Video in educationIn this edition of intouch we considerthe use of video in education. We have coverage about capturingvideo from TV, bringing in resourcesor making your own, and how to usethese in learning materials.

We hope that this sets you on theroad towards becoming confident in integrating this increasinglycommonly used technology into your learning and teaching.

intouchthe termly newsletter produced by RSC East Midlands Autumn 2009 Volume 8: Issue 1

Stimulating and supportinginnovation in learning

Contents1 Video in education2 Regional News2 RSC kit loans2 e-Portfolio Review3 Funding update3 Organising a VLE

competition4 Biggest e-fair yet4 E-learning success in

the region5 Best practice around

the UK5 Resource Corner6 Hints & Tips6 Capturing video content7 Focus On: Curriculum

Review7 JISC news8 Forthcoming Events8 e-learning & CPD8 Your feedback

There are numerous tools available tocapture, edit and produce video and theprocess is well within the reach of mosttutors. The rapid uptake of broadbandmeans that many learners can now easilyaccess these resources.

What does video bring to the party?Firstly it’s brilliant for illustrating apractical process or sequence of events,whether that involves laying bricks,watercolour painting or measuringblood pressure.

Secondly it’s very forgiving – learners canplay and re-play the clips in a way that isimpossible with live demonstrations.

Thirdly it’s portable – the learner can viewit on the web, their iPod, their phone ordistributed on DVD, in fact just about anyway that’s convenient for them.

In the classroom it has obvious impact,as long as it’s kept short and snappy, butwhen distributed for personal learninge.g. on an iPod, or used on a learningplatform for distance learning it can havea key role in enhancing the learner’sunderstanding and engagement.

The video newcomer on the block is thehand-held, instant recorder made byBusbi, Flip, Vado and others.

Cheap and cheerful, it provides goodquality images for instant replay oruploading onto the web.

Tutors can employ these easily andwith very little training and as well asproducing video for learning they arefabulous at recording progress forassessment.

Creating and editing video may be easy– free software to do this is on everyWindows or MAC PC, but not everyonehas the time.

No matter, there is a huge range ofvideo clips available on the web –YouTube is the obvious site to mentionhere, but there’s also excellent stuff onTeachers TV.

Mainstream broadcast TV should not beforgotten either. Systems are nowavailable to capture and stream onto acomputer network.

Turn to pages 5-7 for more on usingvideo in education.

You can also experience this first-handat our event on the 8th Decemberwhich explores the sources of video foreducation and how video can be bestemployed in the classroom and beyond.

Video in EducationVideo is now easier to produce and distribute than ever beforeand, as a result, the use of video in education and training hasgrown significantly.

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Regional News

Notebooks for ACLNottingham City Council’s FamilyLearning Team have recently purchaseda bank of Samsung notebooks that theyhope will prove hugely beneficial forboth tutors and learners.

Paul Huskisson commented that, “wewill be encouraging tutors to use theequipment at every appropriateopportunity, from 12 hour to 60 hourprogrammes and will incorporating theeffective use through quality monitorvisits and tutor observations.”

New opportunities formobile learningA survey at RNIB College Loughboroughshowed that visually impaired learnerswere less confident at using features onSmartphones than fully sighted learners.

With the support of funding from Becta,the College offered learners workshops onconfiguring the Talks speech on the phones,using GPS to aid mobility, text scanning into speech and reading DAISY books.

Loan of networkmonitoring toolWe have recently purchased a FlukeNetworks Etherscope which we canuse, on-site, to carry out a NetworkHealth Check on a Learning Provider’snetwork infrastructure when they callus in for assistance.

It is extremely useful for diagnosingproblems and fine-tuning wired andwireless networks, as it can analyse theconnected devices and the differenttypes of traffic flow across the network.

We are now makingthis tool available foryou on free short-term loan. To bookthe Etherscope kitcontact GordonMillner on 01509618120 orgordon.millner@rsc-em.ac.uk.

