E-Learning Staff Development

Discover Jisc

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:43:00 +0000

Jisc TechDis Discover Jisc excellent resource to learn about the Jisc services and how to make the most of them in your teaching and learning.

Discover">http://vimeo.com/79674251">Discover Jisc Introduction
from JISC">http://vimeo.com/jisctechdis">JISC TechDis on Vimeo.https://vimeo.com">Vimeo.>

Safer Internet Day

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 10:46:00 +0000

Theres still chance to join the Preparing for the Safer Intenet Day event on the 27 th of November.This event will provide you with useful Safer Internet Day information, resources and links to help host the campaign in your organisation. Those who attend this Preparation Day will discover what’s available within Jisc regarding the legal implications related to e-safety and supporting vulnerable learners. You will also be shown examples of e-safety best practice within education plus details of the amazing campaigns from last year.
If you wish to take part go to http://jiscevents.force.com/E/EventsDetailPage?id=a06U000000EdueGIAR&srvc=JISC RSC UK

Dyslexia Awareness Week

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 09:46:00 +0000

Hi, with it being Dyslexia awareness week. I have collated a few resources and information that may be of use to your learners .With a lot of new starters joining courses, it may be useful to manage expectations and provide information on what support a Learning Provider can offer and how this support can help the learner become independent.

Firstly Jisc TechDis, have a document Technology to support your Reading. This identifies Text to speech Readers, Publisher Look ups and how to support yourself. Also it may be worth updating your version of My Study Bar, the latest version has an excellent Text to Speech reader Orato, and Balabolka a which will help with grammar and spelling.

Free Services to look out for are, Robobraille which will provide Word documents in MP3 format or large text. Assistive

Technology Toolbars like ATBar or Browse Aloud could be useful in VLE'S or e-Portfolios. Also take a look at the FREE voices Jack and Jess which are a massive improvement on Microsoft Sam.

More updates this week

Niace Funding

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 09:56:00 +0000

A funding opportunity not to be missed! Niace are inviting learning providers to bid for funds for the Equality and Diversity Fund. The closing date is very close so it might be worth taking look today. The application form can be accessed on the Niace website.

http://www.niace.org.uk/current-work/equality-and-diversity-innovation-fund

Individual colleges and training organisations are invited to bid for a grant of between £1,000 and £25,000. Successful bids of £5,000 or less will have a higher level of freedom and flexibility in how they deliver their projects, and be subject to a lower level of reporting and monitoring than projects receiving larger grants.

Projects will normally begin in October 2013 and should be completed at the beginning of June 2014. Monitoring and reporting of project outcomes and impact will be required after project funding ceases up until the end of March 2015.

A key aim of the project fund is to catalyse change across the sector, so all projects will be required to collaborate with each other and disseminate their findings locally and nationally. Mandatory dissemination events will take place in June/July 2014, followed by ongoing dissemination in autumn 2014 and beyond.

e-Learning Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:42:00 +0000

The Discover 'e' conference for 2013 highlighted a few tools that may help with Content Creation and Assessment. Carolyn Lewis from Vocational Innovation Ltd discussed these in her session relating to Work based Learning. However these tools would be beneficial if you are thinking of using a blended Model of Delivery. A couple that I particularly like include Quizlet this will allow you to create simple and easy assessments. Quizlet has the option to create flash card based questions, track progress and use automatically graded quizzes. Accessibility wise, Quizlet will allow you to listen to the written word. Creating a quiz is relatively easy; there are enough instructions to help you zip your file ready to be embedded into a website.
.

UDUTU is a content authoring tool which is free. This is will allow you to use templates to present material. You will be able to add video, quizzes sound and images. It works seamlessly with PowerPoint. I found the Publish tool useful to be able to keep track of what your content looks like. Once you have created your content you can select how you wish this to be visible to your learners. You are able to extract your content as a Zip file for

Infuse Learning is a free Learner Response System, that will work with any Internet enabled device This is excellent after tool and compares favourably with Hot Potatoes and Socrative. This tool will allow you create a quiz and add video images. Accessibility wise Infuse has a text to speech option and again you will be able to select a language.

BrowseAloud

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:08:00 +0000

BrowseAloud is a excellent product that I have trialled for a while now this is a piece of software is free to use and works with all major browsers. To hear text read aloud from a desktop or laptop computer you simply move your mouse pointer over the text. From a touch screen device, you simply tap on the text to hear it read aloud.

This could be useful for reading long text documents, or helping with pronunciation. very simple to download and easy to use

Related Links Below
http://www.browsealoud.co.uk/page.asp?pg_id=80005

Discover-e

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Learning From Each Other

This year's conference sessions all have the theme of "learning from each other" and will give you an opportunity to hear how practitioners from around the region are using technology successfully to enhance the learner experience.

