RSC East Midlands newsletter "intouch" - Autumn 2005

intouch

Forthcoming

EVENTS Key themes in this year’s event programme are: • Emerging technologies for learning looks at how new technologies such as blogs, podcasting and mobile phones can be used in the educational setting; • Teaching and learning examines how e-learning adds powerful tools to tackle issues such as accessibility, active learning, differentiation and learning styles; • Management sessions cover strategic and operational issues including copyright, risk management and quality; • Our very successful Learning Journey event for practitioners new to e-learning will be offered in several locations across the region. One will be for scientists, another for staff developers; • The technical theme includes a visit to Microsoft; • Forums bring together colleagues from across the region to explore common issues.

October 6th 11th 13th

Technical Forum i-skills Group Meeting Microsoft Technology Day

November 1st 10th 10th 15th 16th 18th

22nd 24th

29th 30th

LRC Forum Specialist Colleges Forum JISC Legal Workshop: Copyright & e-Learning ILT Forum TechDis Practitioners & Management event Personalised Web Communications: Blogs & Podcasting HE in FE Forum Introduction to JORUM, Reload and TOIA: New Tools for the Creation and Storage of Online Content and Assessments JISC infoNet Workshop: Email Management The Learning Journey

December 1st 8th 13th 14th

MIS Forum Active Learning with Technology JISC infoNet Workshop: Risk Management Technical Forum

the termly newsletter produced by RSC East Midlands

FOCUS

ON...

Success for All - launched 19 November 2002 ‘Success for All’ was the Government’s strategy to transform the learning and skills sector. The importance of collaborative approaches, improved teaching, training and learning, human resource development, and the overarching emphasis on quality and success, all signified a new climate and drive.

The DfES Standards Unit was established in January 2003. The Standards Unit has a specific role to act as a catalyst to accelerate the transformation of teaching, training, learning, workforce development and leadership across the whole sector. The Unit works with partner organisations to improve the quality of provision in further education colleges, adult and community learning, work-based learning, school sixth forms and prisons.

regional team are there to help all teachers and trainers exploit these resources.

• Every post-16 provider has been invited to nominate a successful and experienced teacher or trainer as their subject learning coaches in the four priority curriculum areas. These teachers and trainers will be champions for change and be supported by the Standards Unit in the Regions. They can take part in the Standards Unit’s free national training programme in coaching, which began in March 2005.

• Launch of the Regional Network Meetings which are subject specific. All subject learning coaches are invited to become a member. This will assist in the subject learning coaches’ continuing professional development.

• achieve excellence and improve success for all their learners.

• Phase Two curriculum materials are also being developed and piloted by some providers within the region for Maths, LandBased, Health and Social Care and ICT, with national launch of these free resources from September 2005. Work has already started on the Phase Three curriculum areas of Adult and Community Learning, Engineering, Initial Teacher Training and Modern Foreign Languages, with national roll-out planned for September 2006.

Significant milestones achieved by the SU to date within the regions are:

For more information, visit http://www.successforall.gov.uk

• Launch and distribution of the free teaching and learning multi media packages in the first four priority curriculum areas of Business, Science, Construction and Entry to Employment. The

Tim Smith, East Midlands Regional Director, Standards Unit tim1.smith@dfes.gsi.gov.uk tel: 0115 9299100

The Government made a commitment to establish a Standards Unit regional network. In each of the nine regions there is a team working in collaboration with partner organisations and colleagues to ensure that the work of the Standards Unit supports all learning organisations to: • improve teaching, training and learning; • develop their work force;

Hints

and

Tips:

What can Moodle do for you?

Were you aware that there is now a regional Moodle network?

The use of open source software is growing apace and none more so than Moodle, the open source Course Management System or Virtual Learning Environment. Some learning providers are looking at Moodle, while others have decided to opt for it as their preferred platform.

The nine Adult and Community learning providers in the region each have Moodle platforms courtesy of the East Midlands Broadband Consortium. Other open source VLEs are available. Other Virtual Learning Environments or Learning Management Systems continue to be deployed by East Midlands learning providers. Some learning providers have developed their Intranet.