Participating learning providers weregiven 1-year licenses for two different e-portfolio products, Nuventive’siWebfolio and PebblePad from PebbleLearning, and asked to try them with arange of learners, including thosestudying in the workplace.

Chesterfield College chose to comparethe two e-portfolio systems with a groupof FDSc students studying AppliedComputing. The learners were asked fortheir views on the design of each systemand on the concept of e-portfolios. Thefinal data is still to be gathered, butinitial indications are that learners findthe systems easy to use and liked theidea of electronic personal portfolios,“especially if the feedback they receivethrough them from their tutors isprompt”. The college is also currentlyinvestigating Mahara as part of aseparate development.

South Nottingham College piloted theuse of PebblePad across a range ofsubject areas, including: Hairdressing,Media, IT and Sport. They wereparticularly interested in how anexternally hosted, learner owned e-portfolio can be integrated into theirexisting learning and teaching practicesand ILT infrastructure. See the casestudy at www.excellencegateway.org.

New College Nottingham evaluated thebenefits and issues in implementing anassessment e-portfolio for work-basedlearners. Instead of using either of theavailable e-portfolio tools they usedOneFile to explore the benefits forteaching and learning and to look atwhat is required to successfullyimplement an e-portfolio.

This project is now in its final phase, but theCIePD have published a number of earlyfindings and recommendations, including:

• One-size does not fit all.• A flexible e-portfolio tool used across

subject areas can help learnersdevelop the skills needed for higher-level study.

• Decide whether an institutional or aninstitution-free e-portfolio is mostappropriate as your starting point.

• Consider existing tools and alternativemethods to using purpose built e-portfolio tools.

For the successful roll-out of an e-portfolio approach the CIePD outlinethe following steps:

• Practitioners should be consulted andengaged in developments at an earlystage.

• It is important to maintain early adoptionmomentum through ensuring adequateteacher time and core support/training,including on the pedagogies relevant to e-portfolio use.

• e-portfolio activities should be embeddedin lesson plans and the curriculum.

• Learners’ preferred ways of workingshould be considered (e.g. usingmobile technology and web 2.0) andreflected in the approach you take.

To find out more about this project, youcan contact the CIePD at eportfolio-admin@nottingham.ac.uk.

RSC East Midlands provides a range ofservices relating to the development anduse of e-portfolios, if you would like tofind out more go to www.rsc-em.ac.uk.

To expand on our support with e-portfolios, the RSC will have a seriesof events over the upcoming year in amixture of face-to-face and onlinesessions. The first one of these will beheld on November 11th in Derby thatfocuses on how e-portfolios arecurrently being used across theMidlands and providing advice ondeveloping and embedding e-portfoliouse in your organisation.

East Midlands Collegestrial e-portfoliosThree regional colleges have been involved in piloting e-portfolios aspart of a project being run by the University of Nottingham’s Centrefor International e-Portfolio Development (CIePD).

A sample menu of an e-portfolio

Borrow kit from theRSC to analyse yournetwork

What is an e-portfolio? © CIePD

Funding OpportunitiesDespite the current economic gloom, funding is still being providedto promote innovation in education. The most notable and relevantrecent funding announcements are listed below, but your RSCprovides ongoing announcements of any funding relevant to thesectors we cover, via our various JISCmail mailing lists and website.

Promoting yourVLE internallyGrantham College recently held a VLEBest Practice Competition toshowcase effective practice by Collegestaff in the use of their VLE (VirtualLearning Environment).

Facing a judging panel includingAmanda Mosek (Deputy Principal),Kate Marshall (Learning ResourcesManager), and Gordon Millner (JISCRSC East Midlands), competitionentrants gave a short presentation ontheir use of the VLE.

Colin Kistruck (Engineering)demonstrated how wikis andglossaries can promote collaborativeworking, whilst Ann Starks and ChrisLewis (both from Humanities, Maths,Science & Computing) highlighted,respectively, how e-learning can beembedded in the curriculum andhow customised software canpersonalise Moodle.

