Niace Funding

A funding opportunity not to be missed! Niace are inviting learning providers to bid for funds for the Equality and Diversity Fund. The closing date is very close so it might be worth taking look today. The application form can be accessed on the  Niace  website.

http://www.niace.org.uk/current-work/equality-and-diversity-innovation-fund    

Individual colleges and training organisations are invited to bid for a grant of between £1,000 and £25,000. Successful bids of £5,000 or less will have a higher level of freedom and flexibility in how they deliver their projects, and be subject to a lower level of reporting and monitoring than projects receiving larger grants.

Projects will normally begin in October 2013 and should be completed at the beginning of June 2014. Monitoring and reporting of project outcomes and impact will be required after project funding ceases up until the end of March 2015.

A key aim of the project fund is to catalyse change across the sector, so all projects will be required to collaborate with each other and disseminate their findings locally and nationally. Mandatory dissemination events will take place in June/July 2014, followed by ongoing dissemination in autumn 2014 and beyond.

 

e-Learning Tools

The Discover 'e' conference for 2013 highlighted a few tools that may help with Content Creation and Assessment. Carolyn Lewis from Vocational Innovation Ltd discussed these in her session relating to Work based Learning. However these tools would be beneficial if you are thinking of using a blended Model of Delivery. A couple that I particularly like include Quizlet this will allow you to create simple and easy assessments. Quizlet has the option to create flash card based questions, track progress and use automatically graded quizzes. Accessibility wise, Quizlet will allow you to listen to the written word. Creating a quiz is relatively easy; there are enough instructions to help you zip your file ready to be embedded into a website.
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  UDUTU is a content authoring tool which is free. This is  will allow you to use templates to present material. You will be able to add video, quizzes sound and images. It works seamlessly with PowerPoint. I found the Publish tool useful to be able to keep track of what your content looks like. Once you have created your content you can select how you wish this to be visible to your learners. You are able to extract your content as a Zip file for

 

Infuse Learning is a free Learner Response System, that will work with any Internet enabled device This is excellent after tool and compares favourably with  Hot Potatoes and Socrative. This tool will allow you create a quiz and add video images. Accessibility wise Infuse has a text to speech option and again you will be able to select a language.
 

 

Discover-e

Learning From Each Other

This year's conference sessions all have the theme of "learning from each other" and will give you an opportunity to hear how practitioners from around the region are using technology successfully to enhance the learner experience.   This year, we are pleased to offer delegates a brand new conference platform and sessions include:   - live webinars looking at inspiring learning spaces, raising learner engagement, assessment using free tools and much more.   - short and practical conference fringe sessions, including a twitter school, next generation VLE showcase and e-learning swap shop   - competitions for you to get involved with and possibly win a prize   We look forward to seeing you online - booking are being taken on our website   Related link below http://jiscevents.force.com/E/EventsDetailPage?id=a06U000000CSxR1IAL&srvc=JISC

Todays Meet.Com

At a Staff Development session this week, a colleague used an interesting tool called Todays Meet. This is used as a way of capturing the audience’s feedback or questions or just general understanding of the subject matter.

How does it work? Today’s Meet gives you an online isolated room that your audience can use to start communicating with you the presenter and other delegates. You are able to choose how long the room is open for .You will need to save the transcript before the meeting room is closed.

This has many uses especially for teachers / Lecturers. This is a really simple and easy way to keep the momentum going after a lesson. It could be used to generate ideas before or after a lesson or a meeting. It could be used to get the students to explain in their own words a difficult concept or to check their understanding of a lesson keep in mind that you are only able to use up to 140 characters.

This could be a really simple but effective tool that could add an extra dimension to your lesson. To setup  your meeting go to Todays Meet.com. To create a room add a name for your room and select how long you would like the room open for and then make a note of the room URL in the web browser so you can access this again

Related Links
Todays Meet

E-Safety Resources

E-Safety seems to be a hot topic with learning providers. If you are thinking about writing a strategy or just looking for resources for a staff development session then take a look at the RSC -E-Safety resources. They include resources for self-assessing personal and organisational risk,raising awareness and skills with learners and staff as well as advice on meeting legal and inspection requirements. Many of the resources have originated in the schools sector and some have been specifically adapted for use in FE.

If your using technology in your organisation then you will want to encourage good practice and e -responsibility. This can be achieved by putting simple strategy's in place The Getting started pages will help you identify your risks and cost effective solutions

Related Links
E-Safety 

FE and Skills Funding

It's not to late to apply for the FE and Skills funding. If you have an idea this may be the opportunity your looking for. The focus for the programme is to improve the learner experience and increase efficiency and effectiveness of providers in line with the policies for the sector being led by each of the UK governments.

