Which comes first the Chicken or the Egg ?

This week saw the start of our new initiative aimed at supporting curriculum development in our region - we're calling it Collaborative Course Design (CCD) and beginning pilots in 3 of our supported institutions. My colleague and I spent 2 days this week working with a course team exploring technologies and how each can add value to the learning experiences both for the learners but also for the staff. It kind of brought home to me the chicken/egg nature of making decisions about how to exploit new technologies in general. In other words how do you know which technology to use unless you are exposed to them in an appropriate context.

Although I had a few concerns, the original plan for our sessions to explore and establish a common understanding of new technology was a good one. While individuals have ideas about the role of technology in the context of learning & teaching, ideas are constrained, quite naturally, by an individual's own experience and exposure to technology and software. I did wonder if spending time showing and explaining the scope and range of new learning technologies might be perceived as a waste of precious preparation time. However it became evident that a brief and concise demonstration provided enough of an insight for staff to quickly realise the potential of and application of new technologies for learning & teaching. The experience also supports our new 20 minute topic briefings aimed at senior & operational managers which we are offering and delivering to our supported institutions. These are also aimed at assisting the decision making process but in an institutional context rather than a course context.

Working with a course team meant that, as a group, ideas could be bandied about and the practicalities, suitability and local issues regarding the use of hardware and software could be considered as a group and introduced to a course in a more coherent way. The whole experience seemed to me to promote a very creative and positive experience with real commitment to making some changes and doing things a bit differently. Reservations about making what might be considered to be a significant departure from previous methods are understandable but I'm quite delighted that our Collaborative Course Design (CCD) initiative has got off to such a positive start.

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