JISC Organisational Support Committee brochure
JISC Organisational Support aims to offer advice and guidance to managers and administrators in institutions by providing a comprehensive work programme and a range of key advisory services offering training and support.
JISC Organisational Support - remit
The Committee’s terms of reference are:
- To investigate the human, organisational and legal issues related to the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in further (FE) and higher (HE) education and research
- To help ensure that appropriate JISC activities remain relevant to the business processes of institutions and that human and organisational issues are properly considered and addressed
- To oversee training services (eg Netskills) and institutional support services (eg RSCs)
- To oversee a monitoring and evaluation mechanism which enables JISC to provide information to institutions on the changing patterns of use of ICT, e-resources and e-research
- To promote activities in support of business in the community
JISC Organisational Support work programme
Aims and objectives
To harness the potential offered by ICT and ensure its effective use requires the consideration and understanding of a range of issues focusing on the implications associated with using ICT rather than the technology itself. The Organisational Support Work Programme encourages the uptake and effective use of ICT by exploring the implications of using ICT from the perspectives of individuals, groups and institutions. The work programme is supported and managed by the JISC Executive’s Sector Support Team, based at the University of Nottingham. The current programme is underpinned by four strategic themes:
- Management Development and Institutional Support
- Staff Development
- Support for Wider Sectors
- Information, Evaluation and Reporting
Current work programme: Management Development and Institutional Support
This work area aims to reflect the role of ICT within the strategic and operational management of institutions and to support other programmes delivered by our strategic partners. There is also an opportunity to bring together and present JISC’s recent work in this area as a coherent whole.
Learning Lessons from e-Business
Series of senior management briefing papers will be released in sections as they emerge on a chapter-by-chapter basis, wherever appropriate, and resulting in a book. These will feed into, and stimulate, the broader management development programme.
Impact of Networked Learning (INLEI)
The INLEI project is a largely qualitative investigation, comprising 20 cases supported by quantitative data from questionnaires in six key areas:
- Institutional development
- Quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation procedures
- Staffing and collaboration
- The development of materials
- Infrastructure and support services
- Learning and teaching
Risks Associated with e-Learning Investment in FE and HE
This project had two aims. The first aim was to develop a Risk Framework. The Risk Framework piloted in a number of UK FE and HE institutions aims to facilitate self-assessment within an institutional context. The framework provides a range of materials, processes and workshops which an institution can work through while adding context to the core material. The workshop materials and worksheets provided within this framework are modular in nature to allow institutions to define their own ‘navigation route’. This ‘pick and mix’ approach allows institutions to access information most relevant to their own stage of development or implementation of e-learning. A second aim was to identify further research and advanced toolkits that might be developed to improve the effectiveness of strategic investment planning in e-learning and that would inform the work of JISC, the Funding Councils and other FE and HE agencies.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Total Cost of Ownership is a method of identifying and understanding all of the costs associated with the acquisition, use and support of ICT, with the aim of improving decision-making about future ICT investment and deployment in an FE institution.
The purpose of this project was to develop an online system to support the use of the TCO model. Its aim was to develop a comparative database that would allow any college to benchmark their results externally against other colleges and sustainability models, and internally between departments and user groups.
The Insight project
The Insight project provides a model which can be used to evaluate relevant and consistent information on the benefits and costs of ICT usage, thereby providing a framework for decision-making and benchmarking within HE institutions.
Current work programme: Staff development
The JISC Organisational Support Committee has commissioned a number of projects and studies in the field of staff development and information literacy. Information is a complex, extensive and growing resource. It exists in many media and forms and we find it in many ways. We put this information to many uses: academic, business, social and personal. We need to be able to find information that is relevant, accurate, appropriate and timely. In order to use these vast complex resources effectively and efficiently some particular skills are needed. However, people often seek information in an unconsidered and uninformed way. This problem is to some extent exacerbated by the ‘Google’ syndrome and the belief that all the information we need is available at the click of an Internet button. Within all departments, within each FE and HE institution, staff need the appropriate level of skills and information in finding, evaluating and using information resources effectively.