This opportunity is two-fold and offers sector providers and agencies the chance to:apply existing resources (from JISC or elsewhere) to their work and adapt them for their needs identify gaps in these resources and/or current uses made of technology in the sector and create new resources for use by other providers An initial £450,000 will be available to adapt existing resources with a further £900,000 available for development projects to address any gaps.The project will be supported by the Regional Support Centres (RSCs) who will provide advice and support for providers in developing and implementing their projects.

If you would like to apply then take a look ata the JISC Advance website where you will find the application forms and further information.

Funding bids closed in May 2012

New look Excellence Gateway

A long waited new look Excellence Gateway was launched yesterday. The Excellence Gateway has improved the look and navigation streamlining its resources. Searching is now easier. Resources for teaching can be found at Find Teaching and Learning resources. Resources for classroom use, case studies, advice and guidance on improving teaching practice – a huge range of materials created for practitioners are available here.LSIS will continue to increase the number of resources available and make them even easier to find.

RSC Assisit

JISC Regional Support Centre West Midlands is giving learning providers the opportunity to apply for free, extended support in an area of their choice, through the RSC Assist project. What are the benefits?RSC Assist enables you to work with a member of the RSC team for up to a day in planning your project and benefiting from advice and expertise, as well as a limited amount of training, if applicable. You retain control of the task in hand, but will be able to call on the support of your nominated advisor throughout.

On completion, you will work with your RSC e-learning advisor to produce a brief case study or best practice guide, which outlines the outcomes and any lessons learned, for the benefit of other learning providers.
Choosing your projectThe project should be a priority for your organisation and be achievable within a 3 month period, with a measurable, tangible outcome. Applications will be assessed against their relevance to the RSC remit, wider interest in the topic and available RSC staff expertise.
The priority support areas for 2011/12 are:
- E-safety- Learner Voice- Technology for Learning- Business Processes- Network Management- Shared Services- Staff Development - Strategic Development- Digital Literacy- Procurement
How to applyIf you’d like to take part in the RSC Assist project, please complete the application form, which is available online at: http://bit.ly/o0LKytYou can also discuss your project idea with a member of the RSC team, prior to applying – please get in touch.
Once your application has been submitted, we will contact you with a decision, based on current workload and the suitability of the topic for the project.

Take Away Moodle for Teacher Training

Take Away Moodle, this is new concept from the RSC. We are looking to support Teacher Trainers across all sectors with the use of Moodle.

We have a Take Away Moodle course which you can upload into your own Moodle site and deliver as if it it were your own course. You don't have to have any prior knowledge just the enthusiasm to become familiar with the tools. The course is divided into six sections, the content is varied and includes web links,videos, quizzes. It will also engage you in activities such as forums, chat and setting up a glossary. All of the content is intended to be flexible for you to add your own and adaptable as you are welcome to customise this to suit you as a Learning Provider.

You are welcome to email me for further details and how you can Take Away Moodle. a.wootton@rsc-wm.ac.uk

Teachers TV

There seems to be a sliver lining for Teachers TV which has over 3500 videos for teaching professionals. The Company closed in April this year however not to be put off by the governments cuts the company reformed under the name of Teachers Media. There are subject specific videos and behavioural videos. The majority are intended for schools however you could adapt the content for further education. In the times that we live in managing behaviour can be difficult teachersmaedia has a set of Behavioural Videos which offer excellent strategies to coping with the difficult lessons .

Take a look at http://www.teachers.media.co.uk/

RSC West Midlands - Events: Learner Centred Process Review

JISC Info Net will be delivering another of their successful workshops on Learner Centered Process Review on the 15 Th June at Science Park in Wolverhampton. If you are introducing change or re structuring then this may guide you through the potential pit falls. : "This workshop will be an interactive day aiming to give participants an introduction to, or raised levels of knowledge of, a variety of process review considerations, techniques and tools. At the end of the workshop delegates will be able to use a variety of simple and rapid approaches to improve processes for the benefit of their learners."

If you would like to take part in the day please register through our website on the link below

RSC West Midlands - Events: Learner Centred Process Review

Discover-e Conference

Funding with LSIS

LSIS regional response fund of £150k will support immediate improvements needs in the further education and skills sector brought about as a result of changes to funding mechanisms and allocation.

The fund can be used to :

• help organisations to respond to the challenges of reduced funding and new priorities


• and promote collaborative sector led activities that allow providers to enhance quality improvement in strained times.

The deadline for application forms is the 25th of February the details can be found at http://www.lsis.org.uk/

Save the Date

Discover-e 2011
This years online conference is being held on the 17Th and 18Th of May. This looks to be packed with case studies best practice and information from the RSC West Midlands Learning Providers. The conference sessions will be delivered through webinar software Elluminate. All conference and fringe sessions will be run through Moodle. We are hoping to have several of the JISC services available to help you navigate your way through what each service does and how they can help you.

