Spring 2007 Volume 5 • Issue 2

the termly newsletter produced by RSC East Midlands

CHANGE! The dictionary definition is: makeor become different in some particular way;transformation; the result of alteration or modification.

People don't like change. Why? Because we like the familiar, we are accustomedto doing things in a particular way. We know where we are if we do it the sameway. In spite of this we cannot avoid change. All living things will encounterchange and every person is a change agent. Success, like walking, is a form offalling so that we are always in a state between stability and instability.Interestingly, the JISC Infonet Change Management infokit has a lot to say aboutemotional responses to change:http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/change-management

I N S I D ET h i s i s s u eChange Management

RSC funding and strategy

RSC East Midlands 2007 e-fair

JISC funding bids

Athens and Shibboleth

New Build Forum

Social networking software

eCPD Framework

Hints and Tips: Photo Story 3

Forthcoming events

This study highlighted the effectiveness of the Regional SupportCentres (RSCs) and the high regard in which RSC services are heldby learning providers. As a result, RSCs will enter Round 3 offunding which will run from August 2007 until July 2010.

Round 3 will see further development of the services provided byRegional Support Centres. Although final details are still underdiscussion, two key aspects are:-

• significantly increased strategic support; e-learning is not just forenthusiasts, it must be embedded throughout the whole organisation;

• in addition to our own activities, we will be brokering more servicesin order to increase the overall amount of training that takes place

Other changes include the support of teacher training courses andthe likely extension of services to include work based learning. Thesummer term edition of the newsletter will set out the new servicesin more detail.

The future starts here…Funding for the next three years of e-learning supporthas been agreed between the Learning and SkillsCouncil (LSC) and the JISC.

The LSC and the DfES carried out extensiveevaluations of the support needs of the Learning andSkills sector and the way support is currently provided.

Welcome Our theme this term is Change

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RSC East Midlands e-fair 2007This year’s e-fair is on 21 June at the University of Derby.

This year’s theme is helping you to help yourself. The purpose of the e-fair is toenable delegates to find out about developments, initiatives, effective practice andthe support available to them. Keynote speakers will include Lee Davies,Development Manager at the Institute for Learning (IFL). If you wish to exhibit orshowcase your practice please contact us: support@rsc-em.ac.uk

Last year’s e-fair was a great success. Here are the keynote presentations:http://www.rsc-em.ac.uk/efair_report.asp

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Changes in access to resources: Mark Williams, JISC, and Mark Samuels, Features editor ofComputing, introduce the new access management arrangements for learning providers.JISC and Becta have recently announced the launch of the UK Access Management Federation – a systembased on technologies such as Shibboleth – which represents an important step on the route to single signon for resources hosted by multiple sources such as those provided by publishers. The Federation representsa next generation alternative to Athens, the existing access management service that centralises institutionalauthentication processes.

JISC services director John Robinson says federation – which will give control of the authentication process back to institutions – is awhole order of magnitude more functional than currently available systems. ‘It gives institutions greater control and technicalcapability to be an identity provider,’ he says.

PreparednessAthens will not cease working overnight, but will move from its current fully funded status to a subscription-based service after July2008. It is, therefore, important that institutional decision makers are ready to make informed decisions about federation. Robinson says two factors are key to federation preparedness: a high level of technical capability and a high level of management buy-in. He also says institutions often have to make difficult choices about resource allocation, especially when cash flow is tight. ‘But the benefits of federation will come later if processes are improved,’ says Robinson. ‘Identity management is a concept that needsto be grasped. It’s technical – your members often work online now and at a distance, and the institutions that manage identity betterwill be more successful.’Training and OutreachJISC’s outreach programme will help ensure the federation message is pushed out to as many institutions as possible. A specialist teamis being formed that will target appropriate educational organisations for training. Robinson says the outreach activities will adapt overtime to meet evolving institutional needs.

RSC SupportAs always, the RSC will offer advice and guidance to any institution that needs support with these choices. We have already held twoawareness raising events and will continue to update you on the latest developments via our mailing lists and forums. In themeantime, please do get in touch if you have any queries. For technical issues contact James Higham: james.higham@rsc-em.ac.ukand for library/LRC issues contact Judi Millage: judi.millage@rsc-em.ac.uk

Athens and Shibbolethnew ways to access online learning resources

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Benefits of Federated Access ManagementUsers will have a single sign-on using an institutional ID and password for a wide range of resources, as well as increased security for personal data.

Librarians will be free of the burden of user name and password administration, and will have new tools for managing licenses andservice subscriptions.

IT managers will have more control of the access management process.

Institutions will have a single service to meet the requirements of e-learning, e-research and library-managed resources.

