Autumn 2002 Volume 1 • Issue 2

the termly newsletter produced by RSC East Midlands

Welcomefrom the Editor

Hello everyone. I hope that you have all settled calmly and comfortably backinto the new term and that you will find time to read through this, the secondedition of the termly newsletter from your local JISC Regional Support Centre.

The last few months have seen the development of some new and exciting resources and services for

FE. To find out more about these, have a look at the articles on the Resource Guides and the Virtual

Training Suite and read about the Ferl Practitioners Programme: the new training initiative from Ferl.

Those of you responsible for your college network might like to check out the article on network security

for advice and useful links to further information on the subject. And find out what new developments

in ILT are taking place at New College Nottingham in the College Focus section.

Wishing you all a stress free and successful term!

Judi Millage, ILT Advisor

I N S I D ET h i s i s s u e

Ferl Practitioners Programme– A major new initiative to be delivered by the RSC

The structure of the programme is as follows:

• Strand 1 - Using ILT with Learners: for

teachers, tutors and those with a direct

responsibility for delivering programmes

of learning.

• Strand 2 - Assisting and supporting staff to use

ILT with learners: for learning resources

staff/learner support staff and those with a

direct responsibility for supporting teaching

and learning activity.

• Strand 3 - Making ILT happen in teaching

and learning: for ILT Champions

(curriculum and management) and those

with a direct responsibility for embedding

the use of ILT in the culture and practice of

teaching and learning.

• Strand 4 - VLEs and other Learning Platforms:

for practitioners who have completed either

Strand 1, 2 or 3 and who are using or

intending to use a virtual learning

environment or a college intranet for the

delivery of learning.

• Strand 5 - ILT Awareness for Technical Staff:

aimed at raising the awareness of technical

support staff on the issues practitioners face

in the use and application of ILT.

The Ferl Practitioners Programme will be

mapped to the ILT FENTO standards. It is

also planned to map them to existing

ICT/ILT qualifications.

This is a timely and important new initiative that

is responding to the needs of the sector. Ferl and

the RSC are looking at models of delivery and

will be consulting colleges presently.

For further information contact me at:

support@rsc-east-midlands.ac.uk

John McKenzie, ILT Curriculum Advisor

The Ferl team at Becta is developing an introductory programme for allpractitioners that will be delivered in partnership with the JISC RSCs. Theprogramme will reach its audience through the in-house staff developmentprogrammes that colleges offer. The materials that are currently being produced, together with the methods ofdelivery, are flexible and will support the various staff development models commonly employed by colleges.

The programme is being developed around five core strands. Strands 1, 2 and 3 are to be piloted with selected colleges from October 2002 to December

2002. The pilot will be evaluated fully, with the findings being acted on. It is planned that the full programme will be rolled out to all colleges in April 2003.

Welcome

Ferl Practitioners Programme

New Resource Guides for Further

Education

JISC Services: What’s on offer?

New Online Resource: The Virtual

Training Suite for FE

Network Security: Why it’s a must

University for Industry

College Focus: New College Nottingham

Hints & Tips: Saving your favourite

websites list

Forthcoming Events

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JISC Services:What’s on offer

N e w O n l i n eR e s o u r c e :T h e V i r t u a l T r a i n i n gS u i t e f o r F E

The RDN Virtual Training Suite forFurther Education was officiallylaunched at the end of June 2002. Eachtutorial has been written by furthereducation practitioners who haveknowledge of both their subject areaand the Internet.

There are 11 tutorials offering step-by-stepinstruction in Internet searching and informationskills. They contain online quizzes andinteractive exercises, a glossary of Internet termsand a "Links Basket" to collect a personal list ofuseful Web links.

Lecturers, librarians and IT trainers can use thesetutorials to support subject curricula, studentinduction, staff development and training in ITKey Skills. The skills covered map on to part ofthe Key Skills specifications for InformationTechnology, as defined by the QualificationsCurriculum Authority. Teaching Packs providecase study examples of how these tutorials canbe used in different courses at levels 1-3, rangingfrom A Level to GNVQ and AVCE.

The 11 tutorial titles are:

• Internet for Art, Design and Media

• Internet for Business Studies

• Internet for Construction

• Internet for Engineering (General and Automotive)

• Internet for Hairdressing and Beauty

• Internet for Health and Social Care

• Internet for Hospitality and Catering

• Internet for Information and CommunicationTechnology

• Internet for Leisure, Sport and Recreation

• Internet for Performing Arts

• Internet for Travel and Tourism

The RDN Virtual Training Suite is available athttp://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk

Judi Millage, ILT Advisor.

