intouch
the termly newsletter produced by RSC East Midlands
Forthcoming
EVENTS 26th
8th
10th 23rd
Netskills Workshop Design Solutions for e-learning Netskills Workshop Content Solutions for e-learning
JISC infoNet Workshop An Introduction to Records Management JISC infoNet Workshop Creating a Managed Learning Environment Using ILT in Biology OSS Watch Roadshow
March 1st 8th
TBC TBC
LRC Forum JISC infoNet Workshop Effective Use of VLE’s HE Forum Technical Forum
For further details see our website
www.rsc-east-midlands.ac.uk
Hints
FOCUS
This activity took place during the initial assessment/induction section of a Teacher Education programme at South Leicestershire College.
February 3rd
South Leicestershire College Constructing Constructivism through ILT:
January 25th
COLLEGE
and
After being given a brief introduction to the topic of constructivism, the learners (all in-service tutors) were given a task brief: The learners had to work in a small team to research constructivism within a specified time frame and agree a definition of constructivism that could be summarised on one power-point slide. The team had to create the slide themselves. They also had to produce an electronic handout for their peers that summarised their research, linked the research findings to their own teaching practice and included internet and journal references. The aim of the activity was to encourage the learners to work together in groups to research ‘constructivism’ through the use of ILT and to experience the ‘constructing of a construct’. Prior to engaging in the activity, the learners had completed a right brain/left brain learning style analysis and the results were used to mix the groups up (as part of the task, they would later reflect on the group work processes). This activity was beneficial on many levels It demanded the use of ILT - Web research, Power-point presentation (all student centred). The activity also required group work and provided the learners with an opportunity to reflect on the impact of learning styles in a group task situation Because of the diversity of the student population in terms of experience and prior attainment, the activity promoted peer tutoring and the
Tips:
What are they? Electronic voting systems (EVS) combine software that allows you to create interactive, multimedia tests, quizzes and other activities, with hardware in the form of handsets (rather like a TV remote control), which allow learners to respond at the press of a button. How do they work? • An activity is designed using the software. • The activity is then projected on to a screen. • Learners select their response using the handset. • A receiver picks up the responses and stores them on a computer. • Answers are automatically marked and can be viewed as reports, statistics or graphs. Why use EVS in teaching and learning? To “engage” the students i.e. not only to wake them up and cheer them up, but to get their minds working on the subject matter, and so to prompt learning’ (Draper 2002). • Assessment - both formative and as practice for summative assessment. Marking is automatic and instant; the learner knows immediately whether they have answered correctly and how their performance relates to the rest of the group; the teacher can instantly gauge the understanding of individuals and the group as a whole and adapt the lesson accordingly.
Volume 3 • Issue 2
Spring 2005
Welcome from the Editor I N S I D E Welcome to the first In touch of 2005. I hope you all enjoyed your well deserved break, and are settling back into the new term. development of independent and interdependent learning skills.
The new year brings with it a new editor of In touch. I’m sure you’ll be pleased to see that I have kept the format that you are by now so familiar with. I am, however, very keen to
This issue TechDis Accessibility Box Adult and Community Learning sector ILT/e-learning strategy: From development to implementation
Learners learnt that they could ‘learn without teaching’ - particularly pertinent to trainee teachers. For some this was their first experience of developing understanding of a topic without teacher ‘input’
hear your views. If there’s anything new you’d like to see in the next edition, please let me midlands.ac.uk
The First East Midlands ILT Fair
The course tutors were able to formatively assess not only learning of the topic, but approaches to learning. We were able to provide support where necessary and identify gaps in terms of ILT skills. We were also able to observe and assess the aptitude of learners for collaborative learning activities.
On the back page you will see that this term’s events focus on other JISC services, with a
The JISC Effective Practice with e-Learning guide
The learners thoroughly enjoyed the activity and most of them said that they found it fun - for some the first time that they had been able to use the ‘F’ word in learning! Jackie Rossa Development Manager Teaching and Learning South Leicestershire College
The use of Electronic Voting Systems in Teaching and Learning
• Formative feedback on learning. Questions at the start of a lesson are used to identify a topic for more detailed coverage. The same or similar questions at the end of the lesson provide feedback on the learning that has taken place. • Formative feedback to the teacher on the teaching. Regular feedback on the course or a specific lesson allows effective changes to be made immediately. • Peer assessment. Where student presentations are made to the group a series of questions can be used to gather instant feedback on their performance. • Generate discussion. Learners register (thus committing themselves to an opinion) and then discuss their answers to a posed question. Increase participation. Privacy of choice allows the less confident learner to express an opinion without inhibition. Improve interaction. Active learning improves attention, interest, understanding and recall. Support from the RSC The RSC has a set of voting pads and can run practical workshops for you where you get the chance to try out the tool and explore what it can do. If you would like to arrange a demonstration, please contact Judi Millage: millagej@loucoll.ac.uk Judi Millage, ILT Advisor References Draper S et al (2002). Electronically enhanced classroom interaction. WWW document: www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/ilig/why.html Visited 24/08/04.
