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.

E-Learning Events: Dates for Your Diary

The following E-learning events are taking place in the next few months:

West Midlands E-Guides Forum - Thursday 23rd April

This half day forum, aims to support the growing number of e-guides in the West Midlands region. As well as the usual sharing of best practise, experiences and ideas, this one will also include a presentation on how various learning technologies can be used within work based learning. Jane and I will also feedback on last weeks e-guides conference events for anyone who missed it. Booking for the forum is through our website.

RSC West Midlands Online Conference - 19 May to 21 May

This year’s annual RSC West Midlands conference, runs over 3 days and takes place completely online through our virtual learning environment, Moodle.

If you’ve never experienced an online conference before, or are unfamiliar with Moodle this is a great way to see it in use and discover what all the fuss is about! With another 16 training providers in this region recently signed up for their own ‘Moodles’ it’s evident that it must offer some benefits for work based learning!

This year’s themes are personalizing e-learning, managing access to e-learning and game for Learning. Topics covered will include Mobile learning, E-portfolios, Games-based learning and more. Registration is through the website.

Association of Learning providers Annual Conference – 13th/14th May

Finally, it’s worth noting that this year’s ALP conference will be held next month at the East Midlands Convention Centre, Nottingham. ALP have been a key player in the development of e-leaning in the work based learning sector - through their recent programme of Learner Innovation Grants they have funded e-learning projects to the tune of approximately £10 million so far!

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Related wobble links:

Last years online video conference
E-Guides Leading by Example
ALP's Learner Innovation Grants

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’.

Showcasing the Impact E-learning Can Have

The Association of Learning Providers (ALP) has been key in supporting the uptake of technology by learning provides in the WBL sector. Its successful Learner Innovation Grants programme has already resulted in numerous innovative projects being completed that show just how effective e-learning can be for providers. (I’ve listed some regional examples in this previous post).

ALP will shortly be showcasing more great examples in its upcoming Providers of the Future Showcase Event. This will be held on 19th November in Sutton Coldfield (great for this region!). The event will contain presentations from Providers delivering in a range of occupational sectors including Construction, Health & Social Care and Sports & Fitness.

Like ALP, I also expect this will be a great opportunity to take advantage of providers experience, find out what works, what doesn’t and how to overcome hurdles. It’s also a great way to see what possible and be inspired!

More information and booking details are available on ALP’s website.

Hope to see some of you there!

Provider Matching Service

The Association of Learning Providers (ALP) is now providing a ‘provider matching service’ for any work based learning providers wishing to work in a consortium as part of their application for Learner Innovation Grant funding. This is useful as the emphasis in this round of funding is on working together and so this will be a useful tool for finding possible working partners.

If you would like your details added to the register, please e-mail lig4@learningproviders.org with your name, organisation, e-mail address, telephone number, vocational area and region.
Great to see at a provider from our region has already registered.

A forum discussion has also been set up on the Quality Improvement Agency’s Excellence Gateway to support this fourth round of applications. Should you wish to join in the discussion you can access that here.

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