Questions have been raised about migrating, support, scaleability and accessibility. These are being addressed and it’s a good idea to keep going back to check the Moodle site http://moodle.org/ because things move fast within this community, both nationally and internationally. There are forums and FAQs to provide support and help with

both technical and practitioner queries.

We are hoping to host a Moodle Introductory event in the Spring term. Keep an eye on the web site.

A JISCMail list has been created for dissemination of information and resources while providing the opportunity for practitioners to network: EM-MOODLE@jiscmail.ac.uk http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/EM-MOODLE.html Moodlebug In addition to her e-learning blog, Josie Fraser at Wyggeston and QE1 College has a Moodle blog called Moodlebug http://fraser.typepad.com/moodle/ Several learning providers have courses up and running, some of which are accessible to guests.

Ferl provides an overview of features and factors to take into consideration http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=7007

Volume 4 • Issue 1

Autumn 2005

Welcome from the Editor I N S I D E I trust you’re all settling back into the new academic year after a relaxing summer break. Despite this busy time of year, I hope you’ll be able to find a few minutes to have a look through this edition of in touch.

Check your ILT Health Course Genie: Issues arising from creating your own e-learning materials. Part two.

UKERNA Networkshop: Delegate Experiences

Rachael Pearson, e-Learning Advisor

e-Learning in Derby

FREE BOOKLETS

Forthcoming events

“Internet Resources in Healthcare and Medicine” and “Internet Resources in Animal Health” from BIOME For further info go to http://biome.ac.uk/about/publications/

Hints and Tips: What can Moodle do for you?

Focus on: The Standards Unit

Improving and Investing in Information Skills In support of a recent project investigating staff development needs in relation to information skills (i-skills), the JISC has produced three documents which provide guidelines and advice to institutions on developing staff information skills and which outline the anticipated benefits to the staff, the organisation and the student: • Investing in i-skills considers the benefits of investing in i-skills for both the staff and the institution and includes a short selfassessment exercise.

• Improving i-skills looks at ways to improve staff i-skills and includes suggestions for creating a staff i-skills development programme.

• Introduction to i-skills a short introduction to pass around to colleagues to help raise awareness of information skills.

Copies of these documents have been sent to all college principals and staff development officers. Further copies can be ordered by contacting: publications@jisc.ac.uk They are also available to download from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=staff_development

Support for Information Skills from RSC East Midlands Last term the LRC Forum addressed the issue of promoting i-skills and considered drivers that have the potential to move i-skills from the periphery to a more central position within the institution. Ways in which colleagues in the region could collaborate and share their resources and expertise in this field were also discussed.

As a result of these discussions, it was decided that an i-skills Group would be set up. A majority of those that attended the forum expressed an interest in being part of this group and Donna Harper, LRC Manager at North Nottinghamshire College kindly volunteered to act as Chair.

The group will have an initial meeting on 11th October to consider the remit and scope of the group and plan a course of action to develop future collaboration.

If you did not attend the LRC Forum, but would like to be part of the i-skills Group, please let me know: judi.millage@rsc-em.ac.uk It would be invaluable to have in the group at least one representative from each institution in the region and I look forward to hearing from you. If you attended the forum and have already expressed an interest, there is no need to contact me, as I already have your details.

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Martin Cooke, ILT Adviser

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Welcome Improving and Investing In Information Skills

The last few months have seen significant changes for JISC’s involvement in FE. However, the Regional Support Centre continues to offer advice and guidance to all of our supported sectors. For more information on how we can help you to make the most of new technologies, visit http://www.rsc-em.ac.uk/rsc_services.htm

Judi Millage, ILT Advisor

For further details see our website

www.rsc-east-midlands.ac.uk

This issue

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intouch

intouch

The UKERNA Networkshop Experience

Course Genie: What Issues Arise from giving Subject Specialists the Tools to Create their own E-Learning Materials?

Part two...

There are a lot of positives involved when we speak about subject specialists creating their own chunks of e-learning material.