“The competition was designed toraise staff interest in the ILT agendausing Moodle,” explains JamesMeenaghan, Computing &Communications Support ServicesManager, who organised the contest.“Even before the event numerousstaff commented that they will nowstart to use Moodle – and others havevowed to sharpen up their sitesbefore next year’s competition!” Thisinterest may have been influenced bythe prizes on offer, which included aNetbook computer, an Apple iPod anda SatNav system.

The judges awarded overall victory(and the Netbook) to Colin Kistruck,whose innovative use of wikis capturedthe imagination of those attending. An additional prize of £200 for“Curriculum area engagement with theVLE” went to the Construction team.

Principal Linda Houtby was impressedwith what she had seen: “The work ofall the entrants was inspiring – not justfrom a technical perspective, butbecause of the passion these staff haveshown for their subject and teaching.”

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RSC East Midlands provides a range ofservices to support you in finding andbidding for funding and runninglearning technology developmentprojects. These range from advice onscoping out possible projects andbidding for funding, to managingprojects and disseminating outputs.

We are also on hand to offer ideas onembedding the outputs of any project inpractice. Over the past two years wehave been pleased to be able tosupport a number of successful bids.

Current funding callsLearning Innovation Grant (LIG) Phase 5

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC)and the department for Business,Innovation and Skills (BIS) have agreedto release an additional £3m of capitalfunding to support a further phase. Fulldetails have been announced via theExcellence Gateway website atwww.excellencegateway.org.uk.Submissions need to be sent in by 7thOctober to the Association of LearningProviders (ALP).

The RSC helped support successful bids in the 4th round of LIG funding. An example of one of these can befound in e-fair 2009 workshops athttp://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk.

JISCJISC funds a widerange of developmentprojects and studies inHE and FE. The standard eligibilitycriterion for FE is that colleges withgreater than 400 FTE HE learners canbid directly. Colleges not meeting thisnumber can bid as part of consortiumwith eligible providers. You can keeptrack of JISC funding in the funding areaof the JISC website atwww.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities.aspx.

LSISThe Learning and SkillsImprovement Service(LSIS) have Leadershipand e-learning programmes, designed tobring together colleagues from across

the sector whose roles involve servingand enriching the technology needs oftheir organisation.

An organisation can claim for a maximumof 3 grants of up to £700 per delegate topurchase equipment on completion ofone of their leadership and e-learningprogrammes. Full details can be found atwww.lsis.org.uk/eleadership.

CAMEL FundingThe second fundinground of CapitalInvestment in e-learning for the Adult& Community Learning sector called“Capital Motivating e-Learning 2” (Camel2) closed submissions on 11th September.

MoLeNET Phase 3English FE colleges(including sixth formcolleges and independent specialistcolleges) were invited to submitproposals for a MoLeNET project, aimedat the innovative use of mobiletechnology for extending learningopportunities for learners. Proposals hadto be submitted by 11th September.

The RSC helped support successful bidsin the 2nd round of funding. An exampleof one of these can be found in e-fair2009 workshops at http://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk.

You can find links to current fundingsources and some useful advice onsuccessfully bidding for funding on the RSC East Midlands Moodlehttp://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk, under“Events, Resources and Activities”.If you’d like help in putting a bidtogether, please get intouch with us.

Principal Linda Houtby presenting members ofthe Construction team with their prize

Explore new ways of learning with external funding

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e-fair round-upWe had record numbers of visitors toour e-fair at the Walkers Stadium inLeicester in June, with an increase of athird on the previous year.

The feedback from delegates andexhibitors to the e-fair was extremelypositive, with 98% of people giving ita rating of good or excellent. Becauseof this we’ve decided to run the e-fairat Walkers Stadium in Leicester againnext year. The date for your diaries isTuesday 22nd June 2010.