This year, we are pleased to offer delegates a brand new conference platform and sessions include:

- live webinars looking at inspiring learning spaces, raising learner engagement, assessment using free tools and much more.

- short and practical conference fringe sessions, including a twitter school, next generation VLE showcase and e-learning swap shop

- competitions for you to get involved with and possibly win a prize

We look forward to seeing you online - booking are being taken on our website

Book your spot on the staff development webinar

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:30:00 +0000

This webinar will identify good practice from across the region and outline how two FE colleges from the West Midlands effectively deliver Staff Development. Sue McGregor, the Director of Curriculum from Solihull College, will outline the rationale and the methods that the HE department has developed for its HE staff. Stephen Wileman, E-Learning Manager at South Staffordshire College, will discuss a recently-introduced model where staff development sessions are streamed live across the campuses.

Both presenters will :

• Showcase two different methods of staff development
• Identify the rationale for developing the staff development model
• Outline what worked well and what didn’t work
• Discuss the assessment process (if assessment is applicable)
• Demonstrate what impact the staff development has had on teaching and learning

To book your place visit the RSC website. Related link below

http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/westmidlands/keeping-you-informed.aspx

iPad Project

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 14:26:00 +0000

Earlier this year the JISC Regional Support Centre invited Specialist Colleges to take part in a iPad project. Colleges were asked to express their interest in the project outlining how they would use the iPad with learners with disabilities. New College Worcester and Regents College were successful in their application.

New College Worcester is a national residential school and college for young people aged 11 to 19 ho are blind or partially sighted. In addition to visual impairment, some students have additional needs such as hearing impairment,complex medical conditions and Asperger’s Syndrome. Students can access the full range of National Curriculum subjects, plus a variety of leisure activities.

Regents College Regent College is a small non-residential college providing a safe and supportive environment for people who have complex learning difficulties with associated challenging behaviour. It is situated within easy reach of the Stoke-on-Trent’s City Centre, close to local amenities and convenient for local public transport. The college has 30 places for learners aged from 16. Both colleges completed a case study.

New College Worcester used the iPad to help a learner develop their artistic skills. Regents College used the iPad to help to develop learner’s personal communication skills.

Related Links New College Worcester Case Study

Regents College Case Study

e-Safety Project Website

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:31:00 +0000

A really interesting website that I have being informing colleges about is the East Midlands e-Ssafety Project website. This project has been funded by the LSIS Improvements Service. The project aims to improve e-Safety for all learners with learning difficulties and disabilities. The main purpose of the project is to:- involve learners in the production of support and guidance materials that they feel comfortable using; produce training materials for staff; produce guidance for parents and carers. There are a range of resources such as short video clips,podcasts,templates Word documents and PDF files. All well worth a look at Related Links E-Safety Project

Voices

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:50:00 +0000

Another new initative from JISC TechDis, has been the launch of the voices Jack and Jess. These are high quality modern voices that that can be used with text to speech tools.

You will need to register with JISC TechDis, once you have registered you will able to download the voices ready for you use. These can be used with programs like DSpeech. The voices can be installed on your pc or laptop, ready to use to listen to emails, word documents or simply click on the play button to listen to the document.

Text-to-speech can also be very helpful to learners working in a second language who may be more confident with spoken rather than written English.

Related Links
Voices
Register

Tool Box

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:16:00 +0000

The JISC TechDis Toolbox is a collection of resources which give useful hints and tips on technologies that can help individuals work smarter. Having used this a couple of times I would like stress how good this is and could be really useful for the learners and staff who may wish to brush up their technology skills. It has been developed to help learners with learning difficulties the tool box is divided into five areas these include:

Using Technology

Planning and Organisation

Communicating

Team Working

Different Needs

Each section has short video clips, guides and audio files all of these are short bite sized to allow for quick and rapid learning. Having used the Planning and Organisation section for Managing your email I watched the video on How to Set Up a Rule in Outlook email. I can say that this was quick and straight to the point and I was able to set up a rule in minutes

So this is a really useful toolbox full of tips hints and ways to make using technology easy. With plenty of different learning styles to choose from including video and written word it’s well worth a look at.

Related links
Toolbox

Tablet Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:49:00 +0000

RSC West Midlands has initiated Mobile Projects over the past two years. The aim was to explore and potentially increase the use of mobile technologies in the work based learning sector and Independent Specialist Colleges.

Interested learning providers were invited to complete an application form outlining what mobile devices they felt might best support the learning journey and help their organisation to take the use of mobile learning forward.

