The Higher Education Academy Update

1. The Higher Education AcademyUpdate Eddie Gulc Senior Adviser The Higher Education Academy 25 May 2006 York

2. Update • Benchmarking & Pathfinder • Academy/JISC joint working • Other work

3. Benchmarking • Started in January 2006 • Should be finished by July 2006 • Involves 12 institutions • Chester • Leicester • Manchester • Staffordshire • Hertfordshire • Bristol • Institute of Education • Warwick • Oxford Brookes • Coventry (with Warwickshire College) • Strathclyde • UWIC

4. Benchmarking • Three consultancy groups supporting • Prof Paul Bacsich • Prof Peter Chatterton • OBHE • Five approaches • Pick & Mix – supported by Bacsich • Manchester – eMM (e-learning Maturity Model) - liaison with Bacsich • ELTI Embedding Learning Technologies Institutionally - supported by Chatterton • OBHE • Strathclyde - based on MIT90 framework - liaison with Chatterton • Links to Scottish Universities Benchmarking

5. Overview: the e-benchmarking pilot Bristol Warwick Hertfordshire Oxford Brookes UWIC Institute of Edu Strathclyde Coventry & WC SBG Leicester Chester ELTI MIT90 Staffordshire OBHE/ACU Pick & Mix Manchester eMM

6. Benchmarking - Early Feedback • External Evaluator (Critical Friend) • Prof Terry Mayes • Interest in what is the ideal unit for benchmarking • Student • Academic • Module • Programme • Department • School/Faculty • Institution • Sector

7. Early Feedback • Difficulties in collecting data • A political process • Sampling • Quality of data

8. Early Feedback Some general findings: • Low level of interest on external comparisons • Subject-level comparisons attract more interest • Senior management interest in costs/benefits • Deepens the debate about pedagogy • Sharpens awareness of options for development • Agreement that process more important than outcomes

9. Benchmarking – More Information • For more information go to the website: • http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/benchmarking.htm • Benchmarking blog: • http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/weblogs/benchmarking • 30 Aug 2006 – briefing event for Phase 1 e-benchmarking institutions

10. Pathfinder • Will start in October 2006 • Open to the 10 HEFCE funded Benchmarking Pilots • Invited to submit a proposal for Pathfinder Pilot • Funding up to £170,000 • A second call will be issued in February 2007 • Open to all HEFCE funded institutions • Demonstrate a formal process of in-depth institutional review/reflection on e-learning provision

11. Academy/JISC supporting the sector • Joint Management Board (HEFCE, JISC and Academy) agreed how to take forward HEFCE e-learning strategy incl. new ‘virtual centre • We agreed on a need to consult internally and externally • Agreed that the sector doesn’t want another ‘Centre’ • Aim: to establish a seamless e-Learning brokerage function both within and between our respective organisations to support the HE sector in a coherent and meaningful way. • Key Objectives: • To ensure that whatever the starting point of an enquiry, this will lead to the same set of resources, alternatives and support to answer specific needs, i.e. advice & support around specific themes, e.g. e-Assessment. • To adopt a proactive approach, supporting Academy Subject Centres and JISC advisory services to engage with the HE sector (individuals and groups) to further the embedding of e-learning within institutions, e.g. closer collaboration with the staff and educationaldevelopment community.

12. JISC and the Academy • JISC and the Academy bring a wealth of complementary expertise and service: • JISC – development programmes, tools, resources, content, repositories, research etc • JISC - advisory services • Academy – pedagogy, overarching L&T context, resources, professional development, research, staff development focus etc • Academy – discipline focus through subject centre network engagement with institutions at all levels i.e. individuals, discipline groups, staff & educational developers, senior managers (PVCs etc) . . . . . . .

13. JISC/Academy e-learning support model incorporating brokerage function Aim: to establish a seamless brokerage function both within and between our respective organisations to support the HE sector in a coherent and meaningful way. HEIs Individuals/Groups (HeLF) PVC network & e-learning SIG CETLs, FDTL, NTFS, Scottish Transformation CRA etc Brokers Advisory and Content Services Subject Centres Learning and teaching practice and research developments Developments Higher Education Academy JISC

14. Bringing coherence to the sector • 1 FTE broker to be located within each organisation (JISC & Academy) • Process should identify gaps (to stimulate new activities and programmes) • Consultation with sector to be undertaken • e-Assessment to be first theme (2 themes per year) • Joint Academy/JISC workshop: Autumn 2006

15. Other e-learning work • Capital Spending Review projects – ‘DeL2’ – Subject Centres • ePortfolios - Key strategic partnership with the Centre for Recording Achievement (CRA)- Survey: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/survey/eportfolio/ • eTutor • 2 strands – pedagogy/tools • 2 first prizes - £1,000 and a Toshiba notebook • closing date 9 June • PVC Network – e-Learning SIG

16. Other e-learning work Events • Sself – first workshop on 23 June - Belfast • Innovations Academy • Blended Learning – 15 June • OS VLE event – 29 June • Learning Space • 17 July - Technology-rich spaces for inquiry-based group learning: University of Warwick • 21 July - Technology-rich spaces for blended learning and teaching: University of Hertfordshire • 25 July - Technology-rich social and collaborative learning: Glasgow Caledonian University • 21 September - Enabling institution-wide, strategic development of technology-rich learning spaces: University of East London

17. Other e-learning work - Research Recent e-Learning Research Call for Proposals.  4 projects funded - they are: University of Central Lancashire • "Impact of blending a multimedia e-learning resource with traditional teaching methods to support mathematics learning within the life sciences." University of Leicester • "Informal Mobile Podcasting And Learning Adaptation (IMPALA)" Queens University, Belfast • "Evaluation of generic, open-source, web-based marking tools with regard to their support for criterion-referenced marking and the generation of student feedback." University of Strathclyde • "Putting web 2.0 to work: new pedagogies for new learning spaces".

18. Activity • Discuss what the five main priorities are for you and your institution over the next 6 months and 3 years. Why are these issues important? – discuss the detail/offer a context. • See if we can pull together any common priorities/ issues and areas of work • Is there any merit in gathering together a knowledge base of UK e-learning? Who has expertise in doing what with whom? – individual/institutional level • This could help with support/partner finding/locating speakers for events e.g. Fred at x is doing lots of work on blogs, podcasting, m-learning etc

19. Thank You Any questions? Eddie Gulc eddie.gulc@heacademy.ac.uk www.heacademy.ac.uk