intouch the termly newsletter produced by RSC East Midlands
Spring 2010 Volume 8: Issue 2
Contents
© HEFCE, on behalf of JISC
Is technology having an impact? The learner’s experience Understanding the views of post-16 learners has always been important in ensuring they have a good experience and achieve their aims, but perhaps never quite so much as now. Recent Government strategies such as Framework for Excellence, Harnessing Technology and Every Child Matters have highlighted the role that learner voice should play in shaping innovative practice. As education moves into a more dynamic, flexible, technology-mediated era, learning providers need to be especially confident they have a clear picture of learners’ needs, expectations and opportunities to develop. As well as its relevance to recruitment, retention and achievement, this can have implications for teaching practice and, at a time when funding is tight, decisions as to where to invest in technology and resources. JISC has been very aware of this need and has, over the past two to three years, invested in research into the “Learner Voice” and “Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning”. These studies have confirmed that technology plays an increasingly important role in the learning experience, but have also made it clear that investment needs to be made with an accurate picture of where and how learners get the greatest benefit.
Findings have concluded that: • most learners now expect technology to be a transparent, embedded part of their experience, and also expect its use and availability to be consistent across their studies; • learners tend to expect their tutors to be as engaged and adept with e-learning as themselves; • however, not all younger learners are “digital natives” and able to use technology without difficulty; • access to the internet is paramount for many learners, but their “information skills” are often limited; • learners increasingly want to be able to use their own technology in college.
1 Learner Voice 2 Regional News 2 Capturing the learner voice 3 Evolving RSC support 3 Management Information Systems 3 Secondments at the RSC 4 Second Life adventures 4 Mobile Learning @ Moulton College 4 Generator 5 Best practice in the UK 5 Resource Corner 6 Hints & Tips 6 Higher Ambitions 7 Focus On: Learning Technology Awards Scheme 7 JISC news 8 Forthcoming Events 8 JISC Advance Event Series
Learner Voice In this edition of intouch we take a brief look at the concept of learner voice and how its importance has rocketed up the agenda for many in the post-16 education and training sector. We look at some of the drivers for this change, offer some advice on how to tackle it in your organisation and give you some resources and examples to draw on.
While the JISC studies have produced some interesting and useful guidelines, a key conclusion has been that variations among learners and contexts mean that organisations should aim to use richer methods to capture their own learners’ perspective. The article on page 2 looks at some ways in which technology can be used to do this.
Stimulating and supporting innovation in learning
Regional News
Capturing the Learner Voice
In the last edition of intouch we ran an article on different funding pots available to learning providers in the region. We’re really pleased that several learning providers in the East Midlands have been successful in their application for funding. Congratulations to the following organisations.
MoLeNET project Several colleges had their applications accepted: • Loughborough College • Portland College • Castle College Nottingham • Chesterfield College • Moulton College (in partnership with Northampton College & Myerscough College) • West Nottinghamshire College Northampton College has also been awarded MoLeNET Academy status as a centre of excellence in using mobile devices for teaching and learning. For more information on Moulton College’s MoLeNET activities see Page 4.
Technology Exemplar Network Lincoln Academy, trading as ISIS Training, are one of the sixteen outstanding further education and skills providers from across England that have been appointed to lead phase 2 of the Technology Exemplar Network, which is designed to help colleges and learning providers use technology more effectively.
CAMEL Funding Nottinghamshire Adult and Community Learning Service were successful in getting capital funding from the LSC to support development of e-learning for their LSC-funded adult learning provision.
