Thriving in the 21st century: Learning Literacies for the Digital Age
We are very pleased to have just published the final report from the Learning Literacies for the Digital Age (LLiDA) project, which was set up to examine the kinds of skills and capabilities students need to have to get the full benefit of the technology and resources available to support their learning and the differing ways in which institutions supported the acquisition of these.
We intend to publicise this report (written by Helen Beetham, Allison Littlejohn and Lou McGill at the Caledonian Academy within Glasgow Caledonian University) in many ways over the summer, but here - for the early adopters - is the document itself.
Download executive summary and conclusions (Adobe pdf, 360kb)
Download full final report (Adobe pdf, 1MB)
The intellectual rigour of the report is obvious to even a cursory reader, what is equally striking is the timeliness of such attention to this aspect of academic life. As JISC programme managers we encounter these issues within project final reports frequently, and we are also seeing digital and learning literacies making increasing appearances in high-level strategy documents. What the LLiDA team has done is to put the debate onto a firm evidence- and research-based footing, allowing interventions by individual institutions and national bodies to provide maximum benefit to students.
Effective Practice in a Digital Age
Effective Practice in a Digital Age’ has been commissioned by the JISC e-Learning Programme and is due to be launched at the Higher Education Academy Conference on 30th June 2009. This publication is an updated version of the 2004 JISC guide ‘Effective Practice with e-Learning’ and will supported by ten new and more detailed case studies, video case studies (institutional focus and a selection of practitioners voices) and podcasts made available as downloads from the JISC website www.jisc.ac.uk/practice . The audience of the publication is those new to teaching or those who have resisted adopting technologies as an integral part of their practice. The aim will be to outline for this relatively inexperienced audience how technology can assist them in meeting everyday challenges, and to support them in taking the next steps towards using technologies appropriately and effectively alongside traditional face-to-face teaching. To register your interest in ordering a copy of the publication please visit http://survey.jisc.ac.uk/digitalage
e-Learning Show - Podcast
The e-Learning Show podcast is now available if you missed the show, or want to listen to it again.
The programme also included a live panel discussion near the end with Oleg Liber (University of Bolton’s Professor of eLearning), Clare Newhouse (LLN National Forum) and Andrew Ravenscroft (Professor of Technology Enhanced Learning, London Metropolitan University).
The panel discussion centred around questions raised by listerners including the role of unique learner identifiers, change management strategies, mainstreaming and sustainability, adequacy of present elearning technologies for work based learning.
We’d welcome comments on this pilot show.
The e-Learning Show – Lifelong Learning
Thursday, 21 May sees the pilot programme of a new JISC live internet radio programme, the e-Learning Show.
The programme will be broadcast from 1800 - 1855 UK summer time and is based on issues raised at the recent JISC Lifelong Learning Symposium. A
report on the symposium is now available.
Issues discussed will include
• how university and college cultures need to change to support work based learning,
• who are the new students and what are their needs
• how e-Portfolios can be used both for recording learning and for providing information, advice and guidance and
• the use of mobile technologies to support lifelong learning
The programme considers both current and emergent practices in e-learning and the development of policies to support such practice.
The programme will be presented by Graham Attwell and guests include
• Derek Longhurst from Foundation Degree Forward,
• Clive Church from Edexel,
• Lucy Stone from Leicester College,
• Tony Toole from the University of Glamorgan,
• Bob Bell, HE in FE consultant for the northern region,
• Sandra Winfield from Nottingham University and
• Rob Ward from the Centre for Recording Achievement
The programme will also feature a live panel with the opportunity for listeners to skype or email their questions and comments and there will be a live chat room for listeners.
To listen to the programme go to http://radio.jiscemerge.org.uk:80/Emerge.m3u This will open the LIVE radio stream in your MP3 player of choice.
You can take part in the chat room at http://tinyurl.com/sounds08. Just add your name and press enter - no password required.
You can leave comments on the e-learning blog and also access a report on the Lifelong learning Symposium nearer the event. Links to the podcast will also be posted to the blog page so can listen to the show even if you miss the live broadcast.
If you like to send us questions for the panel in advance of the programem, email Graham Attwell - graham10@mac.com or skype to GrahamAttwell.
Open Educational Resources - what’s going on?
The revolution continues apace - following the launch of the circular and related guidance in December, alongside the ongoing commentary in twitter and on blogs and the programme briefing day in January there is now a great deal of resources and guidance available for those currently writing to the 4th March deadline.
This is a joint JISC/Academy delivery of a HEFCE programme, to encourage the HE sector to release and share learning materials openly, for the benefit both of themselves (in terms of reputation, exposure and encouraging prospective student interest) and the world (regarding opportunities for the reuse of high quality learning materials).
We’re looking to help institutions and consortia put processes and policies in place to support the large scale and sustainable release of resources. So, it’s not about buying and relicensing stuff - more about helping people get over the “hump” of interia and changing the culture of the sector. Releasing valuable resources in their own way, suiting their own needs and benefiting the wider community.
And this first year is only the pilot - we are looking for evidence of what works, what are the approaches that are most effective in particular settings. Not in terms of institutional versus individual versus subject - in terms of common successful practices, key compontents of projects that have worked well. And an even bigger programme is intended to follow - learning from the trailblazing dynamism of the pilots and bringing OER into the mainstream.
