RSC Newsletter

New addition to the RSC South West team

JISC Advance Regional Support Centre Impact Report

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RSC South West Develop New Ning Social Network

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City of Bath College Using Social Networking with Music Students

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Sustainability Agenda 5

RSC South West Online Webinars

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Regional Events 7

In this issue...

eSafety Update

Regional VLE Forums Get off to a Flying Start

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Jane Carter‐Dunn Wins Tony eBurgess E‐Guides Award

e‐Learning Content Creation Programme

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Free Resources to Sharpen Up Your Work

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Becta adopts open government license

Innovative e‐Skills programme made available

Stampede ‐ a rush of Tablet PCs looms over the horizon Case studies and iPad paving the way with Voice‐Over Controls

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Stimulating and supporting innovation in learning

Issue 18 ‐ Dec 2010

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Welcome to Issue 18 of the RSC SW newsletter New addition to the RSC South West team The RSC South West would like to welcome their new e‐Learning Adviser David Bevington to the team. My library career started in Porthcurno (1987 – 1991) and includes six years in Papua New Guinea (1991‐1996) and three in Namibia (1997‐2000) (which makes my recollection of the 90s probably different to yours). Supporting teaching and learning activities has been a core part and common link in my career. PNG Unitech provided staff Internet access from 1992 to Gopherspace and tools like Archie, Jughead and Veronica. I participated in South Pacific information forums to create information‐sharing networks. In Namibia, I developed a policy that prioritised online resources to improve access and widen availability. In 2002, I visited Serbia and taught librarians about the ways they could use the web to enhance education. I also was an active participant in the M25 cooperative aiming for a wider exploitation of resources for one of the largest concentration of academic libraries in Europe. As part of a group of Cornish school librarians, in 2006 I proposed, planned and initiated the Kernow Youth Book Award, to improve the profile of reading and, let the participants have an opportunity to, hopefully, meet a famous author. The award is now in its fourth year and I have met Tim Bowler, Kevin Brooks and Chris Higgins As a school librarian, I participated in four YourSchoolLibrary online conferences. Presentations on web 2.0, information literacy and designing the future were created, shared and discussed. Many participants now aggregate RSS feeds and have blogs, wikis and nings. Some even tweet! In 2009, following redundancy, I studied a PGCE (DTLLS) course at Cornwall College. I was, of course, a keen and enthusiastic user of LRC resources. It was an interesting experience being on the other side of the counter. As the RSC SW learning resources specialist, I look forward to collaborating, meeting and sharing with colleagues across the South West, virtually and actually, at forums, events and webinars.

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JISC Advance Regional Support Centre Impact Report The JISC RSCs are marking 10 years of support to the sector, supporting and helping learning providers to realise their ambitions in the use of technology. RSCs work collaboratively, with providers, funders and partners bringing benefits directly to the learners. Download the original report (PDF) Download an accessible version (PDF) The use of technology to enhance learning and improve business processes in the UK Further Education and Skills sectors has changed beyond recognition in the last 10 years. This is due in no small part to the work of the JISC Regional Support Centres (RSCs) in moving both individual learning providers and the sector as a whole forward. This booklet marks the 10th anniversary of the RSCs by taking a brief look at their impact on the sector. The RSCs were originally established in 2000 to connect Further Education (FE) colleges to the national academic network (known as JANET). Over the last 10 years the remit of the RSCs has expanded into many new sectors and areas of work. Offering a variety of free services and low cost events, the local RSC is a central point of contact for advice on implementing the use of technology and e‐learning in the FE and Skills sectors right across the UK. The network of 13 RSCs has no commercial or public sector equivalent and plays a vital role in supporting learning providers in their strategic development and implementation of e‐learning and information learning technologies. The RSCs are able to give independent and impartial advice on the use of technology and to bring people and organisations together to share best practice in integrating ICT and e‐learning into educational and business activities. ‘The RSC has provided invaluable support, advice and guidance: they were instrumental in setting up cooperative working agreements between and supported the delivery of their mainstream programmes. In addition network members benefited from attendance at the many RSC provided events, forums and workshops run throughout the region.’ ‐ Jon Winter, Managing Director, S & B Automotive Academy. Bristol. ‘The RSC advisor has been an excellent source of support and has been positive and encouraging throughout our partnership. He has offered flexible and individually tailored support and guidance on all of the issues and has provided motivation when we have faced barriers to uptake using the technology.’ ‐ Emma Barrett, Quality Manager, Rapido Training Limited, Gloucestershire. ‘We have had great interest from providers who want to become part of the Hive, as they recognise that our VLE is really helping learners to succeed. This is dynamic learning at the cutting edge of technology & education.’ ‐ Jon Winter, Managing Director, S & B Automotive Academy, Bristol.

Regional Support Centres become part of JISC Advance On 1st August 2010 JISC Regional Support Centres (RSCs) became part of JISC Advance. JISC Advance is a not‐for‐profit company which delivers ICT support services for the Further Education, Skills and Higher Education sector on behalf of funding councils. The advent of the RSCs into JISC Advance creates a broad and resourceful national service combined with the regional strengths and local relationships of the RSCs. JISC Advance Director, Guy Lambert says, "We are pleased to welcome the RSCs, with which we have been working closely over the last year, into JISC Advance. They are a vital element in both helping our customers interpret and make best use of our resource, and as a feedback channel to help our services develop resources that address customers' priorities." Through joining JISC Advance, the resources and advice of the Regional Support Centres are now complemented by a range of specialist services within the same organisation. These are: JISC Digital Media, JISC infoNet, JISC Legal, JISCMail, JISC Netskills, JISC Procureweb and JISC TechDis. The Regional Support Centres were launched in August 2000 and have been offering support to the post‐16 education and training sector for the last ten years.