ChoicesInstitutions will have three choices about how they plan to handle access management after July 2008:

• Become a full member of the UK Access Management Federation using community-supported tools • Become a full member of the UK Access Management Federation, using tools with paid-for support• Subscribe to an ‘outsourced Identity Provider’ to work through the Federation on their behalf, such as continued use of Athens with the Gateways

Further InformationJISC will be providing comprehensive training and support, such as training events, documentation, case studies, and a helpdesk.

For further information about this, how to join the Federation and the benefits that membership can bring to Users, Librarians, ITManagers and Institutions please go to:

www.jisc.ac.uk/federation and www.ukfederation.org.uk

RSC East Midlands has introduced a new service supportinglearning providers across the region in finding and bidding fordevelopment funding. We have provided support for FEcolleges in bidding for the recent round of JISC funding (whichwas up to £200K per project).The service covers: discussing the suitability and viability ofinitial ideas; providing advice on planning a project and puttinga bid together; support in the project phase; support in

disseminating the outputs of your project.The RSC are organising an event, Finding and bidding forfunding on 16 March. Details will be available shortly onwww.rsc-em.ac.uk JISC are planning another significant roundof funding for Spring 2007. If you are interested in applying forthis or other sources of funding, contact Ben Williams at the RSCto find out more about the support we can provide.ben.williams@rsc-em.ac.uk

New Service:RSC support for funding applications

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New Build ForumBilborough Sixth-Form College, 5 December 2006

This was the second East Midlands New Build Forum. Our visit to the new Bilborough Sixth-Form College included atour of the college and three presentations from Martin Slattery, Principal, Bilborough Sixth-Form College, Clyde Hinton,Senior Tutor - Skills For Life, Portland College and Jacquie Kelly, Senior Adviser, and Janette Hillicks, Researcher, JISCinfoNet The presentations are available on http://moodle.rsc-em.ac.ukThere is an RSC East Midlands New Build mailing list. Please get in touch if you wish to join: support@rsc-em.ac.ukThe next New Build Forum is on 13 March 2007

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Sharon Hutchings, Adult and Community Learning Advisorprovides an overview of the technologies that havechanged the way we contribute to the world wide web.Flickr, MySpace, Blogging, You Tube, Wikipedia, Del.ici.ous,Podcasting, Furl, Videojug, are just a few of the sites that areflourishing in a second wave of Internet development. Thesesocial networking tools and services, known collectively as Web2.0, enable anyone to put up material on the web, moving closertowards the ideal Tim Berners Lee expresses here:“a space in which anyone could be creative, to which anyonecould contribute.” (Tim Berners Lee, 2005)

Who is generating the content with Web 2.0? If the first generation of internet use was about content delivery,Web 2.0 is about users creating and sharing content,communicating their interests or constructing their own knowledgeonline. The joy of social networking software is that this can beachieved without technical skills, allowing users to build sites andgenerate their own content. This can be done either individually,eg MySpace, or collaboratively, eg Wikipedia. The essence of Web2.0 is that users can do it for themselves and this can only increasethe possibilities and value of the Internet.

Challenges and possibilities of social networking tools to learningand teachingSo, if Web 2.0 has the potential to offer wider and more activeparticipation with the Internet we need to consider two things:firstly how can these tools add to existing teaching and learningstrategies and secondly what new approaches to learning andteaching may emerge.This brings us closer to personalised access.Not only does the Internet have the capacity to provide a richerexperience for the individual, the possibilities of social learning arealso increased. As with all technology, however, it is the way thetools are used that will enhance the learning experiences and notsimply the tools themselves. Considering the possible long termimpact of web 2.0, learners may truly personalise their learningand extend it beyond formal learning opportunities through designof their own curriculum, selecting their own content, sharingknowledge and collaborating online . With 1.6m blog posts a dayand 75 million My Space users how we choose to engage with

these technologies in the learning and teaching community mightbe a decision learners make for us!

Finding out more about Web 2.0Here at the RSC East Midlands we plan to run a one day event on21 March to explore the possibilities of social networking inlearning and teaching, plus a half day event on 6 Feb forlibrary/LRC staff to look at ways in which library services might beenhanced by the use of social software. Details can be found onthe website: www.rsc-em.ac.uk.

Useful web 2.0 siteshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/page/0,,1939196,00.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.orgWikipedia is an online free-content encyclopedia that anyone canedit. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has described Wikipediaas “an effort to create and distribute a multilingual freeencyclopedia of the highest quality to every single person on theplanet in their own language.” http://del.icio.us/A social bookmarks manager. Using bookmarklets, you can addbookmarks to your list and categorise them and share them.http://www.myspace.com/MySpace.com (or MySpace) is a free service that uses the Internetfor online communication through an interactive network ofphotos, weblogs, user profiles, e-mail, web forums, and groups, aswell as other media formats. This all-inclusive service is sometimescalled a social networking interface. MySpace is a very active site,and additions and new features are being added constantly(Wikipedia).http://www.videojug.comVideoJug is popular aspects of life explained and illustratedthrough an ever-growing number of common sense, informative,helpful and entertaining videos. It’s like having an army of top-classexperts at your fingertips 24/7 to “show you how” and to help youout. And you can contribute your own knowledge, experience,wisdom and tips too.Example – How to use RSS feedshttp://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-use-rss-feeds