Save the date in your calendar 17Th and 18Th May 2011.

Alternative to iPad

I have been lucky enough to have worked with iPad for sometime and I really would be lost without it. However this I feel is a really good alternative and at a fraction of the prize . The 7inch Android 2.1 Scroll Multi Touch Screen Tablet for £159.00 has many of the features of i pad. These include touch screen, landscape and portrait mode. The tablet has a built in web cam and speakers so you can listen to music, watch videos and view photos. The best part for me is the capacity to be able to add your own peripherals be2 x USB ports for adding your own e.g. external Hard drives.-- HDMI out for connection to a monitor or HD ready TV so you can view your movies on the big screen.-- Micro-SD slot – so you can expand the storage of your device up to 32 GB as you fill it up with movies, games, music & photos.

Take a a look at http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=506956&C=brilliant1&U=xmas%20promo%202010&T=android%20tablet%20SL&gclid=CJ6kkf6l86UCFQse4QodXlXzoQ

Alternative to Delicious

There are rumours that Yahoo may be with drawing the free social booking marking site Delicious it may be worth taking a look at another alternative if the rumours turn out to be true.This in itself is a lose to the e -learning world if the rumours turn out to be true you might want to take a look at is Mister Wong.

Mister Wong is very similar to Delicious you import your bookmarks from Delicious into Mister Wong and you can use public book marks and create books. MR Wong will allow you to translate in some different languages. One of the Pros for Mister Wong is that the navigation is really simple to use. http://www.mister-wong.com/

This may be an alternative however it may be the case that if enough people Twitter or Facebook against the lose of Delicious Yahoo may continue the service.

Are you blogging?

Well after a couple of years of blogging, I now feel that I am able to reflect on this and say that on the whole it has been a positive experience and a learning curve.

For the first time user, choosing a blogging service could be tricky as their are a few to choose from. However Blogger has been very simple and straight forward. Customising gadgets such as email subscription or links to You Tube could not be easier. The best part for me is that you can get an answer to a problem really quickly either through Blogger itself or from the many forums that are available to post a question to online.

So the benefits to me as an e-learning advisor incluide being able to post out information quickly and hit a lot of people at one time. Filter news to what I feel is suitable and relevant.

The downside sometimes I feel that it's a bit quiet and I would like more feedback from the audience. There is obviously the time issue but so far the time spent writing the blog is well worth the effort.

So the big question is would I use this with my leaner's? Well the answer is easy Yes!. Blogging could of helped me within a Learning Provider in so many situations these include:

• Keeping in touch with mobile learners ( learner's within the workplace)
• Area for the learners to talk to me outside of the classroom
• Revision
• Reflection
• News items
• Problem solving

These are just a few of the advantages can you think of any more?

Using technology to increase community engagement and development

The Learining and Skills Improvement Service are offering grants of up £5000 to community to engage to learning providers to pilot the development of technological mechanisms in order to engage with the wider community to gain an understanding of their needs and aspirations. This is not about working with existing learners, but about engaging with those who may feel that the provider ‘is not for them’ and to understand the reasons why.
The provider should have a proven history of using technology and wish to build and extend current practice in order to further their links with the community. The closing dates for applications is the 3rd of December. To find out more information go to http://www.lsis.org.uk/WorkingWithLSIS/Opportunities/funding-Opportunities/Pages/default.aspx

Wordle

I came across Wordle through another blog the author describes them as "Word clouds are fantastic and often quite beautiful ways of presenting information"

This could be useful way to present a large amount of text in a pictorial way. You could also use them to collate and store text.

However for a dyslexic learner they may not be that easy to understand.

To generate word clouds from text you can use http://www.wordle.net/create – it’s free and fun. If you want to save your word cloud to use in a presentation or document, just do a screen print and then edit it down to the size you want in Paint or any other simple graphics package.

Innovation Funding from LSIS

The fourth round of innovation funding opened on the 01 September 2010 and closes on the 29th of October 2010. The funding is open to organisations in England whose primary function is as a provider of further education and training. Eligible providers will be organisations funded by the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) or Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and subject to inspection by Ofsted. The only eligible Higher Education Institutions are those with learning and skills provision funded by the SFA and subject to inspection by Ofsted.
Bids, for up to a maximum of £50,000, will be invited from consortia of provider organisations for projects which are genuinely innovative and which have the potential to significantly enhance the practice and performance of the learning and skills sector. LSIS will particularly welcome bids from providers working through cross-sector and extra-sector consortium arrangements. Bids from individual provider organisations will not be accepted in this funding round.
LSIS will continue to encourage innovative bids on a variety of topics that address the strategic priorities of the sector. However, for this funding round we will particularly welcome consortia bids that address specific issues and problems in defined locations - based on the principles of Total Place*

More information on the Innovation funding can be found at http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/fif