RSC South West Develop New Ning Social Network The RSC South West is pleased to have created a new Ning social network We would like to encourage you to get involved and be a part of this network, this will be the one‐stop‐shop for all our activity in the southwest region, inside you will have access to: • Event materials/resources • Online event/webinar event recordings • Event presentations • Discussion and feedback • RSS feeds for our video/presentations and publications and JISC Advance • Regular blog and forum postings from the RSC South West team and

members • New groups being created covering useful areas, such as: Annual

Conference, eSafety, Inclusivity, Online Events, Mobile Devices and Apps, Staff De‐velopment, Case Studies, The Teachers Voice, Cool Tools for Teaching, Strategy Development and Technical

To join our Ning, please visit: http://jisc‐rscsw.ning.com/

RSS Feeds and Syncing Up! We have also created many more networks linking to Twitter, Slideshare, Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook and Issuu ‐ all these are synced up to the Ning with RSS feeds for latest developments. Click on the icon to visit the RSS feed for the services below.

By Matt Ewens

Apps iPhone iREfLECT ‐ Access assets, CPD log ‐ you must have a REfLECT account to use, follow this link Survey Monkey ‐ Online questionnaires, follow this link Splashtop Remote: ‐ Access your PC remotely, follow this link Wolfram Alpha ‐ Ask any question, follow this link Dragon Dictation ‐ Text by voice recognition, follow this link Google Mobile App ‐ Use your voice to search, follow this link iPhone voice commands ‐ Useful info on voice control to help blind users, follow this link Dropbox ‐ Send files to your pc and share them easily, follow this link mTouch ‐ Moodle App, follow this link Lynda ‐ Software training videos, some free, follow this link Android ASTRO File Manager ‐ manage file and backup, follow this link Google Sky Map ‐ Point your phone at the sky, and Google Sky Map will show the stars, Follow this link WordPress for Android ‐ Open Source app that empowers you to write, follow this link Google Goggles ‐ Use pictures to search the web, follow this link RAC Traffic ‐ Plan your route using real time traffic information, follow this link

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City of Bath College Using YouTube and Facebook to deliver exceptional e‐learning for music students The music team at City of Bath College have utilised Facebook and YouTube to create social networking for their students. This has had a direct and positive impact on e‐learning and has been so popular with the students that the College has seen a 100% success rate for assignments completed. This is the first time the College has seen such a high success rate for its music courses. All courses have now moved to a grade 1 and 2 for Ofsted inspection results and their use of Web 2.0 applications (eg Google Docs, Facebook and YouTube) has enabled a real collaborative community, which is constantly thriving and seeing real success. In order to create a more realistic environment for the music courses, the music team developed a record label called BA1 Records. Learners would not only develop their technical skills, but also see first‐hand the processes involved in the operation of a record company. One of the fantastic activities the College has introduced is an end‐of‐year album, released on iTunes and available worldwide. This gives the opportunity for music students to work towards a qualification and provides a real‐life opportunity to be a part of something which is industry‐related. Successful tracks are selected by the students themselves using the Track Factor website, developed by Clive Stocker. The actual music samples are embedded from another website called SoundCloud, which enables music to be easily distributed. The main idea behind Track Factor is that students can access the website and vote on tracks, with the results being updated in real time into a Google Docs spreadsheet. The best ten tracks are picked and then the music team organise industry experts and musical professionals to attend the College to determine the top eight tracks. This process is called Dubplate and it is a professional A&R process, where industry professionals visit the College to offer their expert knowledge. One of the key aspects in the success of the music courses has, without doubt, been the integration of Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook and YouTube, which has been embraced to such an extent that overall attendance has increased by 9% in the last 12 months. City of Bath College has one of the largest music college YouTube presences in the UK and one of the richest college‐based musical resources available. Read more about the case study published on the Excellence Gateway website: http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=299885 By Matt Ewens

“The popular music course at the City of Bath College has changed the way I look at music. I now not only see the various fields of expertise related to first hand programming, live and studio recording, producing, composing, event organising, band managing and personal training) but I get to do practical work on improving the areas I feel I need to. I'm given enough freedom on the course as to not feel I'm being pushed in a direction not suited to my style or personality and I'm guided by teachers who are passionate about music themselves, and who are all musicians or have experience in the music business. This gives the course a fast pace which is preparing me for the "real world" in a way I don't think other courses can offer.” Luke Denning, City of Bath College music student “For the first time all our courses are over‐subscribed months ahead of time and competition to get a place has increased dramatically because of our investment into Web 2.0 applications, eg social networking.” Max Weedon “The students see the College as a gateway into the music industry because of the way we operate like a record label, using the same techniques and systems as in the real world, students are gaining a unique and valued perspective through real‐life activities.” Max Weedon View the last page for further case study links and information. Do you have a good project, that you want to shout about, if so contact: Matt Ewens to discuss the opportunity: mattewens@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk

