JISC

A new JISC publication was launched at the ALT conference today which looks at e-learning, its benefits, possibilities and challenges, from the perspective of the learner. In Their Own Words includes video case studies of five learner ‘voices’, a CD-ROM with original reports, a series of short guides summarising key messages for different sectors and pull-out information sheets.

Part of a two-phase strand of JISC’s e-Learning Programme on ‘Learner Experiences of e-Learning’, the publication synthesises material gathered during the first phase of activities, providing striking insights into the ways in which digital learners use technologies for learning. 

Understanding the needs of learners is vital for institutions, as the introduction to the publication makes clear, and this publication explores the ‘under‘These and other learner voices have some important implications for institutional IT provision, academic practice and learning support.'-researched and imperfectly understood world of the learner in the digital world’ by allowing learners themselves to speak about their experiences, their ways of understanding and using technology and what they want and expect of institutions.

Among the learners given voice by the publication are: Laura, a higher education student who lives at home and who likes to listen to lectures on her iPod while travelling; Finbar, a part-time learner and father of four, who finds that the digital revolution has made it easier for part-time students to return to education; and Jenny and Emma, trainee teachers who are piloting the use of e-portfolios for online reflection and who find the process of narrating their own progress ‘addictive’. 

Dr Rhona Sharpe, OxfordBrookesUniversity, for the JISC Learner Experiences Support and Synthesis project said: ‘These and other learner voices have some important implications for institutional IT provision, academic practice and learning support. The aim is not just to inform about the outcomes of studies, but also to provide institutions with resources and guidelines to supplement their own research into learners’ experiences of e-learning.’

Following its launch today the publication will be distributed to: senior managers with responsibility for learning and teaching, for resources and student support; heads of e-learning and ILT; heads of library and information services; and heads of staff development and learning and teaching enhancement units in both further and higher education institutions. 

To access the publication, please go to: In Their Own Words