Learning Innovation Grant (LIG) Phase 5 In the East Midlands we had a number of successful bids. Of the ones we are aware of congratulations go to: • Access Training • Babington Business College • Keith Cook Training Services/TLR Academy • LAGAT There were also a number of disappointed providers due to the high number of bids, a total of £13.5 million with only £3 million available for funding. 2
© HEFCE, on behalf of JISC
Few post-16 learning providers are in a position to carry out extensive formal research into learners’ experiences of studying using technology, but JISC-funded studies have concluded that more work is needed on exploring the learner’s perspective in the post-16 education and training sector. Given this, RSC East Midlands has been looking at which of the methods used in JISC research might be useful to the learning providers we support. The JISC learner experience studies confirmed that simple self-report questionnaires produce a limited and often skewed perspective. Instead, techniques which capture experiences over time and those which provide the opportunity to reflect on experiences with tutors and peers are of much more value. The JISC Learner Experiences of e-Learning (LEX) study found the following approaches to be particularly effective: • “Interview plus” in which interviews are conducted with reflections captured by learners, during their learning, to hand. These might be in the form of diaries, blogs or transcripts of discussions with tutors; • focus groups - these may be small and informal and carried out within a single curriculum area or course;
• learner self-reports in the form of free response “what works for me”; • case studies in the form of “a day in the life of one of our learners”. These techniques go beyond capturing a simple snapshot but don’t have to involve significant time or effort and can be made easier through the use of technology. The use of blogs, e-portfolios, forum posts or video/audio diaries can be embedded in the learning programme, enabling learners to record, reflect on and feedback their views progressively and in context, rather than after the event. This can be combined with the use of online surveys to provide data across a broad cross-section of the organisation giving breadth as well as depth in the analysis. You can find more ideas on using technology in this way in the RSC Moodle course “Using ILT to capture the learner voice” (under “Events, Resources and Activities”) at http://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk.
Learner Voice at the e-fair It is clear that the focus on learning technology is now shifting from investment in new gadgets and exploring new techniques to assessing impact and embedding technology in practice. In this climate, learners’ views and experiences are critical in understanding when and how to use ILT. Here at the RSC we are responding to this shift by looking more closely at where technology is making a difference. With this in mind our 2010 e-Fair on June 22nd at the Walkers Stadium in Leicester will have learner experiences and the learner voice as its theme.
To prepare for this we are keen to capture a representative sample of learner views from across the post-16 education and training sector and to work with regional learning providers to develop their approach to this. To find out more about what we’re doing and the advice and support available, contact Ben Williams on 01509 618116 or ben.williams@rsc-em.ac.uk.
Evolving support
New recruits Joining the RSC East Midlands team on part-time secondments for the first half of the year are Matt Harrison and Eileen Kirk.
Matt Harrison “I’m currently the Research and Technology Development Manager at Portland College, which is an Independent Specialist College for adults with physical disabilities and learning difficulties in Mansfield. © HEFCE, on behalf of JISC
If there’s one thing that stays the same, it’s the need for the support provided by the RSC to keep changing as needs of learning providers change! As a result, we have agreed a new remit for when our current one runs out on July 31st 2010. The remit has evolved from wide consultation and has been guided by the East Midlands and other RSC Steering Groups.
For the period until July, we will be concentrating particularly on accessibility. We are delighted that Matt Harrison and Eileen Kirk will be joining us on part-time secondments (see right).
The new remit again emphasises strategic needs, with operational support provided within a strategic context. As before, support will cover learning, teaching and assessment, and infrastructure and systems, but new areas are quality improvement and business management. Underpinning everything we do will be concerns for accessibility and sustainability.
Martin Cooke, the RSC Advisor who is the link for specialist colleges, is project leader. Planned project activities include advice and guidance to help managers embed accessibility and meet their legal obligations; regional events; extending RSC support to those who work in learning support; and ensuring the RSC models effective accessibility practice itself.
RSC East Midlands is actively working towards the new remit including training of classroom observers as part of quality systems. Gordon Millner, RSC Advisor, is completing projects exploring the support needs for sustainability and Management Information Systems (see below).
With the new remit in place, all that is needed now is for funding to be confirmed. The evolving needs are certainly there.
MIS Support on offer To determine the best way for the RSC to provide advice and guidance on Management Information Systems (MIS) and the extent of the support required by our range of learning providers, we tasked Nottingham-based organisation EMFEC with conducting a six-month project on our behalf.
