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’.

WBL Funding Opportunity - Pathfinder Projects

Innovate now has details of a new funding opportunity for work based learning: Further Education (FE) Specialisation and Innovation pathfinder funding.

It sounds a bit like funding for Further Education, but this funding actually also supports work based learning providers who are working in specialist networks. In fact, these new Pathfinder projects are likely to affect a number of organisations – starting with Further Education colleges and training providers, but embracing employers and their supply chains too.

Funding of £250-£500,000 for 1 year is available for these projects – possibly more for really ambitious ones. The new Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) will also be supporting this work through its World Class Skills – developing responsive provision programme.

More information and application forms can be downloaded from the LSC website. The LSC will also be hosting a workshop to support this round of funding, details of which will be posted on their website (and here on wobble) in due course.

LSC and BECTA Technology Exemplar Network

By now all work based learning providers should have received information about the joint Becta and LSC Technology Exemplar Network. If not you’ll find a summary here. As part of this initiative 10 learning providers have now been selected for “leading the way in the effective use of technology for learning” and noted as having Exemplar Status. They will now work with other providers to help share and develop the use of technology across the sector. (A full list of these Exemplar Status Providers can be viewed online).

What’s worth noting now, is that now “up to 50 providers (including work based learning providers) can apply to join the Technology Exemplar Network as developing providers.” Those selected as part of this process will be able to benefit directly from these exemplars’ knowledge and experience to improve the way technology is used to support their own learner achievement”.

Revenue grants of £7,500 and Capital grants of up to £50,000 are available to support providers participation in the Network. More information and documentation is available online.

The deadline for applications is 19th March.

Capital grants for LSC funded providers

The LSC is making capital funds available to providers whose staff attend various e-learning programmes that are being delivered under the QIA National Teaching and Learning Change Programme (NTLCP). These programmes include NIACE E-Guides, CEL’s e-learning programmes and the LSN Subject Learning Coaches’ e-learning elective.

Many of these programmes have already proved to be very popular in the region so it’s great to see that additional funding is now being made available to support them. It can help providers to be able to purchase the technology which allows their staff to fully realise the skills they have gained on the programmes.

Providers will be able to claim £2,500 of funding to buy ILT equipment and up to three participants per provider can attend each of the programmes. Providers can therefore, claim up to £7,500 from LSN, £7,500 from NIACE, and £7,500 from CEL – totalling a maximum of £22,500 per provider (which in e-learning terms can buy a lot of kit!)

The grant is available for staff attending programmes running from September 2007 to July 2008. As you can imagine, places on the programmes are limited, so if you’re interested in benefiting from this round of funding I’d suggest you book as soon as you can. You can do this for each of the programmes using the links below:

Dates and a booking form for the E-Guides training programme are here.
Further information about CEL’s training programme is here
For further information about Subject Learning Coaches e-elective is here.

It’s worth noting that most programmes also have an email waiting list facility for people to register interest so please get in touch if there is a programme you wish to be considered for that is noted on the website as full. New dates are being considered for some of the programmes to accommodate demand.

Capital Funding for Staff Development

I’ve updated our website with details of a brand new round of capital funding that’s just been made available to WBL providers. This is for attendance on various e-learning staff development programmes that are currently being run by the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) and the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education (NIACE).

WBL providers are now eligible to claim £2,500 of funding when a delegate from their organisation completes an eligible staff development programme - a great incentive for getting staff go along and discuss the potential of e-learning and to try out e-learning technologies.

You’ll find links and details of all these individual programmes on our website but I’ve also previously noted some of the activities that are covered by the E-Guides programme here. That should give you an idea of the kind of e-learning skills (and enthusiasm!) that attendees have previously come away with.

This funding is available for delegates attending on programmes that are running between 1 November 2007 and 31 August 2008 but if you’re interested in registering for any of the programmes (which I’d definately recommend) then I’d suggest you reserve your places now as places are limited! Booking details are available on our website.