E-learning – what’s everyone else doing?

I’m often asked by staff to outline ‘what kind of things could we be doing with e-learning? And what are other training providers doing?

In a West Midlands-based ILT survey that I recently undertook, I also asked… “Considering the future needs of your organisation to fully embed ILT , which of the following support/training would you like?”. The results are shown below and amongst other things they highlight quite clearly the need for good practise examples of e-learning within the WBL sector (83.3% of respondents have so far requested them!).

QIAs Excellence Gateway already goes some way to address this with case studies drawn from inspections in colleges, workplaces and adult learning centres throughout England, but I thought it might also be useful to outline specific examples of what some providers are already doing both in this region and further a field.

E-Guides Case Studies - As part of the Work-based learning E-Guides pilot programme, NIACE developed a set of case studies which demonstrate the effective and innovative use of technology by those WBL provider staff that had trained as E-Guides.

• Acacia Training and Development Ltd - Use of MP3 voice recording and online portfolios
• Sandwell Training Association: Development of a blog
• Springboard Southwark: Development of e-portfolios
• Training for today: Use of YouTube and MySpace

Skills for Business – These case studies demonstrate the real value that exploitation of appropriate technologies can add to business performance. You can search them by sector, company size, the business issue addressed ( e.g. customer care, introducing new technologies etc) or by the specific learning technologies in use ( e.g. generic courses, bespoke training, mentoring etc).

I hope that’s enough to get you thinking about the possibilities at least. Should you be interested in reading more examples you’ll find plenty on our very own website here.

For more information on any of these projects or on ways that you too might be able to adopt e-learning in a similar way, please get in touch.

West Midlanders (and Londoners) keenest on learning and development!

For a while a short a link to this article will show up in the 'LSC latest links' on the top left hand side of this page but as a Midlander myself I feel compelled to give it that bit more attention..!

From the recent LSC press release "Diverse UK Attitudes to Learning Revealed"-

• “A new study* by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has revealed that over half (57%) of adults in England consider training a worthwhile investment of time and money. But this view varies regionally – according to the results those in the West Midlands are more in favour of training than the national average - at 65% - while 50% of those in the North West agree with this statement.

Further, regional differences amongst those who actually invest in training are significant, and reveal apparent North / South differences in attitudes to learning;

• The keenest learners are in London (31%) the South East (28%) and the West Midlands (28%)

The survey also highlighted that the English are a nation of ambitious individuals;

• Over one third (36%) are actively looking to progress more at work, while 33% are looking to get promoted
• The West Midlands are most enthusiastic, with the figures rising to 45% and 40% respectively – showing a real appetite for success"

You can download a copy of the full report on the LSC website here. Alternatively you’ll always find all the very latest LSC press releases shown on the top right hand side of this page.

This Year's In-Tray - ALP Autumn Conference

''This Year's In-Tray' is the theme of the Association of Learning Providers' autumn conference. The forthcoming sixth ALP Autumn Conference aims to examine in detail the operational issues facing learning providers during the next 12 months in the work-based learning and welfare to work sectors.

The keynote speech will be from David Lammy MP, with other speeches from Graham Hoyle (Chief Executive of ALP) and Stephen Gardner of the LSC amongst others. This year's conference will also have an international dimension, with an insight from the equivalent provider organisations in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The conference will be on 30-31 October 2007, at Newbury Racecourse. You can find out more from the event site."

via Ferl

New E-Guides Training Programme

"NIACE has recently announced its schedule for more E-Guides training starting in October.

The E-Guide programme aims to drive improvement in teaching and learning by increasing the effective use of e-learning in all areas of learning, by developing the skills and knowledge of E-Guides to support colleagues in their use of technology.

Training consists of a three-day programme, and is aimed at all staff, paid and unpaid, in post-16 education who are involved with the delivery of learning across different subjects and areas of learning. E-Guides need to be confident in their use of ICT, enthusiastic about e-learning, willing to champion change and able to work well with colleagues. The new training programme will be aligned with the National Teaching and Learning Change Programme (NLTCP) delivered by the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA).

Training events are held throughout the country and will take place from October 2007 - July 2008. The upcoming schedule for the West Midlands events can be found here."

From Ferl

More Google Docs and Spreadsheets

Earlier this year, as part of our Regional Support Centre summer school event we showed a number of WBL staff (amongst others) how they could staff how they could benefit from working collaboratively online using Google Docs and spreadsheets (If you missed the session but are interested to know more please get in touch).

Anyway I mentioned during the session that there was talk at the time of Google extending this package to include support for presentations too. Well this addition to the Google docs set has now been launched – you can learn more at http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html

If you're new to Google Docs, you can view this short video to learn more:



“Just like Google documents and spreadsheets, presentations are stored securely online, so you can access them from anywhere using only a web browser. Working together with one or more people to put together a killer presentation? Not a problem, just like with documents and spreadsheets, you can collaborate with others and see everyone's changes in real time.”

I expect I’ll use this tool in the future to show how it works so if you keep posted you’ll find out more!