?N e wR e s o u r c eG u i d e s f o r Fu r t h e rE d u c a t i o n

In June 2002 the JISC Regional SupportCentres collaborated on a pilot projectto produce a series of Resource Guidesfor FE. The brief A4 leaflets cover thefollowing curriculum areas:

• Adult Basic Skills

• Art and Design (AS/A2 level)

• Building and Construction

• Business Studies

• Catering Food and Hospitality

• Computing (BTEC Higher Nationals)

• Engineering

• Hairdressing and Beauty

• Health and Social Care

• IT Key Skills Level 2

• Psychology/Social Sciences (forthcoming)

• Sport and Leisure

• Travel and Tourism

The guides are available for download from our web

site http://www.rsc-east-midlands.ac.uk To access

them, click ILT then Resources on side navigation bar.

They are available in both Word and Pdf format. The

guides are designed to give curriculum staff,

librarians, learning resource centre managers and

facilitators some starting points for finding quality

resources for use in teaching, learning and

professional development. They could be used as

sources of material for use in teaching, or you may

find some of the sites useful to point students to, for

independent learning and projects.

We hope that you find them both useful and

informative. In the meantime, if you require further

information contact Judi Millage at: support@rsc-

east-midlands.ac.uk

Lesley Price, RSC Manager

What is it?TechLearn is the brand name for a new JISC

Service from the Technologies Centre. It has been

set up to provide an advice and support service on

new and emerging technologies for learning and

teaching. TechLearn is a sister service to TechDis.

PurposeThe purpose of TechLearn is to maximise, through

technology transfer, the value, impact and relevance

of JISC’s work in technologies that support learning,

teaching, research and administration.

What it does and who for?• Identify key technologies that may be of value

in learning and teaching

• Thoroughly investigate them

• Produce easily digestible reports that contain

information on the technologies and wherever

possible, examples of their use in education for:

- Senior managers who need strategic information

- Service heads who require more detailed

information

• Arrange seminars, conferences and workshops,

often in association with other agencies on

these technologies

• Feedback to JISC on new areas for study.

Current Projects• E-tutoring

• Videoconferencing

• Wireless technologies

• Broadband technologies

• Strategic factors influencing the take-up of new

and emerging technologies in further and

higher education

• Re-usable objects for education simulation

• Ubiquitous computing

• Widening Access with Wireless Technologies.

To find out more about TechLearn go to

www.techlearn.ac.uk

Gwen Callaghan, Admin & Events Co-ordinator

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The RSC has been involved with the Ufi Pilot

for 9 months now, taking us beyond the

original six months of the project which is now

due to run until October 2002!

The remit of the project is to assist Ufi hubs,

learning centres and access points with ICT

issues for the provision of learndirect. To date

this has taken many forms including

connectivity troubleshooting, consultancy for

new connections, advice on software and

hardware issues, one-to-one and group

training and general help desk queries.

Through the provision of this support a

number of ‘how to’ type documents have

been produced and are available for

download from the Ufi dedicated section of

our website along with some FAQ’s, useful

links and details of forthcoming events. Take a

look at http://www.rsc-east-midlands.ac.uk

/learndirect.htm for further details.

If you feel you could use some ICT advice and

guidance in the provision of learndirect or

would like to discuss any issues relating to the

pilot please feel free to contact me at the RSC.

Ian Houseman, Ufi Technical Support Officer.

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UNIVERSITY for industry

Following the disruption and inconvenience caused by Code Red

Worm and Nimda, the need for secure and protected network

equipment can clearly be seen to be of paramount importance.

The need for a college security policy that covers what system users are

allowed and not allowed to do, what procedures and actions are in

place if a security incident occurs, and also the role that the security

plays in supporting the mission statement and goals of the college, needs

to be the first step in protecting a college against both internal and

external attacks on its systems and infrastructure. A useful document to

help in creating an information security policy is available on the JISC

website at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub01/security_policy.html. It should

be noted that any security policy produced by an institution should be

closely linked to the JANET Acceptable Use Policy and also any college

produced Acceptable Use Policy.

Any documents and policies that are produced and implemented in a

college need to be widely publicised within the college so that all staff

and students are aware of the situation and are not able to use being

unaware of the regulations as an excuse for breaking the rules.

Security and Acceptable Use policies are very important, but the value

of up to date virus protection software and the latest security patches

installed on systems cannot be underestimated. The speed at which

worms such as the Code Red Worm compromised vulnerable servers all

over the world was staggering. Patches to protect Microsoft webservers

were available for several months prior to the attacks, but many systems

remained unpatched when the worms attacked causing inconvenience

and a reduction in the level of service to users.

