to join the UK Federation to enable access to resources solely offered through this route. 11. Publishers joining the JISC Collections are now required to join the UK Access Management Federation as a Service Provider. 12. As of March 2008, 47 Services Providers which include 22 publishers have joined the UK Access Management Federation.
North West Statistics 13. As of May 2008, 24 FE Colleges and 11 HE Institutions from the North West have joined the UK Access Management Federation. 14. The first Sixth Form College in the North West to have a live Identity Provider registered on the UK Federation was Ashton Sixth Form College. 15. The first FE College in the North West to have a live Identity Provider registered on the UK Federation was North Trafford College. 16. Representatives from 21 FE Colleges in the North West have attended the Netskills Federated Access Management: Core Skills for Identity Providers workshop. 17. 14 FE Colleges within the North West were successful in obtaining support through the JISC Institutional Access Management Support Project (JIAMSP) provided by Cardiff University and Kidderminster College. 18. The RSC have facilitated (so far) 38 planning meetings between Senior Management, Learning Resources Managers and ICT Network Managers within FE Colleges in the North West to discuss their Access Management options. 19. As of May 2008, 23 North West FE colleges plan to be using Federated Access Management technology to access their online resources from the 1st August 2008. Resources 20. The JISC Access Management team are maintaining a blog which includes a status update from all publishers with which they have been discussing the implementation of FAM, at: http:// access.jiscinvolve.org/federated-access-and-publishers/ 21. All institutions should obtain an update from each publisher of all their subscription resources confirming which access methods they will be providing from 1st August 2008. (Continued on page 4)
Get a life - a Second Life... Myerscough College has been pioneering the use of Second Life, the 3-D virtual world, on a Foundation Degree in Arboriculture. The college won a bid for second life land on the Education UK Island, building a virtual centre to deliver lectures and revision sessions to online distance learners on a Tree Biology module. Uptake in the use of Second Life on the module has been positive, especially as many of the students were unfamiliar with the technology.
You can hear an RSC NW podcast interview about the development with Gary Elliot, eLearning Developer at Myerscough College. The podcasts (including previous ones accessed via a ‘Posts’ link) are on the website homepage at: www.rsc-northwest.ac.uk Education UK Second Life: www.sleducationuk.net/ 3
Zipped eXe and eBook Library Updates...
The RSC-Northwest is increasingly aware that Learning Providers are finding it difficult to... ...1 - attend the many conferences, workshops, events, seminars etc. that are put on in the North West and throughout the UK; and ...2 - cascade, if they can attend, to colleagues when they return. With this in mind, and to be equitable with our support and dissemination of information, we have produced many resources both online and those downloadable; the latter can be put on VLEs, IMS, CDs, DVDs, memory sticks etc. Since our last printed publication John Dalziel, eLearning Adviser (ACL/PCDL) has produced 1 new eBook and 5 new zipped eXe files... 4
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22. MIMAS have created a page detailing their progress with implementing FAM on their resources, at: www.mimas.ac.uk/ access/#federated-access-details 23. EDINA’s statement about their FAM implementation is available at: www.edina.ac.uk/supportstaff/access_notes.html 24. FE resources available through the Federation as of May 2008 include: SCRAN, European Sources Online, BBC Motion Gallery, Education Image Gallery, Film and Sound Online, Hairdressing Training, Land Life and Leisure, and Literature Online Reference Edition with many more aiming to be live soon. 25. The use of federated access management allows resource providers to personalise their service without being able to identify the actual user. 26. The use of one single username and password should reduce the number of frustrated users giving up on access to online resources through authentication problems and increase the legitimate use of subscribed services. 27. Compliance with a JISC Supported Access Management System is a requirement of all JISC Collections agreements for online content. 28. JISC Collections will continue to support Internet Protocol (IP) ranges as a method of authentication for the foreseeable future.
