• share good practice and experiences in new and existing technologies from across the sectors
• focus on key questions about the transformation agenda and the role of technology enhanced learning
• look at the reasons for change in 21st Century education.

… and I think that on the whole those aims were achieved, through the keynote from Dougald Hind, the opportunity for all attendees from across the education sectors within Wales to discuss the transformation agenda during the Knowledge Cafe and the wide range of sessions led by those who are actually using digital technologies to support learning and teaching across Wales.

Being involved in organising and supporting an event on the day you often miss out on the detail, which is why the information and resources area with presentations, videos, photos and comments from the event has been a great way of reminding myself what happened. The ‘Learning in a Digital Wales’ online information and resources area is available to anyone at: http://moodle.rsc-wales.ac.uk/learninginadigitalwales.  If you would like just a snapshot of the day I would recommend the Flickr photo and delegate comment slideshow … or if you prefer video then how about the YouTube hosted video of attendees’ thoughts, shot (with a Flip camera) by our roving reporter Lis or the compilation of keynote and Moodle videos created by Richard Wenner.

On reflection, a good day … and, now I have had a holiday, I think I’m looking forward to the next one!

(If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file).

I have blogged about Second Life before (Virtually convinced about 3D virtual teaching and learning) and the JISC RSC Wales team have had a virtual office (on the University of Wales, School of Health and Social Sciences Second Life island) for some months now. We have used our virtual office as a place for our geographically distributed team to meet and collaborate as well as a place to introduce those new to Second Life to some of its potential.

But last week I had the chance to spread my wings and explore this virtual tool in other ways:

As a virtual conference delegate at the University of Wales Newport  NEXUS Conference. This was an interesting experience in that half of my expectations were met but the other half weren’t! I expected to access and view the conference (live webstream, Twitter feed) easily … and I did … but I also expected to interact with the other virtual delegates (much as you would at a real conference) but found that this didn’t happen. It could have been to do with there only being a handful of virtual attendees because of the last minute announcement of the opportunity to attend virtually; it could have been to do with everyone (like me) being new to virtual attendance and not being sure of how to interact virtually; it could have been because there was no-one encouraging interaction either during or after the live broadcast; or it could have been another reason that I have yet to figure out. I wonder what the conference organisers thought and whether they would do it differently (if at all) next time.

On a virtual field trip to a world where everything was so much bigger than the virtual me. I visited Greenies Island (which from this blog looks set to be no more on Second Life after this week – what a shame) with several of my other JISC RSC UK colleagues. It was a chance for us to explore a new virtual place together; to see how Second Life can make the impossible virtually possible; to practise our navigation and flying skills (around the oversized house and the indoor race track); as well as to meet a giant cat, climb inside a large handbag, safe and fridge (there was more but that was all I managed this trip) and to ride a rocket. Having stayed on fairly safe (similar to real life) virtual ground until this point in my virtual worlds journey I found this a great experience for gently showing me the possibilties of the impossible and I look forward to exploring more ‘impossible’ places like this on later virtual field trips.

As a learner on my Open University course, H800 ‘Technology Enhanced Learning: practices and debates‘. As the course title suggests, we explore, discuss and use many technologies but Second Life isn’t introduced for another few weeks. I knew about the Open University’s island and have been keen to have a proper excuse to go there for some time, so when a few of my fellow H800ers decided to meet up there to chat about the course, as an alternative to Elluminate, the suggested web conferencing tool, I was more than happy to join in. Maybe it is because I am already familiar with Second Life and find it quite comfortable to be in and interact within this kind of virtual environment that I found this to be the best meeting as a H800 learner I have had. The visual, 3D nature of Second Life and the fact that I can ’see’ who I am talking too helps me to engage. I haven’t had a chance to ask the others what they thought and this week we are meeting via Elluminate again but I really hope we continue to meet using Second Life because it definitley enhanced my learning experience this time

In amongst all of this virtual conferencing, meeting and learning I also read John Kirriemuir’s (Virtual World Watch) ‘Zen and the Art of Avatar Maintenance‘, which is a great read for Second Life fans and sceptics alike.

