The Higher Education AcademyUpdate
Eddie GulcSenior Adviser
The Higher Education Academy
25 May 2006 York
Update
• Benchmarking & Pathfinder• Academy/JISC joint working• Other work
Benchmarking• Started in January 2006• Should be finished by July 2006• Involves 12 institutions
– Chester– Leicester– Manchester – Staffordshire– Hertfordshire– Bristol– Institute of Education– Warwick– Oxford Brookes– Coventry (with Warwickshire College)– Strathclyde– UWIC
Benchmarking
• Three consultancy groups supporting – Prof Paul Bacsich– Prof Peter Chatterton – OBHE
• Five approaches – Pick & Mix – supported by Bacsich– Manchester – eMM (e-learning Maturity Model) - liaison with
Bacsich– ELTI Embedding Learning Technologies Institutionally - supported
by Chatterton – OBHE – Strathclyde - based on MIT90 framework - liaison with Chatterton
• Links to Scottish Universities Benchmarking
SBG
Overview: the e-benchmarking pilot
Bristol
Hertfordshire
UWIC
Strathclyde
Warwick
Oxford Brookes
Institute of Edu
Coventry & WC
Chester
Leicester
Staffordshire
Manchester
ELTI
MIT90
OBHE/ACU
Pick & Mix
eMM
Benchmarking - Early Feedback
• External Evaluator (Critical Friend) – Prof Terry Mayes
• Interest in what is the ideal unit for benchmarking – Student– Academic– Module– Programme– Department– School/Faculty– Institution– Sector
• Difficulties in collecting data– A political process– Sampling– Quality of data
Early Feedback
Early Feedback
Some general findings:– Low level of interest on external comparisons– Subject-level comparisons attract more interest– Senior management interest in costs/benefits– Deepens the debate about pedagogy– Sharpens awareness of options for development– Agreement that process more important than outcomes
Benchmarking – More Information
• For more information go to the website:– http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/benchmarking.htm
• Benchmarking blog:– http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/weblogs/benchmarking
• 30 Aug 2006 – briefing event for Phase 1 e-benchmarking institutions
Pathfinder
• Will start in October 2006• Open to the 10 HEFCE funded Benchmarking Pilots • Invited to submit a proposal for Pathfinder Pilot• Funding up to £170,000• A second call will be issued in February 2007 • Open to all HEFCE funded institutions• Demonstrate a formal process of in-depth institutional
review/reflection on e-learning provision
• Joint Management Board (HEFCE, JISC and Academy) agreed how to take forward HEFCE e-learning strategy incl. new ‘virtual centre
• We agreed on a need to consult internally and externally
• Agreed that the sector doesn’t want another ‘Centre’
• Aim: to establish a seamless e-Learning brokerage function both within and between our respective organisations to support the HE sector in a coherent and meaningful way.
• Key Objectives:– To ensure that whatever the starting point of an enquiry, this will
lead to the same set of resources, alternatives and support to answer specific needs, i.e. advice & support around specific themes, e.g. e-Assessment.
– To adopt a proactive approach, supporting Academy Subject Centres and JISC advisory services to engage with the HE sector (individuals and groups) to further the embedding of e-learning within institutions, e.g. closer collaboration with the staff and educational development community.
Academy/JISC supporting the sector
JISC and the Academy
• JISC and the Academy bring a wealth of complementary expertise and service:
– JISC – development programmes, tools, resources, content, repositories, research etc
– JISC - advisory services
– Academy – pedagogy, overarching L&T context, resources, professional development, research, staff development focus etc
– Academy – discipline focus through subject centre network
engagement with institutions at all levels i.e. individuals, discipline groups, staff & educational developers, senior managers (PVCs etc) . . . . . . .
JISC/Academy e-learning support model incorporating brokerage function
Advisory and Content Services
Developments
Subject Centres
Learning and teaching practice and research
developments
JISC Higher Education Academy
PVC network & e-learning SIG
CETLs, FDTL, NTFS, Scottish Transformation CRA etc
HEIsIndividuals/Groups
(HeLF)
Aim: to establish a seamless brokerage function both within and between our respective organisations to support the HE sector in a coherent and meaningful way.
Brokers
Bringing coherence to the sector
• 1 FTE broker to be located within each organisation (JISC & Academy)
• Process should identify gaps (to stimulate new activities and programmes)
• Consultation with sector to be undertaken
• e-Assessment to be first theme (2 themes per year)
• Joint Academy/JISC workshop: Autumn 2006
Other e-learning work
• Capital Spending Review projects – ‘DeL2’ – Subject Centres
• ePortfolios - Key strategic partnership with the Centre for Recording Achievement (CRA)- Survey:https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/survey/eportfolio/
• eTutor– 2 strands – pedagogy/tools – 2 first prizes - £1,000 and a Toshiba notebook– closing date 9 June
• PVC Network – e-Learning SIG
Other e-learning work
Events• Sself – first workshop on 23 June - Belfast• Innovations Academy
– Blended Learning – 15 June– OS VLE event – 29 June
• Learning Space– 17 July - Technology-rich spaces for inquiry-based group learning:
University of Warwick – 21 July - Technology-rich spaces for blended learning and teaching:
University of Hertfordshire – 25 July - Technology-rich social and collaborative learning: Glasgow
Caledonian University – 21 September - Enabling institution-wide, strategic development of
technology-rich learning spaces: University of East London
Other e-learning work - ResearchRecent e-Learning Research Call for Proposals. 4 projects funded - they are:
University of Central Lancashire • "Impact of blending a multimedia e-learning resource with traditional teaching
methods to support mathematics learning within the life sciences."
University of Leicester • "Informal Mobile Podcasting And Learning Adaptation (IMPALA)"
Queens University, Belfast • "Evaluation of generic, open-source, web-based marking tools with regard to their
support for criterion-referenced marking and the generation of student feedback."
University of Strathclyde • "Putting web 2.0 to work: new pedagogies for new learning spaces".
Activity
• Discuss what the five main priorities are for you and your institution over the next 6 months and 3 years. Why are these issues important? – discuss the detail/offer a context.
• See if we can pull together any common priorities/ issues and areas of work
• Is there any merit in gathering together a knowledge base of UK e-learning? Who has expertise in doing what with whom? – individual/institutional level
• This could help with support/partner finding/locating speakers for events e.g. Fred at x is doing lots of work on blogs, podcasting, m-learning etc