Whilst the report will be circulated soon, key findings from it were that we can best offer support by providing:
• strategic advice for Senior Managers on developments in MIS; • a face-to-face network of MIS contacts through events and forums, in support of the already well-established mailing list – a variety of networks may be needed to support the different types of learning provider; • case studies and other documentation on the RSC Moodle site; • a brokering service to share expertise across the region and nationally; • brokering and offering continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities e.g. updates to funding methodology, OFSTED inspection requirements. We plan to provide all of these in due course in 2010, but some of this is already now available, so for more information please get intouch with Gordon Millner on 01509 618120 or gordon.millner@rsc-em.ac.uk.
“During my time here at Portland, I’ve worked as a specialist Augmentative and Alternative Communication Tutor, and also as the manager of two different European research projects. I support staff and learners with accessibility and e-learning support. This includes recommending assistive technology hardware and software and trialling it with the users. “I’ve recently been supporting staff and learners with In-Folio, the JISC TechDisfunded e-portfolio system designed for Specialist Colleges and coordinating the college’s MoLeNET m-learning project, whilst managing the AAC team. “At the RSC, I hope to work with colleagues across the sector in providing advice and guidance around learner support. I will be producing a guide to AccessApps and other pieces of assistive software and also training practitioners in their application.”
Eileen Kirk “I have been working for Derbyshire County Council Adult Community Education Service (DACES) since 1998, starting as an ICT tutor taking laptops out to village halls, before progressing on to be the Programme Manager at the Wirksworth Centre and then more recently the Curriculum Group Leader for ICT/Business and ILT/e-Learning. “During my time at DACES I’ve been involved in a number of interesting projects including the BBC Learning Bus Project, three NLDC projects and the development of our Moodle Learning Platform, as well as successful bids for e-Shift, EEOLS and CAMEL funding. “My interest in computing goes back a while – I completed my first course in 1975, programming computers with ticker tape and punch cards! This was updated somewhat when I completed my Degree in Computing and Management with the OU from 1998-2004”. 3
Virtual trenches immerse students
Mobile Learning @ Moulton
The First World War Poetry Digital Archive and the Learning Technologies Group at Oxford University have collaborated on an exciting new venture in the 3D virtual world Second Life to simulate areas of the Western Front 1914-18. Visitors to the virtual trenches can explore digitised archival materials like poetry manuscripts, letters and diaries from the major poets of the First World War as they walk around a training camp, a trench network and No Man’s Land. The terrain is waterlogged and difficult to navigate, rife with rats and littered with poppies; moving nearer to the front line the clamour of shell blasts and artillery fire becomes louder and louder. The resources include works by Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg and Vera Brittain, along with contextual primary source materials. These materials have been supplemented with new interpretative content and a spectrum of interactive tools and tutorials, streaming video and audio effects. The artefacts have been drawn from the highly successful First World War Poetry Digital Archive.
As you may recall reading in the Spring edition of intouch last year, Moulton College successfully led a bid with two other Northamptonshire Colleges to embed mobile technology into the delivery of Keyskills. The project used Ultra Mobile PCs, Smartphones, Nintendo DS consoles with maths and brain training software, digital camcorders and Senteo voting systems. The mobile devices were used in a range of ways and in some very different educational settings, ranging from plumbing workshops to remote woodland locations. Andrew Bailey, Learning Technologies Manager at Moulton, reported that “overall the MoLeNET project delivered some very exciting outputs and provided staff with some excellent opportunities to embed technology into the teaching and learning process”.
As visitors explore the simulation, they can listen to the voices of veterans recounting their experiences of the war, watch original film footage from the time, and learn about life on the Western Front.
Building on the success of MoLeNET2, Moulton College has again been successful in its bid for a place on the MoLeNET3 programme; this time leading a consortium comprising Northampton College and Myerscough College.
Within this context they can encounter some of the most powerful poetry in English literature by handling the original manuscripts, turning the pages of the poet’s war diaries and letters, and listening to readings.
The MoLeNET3 project is aimed at providing the “m-knowledge” to staff via
Explore the virtual Western Front in Second Life at http://tiny.cc/5eLSk. Find out more about the project at http://tiny.cc/qAcV2. If you are keen to find out more about Second Life then JISC have recently brought out a new publication entitled “Getting Started in Second Life”. Copies can be downloaded via the Publications section of the JISC website at www.jisc.ac.uk.
