JISC

Today, 25 September 2008, the shortlisted entries for this year’s JISC/Times Higher Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year Award are being announced. Entries cover the Second Life project, digitisation, assessment, location independent working, language teaching and the use of video. But which forward-thinking initiative will take home the prestigious award?

This year’s competition attracted a record number of entries from some 140 institutions, surpassing all expectations according to THE editor Anne Mroz. The ‘Oscars’ of the sector and “a great way of recognising the commitment and success of the talented individuals working in UK higher education" according to a representative from Universities UK (THE 13.03.2008), this year’s diverse entrants are more impressive than ever.

The 2008 shortlist:

• The Open University's (OU) Open Life project
• Coventry University's Location Independent Working scheme
• Nottingham University's One-Stop-Language-Shop
• The University of Westminster's Online training videos
• Sheffield Hallam University's Assignment Handler initiative
• Oxford University's Great War Archive

The JISC-sponsored award is designed to showcase the most innovative and potentially far-reaching ICT initiatives across the UK. The winner will be announced at a gala dinner and awards ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, on 23 October 2008.

Further information on the shortlisted initiatives:

The Open University’s Open Life
The Open Life initiative gathers the OU’s Second Life projects into one virtual space to support peer discussion, collaboration and research. Already included in course teaching strategies, it also contributes to SLoodle - a project designed to integrate Second Life with Moodle (a learning management system) to reach a wider audience. Pilot projects have realised Second Life’s great synergy with the OU’s distance learning techniques as it promotes real-time interaction in a rich ‘virtual learning environment’.

Coventry University’s ‘Location Independent Working’ Programme
Coventry University’s 'Location Independent Working' pilot scheme is the UK’s first. Equipped with appropriate mobile technologies from laptops to smartphones, staff simply connect to the 'virtual office' wherever they may be. It’s already reducing stress and absence levels and inspiring higher quality work, whilst saving an annual £100,000 on offices. Coventry aims to develop and share its cost-saving ‘eWorking’ solutions with other HE institutions.

Nottingham University's One-Stop-Language-Shop
The One-Stop-Language-Shop is Nottingham University’s pièce de résistance. Based in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, its individualised tuition comes courtesy of a dynamic ICT partnership with Information Services. Both staff and students are benefiting from its multimodal materials, powerful user-centred activities, exercises based on video gaming and innovative audio-visual aids, with a self-access platform set to bring language to virtual and actual life in universities across the UK and beyond.

The University of Westminster's online training videos
Web 2.0, Photoshop and PowerPoint can enhance the learning experience. To provide staff and students with accessible training, University of Westminster academic Russell Stannard has used voiceover and screen recording software to create mini online videos that help explain a vast array of ICT technologies. With his website receiving 10,000 hits per month, the university has funded a second site for multi-media training (which receives almost 60,000), with a view to expanding this flexible delivery approach.

Sheffield Hallam University's Assignment Handler Initiative
Sheffield Hallam’s Assignment Handler Initiative supports the online submission of coursework and delivery of grades. Its inception coincides with National Student Survey evidence regarding the timely delivery of grades, staff concerns about student engagement with feedback and the inception of an institution-wide assessment improvement project. With positive feedback from the 10,000 students already involved, Hallam’s success has prompted several universities to adopt similar solutions.

Oxford University's Great War Archive
As part of Oxford’s First World War digitisation project, the University’s Great War Archive Initiative has already collected over 4,000 items in its national call for people to submit memorabilia or anecdotes relating to the First World War. The depositor’s website is a simple interface through which digital photographs, recordings or stories can be submitted, along with basic cataloguing information. The department is keen to help others emulate its underlying principles in a cost effective manner.