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The Sustainability agenda: Perspectives for Education, and advice and guidance from JISC and elsewhere In the current milieu, given the potential brand benefits and perceived ethical obligations, businesses are falling over themselves to appear “Green”; to be able to deliver products and services which are congruent with the sustainability agenda, whilst preserving their market position i.e. resulting in no harmful ramifications for the range, quality or price of said consumables or services. The definition of the term “sustainability” itself has become increasingly nebulous, as producers attempt to reconcile potentially conflicting commercial, cultural and social aspirations. Universities and other educational institutions also fall under these auspices, and as consumers and provides need to ensure congruence with legal and cultural expectations incumbent upon their service. Within the domain of education, providers are gradually becoming more cognisant of the cost benefits of investing in sustainable solutions, and this is progressively apparent within the field of Information Technology (IT). It is estimated that the production of IT hardware and the resultant requirement for power generation accounts for 2% of global Carbon emissions. The SusteIT report for JISC postulates that as much energy is expended in production as consumption over the life cycle of a non‐domestic PC. Increasingly therefore, especially given the potential cost savings and reputational benefits of adoption, Institutions are becoming more conscious of the Green agenda, and concomitantly suppliers are recognising the commercial advantages of showing their “Green side”. As this business dynamic becomes more apparent, there has been a simultaneous rise in the support and research developing around this incipient relationship. Last year’s “Higher Ambitions: The Future of Universities in a Knowledge Economy” report is replete with references to the Sustainability agenda, both as a requirement for future sectoral adherence in its operational practices, and a new area of the market for the Higher Level Skills and research capacity of UK Higher Education to exploit. These dual sentiments are probably best expressed in the following excerpt: “As the wider challenges of the transition to low carbon becomes more widely understood, Universities need to establish themselves further as intellectual and practical leaders on environmental sustainability, and to articulate their role in combating climate change”

JISC themselves fund a considerable (and burgeoning) volume of investigation into Green ICT. In September 2009, JISC produced a briefing paper providing a strategic overview of “Sustainable ICT in Further and Higher Education”. The paper notes that in the year prior to its publication (2008), the utilisation of information Technology accounted for 2% global Co2 emissions, and 3% of the United Kingdoms electricity consumption. Within the Further and Higher Education sectors, ICT was predicted to cost over £116m in electricity alone in 2009, and generate 500k tonnes of Carbon Dioxide. Elaborating further on these statistics, the paper extrapolates that figures relating to ICT use at the University of Sheffield, Lowestoft College and City College, Norwich, when scaled up, suggest that UK Further and Higher Education uses 1,468,000 computers, 246,000 printers and 238,000 servers, will have ICT‐related electricity bills of about £116 million in 2009, ..and..emits more than 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year through its ICT use. By Dan McCaffrey

SusteIT further postulate that “..About half of the ICT‐related energy consumption in UK Further and Higher Education institutions is accounted for by PCs. Digital printing accounts for a further 10–16% of ICT‐related energy use”.

On a UK wide scale, the UK Government has, through its Climate Change Act (2008), a target to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050; This is the impetus for the report. The report also emphasises the detrimental environmental impacts associated not just with the use of ICT hardware, but also the production and supply of these ubiquitous technologies. To view the full range of JISC resources now available to support the development of sustainable practice in your institution, visit the JISC website “Greening your campus through environmentally‐sustainable digital technologies” section (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/supportingyourinstitution/cribsheets/greeningict.aspx\0) or get in touch with your Regional Support Centre.

The RSC South West has made this issue and all future issues of the newsletter completely digital to save on paper. We also deliver online events, most of which are free events ‐ this also means that travelling costs and our carbon footprint is greener.

JISC RSC SW Online Webinars Using Mobile Learning to engage, challenge and reinforce learning ‐ Bridgwater College Date: 06/12/2010 Location: Online ‐ Price: FREE Starts: 11.00am until 12 noon Follow this link to book Using Technology in New Builds to inform, inspire and engage ‐ South Devon College Date: 13/12/2010 Location: Online ‐ Price: FREE Starts: 11.00am until 12 noon Follow this link to book Please visit our Ning social network, created specifically for our supported providers to get access to all post event materials. Follow this link to visit our Ning

Access our newsletter online! This newsletter and previous editions can be accessed online and can also be downloaded in PDF format from our website by visiting the newsletters page www.rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk All RSC team staff contribute to the newsletter. Please send any comments and feedback about the newsletter to Matt Ewens, Information Officer at mattewens@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk 6

JISC RSC SW Online “Webinars”: The trend of the Future? Over the last few weeks, I have had the unanticipated pleasure of hosting a number of online seminars (or webinars as they are often confusingly dubbed); These were recorded and can now be perused at your convenience. The rationale behind running these was that in an era where financial considerations are incumbent upon every aspect of staff development, I thought that the logistical and financial expedients of participating in an online event were increasingly self evident. Firstly, the need to travel (with all the attendant financial and human resource costs) is negated, and secondly, as the RSC made the foresighted decision to purchase some “webinar” software a while back, there are no costs to the delegate. These factors also mean that we can recruit guest speakers from inside and outside the region, and like delegates, they can contribute from wherever they have access to an internet connected PC. I have also observed that whilst there is predictably some uncertainty when people participate or present online for the first time, usually this is swiftly ameliorated as people become comfortable with the environment and (hopefully) are immersed in the contents of the session. With staff development budgets likely to be further squeezed over the coming years, it’s easy to see this form of delivery becoming an imperative for many organisations, so get ahead of the game and attend one of our upcoming online seminars: 6th December 2010, 11am: Using Mobile Learning to engage, challenge and reinforce learning ‐ Bridgwater College Within the session we will look at practical ways of using mobile technology, how Bloom’s taxonomy reinforces the upper echelons via mobile reinforcement; And the reality of mobile technology 13th December 2010, 11am: Using Technology in New Builds to inform, inspire and engage ‐ South Devon College South Devon College has recently opened a new state of the art University Centre that uses technology to inform, inspire and engage. A range of technology is featured throughout the building and in learning spaces. This presentation will use images of the building and technology to take you on a virtual tour of the facilities and will explain how the learning spaces are being used and how the use of technology has been planned. The presentation will be delivered by Becky Barrington, Learning Technologies Manager. She has worked with the Computer Services teams and college staff to identify the best technologies for the use of the building and supports staff in using it. You can book for any of the online events via our web site. Alternately, you may also like to view some of the presentations from the last month on our dedicated NING social network. Current videos include Online Tools to support Information, Advice & Guidance for those progressing to HE Level Study, Effective Assessment in a Digital Age and others! Please visit http://jisc‐rscsw.ning.com to join up and get access to all the post event resources. By Dan McCaffrey