Athens 29. Athens will move to a subscription based model following the ending of JISC funding on 31st July 2008. Subscription costs are available at: www.athensams.net/federations/openathens/cost 30. OpenAthens is a container term for a variety of products including Classic Athens and Athens Devolved Authentication (DA). Most institutions that purchase OpenAthens will simply carry on using the same Athens service they are currently using (Classic or DA). 31. After July 2008, institutions that no longer subscribe to Athens cannot access resources that solely use Athens for authentication without an OpenAthens subscription. 32. JISC Collections will no longer be asking for Athens compliance in any of their agreements. 33. A list of some of the organisations committed to subscribing to OpenAthens post July 2008 is available at: www.athensams.net/ federations/openathens/organisations
Technology 34. The identity provider software (IdP) is written in Java and can run on both Windows and Unix. 35. The service provider software (SP) is written in C++ and can also work on Windows and Unix. 36. Shibboleth is a SAML profile, which is an XML language for exchanging security information. The protocol utilizes SSL over HTTP to transport information between entities. 37. The Shibboleth IdP integrates with most directory services that support LDAP, including Microsoft Active Directory Services. 38. Because the username is managed by the institution rather than an unknown third-party, it can be properly protected and removed when a user no longer has the right to access resources ensuring you abide by the rules of your licence agreements. 39. Within the Federation, personal information about users is only held by the institution or organisation to which the user is affiliated. It is the permission to access resources which is shared rather than the user’s personal information thereby removing Data Protection issues. 40. The UK Federation uses four core attributes: eduPersonScopedAffiliation: defines the user’s relationship with the organisation and maps directly to definitions used in the JISC Model Licence (staff, student etc.) eduPersonTargetedID: used to recognise a returning user as the same individual as last time to enable personalisation eduPersonPrincipalName: a persistent user identifier that is the same across all resources. This is used for accountability and traceability eduPersonEntitlement: allows for special and unique access rights.
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In the eBook Library... The Initial Guide to only2clicks (June 08)
In the Zipped eXe Library... 1. Formative eAssessment (May 08) 2. Tools 2 gather/ record/ present evidence (May 08) 3. Potential ePDP Software (Personal, Development & Planning) (May 08) 4. Work Based Learning Interactive eLPS Tool (eLearning Posioning Statement Tool) (May 08) 5. Bid Writing (June 08)
Further details: www.ukfederation.org.uk www.jisc.ac.uk/federation The JISC RSC Northwest has a Bluebird area to support the implementation of Federated Access Management, adding regular updates about new resources available through the Federation, new JISC supporting resources and other useful tips and tricks. To join, contact: Chrissie Turkington at ct@rsc-northwest.ac.uk or Keith Wilson at kwil@rsc-northwest.ac.uk
You can find all these in the publications section of our website: www.rsc-northwest.ac.uk 5
Supporting Providers in choosing and using ePortfolios RSC Northwest held a successful one-day event - Choosing and Using an ePortfolio - in April at Haydock Park Racecourse, to provide information on the use of ePortfolios in the post-16 education sector. The programme included a keynote presentation from Graham Attwell, who has been developing ePortfolios in his role as Director of Pontydysgu (Bridge to Learning), an independent Welsh research institute. A ‘marketplace’ ran throughout the day, where ePortfolio providers were able to demonstrate and promote their ePortfolio products to delegates. Workshop sessions during the day focused on: eAssessment portfolios (used for accreditation e.g. NVQ portfolios) eRARPA portfolios (used for recording and reporting progression and achievement on non-accredited courses) ePDP Portfolios (used by learners for personal development and planning) Over 50 delegates from a wide range of Learning Providers attended the event, giving overall positive feedback for the keynote and workshop sessions (which included demonstrations of some free ePortfolio tools), and valuing the networking opportunities that the day provided. Top: One of the workshop sessions underway Above: Delegates networking at the ePortfolio event
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The event has generated very positive practical benefits for some of the Learning Providers that attended – at least four have felt appropriately informed to be able to select the right ePortfolio tool for their needs following the event, and one FE Provider that was in the process of developing its own ePortfolio tool made the decision to purchase one of the ePortfolio tools being demonstrated at the ‘marketplace’ which provided all of the functions and user-friendliness that they had been in the process of developing themselves.
Introducing three new members of RSC Northwest staff We asked our three new RSC NW members the same set of questions about themselves and their roles. Anita Holt has joined the team as eLearning Adviser, expanding support for the large number of FE Colleges in the North West region. Anita brings over 12 years’ experience of lecturing and middle management in post 16-education to her role as eLearning Adviser. 1.
What are you most looking forward to in your new role? I am very passionate about eLearning and believe strongly in the benefits it has to bring to further education. I would like to help teachers and lecturers understand how their lessons can be enhanced by using it.
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What experiences from your previous job challenges will be of use to you in your current role? I have worked in post 16 education for over 12 years as both a lecturer and a middle manager. I have taught students with ages ranging from 13 – senior citizen and have taught courses ranging from pre-entry to degree level. During my career I have overcome a number of barriers to using ILT and eLearning, both inside and outside the classroom. I hope sharing my experiences with others will help them to overcome their own barriers and increase their confidence in using new technology.
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What message would you like to send to the Learning Providers that the RSC Northwest supports? I look forward to visiting you and seeing how you are using technology and to help you develop your ideas.
Anita Holt eLearning Adviser (FE) ah@rsc-northwest.ac.uk
John Davey is the new Information and Communications Officer at RSC Northwest. Information Officers are a relatively recent addition to the staffing in each Regional Support Centre. John had worked in eLearning roles in HE for nine years prior to his appointment, and has a background in Graphic Design and Illustration. 1.