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the new ITQ for Mobile Learning qualification recently made available through City and Guilds. The staff studying the ITQ for mobile learning will learn all about using different mobile technologies and go on to use the equipment in their own classes as part of gaining the qualification, therefore improving their lessons whilst learning themselves. At the recent MoLeNET annual conference in London, Moulton College was very proud to be presented with the LSN “MoLeShare Award” for outstanding contribution to the sector through sharing materials.
Moulton College won a MoLeShare Award
Quality Improvement with Generator Generator is the recommended technology improvement leadership tool for the post-16 education and training sector.
It is an online, free, self-assessment tool designed by Becta and the JISC Regional Support Centres to enable you to improve your strategic deployment of technology. It assesses your organisation’s effectiveness and level of e-maturity to help you identify your technological capacity. The idea being that this will highlight your technology strengths and weaknesses and pinpoint areas for
improvement. Recently it has also been used by many organisations in conjunction with their funding bids. RSC East Midlands ran a workshop in November last year so that regional learning providers could develop an understanding of the application of Generator to technology planning and strategy. Feedback from one delegate was that the “event meshes in with a one-year project to evaluate, plan and implement improvements in the provision of e-learning”. If you missed the event first-time round then fear not as there is another opportunity to attend. The workshop is running again on 4th February at the City Learning Centre in Leicester. For more information and to book visit www.rsc-em.ac.uk.
Best practice in the UK
Resource Corner Learner Voice resources
In this edition of intouch our example of best practice follows the theme of learner voice by showcasing a case study from a further education college in the West Midlands that has used learners as advocates. The challenge In 2007 the College Principal at Halesowen College had already engaged with senior managers to promote a culture of change within the organisation, but this didn’t involve the learners. Following an IT strategy group meeting, the principal came up with the idea of including students in developing the use of technology in learning and teaching. This would give the students not just a ‘voice’, but the opportunity to have a direct input into the College’s technology strategy and make a real contribution towards its future.
The Learning Advocates focused initially on their chosen subject areas and worked with around two or three teachers. This involved, for example, helping teachers to create quizzes on Moodle. The outcomes The Learning Advocates have been involved in lots of other activities in the College including: • a digital technology themed open day; • a staff development day for support staff on identifying the needs of the learner; • creating resource-based learning packages for trainee teachers; • helping fellow students and acting as a voice for their peers. Following the successes of initial activities the role was expanded to cover: • classroom monitoring of hardware and technology operation; • acting as consultants for new and emerging technologies. The impact The project has been a huge success and has benefitted the Learning Advocates, students, staff and College immensely, and has now been expanded to a total of 12 advocates.
Learning Advocates have raised learner voice
The activity Following an interview process, six students were identified to become “Learning Advocates”. There was an emphasis on those familiar with Web 2.0 applications as this fitted best with the College’s technology strategy. Committing to 100 hours during the academic year, the Learning Advocates were given a bursary by the College for participating. The role also meant additional skills on their CVs, and the knowledge that they would help to shape the future of the College’s technology strategy. The selected Learning Advocates attended a technology training day that took around a quarter of the time compared to the average taken with teaching staff, as well as a training day that involved dealing with people.
ILT Co-ordinator Lee Fletcher advises other colleges who may consider adopting this approach to be flexible:
“We didn’t want to make this a regimented process with pre-scheduled times to provide help and support. Also, we didn’t want super technical people who may go into a lot of technical jargon, which the teachers and students would have difficulty understanding. The Learning Advocates are very helpful and go out of their way to support the teaching and support staff.” We hope that this will have given you some inspiration on how to harness learner voice in your organisation. Our thanks go to the Excellence Gateway website and RSC West Midlands for allowing the reproduction of this case study. To view the full version of this case study and find links to other resources on this topic, we recommend that you visit www.excellencegateway.org.uk/lafi.
JISC commissioned a series of five video clips of learners from further, higher and adult education settings to explore what makes an effective e-learner. The clips contain interviews with a range of learners across the post-16 sector who speak about the role of technology in their learning and in their lives. Well worth a quick watch! Go to http://tiny.cc/iR5Vt. There is also the JISC publication “In Their Own Words” which provides a useful introduction to JISC-funded research into learners’ experiences, beliefs and motivations in relation to e-learning. The publication offers a variety of resources in a multimedia package. It is available to download from the JISC website, but if you would like it in hard copy then we can send you one.
