Online Digital Learning Working Group

Leighton Andrews, Minister for Education and Skills, announced to the Higher Education Leadership Foundation in December last year that he intended to establish a working group to examine the potential for online digital learning and how the Welsh Government can support the higher education sector in this growing field.

From his recent Written Statement:

I am delighted that Andrew Green, [now retired] National Librarian of Wales, has agreed to chair the working group.

Welsh Universities are already engaged in a range of activities designed to maximise the benefits afforded by advances in learning technologies.  In seeking to respond to the cultural shift in the expectations of students, universities are eager to engage through the latest online teaching methods.  Globally, the advent of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) represents a new internet-based model for volume participation in higher education.

Such ventures are not new – the Open University has been offering open source material for some time.  More recently, however, a series of MOOC ventures has been launched by some of the most prestigious global academic institutions such as Stanford, MiT and Harvard.  Udacity and Coursera (which includes the University of Edinburgh) are among the pioneers for a new brand of for-profit online higher education providers.  In just one year these new ventures have attracted over $100m of private venture capital investment. Whilst the long-term sustainability of such ventures may be open to question, the reach and quality of such disruptive innovations may have profound implications for the delivery of higher education in Wales. At the end of 2012 the Open University announced the launch of Futurelearn, with partners including Cardiff University, to produce a UK-based platform for massive open online courses.

Our aim is to ensure that Wales is well placed to continue to prosper in the face of such developments.  The Working Group will be tasked with examining the potential for MOOCs and whether the Welsh higher education sector is sufficiently prepared to meet these challenges.  I intend that its remit should go wider, however, to consider also the opportunities and challenges presented by the development of open educational resources more broadly.

The terms of reference for the Working Group will be to advise the Welsh Government on:

• the potential competitive threat posed by global technology-based developments to the higher education sector in Wales;
• the potential opportunities afforded by technological development for the Welsh higher education sector at a time of constrained public expenditure;
• to what extent the Welsh higher education sector is working collectively to bring economies of scale to maximise the opportunities afforded; and
• to what extent technological development may provide a platform to increase participation in part-time and full-time higher education, again in a period of constrained public spending.

The Group will begin its work in March.  I have asked Andrew Green to report to me by the end of September this year.

To read the full statement and see members of the working group:

http://wales.gov.uk/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/2013/onlinedigitallearning/?lang=en

 

Engaging science and technology students – report of a study day

A very interesting post from Susan Glen on the CILIP Wales blog.

Susan Glen,  Deputy Subject Librarian at Swansea University, received financial support from the Kathleen Cooks Fund to attend the Science & Technology Librarians Group meeting at the University of Portsmouth on the 4th December The day focused on engaging students and provided Susan with some great ideas for livening up teaching sessions and developing social media presence.

Susan has kindly allowed CILIP Cymru Wales to disseminate her report of the day: http://cilipcymruwales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/engaging-science-and-technology.html

Written Statement – Learning in Digital Wales

Chair of WHELF, Andrew Green, was a member of the Task and Finish Group which published its report entitled Find it, Make it, Use it, Share it – Learning in Digital Wales on 29 March 2012.

The Minister has considered the wide ranging recommendations in this report and has agreed an action plan for the use of digital technology to improve performance in schools.

He is establishing a National Digital Learning Council to provide expert and strategic guidance on the use of digital technology in teaching and learning in Wales.

In December 2012 he will be launching a new bilingual learning platform for Wales, for which the working title is Hwb.

National Digital Collection – Hwb will provide the online home for a national digital repository of teaching and learning resources.  This will include the thousands of curriculum and good practice resources which have previously been developed for our teachers’ website NGfL Cymru, which will be migrated to Hwb in December.

Hwb will host resources which can be used on a variety of platforms.  One element of Hwb, however, will be the use of the free iTunes University platform (iTunes U) in order to showcase the best educational resources and activities in Wales.

Hwb will also provide access to the wide range of free educational tools and resources which have been developed through the Microsoft Partners in Learning initiative.

Professional Development: Digital Technology and Computing
Establishing a team of Digital Leaders which will be drawn from the best practitioners using digital technology in Wales.

A Culture of Digital Citizenship
The world wide web provides a tremendous learning resource for children and young people.  As well as access to a vast range of information and educational tools, it provides an opportunity for learners across the world to share their own ideas, experience and creativity with one another.  We need to help learners develop the skills, confidence and maturity to navigate this new world and make good use of the opportunities it provides.  Most importantly, we also want to ensure that our children are safe online.

The new digital learning programme for Wales will, however, take a new approach to the use of social networking technologies in education.  Through this programme, and through Hwb, we will be encouraging schools to make full use of social technologies in order to engage learners and improve learning outcomes.

http://wales.gov.uk/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/2012/learningindigitalwales/?lang=en

Graduates for our Future: post-conference notes and reflections

Have a look at these personal notes and reflections from Lis Parcell on Graduates for our Future, promoted as the first learning and teaching conference for Higher Education in Wales.

Around 170 participants packed out the Catrin Finch Centre at Glyndŵr University on 26 April for sessions linked to one of the three Welsh Higher Education enhancement themes: Students as Partners, Learning in Employment and Learning for Employment. For a press release summarising the day, including the keynotes, see the Academy website.

‘Find it, make it, use it, share it’

Education Minister Leighton Andrews has today (29 March) received the final report from the Digital Classroom Teaching Task and Finish Group which sets out how Welsh schools can deliver digital classrooms in a digital age.

http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/publications/wagreviews/digital/?lang=en

Led by Janet Hayward, currently headteacher at Cadoxton Primary School, the group considered what digital materials work in the classroom and how the Welsh Government can work towards all schools in Wales being able to deliver digitally.