“I had a really good day,interesting, informativeand useful” (2009 Delegate)

Following the event we’ve compiledan extensive set of resources on ourMoodle site.

Not only are there variouspresentations and resources used onthe day, we’ve also had film andaudio summaries created of thedifferent workshops, demonstrations,mini presentations, and theAccessibility & Inclusion hub.

There’s a 10-minute summary of thekeynote presentation on “Learning wasnever what it used to be: what doesthat tell us about the future?” by ChrisBatt, Director of Chris Batt Consulting.

To get access to all the resources goto our Moodle site athttp://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk.

"a chance to talk to otherpractitioners" (2009 Delegate)

Celebrating e-learning

In response many of you sent in entriesto a prize draw telling us what you havebeen doing.

There has been a wide range of activityin the region covering topics such as e-assessment, accessibility, technicalmatters, and staff development.

Many of you have been involved in workrelating to your organisation’s VirtualLearning Environment, either creatingcontent and making good use of it in yourcurriculum area, or developing additionalfunctionality to the whole system.

Some of the achievements have beenon an organisation-wide level, whilstothers were down to one person’sinitiative in their classroom.

We’ve picked out some examples fromwhat you told us, see below, but there’sa whole lot more on our Moodle site athttp://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk.

Learning PlatformsGilly Miller (Castle College), “I’ve beenworking with a plumbing lecturer todevelop a VLE space on Moodle for hisL1 Plumbing course. We want this to havevisual resources and video plus lots ofgames to review learning as these learnerliteracy levels are low and it’s anotherway of engaging them in learning.”

Adam Elce (North NottinghamshireCollege), “We’ve created a VLE presencefor the LRC including promoting servicesand facilities, links to useful sites andstorage of e-books and resources.”

Teaching & LearningLydia Spenceley (Grantham College),“I’ve used different resources to enablelearners to develop their own resourcesand understand the use of differentresources for example, mp3, YouTube,digital voice recorders.”

Jennifer Joy-Matthews (Derbyshire AdultCommunity Education Service), “I’vedesigned and piloted an e-learning uniton the Certificate in Teaching in theLifelong Learning Sector. Learners have

learnt how to access and use Reflect torecord their learning. They have learnthow to construct webfolios and provideall their evidence electronically.”

Learning resourcesLizz Hufton (West NottinghamshireCollege), “We’ve begun a learningresources blog for the college thatgives learners a chance to give theirown opinion and provides us with aninformal, easy to update forum withwhich to communicate.”

TechnicalRoger Laurenti (Wyggeston and QueenElizabeth I College), “I wrote anApplication Launcher which helpsstudents and staff find and launchsoftware on the computers and network.”

Chris Asquith (Chesterfield College), “I helped introduce 180 netbooks forstudents to use for research in non-ITclassrooms.”

StrategyKenny Anderson (NottinghamshireCounty Council), “As an organisation wehave developed an e-strategy group toimprove and implement e-learning forthe young people we are working with.”

All the entries were put into a prize drawthat took place at the end of the RSCEast Midlands e-fair.

Three winnerswere picked atrandom and thelucky recipients ofthe prizes wereLucy Stone fromLeicester College,Roger Laurentifrom Wyggestonand QueenElizabeth I Collegeand Joanne Shirleyfrom New CollegeNottingham.

Roger Laurenti receiveda touch-screen MP3player in the prize draw

The busiest e-fair ever was a big success

The Accessibility & Inclusion hub in action

In the Summer edition of intouch we asked you to join with usin celebrating the different ways in which technology is beingused to support learning and teaching in the region.

Best practice in the UKIn this edition of intouch our example of best practice followsthe theme of video in learning by showcasing a case study froma further education college in Liverpool.

The challengeAt Hugh Baird College they faced theissue that faces many vocational coursesin demonstrating techniques andprocedures. How to help learners replicateand remember these in the future?

So they came up with the idea of filmingtheir joinery workshop demonstrations,to enable learners to revisit them whilststill in the workshop environment, butafter the live version had taken place.