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know, and if you’d like to submit an article, just email me at support@rsc-east-
host of workshops being delivered by Netskills and JISC infoNet. If you’re interested in free and open source software, then look out for the OSS Watch Roadshow on February 23rd. To book on any of our events, visit our website at www.rsc-east-midlands.ac.uk
Providing and Supporting JANET Connections: Who Does What? Starting your Learning Journey
Rachael Stacey, e-Learning Advisor (HE)
Forthcoming events College Focus: South Leicestershire College
TechDis Accessibility Box
Hints and Tips: The Use of Electronic Voting Systems
Often when we think about assistive technologies, images of complex kit and highly specialised software packages are brought to mind. Although there are plenty of different types of equipment on the market to justify this image, we quite often neglect the low-cost good practice for all solutions, readily available to most of us in colleges. TechDis, the JISC educational advisory service for accessibility needs, has recently supplied each Regional Support Centre with a collection of assistive technologies. The ‘Assistive Technology Boxes’ contain a host of hardware and software, which can be used to enhance teaching and learning for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Whilst some of the technologies are specialist, such as trackballs, joysticks and specialist keyboards, what is most striking about this kit is that many of the technologies are more main-stream such as MP3 players and digital movie creators, and also low-tech. The low-tech items in the kit range from regular post-it notes & copyholders to indexing cards & highlighter pens, items which we wouldn’t normally associate with assistive technology. So, what would be the disability rationale for using a highlighter pen? Maybe students with dyslexia find that highlighting text in a variety of different colours helps distinguish words from one another, and in doing so may well help break particular sentences down into smaller more manageable chunks. There is also evidence to suggest that students with impaired vision often benefit from highlighting words and sentences, an ordinary highlighter pen as an assistive technology because it is simply effective in making text stand out from the page. So, what does all this mean for your college? Under the guidance of TechDis, the RSC has been taking the ‘Assistive Technology Box’ out to
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colleges to allow staff the time to look at the kit and assess it’s potential use in their particular area. What we have found is that a lot of colleges already have video cameras, MP3 players, digital cameras and many of the low-tech items mentioned earlier, but that it isn’t badged as assistive technology so isn’t used as such. We hope that by coming out and visiting your college we can demonstrate how much of this equipment, with the particular accessibility needs of your students as the focus, can be put to good use. That isn’t to say that we don’t also have access to highly specialised pieces of kit, so if you or a particular student want to try something out before spending a large sum of money then getting access to the ‘Assistive Technology Box’ may be a good way of doing so. Although training can be useful and stimulating it is often quite difficult, for all sorts of reasons, to carry fresh momentum and enthusiasm into the classroom, especially frustrating when the procurement of equipment is the main barrier. We hope to minimise this frustration by offering college’s access to particular pieces of kit in the ‘Assistive Technology Box’ on a loan basis. So, if you want the RSC to visit your college to provide training for and access to the ‘Assistive Technology Box’ then contact us on support@rsc-em.ac.uk and we can work out a session that best suits your staff, and ultimately best serves your students. Chris Bell, Specialist Colleges Advisor
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Adult and Community Learning sector ILT/e-Learning strategy: From development to implementation As your full strategies have now been submitted, and I can imagine with great relief, I’d just like to take a little time to look back at what’s been achieved here in the East Midlands.
your E-guides so they don’t feel isolated once their initial training is completed. The support could be in the form of additional training, help with their cascade plans or just a phone call to our help desk.
For many of you developing your strategies has been a huge increase in your existing workload, for others you have been given the specific role to develop your organisations awareness and commitment to ILT and elearning. Either way this has been quite a journey and has demanded a huge commitment from you and your service. I think a good way to measure how much hard work has been done is to consider what your personal understanding of ILT/e-Learning was before you became involved in developing your strategies and what it is now and, importantly, how this is beginning to transform your service! Just from my time spent with you I’d say there’s been a huge shift in the way you see technology enhancing the learning and teaching within your organisations, the next stage is to make all this happen!
