ILT research & bids

Technological innovation in universities in the UK has been supported by
the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). In its role as a university think-tank, million+ has investigated the impact of funding awards from JISC to 28 UK universities over a six-year period. Published October 2009. Download the report from
www.millionplus.ac.uk/research/index

To overcome barriers in achieving JISC funding, it was suggested that a single named
person in each HEI be identified to ensure effective communications between the HEI
and JISC, thus offering the potential for more constructive feedback to be given over a
period of time, which could be assimilated and disseminated within that institution. For the future, it is clear from our research that collaborative working between universities
is likely to be crucial, to maximise co-learning and to ensure cost-effectiveness.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/research/2009/millionplusfundingimpact.pdf

• Many of the project teams were successful in obtaining further funding or generated associated projects (36% of the case studies).

• those HEIs which have a formal or co-ordinated approach to responding to calls for bids, with appropriate facilities and staff, tended to have a higher likelihood of obtaining JISC funding.

• My observations : what about those who have problems in obtaining funds!!  I have often been on the receiving end of comments hinting at a "closed shop", and "the same old faces"! But as one very successful JISC project bidder pointed out to me, "it's (the bid calls) not a secret - all you have to do is keep an eye on the JISC funding road map." 

And more importantly he said  "bid for projects to ensure that they align with existing internal project proposals.  So in effect you are getting money for what was part of your ILT strategy anyway."

Often organisations fall down by not placing enough emphasis on the planning and management of sed plans , etc. i.e they either underestimate or under resource the project in hand.

• nb : Just got note of a new JISC report relevant to this this posting :  Understanding Global Activity in Higher Education and Research: Primary, desk and web-based research. Report of Findings (abridged version)- it says 

" Although this study did not set out to „benchmark‟ the UK against the other study countries, it is nevertheless impossible not to consider in very broad terms the UK‟s position on the world stage. Clearly the UK enjoys several key advantages: its compact size; the English language; and the UK‟s system of powerful central government to name but three. JISC is seen by other countries as a strong centralizing force and, largely as a result of JISC‟s role, the UK is viewed as being a leading player in most areas of e-Learning and e-Infrastructure development. Various reviews of specific areas of e-Learning and e-Infrastructure identify the UK as amongst the leaders in areas such as digitisation, data repositories and co-ordinated Web 2.0 enablement strategies, paving the way for the opportunities it opens up to be successfully and consistently introduced into learning and teaching practices."




Useful bidding resources

• jisc guide to bids :http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/bidguide.aspx

• http://www.fundingguide.co.uk/  

• http://www.planningandfunding.co.uk/training.asp  
• Our workshop bidding & planning resources we ran last year: http://wiki.rscwmsystems.org.uk/index.php/Bid_writing_for_e-Learning_projects,_2nd_December_2008
• RSC Easterns 2006 workshop resources : http://info.rsc-eastern.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=293
• Subscribe to this JSIC funding RSS feed, and you'll never miss a bid call again
  

second lifers

A couple of weeks ago two RSC staff held an "in-house" Second life training/awareness session for UK RSc staff. The event was very well organised, as you can see from  the event images.

A whole range of basic SL skills and uses of SL were demonstrated and experienced by delegates.  If you are thinking of running your own CPD sessions, contact Jane Edwards of JISC RSC West Midlands for some advice.

• Jane is also responsible for a new SL project that allows our new SL island to be experimented with by local learning providers. The list of local learning providers particpating in the project is currently full, but if you need to know more please contact Jane (contact details on above wiki page).

• If you want to know more about SL in the Midlands, book onto our free event on 02/12/09
  
  
  

  Virtual Worlds In Education Forum

   

  
  
  

• You can keep an eye on all things virtual in education, by heading over to the virtual world watch website.
  

• RSC South East also ran an event to launch awareness of their new ISland. This island is also open to educators to use for various teaching & learning projects. Contact Harold Fricker (HE coordinator) to find out more about how you can get involved in their SL project.
  