The activityLecturing staff came up with an initial listof demonstrations to video, and thenwith the help of the ILT co-ordinatorthey found that between them they hadthe relevant set of skills for producingthe videos.

The team of three considered shootingthe videos in a ‘real’ lesson situationwith learners in attendance, but felt theyneeded a more controlled environmentto make it work successfully, and that itwould disrupt lesson time too much.

The finished demonstrations were thenmade available for learners in theworkshop environment through a touch-screen monitor. Initially this was donethrough navigating a Flash-basedinterface, which allowed learners toselect the demonstration they wanted.However, the team discovered that thishad a big disadvantage in that additionsor changes to the set of resources hadto be loaded locally onto each PC.

A more recent development for deliveryof the demonstrations is ‘Hugh Tube’,providing a web-based interface throughwhich the videos are streamed from amedia server, which means that just onelocation needs to be updated whenchanges occur.

New workshops at the College eachhave two touch-screen monitors and aninteractive whiteboard through which thevideo demonstrations can be played.

The outcomesThrough production of the joinery videoresources available through ‘Hugh Tube’,alongside the licensed resources, theteam now has a demonstration coveringevery first year element for their learners.

Second year learners find the set ofresources just as valuable because theyoften have to revisit and apply the sametechniques and procedures, some ofwhich they may not have undertaken forsome time.

Live demonstrations are still animportant part of teaching joinerytechniques and processes, but the videodemonstrations have become a valuableresource in the workshop. Some learnersuse them to progress while the lectureris busy helping other learners, othersuse them to work at their own pace.

Whilst some will watch a demonstrationall the way through before undertaking aprocedure themselves, some learnerswatch a short section then go away toperform that procedure, then come backto watch another short clip, and so on.

We hope that this might have givenyou some inspiration on how to usevideo for learning in your organisation.Our thanks go to the ExcellenceGateway website and RSC North Westfor allowing the reproduction of thiscase study. To view the full version of this case study and find links toother resources on this topic, werecommend that you visitwww.excellencegateway.org.uk.

Resource CornerIn this edition we look at resourcesavailable to help you use video ineducation.

KickstartTVCurrently available on Virgin TV, Netgem(a Freeview provider) and on the Web atwww.kickstarttv.co.uk, KickstartTV is aninteractive service commissioned by theLearning and Skills Council. It providesinformation on national initiatives andcampaigns, activities and quizzes, andhints and tips to help improve a rangeof skills, including literacy, numeracy andjob skills. It also directs users to otherlearning opportunities or further helpand advice.

For an example of how KickstartTV hasbeen customised for use withinlearning and teaching, have a look atthis article featured on the ExcellenceGateway at http://tiny.cc/VfuAI on howWetherby Secure College is using theservice to enable individual, interactivelearning to take place in-cell.

Teachers TVWhilst primarily aimed at the schoolmarket, Becta’s Teachers TV atwww.teachers.tv still has resourcesthat can be used in the post-16education and training sector. It hasengaging videos, practical resourcesand an active online community. Inaddition to the website, Teachers TVprogrammes are available on the TVChannel on Sky 880, Virgin Media 240,Freesat 650 and Freeview 88 (4-6pm)and, most recently, through iTunes U.

Producing your ownresourcesOn our Moodle at http://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk under the Events, Resources& Activities section you will find twoMoodle courses on producing yourown video.

Quick & Easy Video production is forbeginners and shows how easy it canbe to initiate using video in yourpractice. For those who want to take itto a higher level then there isIntermediate Video Production. Boththese courses can be downloaded ontoyour organisation’s Moodle if desired.

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A video demonstration playing on a touch-screen monitor in the workshop

Learners can choose a demonstration to view

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Hints & Tips:Sharing VideosOnce you have a movie file you willwant to share it with learners. This canbe done in the classroom by putting itinto a PowerPoint presentation. If youwant students to access it remotelythen it can be put onto a LearningPlatform (e.g. Moodle) or set up foruse on an iPod.

