SMT Focus

SMT Focus New Online Impact Report Published

Issue 5 – Winter 2012

In this Issue

Key achievements include:

The impact of the RSC’s work, demonstrating the benefits brought to supported learning providers is illustrated in a new report for the Academic Year 2010-11 – Achieving Solutions Through Technology

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Delivering over 2,500 consultations with UK learning providers to help them meet their technology objectives.

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Running more than 650 RSC events and peer-to-peer forums attended by 10,000 delegates.

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Providing bespoke training to over 350 learning providers.

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Participating in over 600 events with partners to share knowledge and expertise.

Case studies illustrate the tangible benefits that the RSC network bring to learning providers - from improving strategies to reaping cost and efficiency savings.

A supported learning provider explains: “They act as our top level e-learning advisers and will have both saved us money and helped us earn money/access sources of funding.”

To read the full report, visit http://bit.ly/tRZ9Ag

1. RSCs Join JISC Advance 2. Latest e-Learning Good Practice From Our Region 1. New Online Impact - Regional Survey Results Report Published 3. Meet RSCService Team: 2.

Samethe Great HE Co-ordinator One New Website - E-learning My StudyBar Saves Progress Organisations Reviews: New£500,000 Pick and Mix Service 4. Online Tutorials for Finding Images and 3. Is Your Organisation Videos the Most of the Making RSC? - A Guide to Screencasting - BIS Confirms Funding for Sixth Form Colleges 5. LSIS Introduce Regional Until 2014 Development Managers 4.

Tell Us WhatTime You - Save Yourself Think!

Online: RSS Feeds Publishes Business 6.- JISC Getting the Most From Intelligence Paper Moodle - RSC Launches Networkin-a-Box 7. Apple iPad is a Hit with the RSC - iPad Alternatives 8. Forthcoming Events - Green Tips From the Team - Coming Soon - Online Delegate Packs

Same Great Service - One New Website

E-learning Progress Reviews: New Pick and Mix Service

Have you registered with the Gateway?

The JISC Regional Support Centres (RSCs) are pleased to announce the launch of their new website www.jiscrsc.ac.uk The 12 RSCs, operating as a UK wide support network, have a proven track record across the sector for providing expert advice and guidance in the effective use of technology.

The website provides a common route to news, events and resources, increasing user access to a richer seam of information from all RSCs, whilst maintaining regional connections.

Key features of the new website include: • • •

Seamless access to information from both a UK and regional perspective Up-to-date news and event listings Advice and guidance on how RSCs support you and your organisation - from maximising efficiencies to enhancing the student experience.

In creating a living website the RSCs can deliver more for less and improve the user experience by reducing time spent in searching.

Explore the website today www.jiscrsc.ac.uk To access the West Midlands pages featuring our news and events, visit www.jiscrsc. ac.uk/westmidlands 2

Knowing how far you have progressed with embedding technology, or exactly how your learners are performing can help to inform future decision making.

In addition to our comprehensive e-learning progress review service, and in response to learning providers who want a shorter, more focused review, RSC West Midlands has developed a new service to assist managers, which allows providers to ‘pick and mix’ the elements of the e-learning progress review they wish to explore in-depth.

Designed to suit a broad range of provider needs, the pick and mix review will identify progress made in the adoption of technology in a specific area. These include: • • • • • • • •

Learning spaces E-safety Sustainability Document management IT help desk Accessibility and inclusion Teaching and learning strategy E-learning strategy

You can choose one or a combination of up to three areas to provide a fast and informed review. It also minimises the amount of time taken and unlike the services offered within the full E-Learning Progress Review, a pre visit planning process is not required.

Whether the review is a single or a combination, the process will take no longer than half a day. Once completed, a short written

report will be delivered to highlight existing good practice and strengths; as well as making recommendations for further development.

Where appropriate, the review will signpost you to sources of further information, additional support from our e-learning advisers or the resources on offer from JISC Advance.

To arrange an impartial review, please contact the individual adviser responsible for the review areas below. Contact details for each of our e-learning advisers are listed on the back page of this newsletter: - Learning Spaces (Matt Gallon) - E-safety (Jason Curtis) - Sustainability (Jane Edwards) - Document management and IT help desk (Colleen Romero) - Accessibility and Inclusion (Alison Wootton) - Teaching & learning and e-learning strategies (Allen Crawford-Thomas)

Is Your Organisation Making the Most of the RSC?

BIS Confirms Funding for Sixth Form Colleges Until 2014

eLearning g Health checks – Reflections on their impact at City College Birmingham.

In 2011, RSC West Midlands ran 39 events, both face to face and online, on a variety of e-learning topics including e-safety, accessibility and inclusion, learner voice and content management (e-portfolios and virtual learning environments). The majority of these events were free of charge, making them a very cost effective continuing professional development (CPD) option, particularly in the current economic climate.

We have also carried out over 400 consultations, at no cost, to our regional learning providers, including staff development sessions, e-learning progress reviews, equipment loans and advice on e-learning in a number of areas. Hot topics of interest amongst learning providers have included: • E-safety • Moodle 2.0 • Making use of existing technologies • Re-organisation of existing learning spaces • Learner voice • Measuring the impact of e-learning We want to ensure that your organisation is making the most of the free e-learning services available from your RSC. Each year, we contact the heads of all our supported learning providers to let them know how their organisation has engaged with their local RSC, and will be contacting them again in January 2012. The summary includes the consultations we have carried out with your staff, and the CPD

opportunities that they have taken advantage of.