RSC South West Team

Manager John Mckenzie

Administrator/ Event Coordinator Jan Holt

eLearning Advisers Dan McCaffrey David Rowe Julia Taylor Lyn Bender Noel Davis Tracey Morris David Bevington Information Officer Matt Ewens Contact: Tel: 01752 587031 Email: rsc‐advice@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk JISC Regional Support Centre Southwest University of Plymouth, Babbage Room 316 Drake Circus Plymouth. PL4 8AA Phone: 01752 587031 Email: rsc‐advice@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk

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Regional Events Technical Forum Date: 08/12/2010 Audience: All Technical managers and systems specialists Location: Bournemouth Adult Learning, BH10 4HG Price: FREE Starts: 10.00am for 10.30am start until 3.00pm Follow this link to book Embedding Business & Community Engagement Date: 07/02/2011 Audience: The day is aimed at senior and middle managers with responsibility for development, co‐ordination or support of Business and Community Engagement and managers of core business functions. Location: Learning South West, Taunton Price: £50 Starts: 9.30am until 4.00pm Follow this link to book Change Management for Further and Higher Education 08/02/2011 Audience: The day is aimed at senior managers and any other staff who need to lead or manage change in Higher Education Institutions or Further Education Colleges Location: Learning South West, Taunton Price: £50 Starts: 9.30am until 4.00pm Follow this link to book VLE Intranet Developers Forum 09/02/2011 Location: Taunton School, Taunton Price: £35 Starts: 10.30am(Refreshments from 10.00am) until 3.30pm Follow this link to book Xerte Training Day with a Difference! Date: 19/01/2011 Audience: JISC RSC SW & Univeristy of Bath are holding a Xerte Learning Object production and training day that will be of interest to anyone wishing to use this accessible tool. Location: University of Bath Price: £40 Starts: 10.15am (registration from 9.45am) until 4.30pm Follow this link to book To access all our events please visit our events pages on our website: http://www.rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk/index.php?p=14

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eSafety Update: New RSC SW Online Tool in Development eSafety has become increasingly important with the increasing demand for responsive delivery in education. The use of personal devices and teachers employing web 2.0 tools to reach and engage learners means that managing and monitoring access to content has become central to Teaching & Learning delivery. The key to e‐safety lies in enabling staff to develop their skills and knowledge and to encourage learners to become Informed Users who can identify risks and act to protect themselves online. As Safeguarding is now a limiting grade at Ofsted, proper risk assessment and evidence of a considered and appropriate approach to using technology in teaching is vital. It can be difficult to know where to start but as e‐Safety is an area gaining more importance in FE and HE today, JISC Legal have produced a range of resources focused on the legal aspects of the sectors legal and statutory responsibilities, the latest edition is an eSafety Policy Template that can be downloaded to help colleges write an effective policy that reflects their individual community and context. Other resources include Top Tips on eSafety, advice on the safe use of multi‐media and monitoring internet use. http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/Themes/eSafety.aspx This is a good start but providers still have some work to do to establish their own strengths and priorities for improvement. They must also define procedures suitable for their own delivery and learners and of course evidence what they are doing to monitor and maintain these systems. The RSC’s eResponsiblity Task Group has been working with providers to support staff CPD and learner inductions in the safe and responsible use of the internet. Together we have been compiling resources and examples of good practice from across the sector which will form the basis of an online tool available to all providers early next year. If you have any resources that you would like to share or you would be interested in taking part in the pilot project please contact: Julia Taylor ‐ juliataylor@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk

RSC South West RSS feeds... Keep informed about the latest developments and news through our RSS feeds. Feeds are available for our news and events pages here: www.rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk To subscribe, click on the RSS feed icon from the home page and then select the subscribe link.

The RSC South West have also created RSS feeds for all their web 2.0 channels through our Ning social network. Access these below:

RSC South West eNews The eNews has evolved!! The RSC South West is now using JISCMail newsletter templates to produce better quality eNews. The eNews archives can be accessed by following this link: http://bit.ly/dYyMmw To subscribe, please email ‘subscribe’ and contact details to rsc‐advice@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk

Pedagogue Content Tool ‐ J James Dean James.Dean@cdsm.co.uk Pedagogue is an eLearning content development tool originally developed for Cambridge Education and is now available for Moodle. It allows the author to create media rich, interactive content for use over the Web, on CD‐Rom or virtual learning environment. Pedagogue produces standards conformant, accessible, multimedia online learning content that supports Special Educational Needs and inclusive learning. Teachers can choose from a range of over 30 interaction types including drag & drop, multiple choice and puzzle games ‐ all designed to engage the learner. http://www.cdsm.co.uk/products/ped/index.htm On behalf of the RSC SW I look forward to meeting with you at our future Forums in which we will continue to explore the pedagogical, technical and user aspects of using virtual learning platforms. Those of you who are not using Moodle or indeed any other VLE are welcome and encouraged to attend. If you wish to discuss your attendance or would like further details please contact me lynbender@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk The next meeting of the VLE Forum will take place at Taunton School on 9th February 2011. Bookings can be made through our website by visiting the Events section at rsc‐south‐west.plymouth.ac.uk

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Regional VLE Forums get off to a flying start!