If you would like to know more about our SLOffice and our activity in Second Life or if you would even like to take your first steps (as Barry College are doing at the moment) then please get in touch …

(If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file).

Queries
These are just a few of the queries (received in person, via email or Skype or over the phone) I have delt with this month:

Text Wall - we use a text wall to collect comments and questions from delegates who attend our events. During our recent ‘Learner Voice, Learner Choice’ roadshow we also suggested it might be one of the many tools that could be used to record the learner voice. A number of the organisations who attended the event had borrowed the text wall for a short period (in return for some feedback on how it goes) to try it out with their learners (Learning Centre suggestion box, opinions of Moodle, during Adult Learners Week, for feedback on lessons …) and one contacted me to ask for more details of the service (options for different walls, cost) because it was proving to be successful and she was interested in having their own wall. One follow up job for this week is to contact all of those who have borrowed a wall to find out how they got on. I’ll share the results via this blog.

Legal advice – at the last of our roadshows ‘Small Steps … Great Strides‘ I had a query from a college about whether there were any legal requirements or implications regarding allowing parent’s access to learners eILPs. JISC Legal, one of the JISC Advance services are almost always my first port of call for education related legal advice, so I contacted them and received a response within days which I passed on. Rather than attempt to summarise the response here the legal information regarding eILPs and parental access received can be found on a GoogleDoc.

Moodle – there have been a few Moodle queries this month but 3 of the most common ones are asking for a recommendation, asking for a way of doing something and asking for a solution.

• The recommendation was for someone who had experience of networking a number of Moodle’s together … I recommended the North Wales 14-19 Network;
• The way of doing something was for how to embed a web page in a Moodle page … I suggested using a handy piece of code (with the relevant web address inserted) given to me a few years ago that has been very useful: <iframe width=”100%” height=”500″ align=”middle” frameborder=”0″ src=”http://www.rsc-wales.ac.uk” border=”0″></iframe>
• The solution was for a problem a Learning Centre were having regarding how to push news out to their students, rather than expect them to go looking for it … and I recommended the RSS feed for Moodle forums that anyone could then subscribe to.

Facilitating the Moodle-Wales group
As the vice chair of the Moodle-Wales Steering Group, I have the honour of facilitating meetings. Usually the Steering Group meet face to face after one of the Moodle-Wales User Group meetings or via video conference but this time we decided to try something a bit different and we chose to use Skype (the latest beta version that allows up to 5 videos). This meant that we could all meet from our desks rather than having to book and travel to VC studios. It worked surprisingly well for a tool that is in beta.  After the meetings I compile and publish the minutes online and then get on with my actions!

Visits to providers
We try to visit all of our supported learning providers at least once a year to find out what they are up to and how we can help but we also do follow up visits too. The following are some of the real (and virtual) follow up visits I’ve done in the last month:

• Coleg Elidyr to show staff the potential of some of the free, open source applications available via Edu-Apps.
• Coleg Glan Hafren to collect the Turning Point interactive response system set we loaned them, along with feedback about its use.
• Barry College to take them on a virtual tour of our Second Life Office, followed on another day by a face to face session to show them the basics of building in Second Life so that they could borrow some space on the University of Wales Newport, School of Health and Social Sciences island (where our SLOffice is based) to try and engage with learners who won’t engage face to face.
• Coleg Gwent to take a virtual tour of our Second Life Office and the island and later to test (virtually) the Skype (Beta) multi video setup for a session they want to run.

Events
Organising and facilitating events is also another part of my role as an eLearning Advisor (Learning Technologies). This month I supported colleagues at the Cardiff  ‘Small Steps … Great Strides‘ roadshow, which was the last of the series of three roadshows, the other two of which I was much more involved in (’Barrier Busters, Accessibility and Inclusion‘ and ‘Learner Voice Learner Choice‘). For the last few months I have also been working on organising the one big, cross sector event that we are running in Cardiff on 30th June this year – ‘Learning in a Digital Wales – Dysgu mewn Cymru Digidol‘. There are still some places available on this FREE event so if you are interested then you’ll have to be quick and book now!

