JISC e-Learning Blog

Effective Assessment in a Digital Age Workshops
From challenge to change…

Using principles of good practice, work with colleagues towards an effective model for the use of technology in assessment and feedback.

A series of free workshops based around the JISC Effective Assessment in a Digital Age publication www.jisc.ac.uk/digiassess and associated online resources www.jisc.ac.uk/assessresource will take place during January – March 2011. The JISC e-Learning Programme is delighted to be working in partnership with the JISC Regional Support Centres on these events.

Workshops will be held in:
London – 20 January 2011 – please note this event is fully booked
Birmingham – 3rd February 2011
Bristol – 3rd March 2011
Newcastle – 24 March 2011

These workshops will be exploring how the use of technology in HE and HE in FE, linked to principles of good practice in assessment and feedback, can help promote more effective learning. These workshops, which draw on the work of recent JISC-funded projects as well as related significant developments in the area of assessment, will have a practical, hands-on flavour with a focus on how to move from current challenges towards sustainable change.

The workshops will be suitable for:
• Lecturers, tutors and course leaders who design assessment and feedback for their learners on HE-level courses
• Intermediaries with a role in supporting practitioners with assessment, and technology-enhanced assessment (learning technologists, e-learning/ILT champions, staff developers, educational developers, academic registry)

Further information together with the registration forms for the Birmingham, Bristol and Newcastle workshops, is now available from www.jisc.ac.uk/assessworkshops

Winter may have come early this year, but the closing days of the JISC Online Conference sparkled in the gloom.

The content
Anne Miller, an inventor and authority on innovation and creativity, opened up Theme 2 of the conference with advice on ‘How to get your innovations adopted – and change the world’. Delegates continued to explore the tension between innovation and resistance throughout the subsequent sessions which included mobile technologies, OER and ways of sustaining curriculum innovation.

Miller proposed 4 stages through which an innovation passes before acceptance. To succeed, innovators must recognise that challenging ideas will be subject to controlling mechanisms at the first three stages. A variety of engaging tips and tricks were offered to help an idea on to the embedded stage, generating discussions threads of exceptional quality.

Graham Brown-Martin’s session on mobile technologies struck a more challenging note. Educational technologies such as interactive whiteboards and desktop computers, he claimed, have done little to improve the standard of learning. The session polarised responses. Depending on their experiences and predilections, delegates valued the shift towards learner-managed learning taking place on learner-owned devices but also queried the appropriateness and inclusivity of such an approach in formal education:

‘How do mobile devices and apps support the values of tertiary education, which include challenge, criticism and disruption of accepted norms, but which also include equality of opportunity, cultural sensitivity, evidence and method?’ (Helen Beetham)

The conference closed with a keynote by Elliott Masie, head of the MASIE Center, a US think tank on cultural change. Arguing for reorganising rather than demolishing the status quo, Elliott proposed that a change in the locus of control should not mean an abrogation of responsibility on the part of educators, whose role necessarily includes setting and assessing standards.

Technology is a tool with which to achieve change, Masie argued, so we should be careful of falling so much in love with any particular technology that we do not see what its real affordances are. Thom Cochrane from Unitec, New Zealand in describing technology in an earlier session as a catalyst rather than a blueprint for change expressed a similar point – perhaps the consensus view in these wide-ranging debates:

‘The goal is changing and enhancing the learning experience – the technology is a catalyst that can be leveraged by lecturers modeling the pedagogical use of these tools and making informed decisions as to what tools to recommend and explore.’ (Thom Cochrane)

The experience
For the first time, all sessions at Innovating e-Learning 2010 took place in Elluminate to provide a ‘live’ conference experience alongside asynchronous discussions. Delegates enjoyed the variety this offered: ‘Personally I am really enjoying the choice that this online conference is giving me … the choice to watch live or view later … the choice to read the chat, join in or ignore (I like the fact that is it there though because it makes me feel as though I am in the same ‘room’ others) … the choice to carry on the discussion after the session … or not.’ (Helen Hodges RSC Wales)

There was also a sense that the nature of conferencing was being redrawn: ‘What is brilliant (in my mind) about this type of conference is the way in which multi-channel discussions can take place. The pre-reading, the live event and the post live event discussions. In some regards, the live event, instead of being the main draw has been a “conversation starter”. (Mark Russell, University of Hertfordshire)

Innovating e-Learning 2010 remains open for reading for registered delegates until 31st December, after which the recordings of the live sessions and all presentations will be available from the JISC website.

