Examples of how to use….

…SMS text messaging to capture learner voice:

Using a variety of methods, including text messaging, Northampton College successfully engaged with its learners to build a better relationship with them so that their views are heard and built into their learning experience. This recent case study looks at how a variety of technologies contributed to this:

Northampton College: Learner voice and technology


… hand held games consoles to improve health and wellbeing

ETEC Development Trust purchased various computer games consoles for learners at its drop-in centre in Sunderland. ETEC hopes the games will help to improve their learners' literacy and numeracy skills as well as their general health and wellbeing. One learner has already improved his vocabulary skills through the use of a Nintendo DS.
ETEC Development Trust: Game-based learning brings skills to life

…a virtual world for creating alternative learning environments

e-Learning staff at Barnfield College have created a revolutionary learning environment in Second Life. Barnfield College has been involved in a collaborative project with Museums Luton to create a virtual museum. This has helped drive a culture of innovative and engaging learning in the College and has helped to raise the profile of local museums in Luton.
Barnfield College: Informal learning through collaborative Second Life project

...screen-capture to create animated how to guides
North West Kent College is not alone in trying to solve the various challenges associated with IT-based staff development. Using Adobe Captivate to quickly and efficiently create a series of animated ‘How To' guides, this College has found a highly effective way of providing anytime, anywhere and on-demand IT support for both staff and students alike.
North West Kent College: ‘How to' raise IT skills



To read more of Wobble click here.

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.

RSC Publications and Communication

Over the summer, Kirsty Hill, our regional Information Officer has been busy surveying the sector, to determine your needs, and producing various printed publications to support our communications.

Focus on Senior Management

Our Senior Management Briefings, called SMT Focus, are printed publications addressing some of the issues and challenges currently facing Senior Management within post 16 education and training. The latest issue entitled ‘Value for Money’ was posted out to Managers within our supported learning providers a fortnight ago, and featured a piece on making e-savings (i.e. reducing travel costs, paper, hardware costs etc), open source, and cost effective services from the RSC. If you want to know more about these briefings or request your own copy, please contact Kirsty as per the details below.

For more information on the support available to senior managers and their teams, remember we also have a dedicated area of our website that outlines our work in this area.

E-Learning Case Studies

Kirsty has continued publishing a number of really useful case studies on the Excellence Gateway which offer excellent examples of ways that training providers are using technology and e-learning. What’s more, the Information Officers have now developed a very useful set of Delicious bookmarks which now help facilitate an easier search by case study topic. I’m so glad to see that in action, and I’m sure you’ll agree that as the number of case studies continue to grow this should be increasingly useful.

RSC Newsletter

The last issue of our newsletter was posted out in early summer and Kirsty is currently in the process of modifying the newsletter distribution and working on a new online format. If you have news you’d like to share about your experiences of e-learning within your organisation, we would love to hear from you.

To register your details to receive our publications or enquire about any of the above, please contact Kirsty Hill, Information Officer on 01902 518749 or by e-mail kirsty.hill@rsc-wm.ac.uk

We look forward to keeping you posted!

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Related Wobble links:

Examples of E-Learning in Work Based Learning
More E-Learning Case Studies



To read more of Wobble click here.

Feedback on the Excellence Gateway

Several Work Based Learning providers are now using the Excellence Gateway for resources to support their teaching and learning, and for access to more than 150 case studies showing what other providers are doing with e-learning. (Finding best practise examples has now been made easier using filters that allow you to search on sectors or region).

NIACE (The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education), are currently gathering instances of practice which demonstrate how Excellence Gateway resources are being used in Work Based Learning. These will again form useful examples which can be fed back into the sector.

If you are using the Excellence Gateway in any way within your teaching and learning practice and would like to share with others what you are doing, please email your contact details to gemma.hammond@niace.org.uk by Friday 30th October.

Short telephone interviews will be conducted in November.

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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.

Examples of E-Learning in Work Based Learning

Are you curious to know who is doing what with e-learning?

The Excellence Gateway continues to prove a really useful source of information allowing you to discover just what is possible using ILT. Below I've noted some extracted summaries and links to just a few of the recent case studies that highlight how e-learning is being used specifically in the work based learning sector. Hope these will inspire you!

Our Information Officer, Kirsty Hill, also feeds into the Excellence Gateway with news and best practice from around the region. If you have an example you would like to see published, do get in touch.