Inserting into PowerPoint is easy – it’sjust the same as inserting a picture orsound file. Go to the Insert Menu, pointto Movies and Sounds and then selectMovie from File. Find your movie in thefile explorer and it’s there in PowerPoint.

There are other choices aboutdisplaying movies in PowerPoint. Youcan choose to have the movie playautomatically when the slide isdisplayed in a slide show. Alternativelythe movie can be started only afteryou click the movie image in the slide.

You can also control whether themovie plays full screen, or in a smallerwindow; whether it loops untilstopped, the volume of the clip andits size and position on the screen.The Windows toolbar below showsthese options.

Lastly you need to consider whetheryou are going to move yourPowerPoint presentation to anothercomputer. If you are moving yourpresentation – you have to copy themovie file as well and take that withyou. Movie files are not included in thepresentation and if you don’t copy themovie file and take it as well, nothingwill happen when you get to that partof your presentation. When you copythe files to another computer checkthat the movie plays, if not you willneed to re-insert it into PowerPoint.

To insert a movie into Moodle thereare instructions on our Moodle site athttp://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk in theQuick & Easy Video Production course.

To play videos on an iPod they needto be converted. Lots of free softwareexists to do this, for an example visithttp://tiny.cc/DcXRJ.

Capturing videoWith a rising demand for video resources the common method ofusing DVDs has become problematic as the booking, managementand supplying of DVD players can take quite a bit of time andresource for both the learning resource team and teaching staff.

Organisations have therefore been keento explore new ways of providing TVprogrammes for use in the classroom, bymoving to digital video. At the JuneLearning Resources Forum two of thefurther education colleges in our regionoutlined their approach.

Northampton CollegeThe College decided to introduce theClickView system as a way of capturingTV programmes and making themavailable for staff to use in theclassroom. This is a system that allowsany Freeview channel to be recordedand captured on to the College server.

Costs include an initial payment for theoriginal set-up and for the 24/7recording system, which is a server box.Then there is an annual fee formaintenance and support. This includesthe viewer software for which theCollege has a licence for 1,000 users.

The five terrestrial channels and BBC4are automatically recorded andprogrammes are kept for two weeks. If arequest is received then the programmestays on the server and is added into theClickView system, if not it is deleted.

Learning Resource staff manage thesystem through ClickView Manager anddeal with all the requests for recordingof different programmes. Teaching staffuse ClickView Player to search and playthe TV programmes in the classroom.

Since its introduction in summer 2007 thebenefits of this approach for the Collegeaccording to Masniza Sore, LearningFacilitator Co-ordinator, have been:

• No longer miss recordings ofprogrammes

• Improved accessibility to resourcesacross all sites

• No additional physical resourcesrequired for showing videos

• Time savings for staff

South East Derbyshire CollegeSEDC uses a software package calledGB-PVR for capturing and streamingvideo clips/programmes. It is arelatively cheap product with a verysmall annual charge.

Any channel that is on Freeview can berecorded and all the programme listingsare shown for the following ten days. Onesimple click and a programme can be setto record by staff in the Learning ResourceCentre (LRC) and will automatically besaved on to the College network.

To overcome a problem with distributing(or streaming) the video clips, a newserver was built as a Media Server. Byusing an AVS video convertor it is possibleto process and transfer to the new MediaServer up to 35 video clips overnight.

The video clips are made available via anew interface and are catalogued usingthe same colour-coded subjectcategories as the other LearningResources. This directs staff and learnersin the College to suitable videomaterials that are available, and withone click the video will open up inWindows Media Player.

The bank of resources is maintained byDorothy Mingay, Learning CentresManager, who has been “extremelyimpressed by the quality of the videoprogrammes”. Over the last year theprovision of the service has been rolledout across SEDC.