Proving once again the value of online conferencing, the fifth JISC Online Conference has attracted its highest ever numbers – 475 delegates from 11 countries.

The conference, which runs between 23rd and the 26th November, focuses on the opportunities to be found in technology-based innovation to overcome the challenges posed by adverse times. Offering a high-quality programme, the conference provides a vital chance to engage with leading thinkers and other colleagues without increasing pressure on time, cost and carbon footprint.

Theme 1 on a theme of Releasing the Potential opened on Tuesday 23rd November with a keynote from Professor Keri Facer, Manchester Metropolitan University. As institutions, practitioners and learners ponder what the future holds for them, Keri Facer questioned what educational institutions are for. Will the unique value of face to face learning continue to be experienced in 2025? Or will the growth in social media and cost/benefit efficiencies of distance learning alter forever the experience of post-school education?

Dismissing pessimism as a luxury in good times and a death sentence in difficult ones, she focused attention instead on more agile curriculum design and increasing awareness of the social and ethical contract between students and institutions.

The mood among delegates was correspondingly upbeat, most choosing transition and transformation over breakdown as most likely to occur in the next 15 years. ‘Though there has been some change, most of it has been superficial. The core processes we use in education have not changed enormously in that 15 year period,’ observed James Clay, the conference blogger. Another delegate agreed that what the future holds in fact lies in our own hands: ‘We can seem very powerless in the face of these larger global changes… The only solution that I can offer is to not focus on transforming education, or the institution, or national policy. Just transform what I do.’

Other sessions in Theme 1 featured Professor David Boud presenting from Sydney, Australia, on transforming assessment for a digital age, Professor Graham Galbraith, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and Jon Alltree, Director of Learning and Teaching, University of Hertfordshire on developing a culture of blended learning innovation and Usman Ali and Aaron Porter (NUS) on what students really want.

All sessions take place this year in the collaborative web conferencing software, Elluminate [link http://www.elluminate.com] but are followed by asynchronous discussions within the conference platform. The new combination has been well-received: “I think the format this year is working extremely well, with lots going on yesterday and then a day of reflection and a chance to go back over some of the presentations and discussions.” Tony Bartley, Lowestoft College

As well as the main conference, there have been activities during the pre-conference week for example showcasing various JISC projects in the Have-a-Go Area and tours of virtual world educational locations.

Theme 2 Realising the Value opens at 8.30 on Thursday 27th November and features a keynote by Anne Miller, a leading thinker on innovation and creativity, plus sessions on mobile learning, sustaining innovation in open educational resources and curriculum delivery. The conference closes with a keynote given by Elliott Masie, head of the Masie Center think tank in the USA.

Good value for money? I should say so!

Innovating e-Learning 2010: Bringing Innovation to Life: from adversity comes opportunity23rd – 26th November 2010

• How are colleges and universities going to change in light of recent policy announcements?
• How do we sustain the investment in technology-enhanced learning in the current climate?
• Do we know what students really want in relation to technology?
• How can we transform current assessment for learning practice?
• Is the future mobile?

Innovating e-Learning 2010 invites you to explore these highly topical issues with leading thinkers and experts. With over 20 live sessions covering these themes followed by in-depth discussion, the format is highly participative; providing opportunities to interact with the keynote speakers and colleagues over and above what would be expected from a more traditional conference. Live sessions are recorded ensuring you have access to the full programme content and can participate in as many sessions as you wish. In addition, our official conference blogger James Clay, from Gloucestershire College will keep you informed, engaged and entertained throughout the conference – see his early posts on a sense of community, value for money and the environmental benefits of Innovating e-Learning 2010.

The pre-conference activity and reading week opens on 16th November 2010 and offers a chance to become familiar with the conference environment, take part in interactive guided tours of virtual worlds and try out innovative JISC projects in the ‘have-a-go’ area. Support continues after the conference with access to the materials, resources, discussions and recordings of the live sessions.