A useful service offered by Microsoft is a mailing list that immediately

provides information on new security patches as Microsoft releases

them. More information about this service can be obtained by clicking

on the following URL.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/notify.asp

JANET-CERT is a service provided by UKERNA for the benefit of users

of the JANET network and advises sites on network security matters. The

service they offer should be used in conjunction with an institution’s

policies and procedures to help protect systems and infrastructure from

attack. More information on JANET-CERT and the services they offer can

be found by accessing their website using the link shown below.

http://www.ja.net/CERT/cert.html

As the reliance on IT systems in colleges continues to increase, so the

need to increase the resources provided to ensure that the systems are

fully available, functional and protected becomes very apparent. Make

sure that you are not caught unawares.

James Higham, Network Specialist.

why it’s a mustNETWORK SECURITY:

Another academic year begins and with it the usualsigns of anxiety as room moves are checked toensure no treble counting, registers appear whereprograms are known, students keep to the programthey said they would do and achievement data goessmoothly onto the system to ensure you are ready forthe next KPMG student numbers audit. Ah thebeginning of term. So what’s this to do with ILT yousay? Well as Director of Technology for New CollegeNottingham about 7/8th of my time is problemsolving, bureaucracy busting, business processreview, systems development and 1/8th, the passionfor why I am in this sector, ILT. However, you can doa lot with 1/8th if you put your mind to it and involvethe key players (staff and students) within yourcollege which is what I have done. I want to takeyou through some of the initiatives that havehappened here at NCN within the last 12 monthsand give you an out line of where this is moving to.

The college created in August 2001, a centralMultimedia Development Unit which supports thecollege graphic design processes, internet andintranet development for staff and students, VLEdevelopments and audio visual (up to broadcastquality). A key element for MDU is to co-ordinatethe ILT champion program for the college. We havecreated a full time post of ILT Champion Co-ordinator to ensure that the 82 staff that arechampions are supported. The ILT championssupport a range of projects that include onlinecontent development, use of the VLE for studenttracking and assessment and ILT learning and

teaching styles. The first year has been hard to keepstaff motivated but we have moved a long way inunderstanding staff and student needs. One of themost successful buy in’s from staff has been thecurriculum staff involvement in the developmentDATANET. This intranet site gives access to all themonitoring reports required by the curriculum and tosupport effective student tracking.

Another area of development this year has been ofthe Systems Development team within the collegewho are looking to the future integration of systemswhich influence and effect ILT development anddelivery. NCN is working towards a knowledgemanagement solution where ILT plays a major role.The first stages of this include developing a clearvision for the way the organisation wants tofunction in the future. We are working with keymarket place suppliers to find ways forward.

We have also developed 3 of the main site LearningCentres to expand ILT for students increasing flexibleaccess. We have invested in a wide range of on linelearning resources this year and have decided to useTechniKal as the key VLE during this year.

Other new initiatives we are introducing includeweb registers at one of our main sites, developing inpartnership NLN materials and looking at the bestway for the VLE to help in reaching retention andachievement targets set locally. So here we go intothe year fresh and…sorry, I have already been back3 weeks! Must book my next holiday.

Christine Vincent at ncn.ac.uk

I LT A t N e wC o l l e g eN o t t i n g h a m

C O L L E G EFOCUS

Forthcoming

EVENTSOctober3rd MIS/CIS Forum: Data

Protection, Freedom ofInformation and RecordsManagement

13th-15th NILTA Annual Conference

November6th Cybrecrime

14th LRC Forum: JISCCollections for FE and the benefits of using e-resources

25th-26th Ferl Annual Conference

28th Technical Forum

19th Curriculum ForumUsing the NLN Materials

DecemberDate to be Web Developers Forumconfirmed

For further details see our website

www.rsc-east-midlands.ac.uk

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1. Using the favourite folder

• The favourites folder is located in the windows directoryin Windows 98, Windows NT or Win2000.

• From the 'Start' button> go to 'Search' > 'Files andFolders' and search the 'C' drive for a 'Favourites' folder.

• Click on the folder to highlight it and then right click todisplay the menu.

• Select 'Send to' and then '31/2” floppy (A)' to save itonto a disk.

• You can now take your favourites folder with you touse at home!

2. Using the Import/Export Wizard (for Internet Explorer5.0 and above)

• From the 'File' menu bar on your web page, select 'Importand Export' this takes you to the Import/Export Wizard.

• Click 'Next' and then select the 'export favourites' option.

• Follow the step by step instructions to complete the process.

• From here you can change your favourites list into a filethat you can browse like a web page (an HTML file). Italso allows you to import these files, so you can borrowsomeone else's links!

Sam Eliyas, ILT Development Officer

H i n t s & T i p sHow to: save your favourite websites l istHere are two ways to save your favourites:

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Internet Explorer Menu Bar:

Front Screen for Export Wizard