Moodle Use in Work Based Learning

As the number of case studies in the Excellence Gateway continue to grow, it’s great to see examples of providers using Moodle on the increase too. In this region we have quite a large number of Moodle users and these case studies offer a really effective way for learning about what possible with this particular Virtual Learning Environment, as well as showing who’s doing what elsewhere.

Below, I’ve listed a handful of these Moodle examples with links to the case studies that have been shared through the Excellence Gateway (and Delicious) with you.

To make it easier for you to also keep up with who’s doing what with e-learning in Work Based Learning generally, I’ve now also included a link to the latest Work based Learning case studies in the margin of this blog. This will be updated automatically so you can keep up with developments directly.

ATG Training with its Future Zone VLE
Maurice Keeley, e-Learning Co-ordinator at AGT Training notes that “...Most if not all colleges and universities now have a VLE. Yet one could argue that the VLE has even more value within a work-based learning organisation. Twenty-four-hour remote online access to learning resources and course materials combined with the communications and collaboration tools built into systems like Moodle dovetail perfectly with the teaching and learning models we use with our apprentices...”

Maurice set up ATG's Moodle-based Future Zone in August 207 which now has learning materials available ‘24/7', so that students can always catch up in their own time if they miss any lessons, as well as access videos for practical demonstrations.

Devon and Cornwall Training Provider Network: Communal Moodle
Here a group of 20 work-based learning providers got together to develop a shared training resource for the Devon and Cornwall Training Provider Network. Along with Mahara - a generic e-portfolio system, this provided a method for all training materials and communications being available online.

S & B Automotive Academy: Partnership VLE to support vocational training and learning
S & B Automotive Academy specialises in training apprentices for the motor industry. Thanks to funding from a Learning Innovation Grant (LIG), S & B Automotive Academy enabled the development of a network-wide virtual learning environment (VLE) – known as the Hive, to be implemented across eight learning providers.

League Football Education: Tackling the Football Apprenticeship Programme online through Moodle
Faced with the challenging task of organising education for football apprentices across 74 English Football League clubs, League Football Education (LFE) implemented Moodle as a key part of its strategy to meet the requirements for this geographically dispersed set of learners and educators.Their developments currently focus on administrative processes, including the creation of learner accounts at pre-programme enrolment, initial literacy and numeracy assessments, undertaking reviews and tracking progress.

14-19 Diploma learners in Torbay benefit from shared Moodle site
Students and staff from Torbay schools and colleges now have access to the Torbay Learning Partnership Moodle site as part of the 14-19 Diploma programme. The Torbay Learning Partnership is one of the first consortiums in the country to have been approved to run the Creative and Media Diploma and the virtual learning environment (VLE) provides students with easy access to learning material wherever they were studying.


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Related Wobble links:

Examples of E-Learning in Work Based Learning
More E-Learning Case Studies
E-Learning Case Studies by Sector and Region


To read more of Wobble click here.

Funding for Creating e-Learning Resources

Independent work based learning providers will soon be able to bid for a share of £1 million capital funding in a new e-learning content creation (ECC) programme from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). This programme will be managed by the Association of Learning Providers and will complement the highly successful Learning Innovation Grant programme.

From the ALP website:

“ALP is delighted to announce in addition to the £3m LIG 5 fund, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), via the LSC, has released a further £1m grant fund to the ALP for providers in the sector to test how high quality e-learning content could be pump-primed to improve the cost effectiveness of delivery.

This exciting new e-learning content creation (ECC) programme aims to identify gaps in the e-learning content market, particularly to support new industries. It will focus on the development of e-learning content that will have a direct impact on improving the learning experience, the service provided to employers and business efficiencies.

ALP strongly encourages providers to form a consortium to bid for the large scale projects. Between 2 – 4 proposals will be successful with the bid value set from £250,000 - £500,000.

It is anticipated the ECC prospectus and application form will be available at the end of September.”

I’ll post more information about this initiative as they are released and will be happy to work with any providers who wish to explore options in this area.

To read more of Wobble click here.


Image "Money" from Flickr (Kindly shared by coda)

Bid Writing Resources

It’s official, another £3miilion pounds has now been made available to support the development of e-learning in the work based learning sector. The Association of Learning Providers has now published documents for the fifth round of Learner Innovation Grants on their website.

I know a number of you are working away at bids (between £25,000 and £150,000 per project this time) so it seems appropriate to share some resources that might help with this process.

After a workshop last year we put together a wiki page that has a number of resources that help with bid writing. On this page:

· Terry Loane's Presentation entitled ‘Just four things’ noted that there are only four things you need to do in order to write a successful bid for project funding - work out what the funder wants, have a good idea, answer the questions and tell a clear story!