Just recently, in October 2010, on behalf of RSC SW I was pleased to run our first VLE Forum for the 2010/2011 academic year. I spoke with many of you during the planning and preparation for this event, and these discussions led me to endeavour to arrange a day themed upon the new Moodle 2.0 release. Clearly this is a topic of current interest to many of us and we were delighted to see that the event attracted over thirty of you, all keen to share your ideas and explore ways in which the latest Moodle features and improvements might be of value. Please do keep your ideas and suggestions coming in to inform our future programme of events and forums. For full details of the day’s content, visit the VLE discussion area of our Ning. Meanwhile, here is a brief review of the days topics: I introduced the day and shared some general news updates, including: • JISC Grant Funding opportunities and

advice • Moodle 2.0 testing site:

http://qa.moodle.net • PacktLib – digital online book libarary http://PacktLib.PacktPub.com Each delegate received a copy of the latest eSkills CD This resource was zipped and packaged ready for Moodle (there is also a version available for BlackBoard users, please contact lynbender@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk) These resources are designed to cover the essential ICT skills and knowledge needed by practitioners, the course comprises of 8 x 3hr modules with a mixture of presentations, discussions & practical activities. Additional “advanced” modules are under development and include e‐Safety & e‐Safeguarding and Creating Accessible Learning Objects using Xerte. The materials can be used individually or as an eight module course. A preview of the materials is available via the RSC SW Scotland learning platform ‐ http://learning.rsc‐sw‐scotland.ac.uk/. Presentations Special thanks to Becky Barrington from South Devon College and Geoff Rowland from Yeovil College for their lively and responsive presentations during the day: Moving on with Moodle ‐ Becky Barrington, South Devon College Many thanks to Becky who covered a variety of Moodle topics during a very interesting presentation and series of demonstrations to convey current use of Moodle at South Devon as well as her findings of some of the new features of Moodle 2.0. Topics included Absence Activities and Community Moodle . Contact: r.barrington@southdevon.ac.uk Moodle 2.0 and Mahara at Yeovil College – Geoff Rowland, Yeovil College Many thanks to Geoff who showed the group an array of Moodle 2.0 new functionality from the Administrator perspective as well as the Learner/Teacher view. Topics covered included: Configurable Tool Bar as part of site Admin, Repository Functionality, Filters within a course. Geoff recommended http://www.mindtouch.com/ and reported that it had proven to be a preferred solution to SharePoint. By Lyn Bender

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Jane Carter‐Dunn wins the Tony Burgess E‐Guides Award for e‐learning Congratulations to Jane Carter‐Dunn, from Gloucestershire Adult Education, has won the Tony Burgess award spon‐sored by LSIS for her dedication and commitment to e‐learning. The award was presented in June at an annual conference held in London. Jane Carter‐Dunn has trained as an Advanced E‐Guide and has been working as an E‐learning Development Officer at Adult Education in Gloucestershire for two years. In the last year, she has developed the Adult Education Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which is already being used by hundreds of tutors and has been embraced by all staff at Adult Education in Gloucestershire, who use it to add value to their projects and courses. She has also trained 10 E‐Guides who are in turn delivering cascade training to help produce over 50 tutors across the county. Jane has recently managed an LSIS project, developing a new module for Adult Education in Gloucestershire’s in‐house Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector (PTLLS) course. The tutors taking the course ARE self‐professed technophobes, but were so inspired by Jane’s approach, that now all their students submit their work via the VLE. Jane is currently working on a project that will see all vital information for tutors being delivered through the VLE, ultimately allowing her to support all 400 tutors working for Adult Education in Gloucestershire. Jane’s nominator and colleague, Jane Griffiths, said, “Adult Education in Gloucestershire works with 25 external providers – from colleges to voluntary and community organisations – who would never have considered embracing technology in their work if it wasn’t for Jane. [She]…is a joy to work with and truly inspires those around her. She is never too busy to advise and support and works tirelessly to ensure that everyone is comfortable with the use of technology and encourages it’s appropriate contribution to all learning activities.” Alastair Clark, Senior Programme Director for NIACE’s Digital Learning Team, said, “Jane Carter‐Dunn has richly deserved her award this year ‐ illustrating the high standard of skill and commitment that can be found amongst the trained E Guides. This training programme has now been delivered to nearly 3,000 practitioners who in turn continue to pass on their skills to colleagues.”

Gloucestershire County Council Adult Education: Developing innovative resources with Xerte Adult Education in Gloucestershire, part of Gloucestershire County Council, has utilised Xerte to enhance its resources and access to learning materials for both learners and staff. Jane Carter‐Dunn, e‐Learning Development Officer, and Amanda Cooper, Tutor and Trainer, are part of the successful team that developed Xerte with the organisa‐tion's Moodle virtual learning environment. Although this has been a challenge for the Adult Education team, their commitment and dedication has enabled them to develop a resource that is already realising great educational benefits for their learners. To view the case study on the Excellence Gateway, Follow this link to view the case study

Equality Act 2010 The government passed the new equality act in Oct this year. The aim of the act is to strengthen certain aspects of the law and extend previous protections not covered before. JISC Techdis, with help from JISC Legal have produced a publication called Improve Your 3 R’s (Recruitment, Retention and Results) The document gives sound advice to providers on the act and how to make sure that your organisation can make sure it is providing adequate support for inclusive practice. The document also identifies accessibility steps and a process to improve accessibility. There are also sound links and advice provided as well as sources of help. Follow this link to read more and access the PDF document OASES Awards The OASES Awards are an opportunity for providers to gain recognition for progress already made to ensure equality and access. JISC Techdis want to celebrate that progress and it is a great opportunity.

