JISC

This is a two year project that will investigate, identify and evaluate solutions to the issues and challenges that arise in providing a personalised learning experience which meets the needs of individual lifelong learners in a range of settings. The project will explore these issues through the use of e-Portfolios and social software (Web 2.0) to support widening participation and the development of skills essential to successful lifelong learning.

This project will build on the outcomes of the JISC-funded Enhancing Learner Progression (ELP1) project, and other projects in the Regional Pilots strand of the JISC Distributed e-Learning programme (particularly the ePistle, MyWORLD, PDP4Life and FilePASS projects) by:

1. Establishing the impact of Individual Learning Plans (ILP), required by 2008, on regional lifelong learning initiatives and identifying ways in which the integration and interoperability issues can be addressed by these social network technologies. Our particular focus is on ensuring that ELP2 partners' WP initiatives integrate effectively with our partner schools and colleges as they start to implement ILPs. This is an important regional issue that will affect all schools, colleges and universities.
2. Extending the provision of widening participation opportunities to a broader range of learner groups beyond the 16-19 group in full-time formal education that was targeted in ELP, through the use technologies that support more informal approaches to learning. These would include mature learners, excluded and isolated learners, learners from BME and other priority groups, and individual learners following non-traditional entry routes.
3. Demonstrating how social software can enhance the capacity of learner groups and other stakeholders within the region to form support networks which can provide peer and mentor support, engender a sense of a wider community of learners and create a regional pool of shared knowledge, advice and guidance.
4. Establishing the extent to which social software engages and motivates learners and enables them to develop the skills essential for effective lifelong learning, eg self-analysis, reflective skills.
5. Completing a longitudinal evaluation of the experiences of ELP participants (and subsequent cohorts) that have transferred from School/FE into HE, and HE into workplace settings as they progress in their lifelong learning journeys.