JISC

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Overview

This project undertook an evaluation and review of technical developments to support lifelong learning, focussing particularly on JISC-funded projects and the Lifelong Learning Networks funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The aims of this study were to review the ways in which technology can support progression and lifelong learning, and evaluate specific technical developments in this area, in order to provide a source of information 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:

1. The work of the LLNs deserves an explicit dissemination strategy to ensure that their valuable experiences and their products are made widely available
2. 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
3. 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.

From these considerations the recommendations that emerged from the study are organised around the key stakeholders who have an interest in the outcomes of the LLNs and JISC funded projects:

1. the LLNs and the LLN National Forum;
2. the HEFCE and DIUS;
3. the JISC.

Recommendations for the LLNs and the LLN National Forum

1. A dialogue should be pursued with other career advisory agencies (e.g. SSCs, Connexions) to absorb and sustain the localised career information which has been created.

2. Sustained LLN services should work with stakeholders, such as partner institutions and UCAS, to create a plan for the adoption of XCRI-CAP by institutions within or contingent to their area of operation.

3. Collaboration should be developed with stakeholders to help make the case for the adoption nationally of a lifelong learner identifier.

4. In respect of the software systems developed by LLNs, a clear and explicit statement of the IPR position for each system should be made available by each LLN. These, together with the relevant commercial issues and contemporary contact details, should be centrally accessible in order to assist any other body (including a newly initiated LLN) to consider adoption of a developed software system.

5. The LLN National Forum, ,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 national and regional agencies, and regional institutions with an interest in career and education guidance and skills development.

6. Discussions should be held with the JISC concerning the best repository for the LLNs’ ‘legacy’ systems.

Recommendations for the HEFCE and DIUS

7. In the structuring of a national initiative that may involve technical developments, 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.

8. In managing initiatives that involve investigating the environment of learning technologies, it is important to promote and maintain an appropriate 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.

9. In order to protect the public investment made in technology-based services developed by the LLNs with respect to career IAG work, it would be helpful if dialogue could be facilitated at the national level with the RDAs , Connexions, SSCs and related agencies so that the achievements of the best of these developments can be carried forward.

10. The advantages of the use of the XCRI-CAP system for on-line representation of course information should be considered and a policy promoted towards adoption of the standard by the HE sector.

11. Working with agencies governing institutions whose constituencies are learners feeding through the HE sector, a policy should be developed to support the introduction of a universal learner identifier system across English education

Recommendations for the JISC

12. A full set of interventions should be deployed 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.

13. In the initiation of projects to explore learner support systems, it is important to 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.

14. The status of course version control within institutions should be explored and support provided for the development of efficient and effective systems across the HE sector.

15. Relevant agencies should be influenced to provide support for the adoption of a universal learner identifier system.

16. Support should be continued for 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.

 For further details download the final report.

• Lead Organisation and Partners

  The KSA Partnership
  deBurca Ltd