The report makes a number of recommendations including the creation of a hub to enable learners and teachers to share best practice resources. The report also recommends the creation of a national digital collection of teaching and learning resources.

The Minister will now consider all of the recommendations set down in the report to see how technology in the classroom can be strengthened for the benefit of Wales’ learners.

Education Minister Leighton Andrews said:

“New technologies can offer new approaches to engage learners. Digital content, wireless access in classrooms, cloud computing and mobile handheld touch screen devices can revolutionise the way in which we communicate and share information with each other in the 21st Century.

“It’s not unreasonable for learners, parents and teachers to expect that the technology they use in their daily life can also be used in education. Across schools in Wales you will see an array of technology being used innovatively for learning and teaching.

“It is important that all learners and teachers have access to appropriate technology and can use it with confidence. We know there’s good practice out there, but as with many things in education, it’s important that schools learn and share the best ideas.

“I want Wales to a take a lead on digital inclusion and digital learning and this report shows us how we can achieve that goal.”

Chair of the Task and Finish Group Janet Hayward said:

“In Wales it is clear that there are some real pockets of outstanding practice in the use of technology to enhance learning outcomes.  We have a strong platform to build on.

“The recommendations do not provide a specific template of how a “digital classroom” should look. The recommendations provide more of a vision of how learners and teachers need to engage with and be supported in their use of technology and how we can develop and share world class content.  Hence the name of the report – Find it, make it, use it, share it – learning in digital Wales.

“We’re delighted to be able to present the Minister with our final report, it’s been a labour of love for the group. We are hugely optimistic that it will mark the beginning of a journey that will secure the best learning opportunities for Wales.”

Establishment of a Review of Digital Classroom Teaching Task and Finish Group

 22 September 2011

Education Minister, Leighton Andrews, has announced a task and finish group to review the use of digital classroom teaching. The scope of the review will be to consider:

a) How high quality, accessible digital classroom content could be developed;

b) How the NGfL is used, and whether there is a more effective way to deliver the aims of NGfL;

c) Whether and how a cloud-based content delivery system (e.g. iTunes university model) would work alongside a VLE for Wales;

d) How high-quality English and Welsh language content could be generated;

e) How to develop Welsh Intellectual Property which can be used to deliver digital teaching content;

f) How teachers might develop the digital teaching skills to use ICT to transform schools.

The full written statement can be found here

Andrew Green, Chair of WHELF and Librarian of the National Library of Wales, is a member of the task and finish group.

Enhancing Learning and Teaching through Technology: refreshing the strategy

HEFCW have now published “Enhancing Learning and Teaching through Technology: refreshing the strategy”
http://www.hefcw.ac.uk/documents/publications/circulars/circulars_2011/W11%2032HE%20Enhancing%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20through%20Technology.pdf 

Shortened, updated and with some revised longer-term indicators. 

“In publishing the strategy for enhancing learning and teaching through technology for higher education (HE) in Wales from 2007/08 to 2016/17 we recognised that it would need to be reviewed at regular intervals. This circular provides an update to the strategy to take account of changes in technology, the policy context and the HE funding regime.”

Future Directions: Learning & Teaching and Widening Access Strategies workshop

HEA workshop – presentations now online: http://bit.ly/i5EOwO

Tara Brabazon: The invisible support network

Librarians remain an often unseen and unappreciated element of good teaching and research. Tara Brabazon interviews an extraordinary one about the challenges the profession faces at the front line of scholarship in the 21st century:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=414491&c=2

Chair in Digital Collections

Lorna Hughes, currently Deputy Director of the Centre for e-Research at King’s College London, has been appointed to a pioneering new post at the National Library of Wales. She will become the world’s first ever Chair in Digital Collections. The post, funded for five years by the University of Wales, is the first academic Chair to be established in any national library in the world.

Lorna has twenty years experience in researching and organising digital information and has worked in universities in Glasgow, Oxford, Arizona, New York and London.

Lorna will undertake and lead academic research on the latest developments in digital resources, while applying their findings to the large digital collections housed at the National Library of Wales. This work spans the creation, provision, investigation, interpretation and conservation of digital collections, including legal issues, the management of data, innovative research methods, and technological developments in access, search and exploitation.

Lorna says, ‘I am delighted to be joining the National Library of Wales, which has a world-class reputation and some very important collections. The NLW has incredible digital collections, and has taken a very strategic approach to digitisation in recent years. I hope to develop a number of new research projects related to the creation, management and use of digital collections. I am also very committed to developing collaborations and partnerships, both nationally and internationally.’

In many respects Lorna will be going back to her roots as she takes up the job of Chair in Digital Collections.

‘I had a Welsh grandfather, who practiced as a dentist in Glasgow in the 1930s! Sadly, he died many years before I was born, but I am now inspired to track down some of my Welsh connections. I am also really looking forward to re-locate in West Wales,’ she added.

Andrew Green, Librarian of The National Library of Wales, is looking forward to Lorna beginning in her new post in Aberystwyth.

‘The National Library of Wales is very glad to appoint a person of Lorna’s calibre and expertise. We hope she will be inspired by the collections within the National Library and beyond. We’re sure she will be able to bring her enthusiasm and experience together for the benefit of extending our understanding and appreciation of digitised and as yet undigitised collections to the world’s attention and benefit,’ said Andrew Green.

Professor Marc Clement, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales, also expressed his pleasure at the appointment:

‘The University of Wales is delighted to be instrumental in establishing this unique professorial post.  I feel certain that Professor Hughes brings exactly the right mix of experience and enthusiasm required to lead the innovative work of pioneering the Library’s new technological developments.’