Charnwood Training: Use of Tablet PCs
"Charnwood wanted to improve their retention and achievement rates in their training in the pub and club sector. By introducing Tablet PCs and electronic learning materials the company revolutionised access and the manner of delivery for its learners. Retention rates are now almost double to what they were prior to the introduction of the Tablet PCs...."

JHP Training: Paperless Monitoring for Work Based Learning
"A South West contractor, JHP Training...equip each of the remote workers with a laptop, mobile phone and digital recorder so that they can do their visits and compile reports without having to put pen to paper. They tape their conversations with the student, score them and load into the laptop. It is attached electronically as a “witness statement” to the student’s file. The students sign on electronically to chart their progress and see what needs to be done. All NVQs are now dealt with in this way...."

Construction Gateway: Tracking Success
"Construction Gateway Ltd. is a private training provider delivering construction NVQs. Their parent company have developed a fully integrated e-portfolio and Work Based Learning management system called ‘VeTAS' which has noticeably improved learner enrolment, assessment, tracking and portfolios..."

DV8 Training's virtual media company: Personal online space supporting work-related learning
"DV8's learners use an online resource to personalise and influence the design, layout and content of their online ‘portfolios'...The ‘public' showcasing and peer comment create a purposeful learning environment for a range of different learners but one especially motivating to those previously disengaged from education...."

Regional ILT Case Studies

It’s great to see the number of case studies appearing on the QIA's Excellence Gateway growing. Particularly because it’s such a good way to discover new ways of working as well as looking at what else is going on in the sector. Just this week, two more case studies from our own region have been uploaded to the Quality Improvement Agency, showcasing more best practice in e-learning.

These last case studies, both from Dudley College, highlight their use of an intranet for communication and explain how they introduced software on their network to monitor its performance. Both case studies can now be accessed on the Excellence Gateway. There are also many more, some examples can also be found here.

Our Information Officer, Kirsty Hill, is constantly updating the Excellence Gateway with news and best practice from around the region. If you have an example you would like to see published, please get in touch.

It's good to share, and let's not forget us Midlanders already “show a real appetite for success!”

More E-Learning Case Studies

I’m often asked for examples of best practice in e-learning or to outline what others are doing with e-learning in the sector. Our national set of work based learning web links has a number of case studies for work based learning but reading my colleagues blog I’ve also just been reminded of how many case studies are now being published through the Excellence Gateway.

These case studies are currently mostly geared towards FE however there are an increasing number of great examples that could quite easily also be applied to the Work Based Learning sector. For example, your learners use your IT equipment but do you have an acceptable use policy – and if so do your learners actually read it ? If not, how about implementing an interactive one? Discover how Thurrock and Basildon College did just that with very good effect.

With significant rises in the use of audio in teaching, how about using MP3s for learners with visual impairments? Or for other learners too? As noted in the case study “MP3s are accessible to fully-sighted learners too, and presents another way for learners to access study materials...” Find out how New College Worcester used free tools to achieve significant gains in this area.

How about learning space design? With limited funding, Work Based Learning providers are often required to implement more PCs into existing learning spaces. Has anyone considered the potential of space-saving alternatives to desktop PCs? Yes, right here in Hereford - there’s much more on space saving technology for effective learning spaces.

And finally, just one last example, firstly because it focuses on mobile learning (another very hot topic in the work based learning sector), and secondly because its another one based in the West Midlands (seems its all happening here!) This case study explores the use of mobile learning at Strathmore College on their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.

There is a wealth more both on the Excellence Gateway itself and our very own Kev has also listed more on his brand new ‘Gabber Blog’ post so I won’t repeat again here. I hope this is enough to just begin to illustrate just how much best practice is being uncovered, how many providers are willing to share their experiences of e-learning, and not being territorial at all but how much of it is actually on our patch!

Hope the great work continues! ;-)

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

Blogs in Plain English

Part of the NIACE E-Guides staff development programme has recently been extended to include a section that looks at the significance and the usefulness of blogs as a tool that can support learners.

Commoncraft have also made a 3 minute video for people who wonder why blogs are such a big deal and I think that it supports this area nicely. It helps people understand why you might use a blog and how it works – in just 3 minutes. (By Lee and Satchi LeFever)

There is also a good regional example of a provider using a blog to support their learners and staff highlighted on our website. This outlines the impacts and benefits for delivery staff, assessors and learners.



(By me posting it here it also shows how easily you can embed a video in a blog. Yet another reason I’m also a keen fan of blogs myself!)