Staff Information Skills Set
The existing Staff Information Skills Set (SISS) programme has developed a model adapted from the Big Blue programme and provides high-level advice on the implementation and delivery of staff training in this area. Continuation of this work aims to extend to practitioners a range of materials, to assist in the personal development of their information skills either online or mediated through services provided by JISC or its strategic partners. The SISS work provides a unifying framework for a clear and unambiguous picture of all the staff development activity that JISC currently undertakes or brokers for the community.
Current work programme: Adult and Community Learning
Portfolio for Adult and Community Learning (ACL) Development Officers
As a part of the commitment to extend the work of JISC to Adult and Community Learning, this project aims to develop a comprehensive and authoritative portfolio of information and materials covering all of the resources and services that JISC has to offer the ACL community. This will be both a guide to the new Regional Support Centre ACL Advisors (England only) and be a source of information for those working in the ACL sector.
The main contents of the portfolio will be:
- A publication describing appropriate services and products together with links to key JISC sources
- A collection of JISC resources on CD
Specialist Colleges
This project marshalled some of the services and resources provided by JISC into a package tailored to the particular needs of staff in specialist colleges.
The project has supported the ILT Champions’ training programme run by BECTa. It has done this by organising residential events, which have prepared delegates to meet the possibilities and challenges to be faced by specialist college staff in making the most of the new JANET connections and other NLN support. Funding by the Organisational Support Committee also provided ILT Champions with a laptop computer, with additional finance from the Learning and Skills Council and a suite of further training, specially tailored by JISC services, Netskills and TechDis, to meet the particular requirements of staff in these residential colleges for students with a disability.
Virtual Training Suite Tutorials for Adult Community Learning
A suite of five topics based on the popular series produced for FE and HE:
- Arts & Crafts
- Health & Fitness
- Job Searching
- Digital Photography
- Gardening
Virtual training suite
Current work programme: Information, evaluation and reporting
JISC’s Monitoring and Evaluation Framework
For almost 5 years JISC has monitored and evaluated the use of electronic information services (e-is). JISC’s Monitoring and Evaluation Framework is based upon:
- An interview-based survey to end-users to establish patterns of use and non-use
- An online survey of the usage of JISC services in order to profile users
- A survey of e-is provision in order to profile service provision
- A qualitative ongoing monitoring of e-is of actual and virtual ‘sites’ within UK HE and FE
- An associated programme of studies on the behaviour and needs of specific disciplinary groups
Past projects
For more information on past projects and programmes, many of which are still very much of relevance to the FE and HE sectors today, can be found on the JISC website.
Advisory Services
The Organisational Support Committee funds advisory services that provide expert, specialist help in specific areas as well as a comprehensive package of training and support.
JISC Legal Information Service
JISC Legal is a free information service offering high quality legal information to FE and HE, relating to the use of ICT, and runs training events, provides publications and offers an enquiry service.
Netskills
Netskills provides quality Internet training services to facilitate the effective use of Internet and Intranet technologies for teaching and learning, research, administration, marketing and other business activities.
JISCinfoNet
JISC infoNet is JISC’s new Centre of Expertise in the Planning and Implementation of Information Systems. The JISCinfoNet service supports and enables planners, implementers and practitioners in FE and HE to understand, innovate and use new technological developments that support learning, teaching and business processes.
Regional Support Centres (RSCs)
JISC RSCs exist to advise the learning providers of designated sectors to realise their ambitions in deployment of ICT in order to achieve their organisational mission. The network of JISC RSCs operates as a national service responsive to local needs through a strong sense of local ownership.
TechDis
The JISC TechDis service aims to improve provision for disabled staff and students in the FE, HE and specialist education sectors through technology. Achieving this takes several routes. TechDis provides an advice and information resource via extensive web-based databases and an email helpdesk. These resources should be the first port of call for anyone in education who has a question relating to disability and technology.