Get your e-assessment working with the Ofqual Toolkit The Ofqual e-Assessment Toolkit is designed to provide clear, current, practical information to e-assessment practitioners, or those thinking of adopting e-assessment. Targeted at those involved in the management and delivery of e-assessment in centres offering accredited vocational qualifications, the Toolkit covers two key aspects of e-assessment: the management and delivery of e-testing; and the use of e-portfolios for assessment. Find out more at http://toolkit.efutures.org.
NHS video Access up-to-date video clips from an authoritative source at www.nhs.uk/video to support many learning areas e.g. H&S care, sport, beauty, Access to Nursing. Suggested by Dorothy Mingay, South East Derbyshire College, for the Favourite e-learning website prize draw at the 2009 RSC e-fair. 5
Hints & Tips: Getting started with e-books
Higher Ambitions
What are e-books? e-books are digital forms of books or existing word documents. The value of e-books is that they are highly portable. Relatively simple to use software allows you to turn existing resources written in Word into an e-book format which students could then view on their own mobile devices using the free Mobile e-Reader. You will need: • Time – around 45 minutes to an hour; • A PC with download rights; • A mobile phone which you are familiar with and which can be connected to the PC either by cable or Bluetooth. The main link for all of the software needed to build your own e-books can be found at www.mobipocket.com.
Look for the red SOFTWARE TAB at the top of the page. The Creator software allows you to re-purpose existing materials and the Reader software enables your learners to carry them away on their mobiles.
Ideas for using e-books If you want to enhance your students learning experience on a course you could use e-books, which will allow students to carry, on their phone, documents that will help them in their studies, such as: • Scheme of Work or Course Outline; • References for starting each assignment; • Maps and College/Organisation Reference documents; • Key Worksheets/Help and Advice Notes that you have created specifically for the course; • Revision Notes – short key words and explanations; • Glossary of Terminology useful for the course. Many of you have already signed up to the JISC Collections e-books for FE projects that gives you 3,000 free e-book resources but you may wonder how you are going to disseminate them. Hopefully this advice will help you on your way. 6
The majority of colleges in the East Midlands have submitted their Higher Education (HE) strategies to HEFCE. However recent publications such as “Higher Ambitions” may require further consideration. In November last year the Government published their framework for Higher Education entitled “Higher Ambitions”. This identifies not only how it wants to shape the HE experience, but also provides an insight into how HE may be funded in the future.
• helping prospective students by providing clear information on their course options and the quality of service they will receive; • enhancing business and community engagement; • becoming world leaders in e-learning.
This publication has been heavily influenced by the idea of learner voice. How you respond to your learners’ expectations may influence the level of funding you receive. Learners want improved information, advice and guidance to help with choosing courses and modules, as well as finding the myriad of opportunities a Higher Education experience can offer.
What this means is that HE funding for colleges will change and the level of funding may depend on your responses to the recommendations above.
Recommendations outlined in the document include: • creating flexible, part-time, workbased learning to make it easier for adults to go to universities, with routes from apprenticeships through to foundation degrees and other vocational programmes; • linking funding to quality measures such as the National Student Survey;
Things you may want to consider are: • Is your HE provision flexible and do you offer a true foundation degree experience? • Does the National Student Survey reflect the good practice that happens in your college? • Do too many students leave the course because it was not what they expected? • Does the business community have an input to curriculum design? • Is your college ready for the e-learning challenge? In all these examples, technology can have a significant impact on your success. To find out how and make a difference to your learners please contact Steve Saffhill, your HE Advisor at the RSC, on 01509 618117 or steve.saffhill@rsc-em.ac.uk.
