ELSRN Summer Conference

Approximately 100 delegates, mainly from the South East, attended this year's ELSRN (Eastern Learning Skills & Research Network) conference "‘Challenges for the future of the HE in FE sector". First keynote was Bill Rammell MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, DIUS who outlined the challenges facing the delivery of HE in FE (strangley never mentioned too many contact hours, no time for scholarly activity & subject updating etc) and (inadverently?) paraphrased Spiderman when he said “With increased power comes increased responsibility”.
He was followed by Professor Yvonne Hillier from the University of Brighton who, amongst other things, told us about the growth of Fds before HEFCE's Ruth Tucker spoke on "HE in FECs: a review of HEFCE policy", followed by QAA's Ian Welch on "IQER – The story so far", Professor Robin Smith (MOVE/LLN) on "FE/HE partnerships in vocational progression" and the conference closed (on a highlight?) with yours truly enthralling(? hopefully!) the assessembled masses with "How HE in FE practitioners benefit from HE support". On the original programme Bill Rammell was supposed follow me & close the conference but at short notice "had to reschedule" without any explanation given.
Make of that what you will.

HE in FE Think Tank - Norwich

I was asked last month to help convene a ‘think-tank’ to seek the views of those with recognised expertise in the field of HE in FE on how best to support HE in FE practitioners in their use of technology to enhance learning, teaching and assessment as part of a collaboration between the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Higher Education Academy.

It was held at City College Norwich using HE in FE Research Centre as host venue & local RSC invited some college practitioners with the aims:

1. to consider the effectiveness of resources which have been developed to support academic staff in their use of technology to enhance learning, teaching and assessment, by the two organisations (including the Academy Subject Centre Network, JISC Services and Regional Support Centres)


2. to consider how to improve access to and take up of resources,


3. to identify additional developments/support that may be required by HE in FE practitioners


4. to explore how the two organisations might collaborate further to enhance the provision of HE in FE.

11 of us, including representatives from SURF, Netskills, CETIS assembled for dinner the night before, and 18 of us met in CCN's bespoke Business Development Centre for 8 hours to present on, and debate/discuss the aims above.

The HEA will be publishing the outcomes of the day as part of their collaboration project with JISC early next month.

Bid Writing - to bid or not to bid?

Presented (& facilitated two workshops with the local HE Advisor) at a JISC RSC event in York on bid writing regarding a current JISC e-learning funding call to 20+ colleges (and two HEIs) in the Yorkshire & Humber region. Outlined my experiences as both marker & panel member, what the process is, what we (the markers) look for, how final decisions are reached etc..

ESCalate annual conference

Now on my way home from what has been a very rewarding two days at Stirling Management Centre working at the HEA ESCalate Subject Centre's Annual Conference where this year's themes were: Widening Participation (progression and retention), including the role of HE in FE; Technology Enhanced Learning; Contexts of Learning. Approximately 100 delegates attended 5 keynotes (mainly opportunities to watch the rain!) ; a choice from 70 paper presentations and workshop sessions; 14 of which were delivered by FEC lecturers (some of whom benefited from the having the conference's "best session chair"......). Other than when I was being talked at (see above reference to Scottish rainfall), it was an excellent conference run by, for, and with people who are enthusiastic, skilled teachers & educators from a range of subject areas.Personal highlights were:UPC's "Developing an (sic) HE culture within a disparate HE in FE partnership" where I got an (unexpected) name check for help given 18 months ago and "The Link Between Research and Education: an FE example". Being dragged (forcibly!) onto a dance floor to "start" the Ceilidh was unfortunately filmed and is doubtless on Youtube already. However, the case for the defence would like to point out that it was in exchange for free 10/12/16-year-old malt whisky for the next few hours.......

JISC Annual Conference, Birmingham

More than 700 delegates (from colleges, HEIs, educational developers etc), a range of speakers, presentations, demonstrations, workshops and more than 50 stands in the exhibition hall.
Professor Sir Ron Cooke, Chair of JISC opened the conference, and Lord Puttnam of Queensgate and Angela Beesley, Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation, were the keynote speakers.
Among the subjects under discussion: the benefits of e-learning; the Google Generation report; identity management; student experiences of ICT; virtual research environments, and much more. In addition, the winner and shortlisted entries for the JISC/Times Higher 2007 Award for 'Outstanding ICT Initiative' showcased their work.
Other notable highlights of the day:
* The inaugural JISC infoNet Innovation in Records & Information Management Awards presented by Lord Puttnam
* Launch of a range of e-learning publications, including briefing papers, and case studies on the DEL regional pilots
* Launch of two new resources from JISC TechDis - an online database of accessibility information for UK publishers and guidance for librarians and learning support staff on alternative formats
* Launch of the 'Tangible Benefits of e-Learning' publication by JISC infoNet
* The 'digital library zone', an area dedicated to digital resources reflecting the changing role of the library in a modern academic environment,
* An open source demo stand supported by OSS Watch, showcasing a range of innovative open source applications
* Launch of - 'Libraries of the Future' - which attempts to initiate a debate about the future of the academic library.
* No mention of "Second Life" anywhere - has the bubble burst?
Managed to convince/cajole/bribe 10 attendees for my HE in FE "Think-tank" in Norwich on May 21st - if interested, ask me!