infoKits R US

JISC infoNet has produced a number of really useful infoKits, some of which I'm sure I've already mentioned here and are the ideal first step for managers involved in making strategic ICT decisions.

This week sees a new infoKit published by JISC infoNet. The Shared Services infoKit aims to clarify the issues concerning shared services and contains examples of the current drivers, benefits, inhibitors and enablers of using or developing shared service infrastructures. Along with the ePortfolios infoKit also published this month there are now a total of 15 online infoKits available on the infoNet web site.

JISC infoNet is the UK's leading advisory service for managers in the post-compulsory education sector promoting the effective strategic planning, implementation and management of information and learning technology. While infoNet's remit is to give strategic advice, the service provides this in a very pragmatic way, offering practical solutions based on the outputs of a wide variety of research projects funded by the JISC. Resources, including infoKits, are freely available to institutions and individuals in the UK further and higher education sectors and well worth a second look.

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/

Getting on with eAssessment

I’ve been trying to put together a little blurb to advertise the RSCtv sessions I’m presenting on the 25th of March on Designing eAssessments – from elementary to higher order skills. It’s meant doing a bit of research which, although distracting me from my initial mission to find practical resources on writing online assessments (and I still haven’t written the blurb), has reminded me of the other organisational issues that need to be addressed before eAssessment can move into the mainstream. My colleague Celeste McLaughlin, eAdvisor for eAssessment and eResources, and I work closely supporting the HE and FE sectors’ eLearning efforts and eAssessment has been on the agenda at the RSC for a long time. It has been a bit of an uphill struggle to engage colleges with the notion of eAssessment and that’s maybe to do with the difficult organisational issues that really need to be addressed before summative eAssessments can be implemented.
My experience suggests that, at the moment, many organisations that do carry out summative eAssessments, use an externally hosted system provided by a specific awarding body, such as the British Computer Society for ECDL. I’m unsure if there’s a great deal of summative eAssessment going on for qualifications that are awarded from the SQA apart from pilot work and special projects. From one perspective, where often formative assessment is used as preparation for summative assessment, I can see the problem of spending time creating and using a formative eAssessment that bears no resemblance to the summative one. Time is precious and it’s important to prepare learners properly. eAssessment comes into its own though when regarded more as a learning tool to reinforce, motivate, self assess, give feedback and instil confidence.
In terms of organisation issues that require to be addressed there is a long list. Systems require to be secure, reliable and robust enough to meet the demand of simultaneous access by large numbers of students; mechanisms for personal identification need to be in place; the flexibility of learning spaces, which both facilitate interaction for learning but ensures screens are not overlooked for eAssessment purposes is a consideration; clear policies and procedures need to be in place to deal with for e.g. plagiarism and accessibility; a staff development programme to ensure the staff have an accurate knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of eAssessment will be needed.
Implementing summative eAssessment will require a larger degree of institutional support than formative or diagnostic eAssessment which can often be managed by individual lecturers or departments.

No Blog next week – I’m on leave – next posting on the 20th

Effective use of VLEs - InfoKit
Assessment is for Learning (LTScotland)
QCA (England) assessment for learning guidance notes

Projects and Programmes

I’ve not been out and about much this week despite the good weather but managed to finish a project that’s been on the go for a wee while. I decided that a short (and plain English) guide to JISC and the Regional Support Centre would be a useful resource for staff in colleges. JISC is a complex organisation and I felt that a user friendly synopsis of what JISC and the RSCs do and the services we are funded to provide would be of value especially to new staff in organisations that we support. I’ve produced an online version that will be available from our learning platform once the rest of the team have looked it over and plan to publish the material in paper format so that it can be included in induction packs for new staff in HE & FE. I hope that Staff Development Officers in your organisation will be interested and I’ll be disseminating information about this to them soon.
On Thursday I attended a Project Management Masterclass here at the RSC which focussed on the role of senior management in managing projects and is a new workshop developed and delivered by JISC infoNet. The session focussed on how to take a strategic approach to managing multiple projects and presented ideas and practical tools to ensure the key elements required to co-ordinate successful projects to meet an organisation’s strategic goals are well managed. There seemed to be broad consensus in the room that it is often difficult for managers with strategic responsibilities to take a step back from the operational aspects of initiating and implementing projects. During the session practical mechanisms to assist senior managers to do just this were presented and discussed. Resources to support the workshop Portfolio, Programme and Project Management are available to anyone from the JISC infoNet site.

The JISC infoNet service was set up in 2003 specifically to advise managers in the post-compulsory education sector and promote the effective strategic planning, implementation and management of information and learning technology. I would draw you attention in particular to their sets of online resources (infoKits) comprising a subject overview, 'how to' guides and other supporting materials. As well as covering generic issues such as change management and risk management there are applied infoKits which use the generic tools in particular circumstances such as designing technology rich learning spaces or using a VLE effectively - well worth a look.
Have a good weekend - Joan