I attended the ALP Provider of the Future e-learning and technology event yesterday. Slightly late due to delays at Sheffield but arrived part way through the keynote address from Professor Bob Fryer, National Director for Widening Participation in Learning, Department of Health. His presentatation, Challenges for e-enablement: inclusion, personalisation and participation explored models for personalisation, emphasising the importance of standards and quality. Choice vs personalisation. One question he asked was whether increased personalisation in education and in other areas of life would lead to an increased fragmentation and individualisation in society. Referred to Delors’s 4 pillars of learning:
Learning to know
Learning to do
Learning to live together
Learning to be.
He said, “For me as an educationalist, involved in HE and Adult Learning …. the capacity for critical thinking is so important”
Derrin Kent, Development Manager, Training for Tomorrow gave a presentation on Free Software for Work-Based Learning. This was interesting as he referred to some open source software that I didn’t know about:
Joomla (content management system)
ubuntu (a linux based operating system which Derrin said Dell are now installing on their cheaper machines. He also said it is resistant to viruses and very robust)
GIMP – (a photoshop equivalent)
Easy Eclipse – (packages together Eclipse and selected open source plugins)
Project Management tools mentioned by Derrin:
Gant Project (like MS Project)
Sugarcrm (Customer Relationship Management)
Trixbox (VOIP)
OS Commerce (like ebay where you can set up and run your own online shop)
Haven’t had chance to look at any of these in detail yet so will save evaluations for a later posting.
Derrin has also been working with Moodle to create a Virtual Training Centre after having received LIG1 Funding and is seeking to develop e portfolio and individual learning plan modules within Moodle.
Chris Swingler, e-learning Manager, Association of Learning Providers fed back on the LIG funding (see post on LIG) and reported that for the first phase of funding 189 bids worth 7M had been received (with 1.64M being distributed to 105 providers).
LIG2 – those who have been successful will find out today. These bids were more around collaborative partnerships so it will be interesting to see what comes out of them. For LIG2 136 bids were received.
The third phase of LIG is planned for September and again bids will be around collaboration on specific projects around improving retention and achievement.
Dr Alan Clarke, Associate Director ICT and e-learning from NIACE gave some practical tips on realising the benefits of e learning. Mentioned research done on access students by Carol Twigg – need to read up on her.
Workshop
Only had chance to attend one workshop due to the train times. The one I went to was on the e-smart system which has been developed by S&B Automative Academy. S&B Automative Academy is a COVE and private Work Based Learning provider for motor vehicle apprentices. It is a national organisation training for companies like TNT. The company also provides short courses of 2/3 or1 day.
The esmart system tool came out of the need to track learner evidence and the desire for a portable, accessible system rather than the old paper based method. For the presentation a demo was carried out where a learner (delegate) was photographed with a mobile phone carrying out a task through their virtual vehicle resource which has been developed with BMW and then the image was uploaded to the evidence portfolio (a folder linking to the esmart tool). Real diagnostic equipment is linked to the software (I noticed it was a Fluke unit). The former system where large paper based portfolios were transported to a location for the EV was expensive and time consuming. With this method the esmart software is installed on laptops with swivel screens for ease of use in the workshop environment as they can be carried like a clipboard. PDAs were investigated but these were perceived as too small for the task. The tool runs in excel and is a flash based design. Navigation tools (hyperlinks) are positioned across the top of the screen. It seemed like a pretty good tool and the take up has reportedly been good because of its user friendly nature. Video capability is going to be introduced although I can’t really see why this is not possible now.
“An electronic NVQ portfolio that tracks and stores photographic evidence. The tracking system is smart and identifies exactly the outstanding evidence requirements as well as calculating total progress of all units and overall completion. A simple traffic light system sets targets and milestones for accurate learner progress review. The whole package runs from Microsoft Excel.”
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