E-Learning at Redbridge Institute of Adult Education

1. E-Learning at Redbridge Institute of Adult Education Martin Sepion Head of MI & ICT Services

2. Redbridge Institute – a typical Adult Education provider? Has a mixture of ACL, FE and project funded provision (NLDC, Family Learning, FLLN etc) Many centre's across the borough (63) A long tradition of delivering evening classes cost effectively Part of local authority but with some autonomy Until recently largely unqualified workforce Many older staff and learners (77% students female)

3. When did we begin our e-learning adventure? Five years ago the Institute leased computers and had a support contract with an IT firm Upon appointment I decided to in-source IT We used the money set aside for leasing the computers to build a fund to purchase our own equipment (leasing was very expensive) IT support contract expensive so exchanged for a full time IT technician Decided to get out of the leasing and support contracts as soon as possible

4. Infrastructure base Created a three year equipment replacement program Built high ability IT & MIS staff teams – recruitment and staff development Having knowledgeable in house staff has enabled us to get good specification equipment at reasonable prices Cost efficient Microsoft Campus license Keeping systems simple – All computers with same build, all XP, no Mac’s Centrally managed systems – e.g. standard images rolled out from the servers Excellent Premises team enables us to do our own cabling The infrastructure here at our main site is second to none Lowest specification is now Athlon 64 bit, 1 gig RAM, 17 TFT monitor, SATA HD Servers are 64 bit 2003 R2 Smartboards and computers in all rooms except mobiles, CDT and pottery

5. Staff Staff profile indicates large number of people who would not naturally be described as whiz kids Many staff older Many staff have been in post since before the age of the PC Until introduction of the ALI inspection regime in the last few years many teaching methods unchanged since the early 20th century

6. Number of Computers

7. building IT capability MIS and IT teams have grown in line with the growth in both the number and the reliance on computer based systems We have successfully acquired the capability to maintain our own IT systems and develop our own applications Everything is in house and delivered to a high standards – we compare very favourably with industry standards This capability gives us the platform to successfully take on e-learning projects

8. Staff Development Organisational support for staff development in general Commitment to investing in staff a big advantage when we were presented with the challenge of developing e-learning Resulted in a continuous offer of e-learning related training – sometimes with inducements like £150 bonus for passing ECDL to memory sticks for attendance on courses Creation of the expectation that IT competence is a requirement of all staff

9. Vision To transform learning using the tools of 21st century Detailed in our e-learning strategy Support from JISC, CEL, UKERNA & NIACE with some input from LSC, BECTA, LMN Also very good ideas from networking and visits to other providers Some useful information from IT firms e.g. Microsoft and Evesham (our main suppliers)

10. Support from SMT and externally Being a member of SMT makes the development of IT & e-learning much easier for me SMT are not always fully conversant with IT issues but are committed to improving standards in teaching and recognise that e-learning is an effective way to achieve this In IT at the Institute we have been successful and this has led to further support both internally and externally

11. Where we have got to so far Pottery use digital images to record student work and the internet for design ideas ESOL use many web based exercises and resources in the their teaching Care are great advocates of e-learning and embed IT skills as part of their childcare programmes Art department are using IT more now with all the facilities available on line for art We now have the capability for both chemical and digital image processing and so can offer both types of photography to our learners Languages department use language software and on line resources Basic Education have found use of smartboards made a real difference during Inspection as learners are stimulated by the possibilities of interactive tasks Examples include videos of drawing techniques and yoga exercises

12. The challenges ahead Review what we teach and the way we teach it Maintaining investment in the context of reduced funding Developing effective teaching resources Taking e-learning to our out centres – further developing infrastructure and exploring potential of mobile devices Continuing to develop our staff Embed use of our learning platform Enable remote access to staff network via sharepoint

13. Conclusion This is how we have approached e-learning. It is largely tailored to our situation We have tried to develop our infrastructure, staff and teaching content in parallel We have many challenges ahead but have had enough success to give us confidence for the future I hope you have found some of the ideas useful.