JISC

December 1997

To: Heads of Institutions funded by the HEFCs or by the DENI

Copies: Directors of Learning and Teaching and Information Services Directors of those Institutions

JISC Technology Applications Development Programme

1. Introduction

2. This circular invites bids for a clearing house to promote the use of the Instructional Management Systems Project Specification in the UK higher education community and to act as conduit between the project and the UK higher education community.
3. Funding of up to £40,000 per year has been agreed for two years in the first instance.

   Background

4. The Technology Applications Sub-Committee (TASC) of the JISC has agreed to fund the membership, at partner level, of the Instructional Management Systems Project being developed by the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII) of Educom for the whole of UK higher education as part of its standards work.
5. TASC is now seeking to fund an HEI, already active in the use of communications and information technology to support learning and teaching to:
   • Disseminate information on and promote the use of the NLII IMS project to UK HE for use in virtual learning environments;
   • Act as a focus for discussion on the specification; and
   • Follow the work of the IMS and promote the interests of UK HE within the IMS project

   The Instructional Management System

6. The Instructional Management System Project (IMS) was set up by Educom under their National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII). Educom is roughly speaking the US equivalent of UCISA.
7. The NLII was set up to "create new collegiate learning environments that harness the power of information technology to improve the quality of teaching and learning, contain or reduce rising costs, and provide greater access to American higher education. Educom's role is to serve as a catalyst to bring together the affected parties to create joint solutions to the problems inhibiting the creation of a National Learning Infrastructure."
8. Within this, "the IMS project attempts to address three obstacles for providing effective online materials and learning environments:
   • Lack of standards for locating and operating interactive platform-independent materials
   • Lack of support for the collaborative and dynamic nature of learning
   • Lack of incentives and structure for developing and sharing content

   What is needed to address the obstacles described above is a specific set of higher-order specifications and tools that enable teachers, learners, software developers, content providers, and other parties involved in the learning process to create, manage and access the use of online learning materials and environments. The IMS is this set of specifications and tools."

   TASC's Involvement in the area

9. This project fits very well into TASC's remit. TASC has responsibility within JISC for standards. TASC is also already involved in promoting the use of IT to support remote and distance learning and therefore also virtual learning environments. TASC has already funded a number of projects in these areas, ranging from the use of video in teaching (Aberdeen) through the use of videoconferencing in learning and teaching (eg. Exeter and Cardiff) to remote laboratories (eg. Loughborough) virtual laboratories (eg. Leicester and Edinburgh) to virtual learning environments (Bangor, Staffordshire and Manchester).
10. With the growing importance of virtual learning environments (and virtual universities) internationally there are both important pedagogic and major economic arguments for pursuing standards in this area. No HEI can afford to undertake all the development work itself (hence TLTP for instance); but if HEI's are to make use of material developed elsewhere not only must it meet their pedagogic needs it must also be interoperable with the other material that they wish to use, and be capable of fitting in with the way in which their virtual institution is run.

    Why the IMS standard?

11. There are several projects in the general area of standards for virtual learning environments. At this stage one cannot be certain which will be the winner. There are however some good reasons for believing that this one has a very good chance; notably it has the backing of several of the key players including: California State University, Committee on Institutional Co-operation (CIC), International Thomson Publishing, IBM Education, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

    JISC membership

12. JISC, through TASC, on behalf of the whole HE community, has agreed to become a partner in IMS project, at an annual cost of $50,000 for three years.
13. This will:
    • provide all UK HEIs with early access to the outputs from IMS, which can then be used by the HE community in the development of both courseware and virtual learning environments; and
    • help provide IMS with an international outlook. At the moment they recognise the dangers of it becoming too narrowly focused on the needs and wants of the US, and would welcome international partners.
14. Having become a partner TASC needs to fund two lines of activity, as with the Web Watch project. Firstly, There is a need for someone who can lead the activity in the area and take an active part in the development of the standard. Secondly the work will need active promotion to the community to maximise the impact and encourage its take up in any development work.
15. TASC is therefore issuing this call for bids, where TASC will fund the full cost of the dissemination, promotion and information gathering and up to 2/3 of the cost of following the specification, to a total of not more than £40,000 per year.

    Submission of bids

16. Proposals should be from three to six sides of A4, plus the proforma front cover. The body of the bid should include the following topics:
    1. A description of the work to be undertaken to promote the use of the IMS project in the development of Virtual Learning Environments, and gain feedback from the community. (max 2 sides of A4)
    2. A discussion of how the IMS will be used within the bidders institution, if at all, over the next two years. (max 1 side of A4)
    3. The bidders experience in the area of Virtual Learning Environments and the use of them in their institution. (max 11/2 side of A4)
    4. A brief CV of the person to lead the project and be in charge of the specification work with IMS. (max 1/2 side of A4)
    5. Project management model proposed; (max 1/2 side of A4)
    6. Budgetary cost to the JISC of the activity, including a rough estimate of the composition of this cost (detailed figures will be required at a later stage). Please note that JISC does not pay indirect overheads on projects as these have already been covered by the HEFCs' or DENI's grants. (max 1/2 side of A4)
17. Bids should be submitted electronically using the form to arrive by 17:00 hrs on Friday January 23 1998. The main body of the document should be submitted in one of the following formats: Microsoft Word or HTML. Details of how to submit the bid can be found on the web page from 5 January 1998.
18. 12 copies of the bid must be submitted by postal mail to: Tom Franklin, JTAP Programme Manager, Manchester Computing, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, so as to arrive by 17:00 hrs on Friday January 23 1998. The bid must be printed on single sided A4 and be bound or stapled. The web form, which can be found at http://www.jtap.ac.uk/bid should be completed, printed and attached to the front of the bid. You should not use fonts of less than 10pt in the bid.
19. Each bid will be considered by a panel of independent experts, who will recommend to the TASC which of the projects should be funded.
20. Funding under this programme will commence 1 March 1998, and successful projects will be expected to start work on that date or very shortly thereafter.
21. Further information is available from Tom Franklin, the JTAP Programme Manager, Manchester Computing, Manchester University, Manchester, M13 9PL. Phone/fax 0161 275 6106. Email t.franklin@manchester.ac.uk