Virtual communication
We communicate with our learning providers in many different ways but 2 areas I have responsibility for contributing to (as do most of the team) are:

• Twitter – I tweet as@HelenHRSC on a very regular basis but also as @rscwales when it is my turn. As a learning technologist I am constantly on the lookout for news ideas and examples of effective practise and I find that Twitter is an excellent way of sharing what I find quickly … as well as also finding out what others are doing and sharing that too.

• Our teaching and learning (and technology) blog – I managed to blog 3 times last month (twice about Moodle and once about digital communication) but this varies depending on how much I am at my desk and whether I have been inspired to blog and feel I have something worth saying!

Twitter is my first virtual port of call for sharing stuff, followed by our blog and also the news pages on our website.

Keeping up to date and sharing with the team
I use a whole variety of ways to keep up to date with what is happening in the world of education and technology (RSS feeds, Twitter, mailing lists, newsletters, attending events, taking courses,  talking to people … ) and as well as sharing all of this with our supported learning providers I also make sure I share with the team too. A couple of tools that I have come across and shared recently are Twiddla (a bit like Etherpad(as was) but allows images and password protection) and Wallwisher (a web page for sharing ideas and comments that can been used in many ways).

As I said at the beginining, each day is different and this is just a flavour of the things that I am involved with as an eLearning Advisor (Learning Technologies). I guess the job is like both education and technology … always something to learn and share … but also ever changing!

(If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file).

BRAVO, though based on best practice from the FE sector in England and Wales, is unique to Bridgend College. Three online learner questionnaires form the heart of the system: an essential skills test employing the college intranet, a student support questionnaire, and a prior qualifications questionnaire, both of which are accessed via Moodle. The results of the three assessments are fed into a calculation which is used to band students according to risk, and this information is made available on the staff portal. The risk band informs learners’ ILP (Individual Learning Plan) discussions; predicted grades, based on the average GCSE score, are also used to estimate risk. These data, along with final grades, can be used to calculate ‘Value Added’ when courses have been completed. BRAVO is considered to have made a significant impact in the college: completion and attainment have both risen; learners’ feedback indicates that they valued reviews based on BRAVO data; Estyn awarded excellent grades in the college’s 2009 inspection, and identified BRAVO as an example of ‘outstanding practice’.

The other short-listed entries for the award all had outstanding aspects: Swansea College’s French-language podcasts were highly commended by judges of the 2009 Beacon awards, and are much appreciated by language-learners in the college; Pembrokeshire College’s use of thin client technology for virtual desktops has major implications for savings of energy and cost; Coleg Llandrillo’s e-planning tool has proved invaluable for managing courses and costings. Congratulations to all of them, and also to Yale College for winning the ColegauCymru Digital Learning Resources Award.

Moodle and how it can be used effectivley to support learning and teaching is just one of the many things that JISC RSC Wales offer advice and guidance on. I am very conscious that over the last month or so I have been tweeting lots of really interesting stuff that I have seen about Moodle BUT that as not everyone is a Twitter fan (or follower) it might be an idea to collect all of the Moodle stuff I have seen in one place … so here goes:

Moodle 2.0 is due any day now (I think) and there have been a few good introductory videos including this one on You Tube from @moodlefairy: ‘A brief tour of Moodle 2.0′ . There is also a Moodle 2.0 demo site if you are interested in fnding out more for yourself at: http://qa.moodle.net/

A new Moodle Educational demo site is in the process of being put together and details about how it is progressing can be found on Tomaz Lasic’s website.