  
• Did you know that : As part of its Transforming Undergraduate Education Program, the University of Texas SYSTEM has initiated a statewide virtual learning community of students, faculty, researchers and administrators, that offers a creative approach to undergraduate instruction through the innovative use of a 21st century low-cost online virtual world technology.

eportfolio book review

Electronic Portfolios: Personal Information, Personal Development and Personal Values.

Electronic Portfolios: Personal Information, Personal Development and Personal Values.








This book was written by Simon Grant of JISC CETIS fame, covers all things eportfolio.  It’s a very easy book to digest for senior managers, and practitioners alike who need to know, “just what is an eportfolio, and why and what would we need it for”? Dip into the bits you need and pass it onto others.
The book begins with an overview of current thinking; by identify 4 primary areas of use;

• Supporting the overall learning process ing
• Supporting transitions between learning experiences or learning organisations
• Assessing the learning process
• Presenting the outcomes of the learning processes

Ref: http://wiki.rscwmsystems.org.uk/index.php/Eportfolios  (see BECTA video which also explains these areas – link on above page).
Simon then complements the above areas of eportfolio “use” with 3 primary principles, namely;

1.     

1. Purpose – usually very specific (assessment, reflection, CPD, PDP, etc);

2.    Information – personalised – which is the underlying message of the book. The eportfolio owner chooses to share the contents with whomever and whenever they choose;

3.    Functionality – what bells and whistles can the platforms offer? Or indeed what kind of learning approach is afforded by its interface + feature set.

Simon argues that if we remove any of these 3 pillars, our ability to understand eportfolio based learning and try and implement or support it becomes implausible. 

 
The book is fronted by a chapter on typical scenarios which help to contextualise all of the possible uses of an eportfolio that are currently being implemented in academic, work, and professional (CPD) areas.  These scenarios help to set the scene and guide readers through this daunting subject area. 


 
The book does not purport to give you the answer to which platform to choose, but it does give a well thought out set of guides, underlying principles, and current practice, that will help inform all interested stakeholders.
See also:

• ‘Study on the role of e-portfolios in formative and summative assessment practices’ by a team led by the Centre of Recording Achievement, is now available from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/eportfolios/studyontheroleofeportfolios.aspx
  

• http://kev-brace.blogspot.com/2009/10/eportoflio-evaluation-survey.html (current evaluation of popular eportfolio platforms)
• http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/e-portfolios (a very comprehensive guide)
• http://www.qaa.ac.uk/scotland/PDP/PDP.asp  (Effective PDP planning)
• http://delaney.typepad.com/files/e-portfolios.pdf (the state of play in the USA)
• http://www.wlecentre.ac.uk/cms/files/occasionalpapers/op5_eportfolios_models_and_implementation.pdf 

(this paper explores the use of ePortfolio tools to support teaching, learning and the personal and professional development of postgraduate students at the Institute of Education (IOE). The needs of tutors and students are considered alongside the affordances and limitations of specific tools in relation to these needs.)

sound of the cloud

heupdateoct09  by  mhawksey]


This post covers a new experiment of ours with soundcloud   audio web site.

You can see by the above embedded audio waveform, we've added our monthly podcast to www.soundcloud.com.  This allows registered users to add comments onto an audio podcast at specific points.

kineo-interview by mhawksey

As well as our usual e-learning musings I had the chance to speak to  Mr Stuart Chadwick who is a solutions architect for the award winning e-learning company Kineo.  Stuart discusses their rapid e-learning ethos and tools, plus Kineo services to customise Open Source applicatons such as Moodle. Click here for the full interview. 

p.s. We have been trying to keep our monthly musing below 30 mins - but have lasped back to a brain bursting 39 mins'! My fault. Must try harder next month.  Even 30 min's is considered too long in some circumstances!  I've just read a paper from the ALT-J  called "The value of using short-format podcasts to enhance learning and teaching", in which the study looked at podcasts at varying lengths - anywhere between 3 -  to a mammoth 8 minutes!  Interesting paper covering the pedagogy and perceived advantages of podcasts for learning.

creative tinkering

Steampunk Aural Enhancer, from instrucatbles.com

 A few ideas to get those creative juices flowing;

I  stumbled across the latest flip animation festival (5th Nov 09) offering all sorts of events around the subject of animation.