Some of the equipment included iPads, Kindles ,iPod touch, Samsung Galaxy touch, Samsung Mimio Interactive Whiteboard. As a condition of the project, each Learning Provider agreed to feedback on their anticipated and actual use of the technology. In addition, successful completion of individual final project reports would then result in each learning provider being able to keep the equipment they had evaluated. The reports can be found at the following web address

Related Links
Tablet Project

Todays Meet.Com

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 10:57:00 +0000

At a Staff Development session this week, a colleague used an interesting tool called Todays Meet. This is used as a way of capturing the audience’s feedback or questions or just general understanding of the subject matter.

How does it work? Today’s Meet gives you an online isolated room that your audience can use to start communicating with you the presenter and other delegates. You are able to choose how long the room is open for .You will need to save the transcript before the meeting room is closed.

This has many uses especially for teachers / Lecturers. This is a really simple and easy way to keep the momentum going after a lesson. It could be used to generate ideas before or after a lesson or a meeting. It could be used to get the students to explain in their own words a difficult concept or to check their understanding of a lesson keep in mind that you are only able to use up to 140 characters.

This could be a really simple but effective tool that could add an extra dimension to your lesson. To setup your meeting go to Todays Meet.com. To create a room add a name for your room and select how long you would like the room open for and then make a note of the room URL in the web browser so you can access this again

Related Links
Todays Meet

E-Safety Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:17:00 +0000

E-Safety seems to be a hot topic with learning providers. If you are thinking about writing a strategy or just looking for resources for a staff development session then take a look at the RSC -E-Safety resources. They include resources for self-assessing personal and organisational risk,raising awareness and skills with learners and staff as well as advice on meeting legal and inspection requirements. Many of the resources have originated in the schools sector and some have been specifically adapted for use in FE.

If your using technology in your organisation then you will want to encourage good practice and e -responsibility. This can be achieved by putting simple strategy's in place The Getting started pages will help you identify your risks and cost effective solutions

Related Links
E-Safety

FE and Skills Funding

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:43:00 +0000

It's not to late to apply for the FE and Skills funding. If you have an idea this may be the opportunity your looking for. The focus for the programme is to improve the learner experience and increase efficiency and effectiveness of providers in line with the policies for the sector being led by each of the UK governments.

This opportunity is two-fold and offers sector providers and agencies the chance to:apply existing resources (from JISC or elsewhere) to their work and adapt them for their needs identify gaps in these resources and/or current uses made of technology in the sector and create new resources for use by other providers An initial £450,000 will be available to adapt existing resources with a further £900,000 available for development projects to address any gaps.The project will be supported by the Regional Support Centres (RSCs) who will provide advice and support for providers in developing and implementing their projects.

If you would like to apply then take a look ata the JISC Advance website where you will find the application forms and further information.

Funding bids closed in May 2012

New look Excellence Gateway

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:34:00 +0000

A long waited new look Excellence Gateway was launched yesterday. The Excellence Gateway has improved the look and navigation streamlining its resources. Searching is now easier. Resources for teaching can be found at Find Teaching and Learning resources. Resources for classroom use, case studies, advice and guidance on improving teaching practice – a huge range of materials created for practitioners are available here.LSIS will continue to increase the number of resources available and make them even easier to find.

RSC Assisit

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:52:00 +0000

JISC Regional Support Centre West Midlands is giving learning providers the opportunity to apply for free, extended support in an area of their choice, through the RSC Assist project. What are the benefits?RSC Assist enables you to work with a member of the RSC team for up to a day in planning your project and benefiting from advice and expertise, as well as a limited amount of training, if applicable. You retain control of the task in hand, but will be able to call on the support of your nominated advisor throughout.

On completion, you will work with your RSC e-learning advisor to produce a brief case study or best practice guide, which outlines the outcomes and any lessons learned, for the benefit of other learning providers.
Choosing your projectThe project should be a priority for your organisation and be achievable within a 3 month period, with a measurable, tangible outcome. Applications will be assessed against their relevance to the RSC remit, wider interest in the topic and available RSC staff expertise.
The priority support areas for 2011/12 are:
- E-safety- Learner Voice- Technology for Learning- Business Processes- Network Management- Shared Services- Staff Development - Strategic Development- Digital Literacy- Procurement
How to applyIf you’d like to take part in the RSC Assist project, please complete the application form, which is available online at: http://bit.ly/o0LKytYou can also discuss your project idea with a member of the RSC team, prior to applying – please get in touch.
Once your application has been submitted, we will contact you with a decision, based on current workload and the suitability of the topic for the project.