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e‐Learning Content Creation Programme As some of you may know the Association of Learning Providers has been running 3 Skills Funding Agency funded projects under the E‐learning Content Creation strand. The results of these projects are just about to come on stream. The three projects have produced innovative e‐learning resources which will be freely available from the repository Jorum Open. The subjects’ covered are Functional Skills, Social care workforce supporting adults with learning disabilities/difficulties (LDD), and Initial Teacher Training (ITT). From December 2010 the new materials developed by the Nuneaton Training Centre/Hibernia College consortium will be available to download from Jorum Open. There will be a wealth of on‐line materials supporting the Initial Teacher Training qualifications (PTLLS, CTLLS & DTLLS). There are 24 modules with a mix of Mandatory and Optional modules e.g. DTLLS (mandatory): Wider Professional Practice DTLLS (optional): Embedding Literacy and Numeracy Skills for Non Specialists. A consortium including Voyage Care, BiLD and e‐Embrace Learning, have produced for the Social Care workforce, 34 modules of brand new interactive e‐learning, and a substantial version of these resources in a format suitable for use on mobile devices for use as bite sized learning or revision resources. These resources are now available to download from Jorum Open. The consortium responsible for their creation equates these 34 modules to approximately 340 Guided Learning Hours (GLH). These modules will of course be mapped to the new QCF qualifications when these are more clearly defined. The Functional Skills materials, perhaps the most widely applicable resource, were created by a consortium including Football League Education, Navitas Sports Consultancy, and Kineo. They have produced an innovative and interactive Functional Skills resource. It consists of 8 linked modules starting at Entry level 1 and including strong elements of L2. Although themed around sport and the 2012 Olympics/ Paralympics this resource is applicable to a wide range of learners as they are not sector specific and are completely gender neutral. The modules are: • Module 1 ‐ Getting Started • Module 2 ‐ Living Together • Module 3 ‐ Health and Wellbeing • Module 4 ‐ Fitness • Module 5 ‐ Gaining Confidence • Module 6 ‐ Building Your Profile • Module 7 ‐ Injuries and Setbacks • Module 8 ‐ Reality Check All of the above can be downloaded from Jorum Open http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui By David Rowe

WBL Staff Development ‐ eSkills Our colleagues at JISC‐RSC Scotland South & West have over the last few months re‐written the eSkills for eLearning course. They have managed to update the resources and give the course a structure more appropriate for use within virtual learning environments. This useful and important staff development resource is available to all WBL providers via JISC‐RSC South West they are also available from the Devon & Cornwall Training Provider Network VLE. The course has been split into 8 individual modules which when taken together provide a comprehensive introduction to e‐Learning with activities designed to help staff use technology for learning & teaching effectively. Equally the modules can be used as standalone resources which staff can dip into as appropriate. The modules are: • Module 1 ‐ An Introduction to

e‐Learning • Module 2 ‐ e‐Resources &

Copyright • Module 3 ‐ Creating

Interactive Resources (1) • Module 4 ‐ Designing an

Inclusive Curriculum • Module 5 ‐ Creating

Interactive Resources (2) • Module 6 ‐ Online

Communications & e‐Tutoring

• Module 7 ‐ e‐Assessment • Module 8 ‐ Learning

Platforms & Going Mobile 1

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Free resources to sharpen up your work with business from JISC TechDis Colleges, universities and other learning providers throughout the UK can now benefit from a new web portal called Acumen, developed by JISC TechDis. This brings a wealth of useful free resources together in one place and has significant cost saving potential. Acumen has been created to provide you with resources, tools and case studies designed to add value to your work with small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). It contains a range of free to use resources from JISC, higher and further education institutions in the UK and materials from other trusted sources. Launched at the Auril Conference in Newcastle on 7th October 2010, funded as part of the JISC Business and Community Engagement programme and developed with the help of the Higher Education Academy, Acumen has the potential to become an indispensable online tool to support successful engagement with small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The resources in Acumen represent a wealth of accessible and easy to use free tools and information sources on the use of ICT in business, designed to enhance existing and new projects and partnerships. "This is a valuable online resource for SMEs. It gives them access, free of charge, to the considerable expertise within the higher and further education institutes. It will give them the skills necessary to grow their businesses and bring wider benefits to the UK economy." Michele Barker, Deputy Director, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. Acumen also showcases the potential for HE/FE and business interaction using web technologies. For example, all of the case study examples and a number of the resources provided have been developed in or with UK universities and colleges. Acumen therefore presents a positive message about the potential of our institutions to support the growth of businesses. Find out about Acumen at: www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/acumen Also worth a look are the JISC Business & Community Engagement programme web pages. This programme is designed to support institutions in their strategic management of relationships with commercial, public sector (including charities and trusts), cultural, social and civic organisations. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/bce.aspx and also of particular interest is the recently launched BCE Skills Evaluation Tool ‐ see: http://www.netskills.ac.uk/content/projects/2008/jisc‐bce‐cpd/index.html

Generator A fully upgraded, revised and expanded version of Generator will be available for FE and skills providers early in 2011. The upgrades include: • new questions to gauge how efficiently technology is being used, linked to new case studies and the development of a new MIS system

• a new access to Generator through a web portal which will host resources and other content from Becta, as well as new updates and news sections, a forum, video and evidence libraries and sector user guides. The 96 new case studies from the Technology Exemplar Network, all tagged to Generator themes and levels, are particularly worth checking out

• Generator is a free tool which assesses your organisation’s effectiveness and level of e‐maturity to help you identify your technological capacity. Carefully planned and well thought‐out use of Generator will highlight your technology strengths as well as pinpoint areas for improvement. Generator can be used in a variety of ways, for example, at individual, departmental or organisational level.