Interest has been widespread - worldwide, even. A lot of eyes are focused on our HE sector regarding OER - in terms of pumping public resource into this agenda, and testing multiple models of release, we are leading the western world. And our (your) content is going to be out there. Via Jorum Open, via web pages and web 2.0 services. Making a case for the quality and innovation that the UK HE sector is respected for, and dragging this message into the 21st century worldwide learning economy.
Is this a programme or a revolution? From some angles it is hard to tell. Certainly we are taking a big risk, putting a marker down regarding our intentions and aspirations. And we are looking for a level of cultural change that we know is difficult to achieve and difficult to measure. Certainly some pilot projects will “fail”, but in terms of learning these are still successes as they help us on the road to understanding how to achieve our aims.
Effective use of social software report & case studies now available
This JISC funded report, and collection of 26 case studies, which examined the effective use of social software in the UK further and higher education sectors in enhancing student learning and engagement is now available for download at www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/projects/socialsoftware08.aspx.
This very readable report provides insights about the:
* educational goals of using social software tools;
* enablers or drivers within the institution, or from external sources which positively influence the adoption of social software;
* benefits to the students, educators and institutions;
* challenges that may influence a social software initiative;
* issues that need to be considered in a social software initiative.
It also includes a very useful ‘recommendations’ section aimed towards anyone considering implementing a social software initiative to support student learning and engagement.
I’d like to end this blog post with a quote taken from the study:
“When I thanked an educator, associated with one of the initiatives investigated in this study, at the end of a long day of interviews with her and her students, she said: ‘my heart is with the learners; if I know that something works for them, I want to share it with others so that other learners can also benefit; that is what we are here for - to help our learners’. This statement embodies the spirit of this study: the willingness of colleagues to share their experiences with the wider community.”
Quote from study author
Report on timetabling and resource scheduling
The final report on timetabling and resource scheduling undertaken by Oakleigh Consulting Ltd is now available.
A full copy of the report can be downloaded from
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearningcapital/timetablingandresourceschedulingreport.pdf
The study was commissioned to produce scenarios and process models describing timetabling and resource scheduling processes, looking at where these interacted with other administrative process in an institution. It was also expected to summarise how well these processes are supported by currently available technology and to identify any problems or issues.
In addition JISC were looking for ways in which these processes could be improved and better supported by technology and to inform the future work of the JISC.
The study has been informed by wide consultation and a series of 8 regional consultative workshops, with representation from 59 institutions across further and higher education
sectors.
The report identified common approaches to timetabling and resource allocation; requirements identification, scheduling of activity, and location allocation. The report identifies and describes four model approaches to timetabling in institutions and examines the technical processes and requirements associated with each of these models.
The importance of the link between timetabling and curriculum design as well as its
importance in relation to work based learning and employer engagement are explored. It offers issues which could be relevant to be addressed by existing JISC projects in the Curriculum Design and Delivery Programmes and the Institutional Innovations Programmes.
The report “offers a useful profile of current practice, challenges, use of technology, and innovation throughout the HE and FE sectors, which can be used as a benchmark summary and act as a ‘menu’ of approaches and possible use of policy, technology, process, and people ‘levers’ to develop current practice”
The report provides a set of building blocks for successful practice and suggests that these could be refined into guidance materials for institutions and suggests the need for a community to share practice and issues around timetabling and resource scheduling. We’d welcome your opinion as to the benefits of guidance materials and a community of practice to institutions.
JISC encourages you to download and read this report and welcomes comments or questions relating to this report.
Report on Identity management for lifelong learning
The final report on Identity management for lifelong learning in UK higher and further education undertaken by Oakleigh Consulting Ltd is now available.
A full copy of the report can be downloaded from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearningcapital/imdfinalreport.doc
The study was intended to describe current practices, envision future processes in identity management and explore identity management issues within the context of lifelong learning.
The study set out to detail the identity management lifecycle in a series of episodes within the educational journey of a lifelong learner, both in an ideal world and also as they are currently. It also looked at how far existing initiatives were meeting these requirements and to map the differences between the ideal world and what happens currently.
The use cases in the study were expected to cover provisioning of identity, maintenance of identity, deprovisioning of identity and provision of authenticated information about learners to other organisations.
The study was commissioned to aid understanding of the challenges facing the education sector in identity management for lifelong learning, and to support JISC in future planning in this area.
The report makes several recommendations for JISC
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to work more closely with MIAP to make use of the learner registration service and unique learner number. To look at working with the UK AM Federation
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to look at how a multi-tier model of access and information sharing can be addressed, undertaking pilots with selected consortia that are facing these issues in practice and at an operational level
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to build upon work on e-Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (e-APEL) to understand how identity management can contribute to the recording of APEL to build up a record of lifelong learning.
The JISC welcomes comments or questions to further clarify the issues and needs raised in this report.
Welcome to the JISC e-Learning Programme
The JISC e-Learning team welcomes you to this blog which provides you with news from the programme and offers you opportunities of finding out more about the work we are doing.