The recent Moodle ‘Cool Course’ competition winners were announced a few weeks ago. All of the winning courses can be found and downloaded on the competition site

2 Moodle plugins that have come to my attention recently are:

• Moodle plugin for Microsoft Office 2007. I have plugged in and tried this one and after a bit of help from this blog it worked well. I can see how useful it would be for anyone who has Word documents that they want to update in Moodle or who wants an easy way to upload new documents … although I have to admit that I won’t be using it very often myself because I rarely upload Word docs to our Moodle, preferring to go for a more accessible pdf version, a Google Doc or other potentially more accesible and flexible alternatives. More about the tool can be found here on Moodle Monthly
• Easy Voter for Moodle, from Solihull College. I discovered this when I was looking for (free) alternatives to the audience response systems/voting sytems, like Turning Point and Qwizdom. It is a free plugin that basically enable you to create an interactive quiz to use in real time with learners BUT the learners need to have access to computers in order to participate. Here is more information about how Solihull College (the developers) use Easy Voter as well as  a case study from Cumbernauld College about how they are using it too.

Moodle use seems to be growing and growing, not just within the education sector but also within industry. Tesco, Subaru and Cisco are just some of the big names in industry that I have heard of recently who are using Moodle to support workplace learning. This article in the Western Mail (Wales Online) from Dr Geoff Elliot, Pembrokeshire College, also highlights the Moodle situation in Wales.

Moodle events are happening worldwide all of the time but closer to home the recent MoodleMootUK 2010 appears to have been a success, with more information available on their website. In the wake of MoodleMoot UK 2010, the first UK TeachMeetMoodle has also been organised for 3rd July in London. Closer to home again (for JISC RSC Wales) we helped to organise another of the very well attended ‘Moodle Meets’ for the Moodle-Wales users and videos and resources from the ‘Prepare to share’ event can be found online in our Moodle. Moodle also features in a number of the sessions in our forthcoming ‘Learning in a Digital Wales – Dysgu mewn Cymr Digidol’ event on 30th June in Cardiff.

I shall end this post on that final note of blatant promotion for our annual big event … but will no doubt be tweeting oodles more Moodle stuff over the coming months.

(If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file)

I have to say that until today I hadn’t noticed quite how much non face to face communication I do compared to a few years ago, for my job, with my family and friends and now as a learner. I have recently started a completely online Open University course and as a distance learner, who relies totally on digital tools to enable communication,this idea of communicating more via digital means is on my mind … and now two communications that dropped into my inbox this morning have spurred me to comment here. One of the messages was about the Spring 2010 snapshot of virtual world activity in UK universities and colleges (we have a small mention on p31) and the other was an invitation to an online session (from Wimba) about how this type of online conferencing can save you money. The virtual world snapshot also mentions money in its summary (p2): “In these economically stringent times … this makes virtual world a more attractive option to academics.”  My immediate reaction to this was that it was such a shame that it came down to finance to be the ‘hook’ to engage people in something like virtual worlds for supporting learners. What about it being an engaging, flexible and immersive medium that (once you had the right equipment, the time and the skills) has proved to be a virtually digital way of communicating and interacting that many find effective?

This brought me then to the question … is education about saving money or is it about supporting learners in the most effective way possible? My rational response is that it is a mixture of both, that is, supporting learners in the most effective way possible within the constraints that we live with today? And if money, or rather saving it, is the ‘hook’ that will engage people with using technology, is that really such a bad thing anyway?

OK, off to do some more digital communication …  meeting a couple of interested college volunteers in our virtual Second Life Office (mentioned in the report) and later to engage with some digital communications as a learner, via a Moodle forum and blog

If you would like this blog post as an audio file please click this link or right click the link and choose to save the mp3 file. Please note: the audio file was created quite simply by pasting the text into Balabolka (one of the tools available as part of My Study Bar/EduApps) and saving as an mp3 audio file.

…no, not the humped variety, but the ‘Collaborative Approach to the Management of E-learning’ model put forward by JISC Infonet in 2006 (in conjunction with JISC, ALT, HEFCE, HEA). The Celtic RSCs have recently been using this model to help organise some exchange visits between providers in their regions, and we feel that there is much to gain from seeing ILT applied in new ways and new places.