What are you most looking forward to in your new role? I’m really looking forward to working on the case studies and newsletters which form a large part of my role, and (Continued on page 8)
John Davey Information & Communications Officer jdavey@rsc-northwest.ac.uk
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communicating this information in the best way I can; also, meeting with staff from our Learning Providers as a part of this. 2.
What experiences from your previous job challenges will be of use to you in your current role? My previous life as a Graphic Designer should be useful in communicating information to our Learning Providers, and I do look forward to the visual aspects of this part of the role; also, in my HE roles I had to spend a lot of time talking with, and listening to, a wide range of people—this side of things should come in useful now for my case studies.
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What message would you like to send to the Learning Providers that the RSC Northwest supports? That I’m always on the lookout for case studies—if you’ve got a development or project that you think highlights best practice, or which other Learning Providers can learn from, then please get in touch!
Helen Smith has strengthened the Administration team at RSC Northwest. She joins from an administrative post at Lancaster Council. Previous to that Helen worked in personal banking for seven years.
Helen Smith Administrator hs@rsc-northwest.ac.uk
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What are you most looking forward to in your new role? Hopefully providing invaluable support to the advisers and indeed the office. Through doing this I hope it will alleviate some of the day to day stresses!
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What experiences from your previous job challenges will be of use to you in your current role? In previous roles I have been the first point of contact for demanding customers who set tight deadlines and expect high standards. I am sure the same will apply here only this time my customers will also be my colleagues (the advisers). Who all seem great by the way!!!
3. What message would you like to send to the Learning Providers that the RSC Northwest supports? I look forward to working with you and providing a friendly service on each occasion that we have contact.
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eProgress Review The successful implementation of ILT across the full range of activity of any Learning Provider is a complex task. Particularly challenging is the transition from the initial enthusiasm of small groups of practitioners to a sustained use which is part of the holistic approach of the organisation. People who do not always work together are suddenly expected to communicate, understand each other and work together! Systems and practices which have ‘evolved’ separately may be seen as not quite fit for purpose. Key questions about the nature of learning start crossing the minds of Directors of Finance and Quality , through a need to understand the opportunities and requisites of ILT and the fundamental needs of learners. In organisations where people are passionate about their roles, and where there are so many pressures to respond and achieve, it is often hard to stand back and consider what has been achieved so far and to identify short and long-term issues for development in ILT. The RSC Northwest advisory team offers Learning Providers the opportunity for an eProgress Review. It evaluates the use of ILT in direct and indirect support of learning, covers strategic and operational aspects, and recognises the different structures and resourcing which work in support of ILT in different Learning Providers. Senior Managers have found the process stimulating and the resulting framework for development helpful, and our experience is that Operational Managers, Staff and Students respond in the same spirit. Assistance through an eProgress Review, part of the RSC’s free support service, can be offered in a number of ways, including: A review of strategic, policy and planning approaches Access to self-evaluation tools Support and training in carrying out an internal review Support for eProgress Review carried out within peer-relationships between Learning Providers Team eProgress review by RSC Advisers All our consultation is confidential to the Learning Provider, and we maintain contact and support following a review activity. If you wish to discuss the way an eProgress Review might help your organisation, please contact Andrew Quarmby, RSC Manager aq@rsc-northwest.ac.uk - or any member of the advisory team.
New Informs developments...
