Hairdressing Training gets a free makeover
Online learning package for hairdressing students and practitioners to be made available free to UK colleges
Funding from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) makes Hairdressing Training free of charge to all UK further education institutions from August 2007. This funding has enabled Jisc Collections to purchase Hairdressing Training on behalf of UK further education institutions for the next three years and to continue providing this resource through MIMAS, based at the University of Manchester.
Designed by Hairdressing professionals and ready for classroom use, Hairdressing Training provides an online learning package to support teaching of hairdressing and barbering across various awards including NVQ, SVQ, Diplomas and Apprenticeships.
It aims to put the fun into learning hairdressing with the step-by-step guides and lesson material covering techniques for cutting, colouring, neutralising and perming hair, styling, shampooing and conditioning. It also covers drying hair, health and safety, information about hairdressing equipment and hair care products.
Hairdressing Training is useful for developing students’ IT skills, which is now an essential part of the NVQ/SVQ syllabi. This resource also provides opportunities for independent learning so that students can use Hairdressing Training both on campus and at home. In addition, students can also incorporate parts of the resource in their assignments and portfolios.
Teachers can use all or part of this resource, tailoring it to suit the needs of their course and particular student group. Hairdressing Training provides teachers with the opportunity to combine the best of the web along with traditional printed materials to deliver their courses.
Stephen Nichols, E-Learning Contract Manager at the Learning and Skills Council says “The Learning Skills Council is delighted to provide funding for this resource that will be freely available to support students and practitioners in the studying and teaching of hairdressing. The e-learning materials will be enhanced and updated to further engage learners in using technology to support work based learning.”
Hairdressing Training is updated regularly to reflect changes in styles and to include new haircuts. It will be further enhanced with the introduction of new functionality which takes advantage of mobile technologies and social networking to enable greater student engagement and participation.
Lorraine Estelle, CEO of Jisc Collections, explains “As part of our ongoing commitment to providing innovative resources for the education community, this was the first which we helped to develop specifically for the vocational courses. The introduction of new web technologies to Hairdressing Training provides new opportunities to enrich education and positively engage students. This is an exciting time for us.”
Jo Jordan and Glen Burr, creators of Hairdressing Training and co-owners of the Jordan Burr salon in London’s West End said, “We are delighted that the Learning and Skills Council are providing funding for Hairdressing Training. By making it freely available to colleges, this should help enable them to finely tune the balance between practical and theoretical elements of their courses. It is our aim to help institutions develop trainee hairdressers of the highest calibre. We are also driven to inspire students to develop a real sense of passion and excitement about the profession.”
Jackie Carter, Learning and Teaching Services Manager at MIMAS, who host and support Hairdressing on behalf of Jisc Collections and colleges in the UK said, “Hairdressing Training is an innovative way to engage students and teachers in e-learning and is leading the away in showing how this can be embedded in the curriculum. MIMAS is pleased to continue to be involved in the delivery of this resource to the further education institutions and is actively engaged in ensuring that new social software is brought to the users of this service to further develop this active community.”
For further information, please go to Hairdressing Training