A recent visit of Learning Resource Centre Managers from two Welsh FE colleges to a college in Northern Ireland was certainly deemed to be beneficial. The rationale of the visit was based on the Transformation Agenda in FE in Wales: the two colleges involved – Swansea and Gorseinon - are embarking on merger, and it was hoped that lessons could be learnt from the experience of Belfast Metropolitan College (BMC), a very large and successful college formed from two successive merger processes.
The organisational aspects of BMC’s Learning Resources Service (LRS) proved interesting. It is located within the Directorate of Student and Learning Services, which gives a clear learner focus. This is further enhanced by the use of ‘e-mentors’ who facilitate independent learning and advise on the use of associated technologies. The LRS also works in synergy with The Technology Enhanced Learning unit and IT Services, which aids a  flexible and creative approach to the use of new technologies. The teamwork shown by these groups was of critical importance in the success of the LRS on the different BMC sites.
Some good examples of effective ILT practice were seen at BMC during the visit. The student VLE – called ‘Mybelfastmet’ – was very popular with students, partly because of its highly graphical content with an icon-based page for LRS resources and datasets. E-books were prominent in the LRS provision, and there were also interesting initiatives such as the use of Skype and Google Earth for international students.

Overall, the Learning Resource Centre Managers of Swansea and Gorseinon Colleges found their visit to be enjoyable and stimulating, and came away with definite ideas to help them move forward in a seamless way in their own merger situation. They also have advice for those who might be contemplating their own CAMEL trail: have a clear plan of action, and prepare well beforehand, having set up key contacts in advance who know the information you need.
If you are working within the FE, ACL or WBL sectors and are interested in learning more about the use of technology from learning providers in Scotland or Northern Ireland, please get in touch with us. More information is available on the RSC Wales web-site.

There are quite a few case studies that highlight the benefits of specific technologies in specific contexts – for example, in HE, ‘Exploring Tangible benefits of e-Learning’ (JISC Infonet, 2008), and in HE/FE, ‘Effective Practice in a Digital Age’ (JISC, 2009). However, there are very few studies that attempt to measure effectiveness – one of the few examples I’ve found is the ImpaCT2 project in schools (Becta, 2002) which compared time spent using technology (mainly PC use) with ‘value-added’ scores in a range of subjects.  (Becta also discuss the impact of technology in the FE and Skills sector in England in their recent review publication, and note that there is a positive correlation between ‘e-mature’ colleges and Ofsted inspection results). Some literature on this subject can be found in a RSC Wales Moodle area, and I’d be very interested to learn about any other relevant studies that you may have come across.

Perhaps it is no surprise that there have been relatively few quantitative studies in the field of e-learning. For a start, it is difficult enough to study ‘discrete’ aspects of technology in this way – for example, a particular  application or an online course – but it’s a real challenge to apply a numerical approach to the more realistic blend of online, mobile and classroom technologies that many learners now encounter. And what exactly should be measured? Cost-savings might be a priority for some, but  indices of achievement or retention are usually preferred. However, it is almost impossible to separate the effects of e-learning from the many other factors that have an influence on learning.  Learner surveys can generate quantitative data on learners’ preferences and experiences of technology, but interpretation depends on the proportion responding and their profiles.  Similarly, teaching staff could be surveyed to look at technology in the context of delivery of learning. 

This last approach is currently of particular interest to me, and I am keen to get feedback from educators about their experiences of specific educational technologies. To this end, an evaluation form has been devised which asks respondents to comment on and grade a technology of their choice. This is not a particularly scientific approach, but it may give an indication of relative usefulness from the point of view of teachers/trainers/tutors. If we receive sufficient responses we hope to compile a ‘TechAdvisor’ Moodle area – so please do visit the ‘Evidence of Efectiveness’ area on the RSC Wales Moodle and download and complete in the ‘Evaluating your Technology’ form in section 7 ( and return it  to us!)

