JISC

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The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which technology can support progression and lifelong learning and to evaluate specific funded technical developments in these areas, to inform the planning and implementation of future work by key stakeholders, including for organisations considering implementing technology for these purposes.

Executive Summary

The implementation of the project involved two main phases of activity - lifelong learning networks (LLNs) and JISC funded projects – and the project methodology involved conceptual framework development, desk research and data collection, stakeholder validation, and reporting.

A learner journey based conceptual framework was constructed to make sense of the data generated in the study and to provide a foundation for the emerging findings and themes for investigation and exploration. Consideration was given to different dimensions – the status of learners, the transitions a learner makes, the key stages in the lifecycle to identify those stages where projects have a particular focus, the learner processes supported by the projects, and the types of interventions which enable these process to work well in practice.

A detailed analysis of the objectives, constraints, challenges and achievements of the LLNs and the JISC funded projects has identified some key issues which are fully explored in the body of the report.

The work done by the LLNs in their construction of technology-based services, and by the JISC funded projects in their research and development activity in respect of several branches of e-learning, have constituted a powerful national laboratory of experimentation. The work has provided evidence that will both inform institutions looking to invest resources to assist learners with the selection and operation of their learning, and will inform the direction of policy and initiatives being considered by the HEFCE and the JISC to improve the learner experience.

The LLNs involved in this study have been most committed to the challenges faced by learners requiring support with lifelong learning issues. They have been innovative and resourceful in their creation of a set of powerful and helpful facilities. Guided by local circumstances they have made contributions to the complex area of lifelong learning which indicate where solutions will be found – and they have flagged up many areas where significant national challenges will be faced in order to provide effective support for those organising their own learner journey.

The JISC funded projects have also provided valuable illustrations of a variety of solutions to a broad spectrum of learner situations. In particular this breadth exemplifies the complexity of the concept of an e-portfolio and the reception of the concept by learner communities.

Looking across the broad sweep of the systems work of the LLNs and the JISC funded projects considered by this study, some themes emerge:

• The work of the LLNs deserves an explicit dissemination strategy to ensure that their valuable experiences and their products are made widely available
• Whilst moving forward with e-learning experiences the terrain continues to look complex and no simple set of principles regarding the selection or deployment of learner services has yet emerged
• The concept of an e-portfolio looks to be increasingly multi-dimensional and so provision, operation and interoperation will be complex
• The desirability for inter-operation must be under-pinned by the promulgation of standards within HE and beyond to ensure provision can be made for:
  • the aspiration to sustain learner data across succeeding course registrations, and
  • efficiency gains in course searching systems through use of standards for course description encoding.

  Recommendations

  For the Lifelong Learning Networks and the Lifelong Learning Network National Forum

  1. LLNs and the LLN National Forum should pursue a dialogue with other career advisory agencies (e.g. Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), Connexions) to absorb and sustain the localised career information which has been created
  2. Sustained LLN services should work with stakeholders to create a plan for the adoption of XCRI-CAP (eXchange of Course Related Information – Course Advertising Profile) by institutions within or contingent to their area of operation
  3. The sustained LLNs and the LLN National Forum should work with their stakeholders to help make the case for the adoption nationally of a lifelong learner identifier
  4. In respect of any software system developed by an LLN, the LLN National Forum should seek from all LLNs a clear and explicit statement of the IPR position. In addition, the LLN National Forum should collect and make available all relevant commercial issues and contemporary contact details which would assist any other body (including a newly initiated LLN) to consider adoption of a developed software system
  5. The LLN National Forum – possibly with the assistance of JISC – should consider the creation of a market open to all LLNs (past and current) where the possibilities of LLN system re-use are available for exploration, enquiry and negotiation. This could take the form of a Forum website page and/or a special event – a ‘Systems Fair’. The audience should not be limited to LLNs – but include other national and regional agencies and regional institutions with an interest in career and education guidance and in skills development
  6. The LLN National Forum should undertake a discussion with the JISC to identify the best repository for their ‘legacy’ systems

  For HEFCE and DIUS

  1. In the structuring of a national initiative, a trade-off should be made between the desirability of quickly achieving a set of outcomes from many parallel projects and the value of early pilot work from a few projects informing the plans of a greater number launched at a later date
  2. In investigating the environment of learning technologies it is appropriate to maintain a balance between the supply of systems by a broad sweep of institutions and agencies, and the demand for these systems by learners and other potential users
  3. To protect the public investment made in technology-based services developed by the LLNs with respect to career IAG (information, advice and guidance) work, it would be helpful if the HEFCE, working through DIUS and other government agencies, could facilitate dialogue with regional development agencies (RDAs), Connexions, SSCs and related agencies so that the achievements of the best of these developments can be carried forward.
  4. HEFCE should consider the advantages of the use of the XCRI-CAP system for on-line representation of course information and develop a policy towards adoption of the standard by the HE sector. In this there should be careful consideration of the contribution which could be made by UCAS. It should also explore the status of course version control within institutions and provide support for the development of efficient and effective systems across the HE sector
  5. HEFCE, working through DIUS with agencies governing institutions whose constituencies are learners feeding through the HE sector, should develop a policy for the introduction of a universal learner identifier system across English education

  For JISC

  1. JISC should deploy a full set of interventions to disseminate the outcomes of the LLN and related projects including the publication of final reports, support (for selected cases) with benefit realisation resource and help in creating a ‘market’ for the transfer of solutions between fund holders
  2. In the initiation of projects to explore learner support systems, the JISC should continue to commission projects which develop experimental supply but also give weight to projects whose fundamental rationale is to broadly explore learner needs and their responses to existing services
  3. JISC should use its influence with relevant agencies to provide support for the adoption of a universal learner identifier system
  4. JISC should continue to support projects which explore the field of e-portfolios with increased emphasis on the sub-structure of such entities and the development of standards which facilitate the relocation of elements from one ‘purpose’ to another