· In his presentation - “Why you? Making your Bid Credible" Professor Mark Stiles focused on the issues to address when considering why a funder should choose you over another bid proposing to do the same thing. In his Bidding Do and Don’ts (pdf format) he also offered top tips which outlined what to do and what not to do in a bid and provided a useful checklist.

· Lastly, my colleagues Colin Gallacher and John Dalziel from RSC Northwest, published an Online Guide to Bid Writing which includes contributions from trainers, practitioners, funders, advisors, managers, inspectors and others. You can also access that on the wiki page.

That’s just a couple of resources, highlighted to give you a flavour of the kind of resources that are on our bid-writing wiki page. I hope you find them useful. Please get in touch if you need any additional support advice or guidance. Good luck with your applications!

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Related links:

Previous Round of Learner Innovation Grants
New Report - ALP Evaluation of LIG Phase 4 - 2009
List of LIG Phase 4 Funding Allocations

To read more of Wobble click here.

£3m Workplace E-Learning Funding

Launch of more Learner Innovation Grants, just one week to go...!

"Work-based learning providers are being encouraged to bid for £3 million of funding, from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), to help the sector adopt new technology and explore innovative ways of applying ICT solutions.

The Association of Learning Providers (ALP), which is managing the Government's Learning Innovation Grant (LIG) project, is inviting applications from providers that have not bid before as well as consortia bids. Bidders will be able to apply for the new funding, the fifth tranche in a £13 million scheme, from Friday 4 September... " See here for more details.

This is an exciting opportunity for work based learning providers to get assistance with e-learning projects. A large number of providers have already benefited from the grants. Full details and a prospects will be available next week but it's worth thinking about this ahead of time as the deadlines are likely to be tight!

If you would like more information about this funding or help with preparing a bid please get in touch. I'll post more details as they become available.

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Related links:

Previous Round of Learner Innovation Grants
New Report - ALP Evaluation of LIG Phase 4 - 2009
List of LIG Phase 4 Funding Allocations

To read more of Wobble click here.

Funding Updates and ALP Showcasing Best Practice

Last week I attended the Provider of the Future event run by the Association of Learning Providers. This was a good event with a mix of presentations and opportunities to speak with providers who had done some pretty impressive things with e-learning.

My colleague Stan Unwin of the East Midlands Regional Support Centre has nicely summarised the events of the day in his blog post on Innovate so if you couldn’t make the event and were keen to find out what it covered please read his summary.

Key things to note:

· “Chris Swingler (ALP National Projects Development Officer) confirmed that the LIG 4 exercise had attracted bids to the value of £14 million against a funding pot of £4million. Great to see so much interest although as Stan notes it will mean some disappointment for some. (Results of this latest bidding round are being announced this week).

· Skills Capital Funding - Laurence Leader (LSC Capital Policy Director) announced details of new capital funding, aimed at non college providers and intended to “…give a wider range of training provider’s access to new investment which will enable them to develop and deliver specialised services, such as Apprenticeships and work-based learning.” More details on Innovate.

· 3 showcase presentations demonstrated what providers had achieved with previous rounds of LIG funding. Attendees got the chance to speak with other providers about what they were doing with e-learning.

· Lesley Price (BECTA, Head of Regeneration & Skills) spoke about the new BECTA initiative ‘Next Generation Learning at Work’ and made a plea for providers to get involved.

Thanks Stan for providing such a comprehensive outline of the day with supporting resources and links. I’m looking forward to learning which new LIG 4 projects will be funded this week, and the possibility of a ‘Provider of the Future 2009’.

Learner Innovation Grants - Launch and Support

Last week a number of work based learning providers from across the country attended the launch of Round 4 of the successful Learner Innovation Grants programme managed by ALP. Unfortunately the event was oversubscribed so some missed out, however such high numbers did signal a very positive demand for funding to support e-learning development.

The day featured a number of presentations, all of which will are now available on ALPs new website so if you weren’t able to make the event you can still learn a lot from those. Our RSC National WBL Co-ordinator summarised some of the key points worth noting:

· In this round, there will be a 6.9% + VAT management service contribution which will be payable upfront by the lead bidder prior to signing of the agreement
· The focus is on Train to Gain and Apprenticeships
· ALP are encouraging consortia bids – with funding ranging from £50k to £200k for those, and £50k to £100k for single bids
· Bid submission will be by the 8th September
· ALP recommend that bids refer to national and regional strategic objectives and priorities
· Projects should consider sustainability
· Allocation letters will be sent out week commencing 17th November
· Interim evaluations will be in March 2009 with final evaluations taking place in June 2009

A full prospectus and FAQ on ALPs website offer much more detail and the application form is now available on-line.