What I expected to see was a lot of companies selling their educationally relevant technological wares, with some teachers sharing their experiences of using technology to support their learners … and that is more or less what I saw! On my way to London I also picked up the Guardian’s tweet about their BETT Show article ‘Its not just about computing‘  … having been myself now I can certainly see what they meant about this years show.

So now to a summary of what I saw:

• A very wide range of software, hardware and service providers all keen to share their wares … lots aimed at schools but many relevant to most learning provider.
• A teacher talking about glogging as part of the ‘Teachmeet takeover‘ … glogging being something I will be exploring in more detail and the Teachmeet being a great part of this years event, from what I have read in several blogs today (Learn4Life and  The Whiteboard Blog to name but two).
• Lots about Green ICT/being environmentally aware, including £65 pcs that use 1Watt (i.e. virtual desktops) … Jon (our technical expert) has talked about these a lot but now I have seen them in action and read a couple of case studies, I really ‘get it’ and think lots of organisations should too!
• Interactive WhiteBoard (with or without the short throw projectors) after IWB after IWB … but the Ver-table-interactive from RM (a moveable IWB with a short throw projector attached that can be flipped into a touch screen surface)  really caught my eye.
• Free web resources from E2BN (East of England Broadband Network), which although largely for schools did include some for all ages … ones to explore further include E-ngagelive, for interactive roleplay with online experts and Discovery Box, a tool that enables you to make up virtual boxes with images, video, sound about any topic.
• Lots of laptops/netbooks … including the Intel Classmate PC (not new I know but the first time I had seen it to touch), with its swivel screen that turns it into a tablet and whose handle makes it easy to carry.
• Becta’s new publications, ‘Raising Standards’ & ‘Inspiring Learners’  … which I had downloaded and put in the ‘To read’ folder on my desktop but which I now can read away from my desk!
• A very attractive looking Sharepoint being demonstrated for use by a school.
• Flexible furniture from a whole range of suppliers … secure desks, movable mounts for monitors, portable banks of workstations, now its a desk, now its a PC table. Great for learning spaces that need to be flexible.
• Digital signage for public areas … landscape, widescreen,  portrait (my favourite), very large and even signage projected onto the floor that reacted as you walked through it (although this last seemd to be an Olympia thing rather than a BETT exhibitor thing).

… and a Dell robot chatting to 8 year old boy who was completely engaged.

There was obvioulsy a lot more to see but being late getting to the last day of the show because of closures on the underground and in the interest of a digestible blog post, these are really my edited highlights or things that have stuck in my mind. My final thought is about whether I think it was worth going to BETT 2010 this year … and my conclusion is that it was, because I saw things I wouldn’t otherwise have done (ver-table and flexible furniture), learnt first hand how effective something I had heard about but not seen can be (virtual desktops) and have come away wanting to find out more about at least one thing (glogging) … but I won’t be going again next year … or not on a Saturday, at least

The wonders of modern technology (a netbook with a respectable battery life and a mobile dongle whilst on the move, Dropbox, an iMac and a blog in the cloud) enable me to share and reflect (out loud) on the things I have heard today at the ‘Moodle Wonderland’ organised by ULCC and hosted at Westminster Kingsway College’s brand new Kings Cross Centre … so here goes:

A refreshing start

Andrew Williams from Kingston College started the day largely focusing on learning, with a bit of technology integrated appropriately … which was great to hear! Andrew began his presentation by considering learning and spirituality, defining both and drawing thought provoking parallels between the two. He introduced the concept of personalisation and then ended with a number of questions asking how technology can enhance different aspects of learning. The key things I took from his refreshing presentation were:

• The verb ‘educe’ (the origin of the word education) means ‘to draw from within’ … but this is not what the education system in general does for our learners today, is it? The focus is much more on pumping knowledge into them and then testing what they can remember, rather than drawing it from them.
• If we want to move back towards the original definition of learning then we need to appreciate what it is we need in order to be able to learn and Andrew suggested three things we need to do: open ourselves to wanting to learn new things; accept that we will change; acknowledge that we don’t learn alone, we need other people too.
• Personalising learning is a step in the right direction if we want to make learning more about the person rather than the information they know.
• Technology may well be able to help to personalise a learners experience but some of the questions to consider are:

? How can technology create space for learners to thrive?
? How can technology enrich the process as well as the product of learning?
? How can we mobilise e learning to enlarge the creativity and imaginative ability of learners?