Easy-Assessment The JISC RSCs have teamed up with the Higher Education Academy (HEA) to provide a conference on assessment. This will be held on 17th May in the iconic venue of the National Space Centre in Leicester, which has been awarded a number of academic accolades for innovation. Professor Phil Race will be the Keynote speaker and will be getting everyone involved throughout the day. There will be a series of workshops that will include:
• • • •
Effective diagnostic testing and feedback Curriculum design and assessment Reflective assessment Creative assessment
This conference is aimed at lecturers interested in exploring new ideas for assessment and managers involved in curriculum design for higher education courses delivered in both universities and colleges. For more information and to book your place, please go to the RSC website at www.rsc-em.ac.uk.
Focus On: Learning Technology Awards Scheme
JISC news JISC Digitisation Programme The aim of the JISC Digitisation programme is to create a critical mass of rich, permanent digital resources for use within UK further and higher education. Spanning centuries, disciplines and sources, the JISC series of digitisation projects is unlocking a wealth of unique material from the 16th century to the present day. Phase one of the project ran from 20042007 and produced six resources including, 18th Century Parliamentary Papers, 19th Century British Newspapers and the popular Newsfilm Online.
Is there someone in your organisation who is making an outstanding contribution using learning technologies to support or enable learning? Here’s how they can get a reward for their initiative and dedication! RSC East Midlands is providing prizes for learning providers to give to anyone in their organisation, be they tutors, technical support or administration staff, who have used learning technology to enhance the work of their organisation.
good practice within our region. The individual winners will be used as exemplars of successful e-learning across the region and maybe nationally through the Excellence Gateway website (www.excellencegateway.org.uk).
Here at the RSC we know that there are many unsung heroes working to provide a richer and more engaging experience for their learners through the use of technology and we would like to give all the learning providers in our region the chance to reward these people.
We hope that it will also raise the profile of the RSC as promoters of e-learning, leading to more staff turning to us for advice and support. It’s a win-win situation!
We will provide a template for running an award scheme and a prize to the value of £100. The learning provider will run the scheme, identify the winner and award the prize. The prizes include an Ipod Nano, a Vado camera, a Toshiba mini HD camera or a portable hard disk.
Reward staff in your organisation with a Learning Technology Award and Prize
The award can be run as a new competition or easily integrated into an existing awards structure if you already have one in place. What’s in it for us? Well it is our mission to promote the use of technology in education and we would like to identify
All the details of our award scheme can be found on our website at www.rsc-em.ac.uk/awards.asp – including the guidelines for running the scheme and an application form. The award scheme will run until 31st July 2010, but applications to participate should be with the RSC by 31st May. The scheme is open to all organisations that hold or deliver contracts for the Learning and Skills Council, this includes Further Education, Sixth Form and Specialist Colleges, Adult and Community Learning, Work-Based Learning providers and Higher Education Institutions. For Work-Based Learning Providers we plan to run the scheme in conjunction with the Work Based Learning networks in the region, rather than on an individual basis. To take part in the scheme, please return a completed application form to Phil Hardcastle at JISC RSC East Midlands. If you have any queries then please contact Phil on 01509 618047 or phil.hardcastle@rsc-em.ac.uk.
A second phase of sixteen projects begun in 2007 has produced a range of digitised e-resources from previously difficult or impossible to access material. The resources include: 19th Century Pamphlets Online, British Newspapers 1620-1900, First World War Poetry Digital Archive and Freeze Frame – Historic Polar Images 1845-1960. To find out more about the JISC Digitisation Programme and get a list of all the resources go to http://tiny.cc/9FuP9.
JISC Inform A recent addition to the JISC newsletter on the web is Inform Plus, which showcases extra content, podcasts and videos. You can download an interactive PDF at www.jisc.ac.uk in the publications section. You can also sign up to receive a printed version of JISC Inform at http://survey.jisc.ac.uk/mailing.