Book online – early registration advisable for full participation in the pre-conference week
www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking
Delegate fee: £50

Visit the conference website at www.jisc.ac.uk/elpconference10 for a full list of presenters and abstracts including:

• Keri Facer, Professor of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University and Director of the CREATE centre
• Graham Galbraith, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Jon Alltree, Director of Learning, University of Hertfordshire
• Aaron Porter (President) and Usman Ali (Vice President (HE)), National Union of Students
• Anne Miller, inventor, author and co-founder of The Technology Partnership
• Elliott Masie, internationally recognised futurist, analyst and researcher on workforce learning, business collaboration and emerging technologies and Head of the MASIE Centre

A new guide in the well-received JISC Effective Practice series, Effective Assessment in a Digital Age, is available from 7th September following its launch at ALT-C 2010 at the University of Nottingham.

The guide adopts a principles-based approach to explore how technology can improve the experience of assessment and feedback for practitioners and learners, demonstrating through ten newly researched case studies how both generic and more complex technologies can increase learner autonomy, improve teaching efficiency and enhance the quality of the experience of assessment and feedback. As many higher education institutions are reviewing their assessment strategies, the publication of this guide is timely. Copies of the publication will be mailed out to institutions in September 2010. You can order print copies of Effective Assessment in a Digital Age online until end of October 2010 from http://survey.jisc.ac.uk/digiassess

The supplementary online resources which accompany the guide include video case studies, a planning tool and expert podcasts designed to support individuals and curriculum teams in harnessing the potential of technology to transform their assessment and feedback practice. To increase accessibility, the resources associated with Effective Assessment in a Digital Age are available in different formats from www.jisc.ac.uk/assessresource

The guide is also available online in PDF and text-only formats, together with extended versions of the case studies. These can be read online or downloaded from www.jisc.ac.uk/digiassess

For the full news item (with podcast) visit:
www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2010/09/digiassess.aspx

Effective Assessment in a Digital Age is a partner publication to Effective Practice in a Digital Age (JISC, 2009). Combined, the two publications provide an accessible introduction to the application of technology to learning, teaching and assessment in further and higher education.

Innovating e-Learning 2010
Bringing Innovation to Life: from adversity comes opportunity
23rd – 26th November 2010

The theme of the 2010 Innovating e-Learning conference reflects the challenges presented by the current climate of economic constraint and will explore how technology-enhanced learning can help universities and colleges to develop forward-looking educational futures and continue to complete globally.

The programme:
Innovating e-Learning 2010 offers a variety of sessions under the themes of Releasing the Potential and Realising the Value. Visit the conference website for the full list of presenters, including sessions from:

• Keri Facer, Professor of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University and Director of the CREATE centre:
Learning to live in interesting times – what are educational institutions for?
• David Boud, Professor of Adult Education, University of Technology, Sydney:
Effective assessment and feedback for a digital age.
• Aaron Porter, President of the National Union of Students and Usman Ali, Vice President of National Union of Students (HE):
What do students really want?
• Anne Miller, inventor, author and co-founder of The Technology Partnership:
How to get your innovations adopted (and change the world)
• Graham Brown-Martin, founder and managing director of Learning without Frontiers:
Is the future mobile?
• Elliott Masie, internationally recognised futurist, analyst and researcher on workforce learning, business collaboration and emerging technologies and Head of MASIE Centre:
Shaping our learning futures.

The experience
Each theme will run over 2 days and you will be able to see presenters on webcam and try out new technologies and different ideas in the Have-a-go area which showcases JISC projects and services. The informative and entertaining conference blog will once again be provided by James Clay, from Gloucestershire College. Representatives of the JISC Regional Support Centres will offer guided tours of virtual worlds and the Virtual Coffee Shop will be open all hours, providing a sense of support and community. You can follow delegates at the conference on Twitter using the tag #jiscel10.

The conference takes place in an asynchronous virtual environment which can be accessed wherever and whenever is convenient to you. The 2010 conference includes real-time sessions in Elluminate® a tool that facilitates participation and interactive online collaboration. Participating in this online conference is excellent value for money providing additional features not offered by face-to-face conferences, saving time and travel and helping you to reduce your carbon footprint. Further information from www.jisc.ac.uk/elpconference10

Booking now open:
www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/elpconference10/booking
Delegate fee: £50

We hope you can join us online.