It is also a useful reminder of some of the services that your staff can access. These include: •

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Forums (for specific roles, eg. IT Managers, or users of particular technologies ie. Moodle). They provide an excellent opportunity to share best practice RSC Assist - the RSC will work closely with a member of your staff on a specific e-learning project. Your organisation will benefit from project planning, a limited amount of training and advice from the RSC team Pick and mix reviews (see opposite) - a review of your organisation’s e-learning progress in a specific area (ie, learning spaces, e-safety).

Online events - hosted via web conferencing software. Allows your staff to attend an event without having to leave their workplace. Saves time and travel expenses whilst developing their e-learning knowledge Equipment loans - not sure if that piece of kit is worth the investment? Try out a number of items through the RSCs loan service before you invest any money

To find out more about all of the the services that your staff can access, visit www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/westmidlands

“Having recently had our second eLearning g Health Check from the team at RSC West Midlands in jjust over 2 years and reflecting back on the process, I’m struck by the marked impact each individual produced.

JISC Advance hasvisit recently announced that Sixth Form The first one carried out Colleges will continue to in April 2008 allowed us to identify benefit from JISC services y the areas that we felt for the 2012/13 andneeded 2013/14work i.e. inyears. improving the Student financial experience in the classroom and resulted in theby college The funding, confirmed BIS writing g an e-Learning g strategy gy (the Department for Business, that delivered real benefi Innovation and Skills), will ts byy the level of ILT in applyincreasing to Sixth Form Colleges the classroom coupled with in England. It will include cover an JISC extensive teacher support for all Advance services program. including Regional Support Centres and Advisory Services The second health as well as JANET and othercheck JISCcompleted services. in June 2010 was used to give an external view on our progress g follows in terms The announcement of infrastructure, discussions between BIS student and the experience Departmentand for learning resources and much Education (DfE)delivered who nowahas needed confi rmation that responsibility for Sixth Form our strategy gy was working. g It also Colleges. identified keyy areas where we could develop further resulting JISC Advance welcomed the in improvements to that the college’s news which reflects its Learning Resources Centre and services are recognised by both some new projects that we have departments as representing So all in all an goodplans valuetotopilot. the sector. experience which proved to be keyLambert, in supporting progress and Guy Managing producing g real results.

And,said: best Director for JISC Advance of all, – this high g qualityy service was provided for free.”

“The continuation of this provision will ensure that Sixth Rob Jones, Head of Learning Form Colleges can benefi t from the free advice andTechnologies guidance City Birmingham provided byCollege JISC Advance services and the other JISC services which are so vital to the sector.”

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Tell Us What You Think!

JISC Publishes Business Intelligence Paper

We want to hear what matters to you most so that we can address those topics in future editions of SMT Focus.

If you have any suggestions for future articles, please contact Kirsty Hill by e-mail at kirsty.hill@rsc-wm.ac.uk

Contact our E-learning advisers: Christa Appleton (HE Coordinator) christa.appleton@rsc-wm.ac.uk Jason Curtis (Learning Technologies) jason.curtis@rsc-wm.ac.uk Jane Edwards (Adult & Community Learning) p.jane.edwards@rsc-wm.ac.uk Matt Gallon (Learning Resources) m.gallon@rsc-wm.ac.uk Colleen Romero (Technical Infrastructure) colleen.romero@rsc-wm.ac.uk Allen Crawford-Thomas (Teaching and learning) a.crawford-thomas@rsc-wm. ac.uk Theresa Welch (Work-Based Learning) theresa.welch@rsc-wm.ac.uk Alison Wootton (Staff Development and Accessibility & Inclusion) a.wootton@rsc-wm.ac.uk

Tel: 01902 518982 E-mail: support@rsc-wm.ac.uk Web: www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/ westmidlands

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Business processes and the interrogation of college data has been a hot topic amongst our learning providers during the past year. As providers are increasingly required to be more business focused, JISC has addressed this with the recent publication of a briefing paper, aimed specifically at senior managers, offering guidance on performance monitoring.

The paper, ‘Business Intelligence: Monitoring Performance and Planning Improvement’ outlines the type of business intelligence data needed by learning providers, the challenges faced by education, and the benefits of accurate data including more effective decisionmaking and change management processes. It also explains how learning providers can assess their own level of business intelligence maturity using a 6-step model, and highlights the approaches taken by four different organisations. This includes a data dashboard, which we highlighted in the last issue of SMT Focus. A number of learning providers in the region have turned to data dashboards to help increase efficiency. Data dashboards present real-time data in a visual display, using charts, graphs and dials, by drawing information from existing systems into one, easy to read screen.

Further examples of how learning providers are monitoring performance are available on the Excellence Gateway at http://bit.ly/ve7sKB To read the business intelligence briefing paper in full, visit http://bit.ly/t1ghtk For more information on how the RSCs can advise on business processes, please contact the RSC..