Learning
and Teaching Committee
Subject: HEFCE e-learning funding
Origin: Chair
and Secretary
Allocation
of funding
In March 2005, HEFCE published its e-learning strategy and announced the
allocation of £31 million in capital funding to HEIs to support investment in
e-learning.
These funds are available for 2005-06 only and will be allocated subject
to the following conditions:
a.
They are to be invested in developing
e-learning - specifically for equipment, software and course development costs -
where such investment has a demonstrable benefit for learning and teaching over
more than one year. Institutions should take into account our e-learning
strategy in determining the best use of their funding allocation.
b.
Institutions include a statement within
their 2006 annual monitoring statement to HEFCE to confirm that the investment
has been made, and that this has been in accordance with the purpose stated in
paragraph 6a.
The conditional allocation for
Possible uses
of e-learning allocation
The PDQ Team is in discussion with the Service Directors in the Division
of Information Services and Systems with a view to identifying suitable
initiatives for the use of the HEFCE funding and has invited the DISS Directors
to supply costings for a number of options.
These include (not in any order of priority):
(i)
the extension of wireless networking on campus, for
example to meeting rooms and other shared spaces used for teaching and learning
and less formal gatherings of staff and students (NB. SRIF funding has already
been obtained to provide wired and wireless networking within the Stewart Mason
Building and to provide surveying tools and infrastructure/management equipment
to enable rollout of wireless networking across campus; CS are operating a
commercial wireless networking service for imago and conference delegates at
Burleigh Court and Sir Denis Rooke; and funding obtained from the HEFCE
Learning and Teaching Infrastructure Fund will allow wireless networking to be
rolled out as part of a larger project to refurbish pool lecture theatres and
seminar rooms.);
(ii)
developments of Library-based facilities and services,
including the further development of the open learning area, online tutorials
to support information literacy, networked backup for data residing on the
Loughborough Institutional Repository, improved support for e-learning in group
study rooms, a datastore for multimedia learning objects;
(iii)
the upgrade of videoconferencing facilities in the
John Cooper Building to make them more suitable for teaching purposes, the
purchase of a portable videoconferencing system for experimentation for use in
the James France and Stewart Mason Buildings;
(iv)
the creation of a group study area, possibly in the
James France Exhibition area (though there may be other options), which
comprises study areas, trials acoustic limiting devices (to limit sound to a
specific area without building walls) and provides some computing and AV
facilities.
Another candidate for funding is the next upgrade of the CAA software,
Questionmark Perception (QMP). The
current version of the software will not be supported by the vendors beyond May
2007. The provision of the technical
input from University staff to support such an upgrade within the timescale is
being investigated.
Future of
‘Learn’ as the University’s VLE
The HEFCE announcement of the funding allocation for e-learning has
coincided with discussions on the possible replacement of ‘Learn’
as the University’s VLE. A small group including the PVC(T) and
the three AD(T)s has gathered information from interested parties. Corporate Information Services (CIS) has
arranged demonstrations of
The points
below summarise the findings:
(i)
The
investigation of VLEs at other universities provides a mixed picture of users
of commercial systems and those who use open source/in-house solutions. Whilst the majority use a commercial system
there is a significant number who do not.
(ii)
Given
the University’s strategy to promote blended learning on campus and
distance learning in niche areas only, there is no strong pedagogical driver
for change as the VLE products currently available offer only limited
additional functionality over the Learn Server.
(iii)
It
is reported that students value the use made of Learn in some modules [NSS
would seem to confirm this] and would like to
see usage extended across more modules.
The University is currently promoting wider usage through the OLDOs.
(iv) It
is the view of CS that Learn can be maintained and minor updates added to meet
specific immediate needs provided that there are the necessary staff
resources. However CS does not recommend
spending significant amounts on a major overhaul of Learn and advises that it
should ultimately be replaced by an ‘off
the shelf’ solution. It is CS
experience that most in-house developed systems are ultimately replaced by an
off-the-shelf system that becomes the industry standard.
(v) Within the LUSI Project resources are available to evaluate
alternative VLEs in early 2007.
The PDQ Team has therefore asked CIS to undertake an evaluation of VLEs
as part of the LUSI project in early 2007, with a view to implementation of a
new VLE during 2007/08, this evaluation to include leading commercial suppliers
and open source products. At the same time, it is exploring with
CS what minor refinements might be made to Learn in the short term: there is
the possibility of making a limited amount of resource available from TQEF
funds to support this work.
The possibility of using any of the HEFCE e-learning funding allocation
for the development or replacement of Learn is limited by the timescale over
which such funds are available, but will be pursued.
Next steps
It is the intention to submit recommendations for use of the e-learning
funding to Operations Sub-Committee on 5 December 2005. Learning and Teaching Committee is invited to
note actions taken so far and comment on the options under consideration.
Author(s) – Robert Bowyer/Morag
Date – November 2005
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