Bilborough College: lower ground floor plan The new Learning Centre at Portland College

The trapeziums attached to “the street” have given rise to the local name The Toblerone

Social networking software

Forthcoming

EVENTSSome dates are provisional

February6th LRC Forum

8th Digital audio for Teachingand Learning

20th HE Forum

22nd Change ManagementFULLY BOOKED

27th Modelling Practice - e-learning for teachers inteacher training

28th Learning Journey

March1st ILT Forum

1st Specialist Colleges Forum

7th Blended Learning

8th Learning Technology - am Imissing something?

13th New Build Forum

15th Learning Journey forScientists

16th Finding and bidding forfunding

21st Social networking

23rd Technical Forum

29th Moodle Users Group

April19th Using Moodle strategically

24th Staff Development toembed e-learning

See our website for further detailswww.rsc-em.ac.uk

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Hints and Tips:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx

This is a free download from Microsoft which will allow you to create a wmv file from stillimages. The software allows for some minimal “movement” by tracking across the images.You can also add music, text and transitions and each image can be edited within thesoftware. Worth having a go to see how easy it is.

Ideas for Activities using Photo StoryHere are a few suggestions. You can no doubtthink of more.

1. Working in pairs, learners select imagesfrom a store (or find them) and build amovie on the topic of their choice – thingslike “put one sentence of text per picture”or “record one sentence of speech perpicture” lead to a very achievable task.

2. Whole class work with one laptop/projector going through the process step by step. Discussion can centre on the selectionof the most appropriate images, sequencing and the best text and voice-over to put oneach one.

3. Take pictures of a practical activity and ask groups to use Photo Story to produce areport – not just about the activity, but also how they went about putting the reporttogether: who did what, how roles were decided etc

These suggestions came from the Learning Discovery Centre: www.learningdiscovery.org.uk

Using the LSN’s Continuing Professional Development frameworkfor e-learning

F O C U SON...

How to make a presentation with your digital photos using Photo Story 3

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Changes in Continuing Professional Development;an article by the Learning and Skills NetworkEast Midlands regional advisors, Adele Cushingand Brian Lambourne.In November 2006 the Learning and SkillsNetwork launched the first of a series of nationalevents to promote the use of their ContinuingProfessional Development framework for e-learning. The East Midlands event in Birminghamin November 2006 focused on the eCPD Unitsavailable and the resources to support theseUnits. The second event in December highlightedthe way a wide range of open source e-tools canbe used to support teaching and learning. Thethird event in early February in Nottingham aimsto showcase the way the eCPD framework hasbeen incorporated into specific projects fundedby the Learning and Skills Network.eCPD projects in the Easy Midlands include a staffdevelopment programme within the Hairdepartment at South Nottingham College, wherethe aim is to enable staff to use City & GuildsSmartscreen for lesson planning and resourcing.The eCPD units being undertaken in this projectinclude “e-learning fundamentals” and “exploringthe application of e-tools”. At Boston College theeCPD framework is being used to support a smallgroup of Advanced Practitioners who are learningto use discussion groups and create and uploadcontent to the college’s Virtual LearningEnvironment. eCPD units included in this projectare “using learning environment platforms andon-line learning” and “blended learning”. West Nottinghamshire College is adopting theframework in hairdressing for the creation of

video clips of cutting techniques for the H6 City &Guilds hairdressing unit. These videos willsupport students’ class work and cover eCPDunits “assembling and adapting materials” and“developing materials and learning objects”. Inaddition Derbyshire County Council Adult andCommunity Learning Department are deliveringstaff development to their colleagues andadapting paperwork and their Learning Platformto include reference to the eCPD Framework.The eCPD framework is being adopted by LAGATin Lincoln who are a work based Training Agency.LAGAT offer training and assessment in a widerange of vocational qualifications in the followingareas: business administration, using IT, customerservice, retail, warehousing,travel services,management, catering and hospitality, teamleading. The trainers assess learners in theirworkplace, whilst additional off-the-job trainingand support is delivered in their centre. The eCPDframework devised by the LSN was recognised byLAGAT as being a vital tool to supplement theirstaff development programme to helppractitioners and managers to take advantage ofthe benefits of using readily available e-tools.The resources to support the eCPD programmeare free to use and are available athttp://www.tower.ac.uk/ecpd; simply registerand you will then have access to the resourcesand information which have been collated tosupport the programme.For further information or support in using theeCPD framework please contact either: Adele Cushing cushinga@snc.ac.uk or BrianLambourne lanbo@boston.ac.uk