JISC

From December 2005 to July 2006, Netskills delivered a JISC funded programme aimed at promoting i-skills amongst managers and administrators within HE and FE institutions.

The programme built on previous JISC work in this area in the Staff Information Skills Set programme, in particular the 2 publications Improving Staff i-Skills and Investing in Staff i-Skills.  During this time JISC also funded a related project at Leeds and Loughborough Universities which researched information use by specific administrative job roles and explored the implications for staff development.

The Netskills programme involved research into the information use of managers and administrators, the delivery of a series of workshops and the creation of a self-evaluation tool. The evaluation formed a core part of the workshop and will be made available as a online 'toolkit' to download and use within institutions. Consultation during the programme involved key stakeholders within the JISC community and also the AUA (Association of University Administrators), the principal representative body for administrators within HE.

High demand resulted in the workshop programme being doubled. There was a high level of interest and enthusiasm for the topic and the toolkit in particular. The programme highlighted the need for a strategic approach for i-Skills development and demonstrated the potential of the i-Skills toolkit to encourage the development of individual skills – an essential factor in the success of strategic
approaches to information and knowledge management.

The programmes identified key areas for further development, including:

• enhanced self-assessment tool providing direction in terms of prioritising areas for development and more models of potential use
• need for wider awareness raising with institutions in order to bring i-Skills onto the staff development agenda
• need for wider strategic planning for i-Skills, including enabling institutions to assess their own capacity for developing i-Skills

Workshop programme

The 2006 workshop programme identified a demand and need for i-Skills to be addressed. This workshop programme aimed to take this forward by targeting those responsible for staff development decisions within institution, with a view to encouraging i-skills to become embedded in existing staff development processes.

The aims of the workshop were to:

• Disseminate the JISC work so far on i-Skills
• Provide guidance on the use of the i-Skills toolkit and how it can be tailored by institutions
• Enable those involved in staff development to plan i-Skills provision strategically by being equipped with appropriate strategies and materials to use back in the workplace
• Gather information on key issues relating to i-Skills for staff development to inform the JISC i-Skills agenda

The programme involved the delivery of 8 workshops in locations throughout the UK, providing a total of 96 places. Rather than offering free places, attendees were charged heavily subsidised rate of £45. This enabled more places to be offered and also tested the sustainability of training in this topic. The workshops were delivered between March and June 2007.

Conclusions and recommendations

Once again there was a high level of interest in this topic. Although there was not such a high demand for the workshop as compared to the 2006 programme this could be for two reasons: firstly there was a charge for the workshops this year and secondly, they were aimed specifically at those with responsibility for staff development and not just managers and administrators as a whole.

The recommendations to JISC from this project would be to:

• Support institutions in auditing their existing i-Skills provision through the development of case studies and a tool to help with the process
• Explore issues specific to Further Education
• Provide more practical advice and guidance on delivering i-Skills sessions
• Gather together examples of good practice, liaising with the Regional Support Centres in this process
• Develop a community of practice using the attendees at the workshop as a starting point
• Deliver further subsidised workshops relating to information skills and using the selfassessment. In particular, more detailed case studies and examples would be welcomed

The programme demonstrated that although there was interest in this topic, there is still limited activity within institutions relating to developing the information skills of staff. Many institutions are beginning this process and would welcome further advice and guidance.