The end result stands more chance of being ‘in tune’ with the tutor’s own teaching style, and more up to date and relevant.

Side effects are that the process provides an opportunity for staff to review their existing material and reinforce their knowledge. A useful strategy in promoting CourseGenie to lecturing staff, who as a rule of thumb never have a great deal of time to spare, would be to emphasise it as a system whereby life would be made easier.

Electronic content is much more reusable than paper based, and if well thought out can also be repurposed in the future. The output that CourseGenie provides isn’t proprietary and any materials created can almost certainly be used on SCORM compliant VLE’s for years to come. It is, for want of a better term, reasonably ‘future proof’.

However, there are issues that need to be taken into consideration when we give tutors the opportunity to convert existing work; CourseGenie won’t automatically make a simple handout engaging and interesting, and ultimately qualify it as a chunk of e-learning.

The distinction between online course notes and genuinely interactive materials needs to be made right from the beginning of this initiative. This again needs to be led by effective and engaging staff development; we need to emphasise how simple and fun it can be to create a quiz, or to import video clips into what was once an uninspiring Word document.

The final issue is accessibility. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA) requires that all materials are accessible to all students. CourseGenie can be a real asset here, as materials can quite simply be made accessible with the correct training. Control over such elements as colour, typeface size, navigation, and images can all help to make a document accessible, and are all things which can be easily changed or well designed in CourseGenie. Good practice here is essential; with the planning stages of creation central to this. Usually, materials created with accessibility in mind are not just accessible to students with particular disabilities but are accessible to everyone. This philosophy should be central to any staff development programme.

Conclusion It seems that the issues we have explored can be made positive if we accept that with a change of emphasis in content creation, comes a change in working culture, and it is the facilitation of that cultural change which should be central to the college’s support structure.

This means the planning and implementation of ongoing support, allowing for differentiation at all stages. E-Learning is not just about learning, and it isn’t just about the technology, but is equally about response to and management of change.

The key idea is to make sure that the tutor plans what they want their content to look like, and what they want it to achieve. CourseGenie works best when the original material is well laid out and in a logical order, so it may be an idea to reinforce this particular area of good practice before staff become dissatisfied with a product that is ‘messing up’ their work! Other considerations such as making sure that all content is copyright cleared would make excellent topics for workshop sessions, and many JISC resources would be ideal partners for such events.

What is of paramount importance here is that throughout these initial stages, champions pre-empt a lot of these problems, and have staff development opportunities in place to cater for all levels of technical and pedagogical knowledge.

The ILT Health Check gives an overview of the current state of ILT within your college or organisation, using a process based on the Common Inspection Framework. Members of the RSC review your relevant documentation, spend a day with you talking to individuals and groups who have a

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perspective on the use of ILT and prepare a concise report identifying strengths, areas for development and recommended actions.

The report is presented at a follow-up meeting.

“It helped us review and revise our procedures as we prepare for re-inspection,” says Carole Tidball, Assistant Principal (Quality & Standards) at The People’s College in Nottingham, “including our approach to lesson observation and how we use our ILT Sector Representatives”. Carole believes that the Health Check provided “additional crucial evidence for our self assessment report.”

Marek Barc Whitegates Further Education Unit

Paul Drage Homefield College

This was my first time in Manchester, but with the aid of the handy map, provided to conference delegates, I managed to get to registration on time. The conference covered all areas relating to the JANET network and technical developments, and the workshop environment allowed me to develop a much better understanding of the JANET network and the services available to institutions connected to it. There was a wide range of sessions available, covering many different topics including wireless networking experiences in the FE sector, Manchester’s LIN deployment for Networkshop 33, disaster recovery and many more. Bruce Rodger enlivened his lecture by anecdotes from his experiences of the disastrous fire at Strathclyde University. As well as improving my knowledge of the latest technologies, and the JANET network, I was also able to talk to colleagues from many different institutions, sharing ideas and problems. The importance of sharing of knowledge with colleagues cannot be underestimated. Finally, it has to be said that the fact that the conference dinner took place on the orient express only helped to make Networkshop 33 even more memorable!