A gallop through assessment

ULCC’s eagerly awaited Assessment Manager was introduced by James Ballard (ULCC) and then demonstrated and discussed by Scott Hallman (CONEL, one of the pilot colleges) in the first breakout I attended. A summary of what I heard and saw about the Assessment Manager follows:

• It is a Moodle plugin that has 2 parts: (1) Assessment Manager (for the learners, tutors and assessors) enables you to map user evidence to course outcomes, track progress and give assessors and verifiers an overview. (2) Qualification Manager (for the organisation) enables you to select and customise the qualifications.
• It started as an NVQ eportfolio but has developed to be able to encompass almost all criteria based qualifications … CONEL use it for BTECs, Diplomas, NVQs, Access, ESOL, SLDD, IFL staff.
• Moodle courses, gradebook, activities, calendar, outcomes and scales integrate (to a greater or lesser degree) with the Assessment Manager. They are now working towards fuller integration on some of these, including the gradebook and also Mahara.
• It is being used in 3 ways by CONEL: (1) confident tutors are using it fully with their learners (2) the e learning team take the paper portfolios and digitise them for the not so confident staff (3) it is used purely for tracking, rather than as a tracking and digital evidence store.
• It has been tested with Moodle 2.0 and will upgrade.
• It has been piloted with a number of colleges and has changed extensively over these pilots … but there is still work to do before full release in July 2010.
• Information about Assessment Manager on the ULCC website is limited but you can sign up for a demo account at http://amdemo.moodle.ulcc.ac.uk

A whistle stop tour of 21st century learning

ULCC’s James Ballard introduced the afternoon session by considering 21st Century learning and suggesting how we move forward with the aim of meeting the needs of the 21st century learner. The key things for me were:

• Learners are most definitely at the centre of 21st century learning.
• Knowing what to learn next and how to learn it is as important as what we have already learnt.
• Personalised learning is one solution that aims to meet the needs of the 21st century learner.
• Learners need to learn about the subject, about learning and about themselves as learners. The ’system’ (whatever it may be) should be there to support this.
• The future is interoperable, i.e  a collection of tools that all add to the learning process or experience and work together (for the end user) seamlessly.

A flying visit to view some Moodle practice

The second and final breakout I attended was a showcase of 2 provider’s Moodle practice.

Newcastle City Learning (ACL provider) have just embarked on their 3rd year with Moodle and the positives that have come out of it for them are: that it provides a place for shared resources that can be accessed by their geographically spread learners; online submission of work has made things easier for learners, tutors and assessors; information sharing and collaborative working of staff is much easier. Two other things that were of particular interest interest to me were that one tutor uploads learners work (with their permission) to her course for all to see, share and learn from and another tutor has one course with all of the support materials, tutorials etc and another that all of the learners are ‘teachers’ on so they can upload their work for all to share … and for the tutor/assesors to easily access too.

Hackney Community College have implemented ULC’Cs Personal Learning Plan Moodle plugin and are using it as an electronic ILP, which integrates with their MIS system and electronic registers, links to the Moodle gradebook, allows regular progress reports from the tutors to be added and enables the learner, parent or other nominated person to easily check on their progress.

The last stretch

And so ended my brisk but informative walk through a Moodle Wonderland. Presentations and videos from the day will be made available and I will post the link here once I have it. Thanks to ULCC, Westminster Kingsway College, all of the presenters … and not forgetting our sister RSC in London too