You are invited to attend a workshop on Digital Literacies on Monday 6th September at the East Midlands Conference Centre as an ALT-C pre-conference workshop.

The workshop is designed for everyone with a research and/or development interest in digital literacies, and those whose roles are changing to accommodate a ‘digital literacies’ agenda. Participants will:

*Explore materials from the LLiDA project, designed to support curriculum and institutional development around a digital literacies agenda
*Share changing practices and roles as ‘digital literacy’ becomes a key area of policy and curriculum
*Learn from the institutional case studies that have been collated by Rhona Sharpe and her team as part of the Supporting Learners in a Digital Age (SLIDA) project
*Hear about the TLRP/TEL projects that are researching areas associated with digital literacy

FACILITATORS: Helen Beetham (JISC Learning Literacies in a Digital Age project), Rhona Sharpe (Oxford Brookes University), Fred Garnet (representing TLRP/TEL)

TIMING: from 2pm until 4.30pm

VENUE: http://www.nottinghamconferences.co.uk/how-to-find-us/

BOOKING: please email helen.beetham@googlemail.com or fred.garnett@gmail.com with your name and confirmation that you will attend.

ADDITIONAL INFO: Please don’t confuse this with the symposium on digital literacies which is taking place as part of the ALT-C programme on the following day. However, if you are planning to attend both, we aim to ensure a coherent experience across both events!

On behalf of the JISC e-Learning Programme, we would like to thank all those who participated in the recent survey of JISC e-Learning Programme communications activities.

JISC has commissioned Stamp Consulting to objectively evaluate the effectiveness and impact of a range of communication activities funded by the JISC e-Learning Programme between 2004 and 2009. Activities to be evaluated include printed publications (for example, the JISC Effective Practice guides), multimedia resources, workshops and online conferences. Findings from the evaluation will inform the e-Learning Programme’s future communication and dissemination approaches to ensure we are better meeting the needs of the community we serve.

As part of this study, we ran a short online survey which allowed individuals to register their interest in participating in telephone interviews, as well as collecting general information about awareness of JISC e-Learning resources. Those who participated in the survey were eligible for entry into a prize draw to win a 32GB iPod touch. There were 439 responses to the survey of which 60 % represented higher education and 24 % represented further education.

We are also delighted to announce that Matt Smith, e-Learning Manager at Coleg Gwent is the winner of the prize draw of the 32GB iPod touch. Congratulations to Matt and we hope he enjoys using the device to support e-learning developments at the college.

For further information about the study please see http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/elearningcommsevaluation.aspx

We are looking for people with an institutional role in supporting and developing ‘digital’ learners, which might mean working in learning development, information literacy, e-learning, ICT support, personal development planning, career planning, developing ‘literacies of the digital’, institutional strategic planning, and developing a 21st century curriculum in your subject area.

We would like to invite you to pilot a set of materials for institutional and curriculum development in the area of supporting digital learners. Materials will draw on outcomes of the JISC ‘Learners’ Experiences of e-Learning‘ programme and the ‘Learning Literacies for a Digital Age’ project, as well as a new set of case studies current under development (see below). You will be helping us to refine and contextualise the resources before public release, but we hope they will be of value to you in their pilot form.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Helen Beetham (helen.beetham@googlemail.com) with your name, role, email address and institution. A brief idea of why you are interested would be helpful but is not necessary.

We are also looking for institutions that can demonstrate good practice in one of the following areas:
1. digital literacy as part of a widening participation or employability agendas;
2. use of e-portfolios to develop learners across the institution; or
3. using learners to support the development of digital literacies in other learners (such as through a student mentoring scheme).

Chosen institutions will be supported by the JISC funded SLiDA project team to develop a case study that showcases their work and analyses their experience for the benefit of others. The case studies will be made available from the e-Learning Programme pages on the JISC website and may also be showcased in JISC e-Learning publications.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Rhona Sharpe (rsharpe@brookes.ac.uk) stating your role, institution, the area in which you can demonstrate good practice, and a few lines about what you are doing to support students.

The deadline for expressions of interest is Friday 7th May.