To find out how Generator can aid your effective planning and application of technology, contact rsc‐advice@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk or for an informal chat about its best use in your organisation contact lynbender@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk Mob: 07734062661

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Becta adopts open government license in advance of its website closure To ensure the educational community benefits from being able to re‐use Becta materials, Becta has now adopted the Open Government licence (OGL) <http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=42463>. Becta's website will close on January 31st 2011. The Becta website will be captured on the National archives: <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/webarchive/qualifications.htm> although some features and functionality will no longer be oper‐able. Becta have announced the adoption of the OGL to provide maximum time for all stakeholders and visors to benefit from the non‐exclusive nature of the licence. Making the most of Becta's materials Becta stakeholders and beneficiaries are advised to take advantage of OGL, to search for, access, and download materials and content from the site before it closes on January 31st 2011. There are some limitations around certain materials including images and video, but these do not preclude re‐use in existing form. The revised copyright statement <http://about.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?page=1644> provides more detailed guidance on the scope and limitations of Becta's adoption of the OGL. Managing "in‐bound" links Organisations linking to resources on the Becta website need to be aware that re‐directs will be applied to the National Archive only between 31st of January 2011 and March 31st 2011. These re‐directs will be at site level only. Becta cannot guarantee these re‐directs will continue after March 31st 2011. Becta therefore advises all with "in‐bound" links to a) download and manage materials locally if possible; b) between January and March, navigate the National Archives website to establish the replacement link. If you have any queries then please contact webkeeper@becta.org.uk, which will be active until the end of January 2011.

AoC Beacon Awards 2010/2011 Winning Colleges Congratulations to the following providers, who have won awards recently • AQA Award for College/School Partnerships ‐ Exeter College • AoC Create Award for College Engagement with Employers ‐ Weston College • Edexcel Award for Lifelong Learning ‐ Cornwall College • City & Guilds Award for Staff Development in Further Education Edge Award for

Practical Teaching and Practical Learning ‐ Gloucestershire College • DfE Award for Successful Delivery of Level 2 and/or Level 3 Qualifications

YPLAAward for 14‐19 Collaboration • YPLA Award for 14‐19 Collaboration ‐ South Devon College To find out more about the award, follow this link to visit the AoC website

Getting more from Moodle Earlier in 2010 the RSC SW ran a series of Moodle workshops, kindly hosted by Accountancy+ Training, at their base in Exeter. We have now managed to persuade the trainer for these sessions, to deliver a limited number of low cost 1/2 day (4 hour) in‐house Moodle staff development sessions. This is your chance to get your delivery staff up and running in the use of Moodle both as a teaching and learning aid and as a part of the continuing drive to improve your business process by increasing the efficiency of your delivery. The aim of the day is to get staff confident in the use of Moodle by completing exercises based on common tasks and uses. These staff development sessions can be delivered in‐house but you will need to be able to provide a computer facility or a room where staff can use their laptops while connected to the internet. The trainer will supply all training materials including a complete Moodle on a memory stick so that nothing needs to be placed on your IT system. These sessions are intended as low cost staff development sessions, hence the low cost of £35.00/attendee (plus the trainers travel costs). Group sizes can vary between 5 and 12. If you want to benefit from this offer or need further information contact David Rowe on davidrowe@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk 07809 594850 or Tracey Morris traceymorris@rsc‐south‐west.ac.uk 07834 678159

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Innovative e‐Skills programme made available on the DCTPN Virtual Learning Environment The Training Provider College has introduced a new e‐Skills area within their interactive VLE, which is an essential set of courses focussed around e‐Learning and teaching. e‐skills has been developed by RSC Scotland and now providers that are a part of the DCTPN network can access the courses and materials available through the VLE. There are 8 individual modules, which are focussed around the following areas: • An Introduction to

e‐Learning • e‐Resources & Copyright • Creating Interactive

Resources (1) • Designing an Inclusive Cur‐

riculum • Creating Interactive

Resources (2) • Online Communications &

e‐Tutoring • e‐Assessment • Learning Platforms &

Going Mobile The aim of these courses is to provide a comprehensive introduction into e‐Learning, which encompasses activities that will help practitioners work more effectively with technology within their teaching practice. The activities are designed to enable practitioners to identify the advantages associated with e‐Learning technologies and to encourage collaboration. The resources are also available from the RSC Scotland website, For further information call the RSC Scotland Information Helpdesk on 0141 585 0022 or email the team at support@rsc‐sw‐scotland.ac.uk The e‐Skills will also be developing further courses and resources covering important topics such as eSafety & Safeguarding and Creating Accessible Learning Objects using Xerte. Providers who belong to the DCTPN network will be able to access the courses through visiting the full list of resources and scrolling down to the online courses section.

Skills Scan from RSC South West Need to find out about staff development needs within your organisation? Want a simple, online way to ask those questions and collate the responses? Skills Scan from RSC South West can help you. We provide you with a bank of questions to choose from, construct the survey for you and run it using our online survey tool, Survey Monkey. You can monitor the responses whilst the survey is running and, once all responses are in, we can provide you with full feedback and support. Interested? Email rsc‐advice@rsc‐south‐west.c.uk quoting Skills Scan or call us on 01752 587031 By Tracey Morris

Excellence Gateway Key Skills 4 U A new key skills resource with access to the Key Skills Trainer e‐learning resource and practice tests. Download useful materials like the good practice guide and tutor guides for Levels 1 & 2. Induction for new principals Have you recently taken up the post of Principal? LSIS is running inductions for new principals to provide essential practical guidance on all aspects of leading and managing a successful college. Read more http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=305943 Becta launches ICT Services Framework for schools and FE Becta has announced 25 high quality suppliers to help further education colleges and providers to save time and money on their ICT systems in a fully EU‐compliant manner. Read more http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=305750 Share your experiences and provide useful feedback through the Excellence Gateway online survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EG‐online‐survey