Are you making the most of all the JISC Services? The recently published “Working in Partnership” booklet is an excellent guide to the support that the various JISC services offer to the FE community with a series of real-life examples of how learning providers have taken advantage of what’s on offer. As mentioned in the guide your local RSC is an excellent channel to this support, so if there’s anything you want then please get intouch. You can download a copy at www.jisc.ac.uk in the publications section or alternatively we can send you a copy. 7
Forthcoming Events January 21st (full day) 26th (full day)
Learner-Centred Process Review A first-hand guide to getting the most out of accessibility tools
February 2nd (am) 4th (full day) 12th (am) 23rd (full day) 24th (full day) 25th (full day)
ILT Forum Generator: a tool for self-assessment Joint ACL/WBL Forum Blogs, wikis and social networking Using free software as a learning tool Change Management
March 2nd (am)
Learning Resources Forum 2nd (pm) East Midlands Information Skills (EMIS) meeting 9th (am) Accessibility and Inclusion Forum 11th (full day) Finding free-to-use images online 17th (evening) Learning in five years time: The Governors’ role
April 20th (full day) 21st (full day) 27th (am) 27th (pm)
Xerte for Beginners Using digital media in VLEs Copyright and technology-enhanced learning Using Social Networking and Web 2.0 technologies lawfully in education
May 17th (full day)
HE e-asy Assessment
For further details please visit www.rsc-em.ac.uk where you can also sign up to our Events RSS feed. All our events and forums can be counted for CPD hours.
Get intouch JISC RSC East Midlands Loughborough College Radmoor Road Loughborough Leicestershire LE11 3BT Tel: 01509 618110 Email: support@rsc-em.ac.uk Web: www.rsc-em.ac.uk VLE: http://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk
JISC Advance Event Series To celebrate the creation of JISC Advance we have organised the JISC Advance Event Series, where we bring the best of these national services to the region. JISC Advance launched last year and brought together eight established JISC services as part of JISC’s ongoing strategy to deliver world-class support to colleges and universities, by offering greater co-ordination, centralising funding and developing business development opportunities. JISC Advance comprises: • • • • • • • •
JISCMail JISC Digital Media JISC infoNet JISC Legal JISC Netskills JISC Procureweb JISC TechDis JISC Regional Support Centre UK
Managing director Guy Lambert commented that “all of these services are extremely well-respected within the education sector and receive good feedback from their users. JISC Advance will allow the services to reach new audiences, and will help our users to understand what we can collectively deliver for them.” All of the events in the series organised by RSC East Midlands will be free to supported learning providers, but places will be limited to a maximum of one per organisation per event, to help ensure equitable access. We announced the first five events of the series at the end of 2009 and as we go to press there are still limited spaces available. • Learner-Centred Process Review (JISC InfoNet) • A guide to making the most of accessibility tools (JISC TechDis) • Blogs, Wikis & Social Networks (JISC Netskills) • Change Management (JISC InfoNet) • Finding free-to-use images online (JISC Digital Media)
efair 2010 June 22nd, Walkers Stadium, Leicester We will be running a Learner Voice learning hub in association with JISC Advance
JISC Advance brings together 8 of the JISC services to deliver world-class support
We are now pleased to announce that four further events have now been added to the series including: Xerte for Beginners 20th April, Nottingham A hands-on session in conjunction with JISC TechDis to try out the Xerte authoring tool for creating learning objects. It has in-built accessibility features and a series of JISC TechDis templates to get you started. Using digital media in VLEs 21st April, Nottingham This workshop, delivered by JISC Digital Media, will help you to discover how to improve the design of presentation resources, know when and how digital media can be used to enhance learning materials and be able to successfully embed material in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Copyright and technology-enhanced learning 27th April (am) Nottingham JISC Legal will clarify how copyright law applies in the education context. It will outline how learning objects and learning materials can be lawfully used and re-used and will include guidance on using licenses to ensure the quality and sustainability of learning resources. Using Social Networking and Web 2.0 technologies lawfully in education 27th April (pm), Nottingham This session from JISC Legal will provide guidance on how to embed Web 2.0 technologies legally in teaching and learning. Find out where the legal risks and liabilities are for you and how you can ensure that you are adopting best practice. To find out more about these events, book places for yourself or a member of your team and see the latest updates then please visit www.rsc-em.ac.uk. Previous newsletters are available via our website at www.rsc-em.ac.uk
8 This publication is printed on paper from sustainable sources. In the interests of the environment, please pass on to a colleague when you’ve finished with it or recycle it. It is also available online at www.rsc-em.ac.uk.