Variety of ILT/e-Learning workshops
Implementing your strategies
What support do you want?
So, you’ve written your strategies, (and I wouldn’t dare say this was the easy bit!!) however the next step should be the really interesting one where you put it all into action. So where does the RSC go from here in terms of support available? I will continue to support the ACL sector, and look forward to it, but here at the RSC we have many areas of expertise within our team and they are looking forward to becoming involved with the ACL sector also. Below are some examples of ways we can support the implementation of your strategies:
The above is just a taste of support available; the key focus this year is for you to say what kind of support you really need to help you implement your strategies. Late January we will be organising a meeting to discuss the ways we can support you, so please start thinking of ideas.
We run a number of workshops from project management to creating simple e-resources in MS office. Check the website regularly for details of events. Forums We run a number of forums where those interested meet up to discuss topics relevant to them. We would very much like to welcome the ACL sector to any of these forums and one we think may be of real use to EGuides, (and likewise to their FE counterparts) is the Ferl Practitioners Programme forum. Details of forums will be posted to the website and the ACL discussion list.
Sharon Hutchings, ACL Advisor
In addition to the E-guides programme we aim to offer ongoing support to
The First East Midlands ILT Fair The Regional Support Centre is pleased to announce that the first East Midlands ILT Fair will be held at the University of Derby on June 23rd 2005. The theme will be all about making ILT normal. ILT is not an optional add on for enthusiasts or anoraks, but part of normal daily life in any learning provider. No matter what your role is teaching, learning support, administration, management, technical and other support services - ILT can be part of the way you work. Whether you work in an FE or sixth form college, specialist college, smaller HEI or Adult and Community Education, there will be something in the ILT Fair for you.
You will be able to: • listen to inspirational speakers • find out what other learning providers in the region are doing • learn from regional projects • meet the regional and national organisations that provide you with ILT services • go to short sessions on all sorts of ILT issues • browse the exhibition
going on in East Midland learning providers and we would very much like you to tell us about it at the Fair by having a stall or running a short session. If you are prepared to share, then get in touch with Gwen Callaghan or another member of the RSC team. The Fair will be free - and we are even planning some things for you to take away with you in addition to the ideas and the contacts!
• chat to colleagues from other learning providers
Further information will be on the RSC website and arriving in your institution soon. Book the date in your diary and keep your eyes open!
But this is not just a Fair to go to - it is one to take part in. Tell the rest of the region what works for you. There is much effective practice
Chris Hill, RSC Manager
The JISC Effective Practice with e-Learning guide Copies of the Effective Practice with e-Learning guide went out to providers in December 2004. The report is built around ten case studies - the emphasis is on the seamless use of e-learning within a variety of settings. The use of VLEs is a common thread. ILT tools used include:
the benefits of ILT are to be found in the context of planned learning.
• Use of images and audio files to support the development of conceptual learning • Use of mind-mapping software to visualise the relationships between concepts and to structure lines of argument • Use of Learning Activity Management System (LAMS), to build short sequences of activities to maintain active engagement on a collaborative task. • Interactive Whiteboard • Moodle • Assistive technology • Collaborative tools • MS Producer
There is an accompanying CD which includes video case studies.
Effective practice with e-learning looks at the pedagogy and is related to learners, the learning environment and the intended learning outcomes. It emphasises that
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The provision of a JANET connection involves a close collaboration between a number of different organisations. Unfortunately, there isn’t one magical “JANET organisation” that provides all of the equipment for the connection itself and the technical support for an institution’s link to the outside world and the rest of the Internet. Although there are many different organisations involved in the provision of a JANET connection, for the readers of this newsletter, the main organisations involved are UKERNA (United Kingdom Education and Research Networking Association), the EMMAN (East Midlands Metropolitan Area Network) and the JISC East Midlands Regional Support Centre. UKERNA (United Kingdom Education and Networking Association)
On a final note I want to say thank you for being a great group to support you have made my job a real joy. I’m really looking forward to this year and seeing all the hard work you have done over the last year continue to have a positive impact on the way you deliver your learning and teaching.
Support for E-Guides
Providing and Supporting JANET Connections: Who does what?