Try Before You Buy

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:38:00 +0000

The JISC Regional Support Center has for the past twelve months trailed a scheme called" Try Before You Buy".This is a selection of technology that can be used with learners with learning difficulties. The kit bags are essentially loaned to the learning providers for up to six weeks. Each learning provider at the end of the loan completes a survey evaluating the equipment and it's suitability for learners with learning difficulties.
The results from the survey have been surprising and make interesting reading. the survey highlights that the equipment in the most has been used in the classroom environment. The tutors identify the pedagogical uses of the equipment and the types of challenges that the learners face before using the equipment.

If you would like to take part in the Ty Before You Buy Scheme then please contact me on a.wootton@rsc-wm.ac.uk.

Related Links
RSC Wiki

Take Away Moodle for Teacher Training

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:23:00 +0000

Take Away Moodle, this is new concept from the RSC. We are looking to support Teacher Trainers across all sectors with the use of Moodle.

We have a Take Away Moodle course which you can upload into your own Moodle site and deliver as if it it were your own course. You don't have to have any prior knowledge just the enthusiasm to become familiar with the tools. The course is divided into six sections, the content is varied and includes web links,videos, quizzes. It will also engage you in activities such as forums, chat and setting up a glossary. All of the content is intended to be flexible for you to add your own and adaptable as you are welcome to customise this to suit you as a Learning Provider.

You are welcome to email me for further details and how you can Take Away Moodle. a.wootton@rsc-wm.ac.uk

Teachers TV

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:05:00 +0000

There seems to be a sliver lining for Teachers TV which has over 3500 videos for teaching professionals. The Company closed in April this year however not to be put off by the governments cuts the company reformed under the name of Teachers Media. There are subject specific videos and behavioural videos. The majority are intended for schools however you could adapt the content for further education. In the times that we live in managing behaviour can be difficult teachersmaedia has a set of Behavioural Videos which offer excellent strategies to coping with the difficult lessons .

Take a look at http://www.teachers.media.co.uk/

RSC West Midlands - Events: Learner Centred Process Review

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:14:00 +0000

JISC Info Net will be delivering another of their successful workshops on Learner Centered Process Review on the 15 Th June at Science Park in Wolverhampton. If you are introducing change or re structuring then this may guide you through the potential pit falls. : "This workshop will be an interactive day aiming to give participants an introduction to, or raised levels of knowledge of, a variety of process review considerations, techniques and tools. At the end of the workshop delegates will be able to use a variety of simple and rapid approaches to improve processes for the benefit of their learners."

If you would like to take part in the day please register through our website on the link below

RSC West Midlands - Events: Learner Centred Process Review

Discover-e Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:59:00 +0000

RoboBraille

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:11:00 +0000

RoboBraille, this is a excellent service which provides documents in MP3 format. This could be useful for learners who prefer audio to reading. Providing content in alternative formats will help to comply with the new Public Sector Duty. However not all tutors have the software or equipment at their disposal to be able to create content in different formats.

RoboBraille is a free service to education, it converts digital documents into MP3 or Braille. You simply send document by email to RoboBraille and they will convert it into a Mp3 which you will be able to access through Windows Media player . The email address for this is britspeech@robbraille.org

E -Safety

noreply@blogger.com (Alison) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:42:00 +0000

E- Safety, is an issue for individuals, organisations and business.There's a host of information, documentation and reports available. I have sign posted a few sites which I think will be useful to give you the basic information.

The RSC's, Learning Technologist Jason Curtis has created a wiki page on E- Responsibility, this is a good place to start. www.rscsystems.org.uk/index.php/EResponsibility.

Ofsted feel that its very important have the correct procedures and policies in place to try to cascade the right messages to staff and learners alike. The Excellence Gateway has guidance on Strategy, and creating Acceptable User Policies http://www.excellence.gateway.org.uk/ .

JISC Legal have created a template to help you identify your priorities before creating a strategy, carrying out an e- safety audit will give you ideas as to where to focus your strategy . http://TinyURL /2WJT9ek

Ofsted advocate that training is key to safe guarding. They believe that all students should feel safe online and be able to evaluate the risk or know how to report any issues. Ofsted's report into safe guarding can be found at http://tinyurl.com/Yg2j34c

Identifying resources for staff development like videos and websites can be found on the RSC's Wiki, however I felt that the 123people website is worth a mention as this gathers online information from Social Networking sites such facebook and Flickr. Checking your privacy settings will stop your information being shared with other websites. http://www.123people.co.uk/

The general message is that your staff and learners should be able to identify issues and feel safe online. Training seems to be the key to spreading the word regarding e-Safety. If you would like offical training on e-Safety then the CEOP, Think You Know Training is aimed at professionals working with children and young people. This training will give you both a law enforcement and education persepective. http://www.thinkyouknow.co.uk/

Take a look the Jisc Legal Top Ten checklists on their website http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/