More information about these twoapproaches will shortly be available onthe Excellence Gateway website atwww.excellencegateway.org.uk. Thereare also approaches by PortsmouthCollege and Longley Park Collegefeatured there. For more technicalinformation on setting up streaming ofvideo take a look at RSC WestMidlands wiki via http://tiny.cc/B2WTz.

Northampton College use ClickView

SEDC have created their own system

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Focus On:Curriculum Review

Why would you want the RSC to comein and undertake a curriculum review?

Well, there could be a number of possiblereasons. You may want to know whetherthe curriculum team are making full use ofthe learning technologies at their disposal.

You may want to focus on a particularissue – e.g. accessibility, use of thelearning platform, promoting activelearning or quality improvement inpreparation for inspection.

You could be a quality managerconcerned about teaching and learningissues within a particular curriculum area,or you could be the leader of acurriculum team keen to move your staffin a particular direction.

The new framework will allow us to sitdown with you and plan a curriculumreview process which will help identifyissues and suggest solutions.

After the initial meeting which identifiesthe focus for the review, the RSC advisorwill devise an investigation which mayinvolve one or more of the following:

• surveys of the teaching staff• interviews with relevant managers• review of quality data• identifying national and local priorities

When the relevant data has beencollected the advisor will providefeedback – written or verbal – which willsuggest improvements or ways to tacklethe issue.

The emphasis throughout the process ison responsiveness and speed; it isdesigned to be a light touch activity whichwill not take up large amounts of stafftime and will deliver solutions quickly.

When it is finished you should be able toimplement technologies and teachingstrategies which will benefit the curriculumarea and provide your learners with amore varied and rewarding experience.

The Curriculum Review is a free servicefor supported educational organisationswithin our region. It is provided by yourRSC advisors – independent experts whoknow the issues within our region andcan point you to appropriate solutions.

Using your RSC will enable you to draw oninformed, independent expertise based oneffective practice in the post-16 educationand training sector and elsewhere.

If you’d like to find out more aboutthis revamped service then get intouchwith Phil Hardcastle on 01509 618110or phil.hardcastle@rsc-em.ac.uk.

JISC news

Video AssistJISC Digital Media has launched VideoAssist, a new service offering 4 days’worth of bespoke off-site support andon-site supervision to projects in FEinstitutions which require the creation ofmoving image resources.

Video Assist provides a service tocomplement JISC Digital Media’s existingsupport framework of a helpdesk, advicedocuments and workshops.

Video Assist will run during the 2009-2010 academic year in three rounds.Remaining deadlines for application areon 20 November 2009 and 26 February2010. For more information go towww.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk.

New JISC videoresources unveiledThe BBC Motion Gallery has partneredwith JISC Collections to make available avast repository of clips from the BBCarchives for use within Further and HigherEducational establishments. The materialis taken from across all genres within theBBC’s collections, from the world-famousNatural History programming to Newsand Current Affairs.

The clips can be searched, viewed anddownloaded in both Windows Media andQuickTime files and, once downloaded,can be edited, shared, uploaded to a VLEor project area. BBC Motion Gallery aredelighted to offer all institutions a free 30days trial of the service. Please contactZeb Buchanan at zeb.buchanan@bbc.comfor further details.

How to adopt newtechnologiesThe Effective Practice ResourceExchange supports users of the JISCpublication Effective Practice in a DigitalAge by providing a supplementary suiteof online resources, including videos,podcasts and planning documents, whichcan be updated and added to over time.

These resources explore, throughdifferent themes and viewpoints, theelements that underpin effectivedesigning for learning. They may also bedownloaded for use in staffdevelopment contexts or for widerdistribution in institutions of education.To see what’s available go towww.jisc.ac.uk/resourceexchange.

A sample from the BBC Motion Gallery ©

The RSC has re-vamped its Curriculum Review process so that it ismore flexible and more responsive to learning provider needs. The new framework will enable our advisors to work withcurriculum areas to help improve the use of technology in teachingand learning, but it will do it in a way which should be less timeconsuming and better suited to the needs of the curriculum teams.