• Flip is an eclectic mix of all things animation. Based in the heart of the Midlands the festival provides a wide range of experiences from educational workshops for young people to experimental animation for grown ups; from industry led panels to feature film screenings and from international showcases and retrospectives of short films to spotlights on animation studios.  The event is located mainly in the Lighthouse media centre who also provide low cost training courses covering animation and video production, including HD.

• One session that stuck out was a Game Design Workshop for only 5 quids!! This one day workshop, run in conjunction with Wolverhampton University’s Institute of Gaming and Animation, is a great opportunity to get introduced to the X-Box XNA game platform which allows users to begin developing their own games with the free downloadable tools from Microsoft.  You can download and tinker with the X-Box XNA developers kit to create your own games.

• Whilst following links around the Lighthouse media centre I discovered "Mediabox", the fund that offers 13-19 year olds the chance to create their own media projects and get their voices heard, has opened its Mix Mediabox strand. Mix Mediabox enables organisations working within the community to apply for grants of between £5,000 - £20,000 for youth-led media projects that explore the theme of community cohesion. 

So essentially you bid for funds to create fun and interesting productions using film, animation, etc.  The videos already produced are inspriing stuff. Mix Mediabox is open to registered charities, trusts, local authorities and unincorporated associations.

• On the subject of tinkering I also came across a website called tinker.it , which is a design studio that builds interactive products, spaces and events that bridge the physical and the digital. They've got some excellent ideas and event running. Including the Arduino workshops.  I was intrigued to discover that Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

So it could be used to teach product design engineering, electronics, etc, in schools, colleges & Universities?  So you've got free games developers kits and free eletcronics prototyping gubbins :O)... In fact this Wired artcle lists some of the more popular (and) free programming and games platforms.

• To further inspire you take a look at one of my favourite sites : instructables.  It's what the web is for !O).  See top image
  

self e-generating

Are you a learning provider who wants to implement a ICT across your organisation? If so, a number of toolkits and services exist that can be used to help benchmark you, and move your (ILT) strategy forward.  We also run an engaging free change management workshop to help bring all staff along the e-learning journey with you.

The JSIC RSCs have been running these services for a number of years now for various areas including ACL, WBL, and FE in general.  A typical list of services that "we" use can be located on our strategy and management pages, and more specifically the eprogrees review link lists our range of services (pdf).

All JISC Regional Support Centres are running Generator workshops currently, as part of the big BECTa push to get learning proividers engaged in the self evaluation process.

ACL and WBL have had the eLPS and  WeLPS tools out for a while now, which are specifically aimed at those sectors - see also the pdf link above.


A couple of similar tools I recently located my also help embed your e-learning endeavours and change cultures are;

• The TECHDIS accessibilitiy self evaluation programme
  
• the NHS e-learing readiness website 
• the nga kiwai kete toolbox 

On a related note, if you have implemented an e-learning tool/platform/pilot project, etc, into your organisation, you should always evaluate its effectiveness. This could also be true for any training undertaken.  There are some frameworks that exist to help you convince SMT that the ROI is /was worthy?

• One of the most respected is the Donald L Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model - the four levels of learning evaluation
• This Educase article covers the subject well in terms of ensuring quality of curriculum delivery.  
• The elearning Maturity Model is designed to support the assessment of institutional e-learning capability
• The Radial method - measures impact, or lack of. 
• Phillips ROI Methodology - for trainers and companies assessing VFM for training,etc.

we have an issuu

Today I was experimenting with a free online publishing tool - issuu. It's was a (free) snip to sign up. I uploaded a Word 2003 doc ( no *.docx allowed!) and chose a few options , added keyword searches and voila- an online "e-zine" in literally minutes. The only others I've bookmarked are YUDU &  blurb, do you know of any similar?  I've been aware of these tools for a while, but not really tried any, until today.