As it was my first visit to Networkshop, this year held in the bustling city of Manchester, I didn’t really know what to expect. I made my way to the main entrance where I bumped in to my old colleagues from Loughborough College, and after making my way through the very well organised foyer and obtaining the obligatory techie accessory (the extremely well crafted Networkshop laptop bag) I made my way in to the main hall where I spent the next hour or two drooling at the various array of switches, security products and video streaming systems on offer. Over the course of the next few days I attended many excellent lectures, some were very impressive, such as Dr Chris Adie’s work at Edinburgh University on the Shibboleth system, which allows secure transaction of data between universities across the world. Others had valuable advice on how to cope in an emergency, such as how Bruce Rodgers (IT Manager) coped after half of Strathclyde University burnt down! The quality of every lecture was excellent matched only by the amenities and hospitality at Manchester University, where it seemed impossible not to be in a wireless hotspot. How could I end this piece without mentioning the Conference Dinner on the Orient Express? A magical four hour round trip which included a four course meal and entertainment provided by an astounding ‘slight of hand’ magician.

I’m still baffled as to where he plucked that coin from! All in all this was the perfect end to an informative and inspirational few days. It made me ponder on the clever name given to the event. Yes this was an event based around the educational network JANET, but it was also about networking with colleagues across the UK (and indeed the world) so that ultimately, we can work together to drive the technology and skills ever upwards for the benefit of all learners.

Chris Bell, Former Specialist Colleges Advisor.

Since writing this article, Chris has left the RSC and moved to an e-Learning position at the University of Derby, We were very sorry to lose Chris, and wish him all the best in his new role.

Check your ILT Health Many colleges have benefited from the Network Health Check offered by the Regional Support Centre (RSC). Now we have introduced an ILT Health Check.

The UKERNA Networkshop 33 was held at the University of Manchester in March this year. Here, the region’s LSC funded IT Support Officers, Marek Barc and Paul Drage, describe their experiences.

The People’s College used the Health Check in the context of inspection, but it can also provide rigorous independent evidence for routine self assessment processes. There is no charge for the ILT Health Check (or the Network one), although there is a limit to how many we can carry out each term.

Carole describes the process as “very quick and very professional”.

If you would like to discuss a Health Check for your college or organisation, contact support@rsc-em.ac.uk

Delegates of Networkshop 33 enjoy dinner on the Orient Express © Robin Stevens rejs@cynic.org.uk

e-Learning in Derby Making the decision to have e-Learning as a major theme at our Annual Tutor Conference at the end of April proved to be a good move.

video cameras, voice recorders, PDA’s and scanners.

The success was sealed by the keynote speaker, Terry Loane, who managed to captivate the audience of over 100.

His humour, plain English and non technical approach enthused everyone.

Other workshops such as the ones led

by Sharon Hutchings (JISC RSC East Midlands) enabled participants to carry that enthusiasm into doing something practical.

equipment helped to dissipate the mystery of e-Learning. It’s for everyone.

“DerbyLearn will be a massive help to shift workers”

“DerbyLearn has VAST POTENTIAL even for practical courses such as Fencing”

It was becoming clear that people with little technical knowledge could not only become involved, but get results quickly and easily. Seeing their efforts in action on Derbylearn.net has encouraged tutors from each curriculum area to get involved.

The surprise is that many tutors who had expressed a disinterest a year ago are now amongst some of the most enthusiastic.

Our embryonic learning platform was available for everyone to glimpse at things ‘just round the corner’ but there is no doubt that demonstrating simple to use digital cameras and other pieces of

Following on from the conference Terry was invited back in June to lead some workshops on our now established learning platform Derbylearn.net http://derbylearn.net/. By this time interest had grown significantly and the workshops were spread over 2 days.

We now have e-Learning boxes of equipment established at main centres across the city so on this occasion more equipment was introduced including

“A great way to improve retention”.

Jim Beizsley, Quality and Curriculum Manager, Derby Adult Learning Service

Chris Hill, RSC Manager

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