ForthcomingEventsOctober13th (am) Online Technical Forum15th (am) Heads of IT Forum20th (am) Moodle Users Group23rd (am) Information Learning

Technology (ILT) Forum

November4th (pm) Accessibility Self-

assesment for SeniorManagers (Online)

5th (am) SharePoint Forum6th (am) Safeguarding Learners:

e-Safety & Inspection11th (full day) e-Portfolios Now12th (am) Joint Learning Resources

Forum with CoFHE EastMidlands

12th (pm) East Midlands InformationSkills (EMIS) meeting

13th (am) Online Accessibility Forum17th (full day) Project Management19th (full day) Library Assistants event20th (am) Online ACL/WBL Forum24th (full day) Open the Box26th (TBC) Generator: A Tool for

Self-assessment

December1st (full day) Dynamic presentations

for interactive teaching8th (am) Video in education

For further detailsplease visit www.rsc-em.ac.uk whereyou can also sign up toour Events RSS feed

Get intouchJISC RSC East MidlandsLoughborough CollegeRadmoor RoadLoughboroughLeicestershireLE11 3BT

Tel: 01509 618110Email: support@rsc-em.ac.ukWeb: www.rsc-em.ac.ukVLE: http://moodle.rsc-em.ac.uk

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Reflect on your CPD

This publication is printed on paper from sustainable sources. In the interests of the environment, please passon to a colleague when you’ve finished with it or recycle it. It is also available online at www.rsc-em.ac.uk.

Event CertificatesAll RSC events and forums can be usedas evidence of your continuingprofessional development (CPD) forQTLS status or another professionalstandard. We are now able to offerelectronic certificates of attendance for2009/10 events.

Following the event or forum, attendeeswill be sent an email that can be printedoff or saved to your local drive. Thiscertificate also contains a few questions tohelp you reflect on what you’ve learnt fromthe session and how you can go forward.

The use of technology in regionallearning providers is growing all thetime – and the Survey shows the RSC’shigh level of success in providing thesupport needed.

Particularly encouraging are the positiveimpact of the RSCs on providers, theappropriateness of the service and thehigh levels of satisfaction with thesupport provided. Importantly, this highlevel of satisfaction is maintainedregardless of the level of experience ofthe respondent or the degree of usethey make of the RSC.

The RSC is exploring nationally andregionally how support needs to evolve,for example through the Steering Group,the strategy workshop at the 2009e-fair and questions in the CustomerSatisfaction Survey.

We are continually introducing newservices, such as the curriculum reviewtool featured on page 7. In the nextround of RSC funding, from July 2010,the emphasis on strategic support willcontinue with four themes proposed:

• teaching, learning and assessment• business management• organisational improvement• infrastructure and systems

RSCs are effective because the servicewe provide evolves as learningproviders increasingly seek the benefitsthat technology offers. Talk to us aboutyour needs.

On-going SupportMany thanks to those who responded to the RSC summer 2009 CustomerSatisfaction Survey – including Alan Clark of Nottinghamshire ACL Servicewho won the regional prize of £100 worth of Amazon vouchers.

Time for reflection In April 2009 the Institute for Learning(IfL) trained 12 Centre for Excellence inTeacher Training (CETT) Connectionsworking across England to support IfLmembers and IfL Volunteer Connectionswith CPD requirements, the use ofReflect and Professional Formation(QTLS/ATLS status).

Kathryn Robinson at RSC East Midlandsis the IfL’s trained Connection for theregion and is working with EMCETT tofulfil this role. More information on therole of IfL Connections can be found atwww.ifl.ac.uk/cpd/connections.

Workshops have already taken place onthe use of Reflect and declaration ofCPD and a new round of events is beingplanned for the autumn term. Look outfor more information on EMCETT’swebsite, www.thelearningchain.net.

Previous newsletters areavailable via our website at

www.rsc-em.ac.uk