Feedback is valued, and to this end, a JISC case study template is included, designed to encourage reflection on the design of learning activities and sharing with other practitioners. Information about the JISC e-Learning Programme can be found at www.jisc.ac.uk/elearning Sarah Knight, Programme Manager sarah.knight@bristol.ac.uk Digital copies can be downloaded from
UKERNA is responsible for management of the JANET network. Some of the roles undertaken by UKERNA involve the provisioning and operating the highly resilient, high-speed, high-bandwidth core of the JANET network, (often referred to as the JANET backbone), negotiating with regional networks, such as the EMMAN, to provide regional connectivity for education and research institutions, working with the JISC (Joint Information Services Committee) and the various education and research funding councils to ensure continued funding for the development and expansion of the JANET network and the provision of training, events, publications and services to help connected institutions make best use of their JANET connection. UKERNA is responsible for the management of the JANET network as a whole and operates the JANET
backbone on behalf of connected institutions. This hopefully gives some idea as to the role and function of UKERNA. More information can be found on UKERNA’s website www.ukerna.ac.uk or by telephoning JANET Customer Service on 0870-8502212. EMMAN (East Midlands Metropolitan Area Network) The EMMAN is responsible for regional JANET connectivity in the East Midlands region. The area covered by the EMMAN includes Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. Just as there is a JANET backbone, managed by UKERNA, the EMMAN procures, and operates an equivalent regional backbone, to give regional institutions JANET connectivity. The regional backbone in the East Midlands consists of a resilient, highspeed, high-bandwidth network connecting each of the region’s eight universities. Individual institutions requiring a JANET connection then connect to the nearest university. In a similar way to UKERNA operating the national backbone of the JANET network, the EMMAN operates the regional section of the JANET network in the East Midlands. A formal agreement exists between the EMMAN and UKERNA to ensure that the same standards of service apply to the regional network as well as the JANET backbone. More information about the EMMAN, can be found on their website www.emman.net JISC East Midlands Regional Support Centre In the summer of 2000, the Learning and Skills Council funded the JISC to establish thirteen
regional support centres throughout the UK. The original idea of the regional support centres was to connect FE Colleges to the JANET network and then help them “increase the use of ILT in the curriculum”. Since the Regional Support Centre was formed, the support offered to FE Colleges has also been extended to Specialist Colleges, Higher Education Colleges and the Adult and Community Learning Sector. From a technical point of view, this has involved working with UKERNA and the EMMAN to install and bring into service connections to the JANET network and then working with the institutions to develop their networks and systems to allow learners to make most effective use of the JANET connection. The ways for working towards this vary from institution to institution, but the main purpose for the regional support centre is to use its links to organisations such as the EMMAN, UKERNA and the JISC to help institutions get the information they need and to encourage the sharing of good practice within the region. In summary, the purpose of the Regional Support Centre is to act as a source of information for supported institutions, encourage the sharing of best practice between them, and to work on their behalf with UKERNA and the EMMAN. In terms of the JANET network, this means that the Regional Support Centre acts as a link for connected institutions to UKERNA and the EMMAN, operators of the national and regional sections of the JANET network. More information about the JISC East Midlands Regional Support Centre and the services it offers can be found on the website www.rsc-em.ac.uk or by telephone 01509-618110. James Higham, Network Specialist
Starting your Learning Journey Incorporating the potential of e-learning into your teaching is a process - a journey. If you are at the start of your Learning Journey, the East Midlands RSC is running a whole day event so you can travel purposefully and successfully. This is not a talking shop. It is a practical event for teachers, tutors and all those who help learners to get the best out of their studies. Its focus is on the role of ILT in the learning journeys on which we travel. The day is structured around a curriculum planning cycle - another learning journey. You bring with you a session plan(s) or scheme of work you would like to improve. As the day looks at how e-learning can help each stage of the planning cycle, you reflect on how you can use the ideas. You go away with clearly signposted improvements to the plans you brought and skills you need to implement them. It’s a shared journey, with expert guides leading hands-on activity within small groups - with access to computers, other hardware and appropriate software. But e-learning is not an end in itself and so there are four underpinning learning themes - learning styles, differentiation, inclusion and creativity.
The Learning Journey event is for those in the foothills of the journey with just enough knowledge to get by on a computer but frustrated by the lack of an overview of where they should be heading and a map they can trust. It aims to provide that sense of direction. It is not for Champions and other experienced users. Our first Learning Journey event is being held at the Basford Hall campus of New College Nottingham on April 7th. There are 30 free places which will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis with a maximum of 3 places per learning provider. You can find full details and book on line at www.rsc-east-midlands.ac.uk. We are also happy to provide a Learning Journey event for individual colleges or groups of colleges. The Learning Journey is for those who travel hopefully, those who’d like to travel a bit quicker and in good company. Once the journey starts, who knows where it may end? Chris Hill, RSC Manager
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=elp_practice Martin Cooke, ILT Advisor
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