What also came out of the day was the amount of support that is now available to help providers make the most of this round of funding. This summary document (pdf.format) outlines all of the organisations who are offering support not just for this LIG funding but to all LSC funded providers wanting to progress their e-learning. It’s certainly worth making a note of these if you haven’t already engaged with them.

As well as the face to face support available a forum has also been established on QIA to:

· Ensure all providers are aware of the LIG project
· Share best practice from the LIG projects
· Support providers through the bidding and delivery phases of the LIG project
· Develop case studies showing the positive impact of the LIG projects

Like the networking pages of Innovate, it’s a good place to chat with other providers about some of the issues relating to this round of funding, and to get answers to LIG 4 questions that may have already been asked.

More ALP Learner Innovation Grants - Phase 4

ALP has just announced that a further £4 million pounds will now be made available as Phase 4 of the successful Learner Innovation Grants programme of funding. (I've previously mentioned earlier rounds of funding here).

These Learner Innovation Grants provide capital investment for Government funded, independent work-based learning organisations (offering Apprenticeships or Train to Gain learning programmes) to exploit the use of technology in learning and management. The programme has already enabled over 400 organisations to benefit from the grants, enabling the development of a range of innovative projects which vary in complexity and size. In this region, there are already some great examples of these grants being used to enhance the learners experience. For example:

* At Triangle Training LIG funding was used to purchase equipment (laptops, digital cameras and voice recorders) to enable their assessors to use the Paperfree E-Portfolio system with a cohort of Apprentices. Learn more here.

* Juniper Training’s LIG Phase 2 project used multi-media technology to improve E2E referrals, retention and achievement. Learn more here.

* Greenspring Training’s 21st Century project aimed to remove the myth that learning cannot be enjoyed. Fun was provided through music, IT, Interactive Boards allowing their young learners to embrace learning in a way best suited to them through assessments. Learn more here.

Want to know more?

If you are interested to know, ALP are hosting a one day event (in this region, which is great) that will be focusing on this new Phase 4 of the grants. "Provider of the Future - Learning Innovation Grant 4 funding " will be held on 17 June 2008 The ICC, Birmingham.

The event will inform providers on the new criteria and new process of application and raise awareness of other funding and services available for the sector. Use the links below to book. Hope to see you there!

Book Online
Print a booking form
Register your Interest

More Learner Innovation Grants

In an earlier post I mentioned the recent release of ALP funding that was being made available to the WBL sector. (To recap, this is £2m capital investment available as Round 3 of the Association of Learning Providers Learner Innovation Grants). I just wanted to take this opportunity to remind the sector that the closing date for submission is fast approaching (22nd November) so if you have ideas for ways to promote and encourage innovation using e-learning in the delivery of work-based learning then you have just a short time left to apply.

Historically in the West Midlands we have been fairly successful with these applications. In the second round of LIG funding, the West Midlands region was allocated funding for several projects that looked at things such as the use of e-portfolios, learning platforms and online assessment, to name but a few. Hopefully we’ll see some good case studies and examples of best practice emerge from those projects as well as from the earlier Round of LIG funding. I’ll certainly share details with you as I get them.

In the meantime, it’s getting late in the day but we are also still happy to answer your queries or assist anyone who still wishes to shape their ideas and submit a bid in this round. If you need any support or guidance in this area please get in touch.

ALP Learning Innovation Grants (LIG) – Phase 3 Launch

The Association of Learning Providers (ALP) recently announced the launch of the Learning Innovation Grant (LIG) Round 3 with another £2m capital investment available for work based learning providers. The additional £2m (capital only) provided by the LSC follows the success of the Learning Innovation Grants (Phase 1 and 2) which ALP has already distributed to the WBL sector to engage in innovative projects.

The overall aim of LIG 3 remains the same – to promote and encourage innovation in the use of e-learning in the delivery of work-based learning. The focus is on innovations in teaching and learning that have a direct impact on improving the learning experience.

To be eligible to apply for a grant your lead organisation must be an independent WBL organisation holding an LSC contract for either Apprenticeships, Train to Gain or E2E delivery as at 1st August, 2007. In this phase applications can be made for a minimum £30,000 to a maximum £150,000. Both the ALP, and the LSC, very strongly recommend consortia bids, which will be reviewed favourably for the higher level of funding available.

From Friday 28th September 2007 you will be able to access the grant application form and prospectus online via http://www.elearningproviders.org/ (Learning Innovation Grant (LIG) phase 3 section). Applications must be returned no later than midday, 22 November 2007. Any queries can be emailed through to the LIG Project Office .