Stampede ‐ a rush of Tablet PCs looms over the horizon Apple have really pulled one out of the hat with the release of the iPad, as ever the design, functionality and smoothness of the Operating System (OS) has made it an instant winner with the populace. As well as having a great device they have got it to market with a clear lead time to establish a market volume advantage. As ever though, they are being chased by other vendors, Samsung have been next to make an impact with a smaller form device (7 inch screen as opposed to 10 inch) using the Google Android operating system. These two are not going to have it their own way for long though as Toshiba, Dell, Palm, RIM have all announced their own offerings or given a date for the offerings release. Whilst this gives us more choice, it does complicate the choice of what to choose and how to integrate into the teaching and learning environment. The largest part of the problem is that most of the above (incl. Apple) operate in a proprietary way. Either the OS or the connectors or the purchase of third party apps has been locked down to limit what you may want to do and keep you within the desired business and purchasing model. So, are we going to run off and buy a load of evaluation devices as most did when the Asus Eee PC was first released (okay ‐ MoLeNet monies permitting)? Well some have and mainly iPads so far, but I think there is good argument to wait a while as most of the prospective devices won’t be available until Feb 2011 or beyond. This allows for Providers to look at the detail and functionality of the devices, and also explore with their LR and IT teams how they can best be used within the infrastructure and how best to access the resources they expect to be used. Apart of OS, the other major difference between the devices is the mechanics of the screen, is it touch sensitive and accepting finger flick commands to zoom in or out (capacitive) or is it simply poke with additional zoom in and out buttons (resistive)? The former tend to be more expensive above £400 each, whilst the latter can be obtained from £100 in a variety of screen sizes. Clearly, more of the latter can be provided for a specified budget, but screen isn’t the only consideration, little price also generally means little(r) battery. The iPad and Samsung will both give a full day of operation with wireless connectivity, whilst cheaper devices will only give 2‐3 hours diminishing as they get older. This raises the need for charging cabinets to be available. Resistive or capacitive is complicated a little by the teaching and user need. Meeting any accessibility requirements is important, it may be that dexterity isn’t what it could be or prosthetics are present. Resistive screens would have the advantage here as they rely on making the top layer of the screen bend to touch the lower layer and transmit an electrical signal rather than allowing electrical capacitance through the body. Additionally, if detail (art, graphs, technology and design) work is being done, then resistive can be easily used with a stylus, coupled with the zoom and being able to change the contact point size in the software (as with a Smart IWB) enables greater accuracy than simply using the stubby finger tip. The best solution will probably result in a mixed economy being used, each to its proper task. Managing the devices does present the Provider with problems though. None of the devices have a corporate management suite available that can control the user’s rights and limit modification to the interfaces or prevent installation of applications. As most Providers would only allow these systems on to their networks via wireless, content filtering can still apply thereby reducing some of the e‐safety considerations, but keeping the devices standardised and up to date would require each to be managed individually. There are some agents that will track or disable devices if they can be used as a mobile phone and disappear, but this does require the device to have an IMEI number.

By Noel Davis 15

Devices Have a look at these devices; they are a pleasure to use, particularly for the remote worker/learner. I use a Samsung Galaxy Tablet with a 3G data card, the always on nature of the device and the screen size make it my first choice when I need to check something or send an email etc. Justifying a buy in current times may be more difficult, but I suspect some students will be turning up with some of these devices post Christmas. Links to some of the current devices: iPad ‐ http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad/ Samsung ‐ http://bit.ly/h9Y8qK Dell ‐ http://dell.to/g8vTpk Cheap Android ‐ http://www.svp.co.uk/product.php?product=POV‐01001

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iPad paving the way with Voice‐Over Controls In stark contrast, all iPads have a standard application called VoiceOver, which allows for audible control of every single menu, even those included in third party applications. NFB has commended Apple for producing a device that is usable right out of the box for both seeing and the visually impaired alike. The NFB statement even mentions that the touch‐screen “need not be a barrier” to the blind. iPad comes with a screen reader, support for playback of closed‐captioned content, and other innovative universal access features — right out of the box. There’s no additional software to buy or install. These features make iPad easier to use for people who have a vision impairment, are deaf or hard of hearing, or have a physical or learning disability. Watch a video conducted by a blind person, explaining how to use both an iPhone and an iPad using the accessibility options for disabled users, follow this link to watch the video

Further Online Video Resources From Around the World Bruce Maguire decribes how he uses a screen reader and refreshable Braille to access the internet. He also demonstrates using the technology to buy a book online, follow this link to view A really good video explaining in detail the accessibility features for the iPhone, follow this link to view Simple iPhone 3GS Tips & Tricks , follow this link to view Managing and editing files on the iPad, follow this link to view How to save battery for iPhone 3G/Gs, follow this link to view JISC Related podcasts and videos Zac Mensa from JISC Digital Media talks about social media and web services, follow this link to view JISC libraries of the future, a video talking about the future of libraries and the digital developments, follow this link to view JISC ‐ World War 1 Poets Showreel, a digital archive of primary source material from the major poets of the great war, follow this link to view Knowledge Is ‐ a short film about opening up access to archives, follow this link to view JISC ‐ Greening ICT: Case study Queen Margaret University , follow this link to view JISC ‐ Podcasting : Web 2 Practice, follow this link to view Active Learning through the Teaching and Learning Programme, follow this link to view JISC Podcast From ideas to innovation, a podcast from the JISC e‐learning conference ‐ featuring JISC’s Maike Bohn who talks to Anne Miller, one of the world's most prolific female inventors and Director of The Creativity Partnership, follow this link to listen to the podcast

Case Studies Update City of Bath College: Using YouTube and Facebook to deliver exceptional e‐learning for music students, follow this link to read more

Norton Radstock College: Life Project delivers real benefits for vocational teachers, follow this link to read more

Weston College: Development of VLE standards improves quality of course provision, follow this link to read more S&B Automotive Academy: Webcam technology streamlines work‐based assessment and cuts costs, follow this link to read more

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