JISC has given Intute funding to run a second phase of Informs (interactive online tutorials creation) developments, running until October 2008. The new phase of work has three main strands accessibility, functionality, and community engagement - and Intute will be consulting with its registered users to get feedback and advice about the developments. Intute will be running a series of Informs events to test the new developments (as mentioned above), exploring how they might use online social networking tools, and sharing best practice for creating and using tutorials. See the project website www.informs.intute.ac.uk/ project.html - for these latest developments, and details of how you can contact the project team - Diana Massam (Manager), Lisa Charnock (Project Support), and Mus Heddi (Technical) with any questions and feedback, or to talk about the plans. 9
Get accreditation as a Learning Technologist... CMALT is Certified Membership of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), a national, cross-sector accreditation scheme developed by ALT in 2005. Applying for CMALT involves creation and peer assessment of a portfolio of evidence against a set of core and specialist areas defined as central to the role of a Learning Technologist. Until 31st July 2008, staff working in UK HE and FE (inc. Adult and Community and Work Based Learning) are eligible to register for CMALT at a preferential rate of £47.50. This 50% reduction on the CMALT fee is part-funded by a grant from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). Details on the ALT website at: www.alt.ac.uk/cmalt.html For informal enquiries contact Dr Jay Dempster, Consultant to ALT and CMALT's Certification Manager at: jay.dempster@alt.ac.uk or phone 0845 159 0065. 10
Langdon Lecturer prompts new video sharing project David Foden of Langdon College - an Independent Specialist College in Salford, and part of the successful ‘Mobile in Salford’ MoLeNet project along with Pendleton, Eccles and Salford Colleges - is developing a resource for sharing vital video clips. Langdon is the smallest college in the North West with 17 students who primarily come from the Manchester and London Jewish communities. As part of their commitment to providing an ‘inclusive multi faceted extended curriculum’, they are using a number of mobile devices to enable learners to more successfully transfer the skills they learn in college to both the college residences and their own homes. The college has bought a range of equipment to trial, including Samsung Q1 touch screen tablet PCs, Asus Eeepc, iPods and portable DVD players. David Foden, the Independent Living Skills lecturer is leading the way, providing video instructions on basic cooking techniques. The learners access the instructions through an interactive PowerPoint slide. The page is divided into grids with either symbol or verbal instructions. On pressing the relevant square, the video loads and the learner can follow the instructions on the screen. Each task has been broken down into its constituent parts so that it follows a simple and logical sequence. So the first instruction is to wash your hands, followed by putting on an apron etc. By having these instructions on mobile appliances, the learners can take them back to the residences where support staff can ensure that they follow the procedure they have been learning in college. Similarly, when the learner goes home for the weekend or half term holiday, they can show their parents or carers how they can make their own lunch. This will allow the students more independence as they tend to become deskilled when they return home as things are done for them. The learners now have ‘homework’ to do in half term to make at least one simple snack meal of beans or cheese on toast. MoLeNet have now created a scheme, MoLeShare for all of their projects to be able to share their findings and any content that is
created. This is ideal for most mainstream colleges but the nature of the learners at Specialist Colleges and those mainstream providers with complex learners, mean that added accessibility features are needed. David was sure that there were other lecturers in Specialist and Mainstream colleges doing much the same thing and wanted a way to share both the videos and the way they were delivered. He approached the RSC Northwest who contacted TechDis. John Sewell, Senior Adviser for Specialist Colleges at TechDis commented: “Short video clips are a great way of showing how to do things and the way that they have been put together by David Foden at Langdon is great; so great it needs to be shared. These clips take time to produce so it makes sense to share. We aim to put together a national resource to do just that”.
Learning Innovation Grants - £4m for Phase 4 Following on from the Association of Learning Providers (ALP) Learning Innovation Grant (LIG) programme, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) have released a further £4m capital funds to support the work-based learning sector in making best use of technology and eLearning . The aims are to: Broaden participation and achievement Support growth of Apprenticeships and Train to Gain programmes LIG 4 will take a new approach, building on a model pioneered by the Learning and Skills Network (LSN) for the FE MoLeNet project last year. ALP has been asked by the LSC to develop a similar system for LIG 4, which will require Providers to make a financial contribution to their LIG bids. The JISC RSCs have been working closely with ALP to establish a co-ordinated eLearning support programme for the work-based learning sector, and offer those successful in receiving a LIG ongoing support to progress their projects and ILT strategic developments.
Interactive eLearning Positioning Statement tool for WBL... An interactive eLearning Positioning Statement (eLPS) tool for Work Based Learning Providers is now available as an RSC Northwest eMagazine supplement. This interactive tool will aid Learning Providers in completing the existing paper-based version. The tool could prove invaluable in supporting you with a LIG 4 Bid or in writing your ILT/eLearning Strategy. If you require further assistance feel free to contact: Colin Gallacher cg@rsc-northwest.ac.uk or John Dalziel jd@rsc-northwest.ac.uk If you wish to add this resource to your VLE or distribute it on memory stick or CD, you can download it from: www.rsc-northwest.ac. uk/elps 11
RSC Northwest team... Manager Andrew Quarmby aq@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Administrators Christine Hulme Helen Smith admin@rsc-northwest.ac.uk eLearning Advisers John Dalziel (Adult & Community Learning) jd@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Colin Gallacher (Work Based Learning) cg@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Kevin Hickey (Further Education) kh@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Anita Holt (Further Education) ah@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Higher Education support@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Chrissie Turkington (Learning Resources) ct@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Lisa Valentine (Inclusion) lv@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Keith Wilson (Technology) kwil@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Events Co-ordinator Helen Metcalfe hm@rsc-northwest.ac.uk Information Officer John Davey jdavey@rsc-northwest.ac.uk
JISC Regional Support Centre Northwest 2nd Floor Bailrigg House, Lancaster University Lancaster. LA1 4YE Phone: 01524 593797 Fax: 01524 593798 Email: admin@rsc-northwest.ac.uk
www.rsc-northwest.ac.uk Please send any comments and feedback about the newsletter to John Davey at: jdavey@rsc-northwest.ac.uk