E-Learning at Redbridge Institute of Adult Education

Martin Sepion Head of MI & ICT Services

Redbridge Institute – a typical Adult Education provider?

Has a mixture of ACL, FE and project funded provision (NLDC, Family Learning, FLLN etc)

Many centre's across the borough (63) A long tradition of delivering evening classes

cost effectively Part of local authority but with some autonomy Until recently largely unqualified workforce Many older staff and learners (77% students

female)

When did we begin our e-learning adventure?

Five years ago the Institute leased computers and had a support contract with an IT firm

Upon appointment I decided to in-source IT We used the money set aside for leasing the

computers to build a fund to purchase our own equipment (leasing was very expensive)

IT support contract expensive so exchanged for a full time IT technician

Decided to get out of the leasing and support contracts as soon as possible

Infrastructure base Created a three year equipment replacement program Built high ability IT & MIS staff teams – recruitment and staff

development Having knowledgeable in house staff has enabled us to get good

specification equipment at reasonable prices Cost efficient Microsoft Campus license Keeping systems simple – All computers with same build, all XP, no

Mac’s Centrally managed systems – e.g. standard images rolled out from the

servers Excellent Premises team enables us to do our own cabling The infrastructure here at our main site is second to none Lowest specification is now Athlon 64 bit, 1 gig RAM, 17 TFT monitor,

SATA HD Servers are 64 bit 2003 R2 Smartboards and computers in all rooms except mobiles, CDT and

pottery

Staff

Staff profile indicates large number of people who would not naturally be described as whiz kids

Many staff older Many staff have been in post since before the

age of the PC Until introduction of the ALI inspection regime in

the last few years many teaching methods unchanged since the early 20th century

Number of Computers

building IT capabilityMIS and IT teams have grown in line with the growth in both the number and the reliance on computer based systemsWe have successfully acquired the capability to maintain our own IT systems and develop our own applicationsEverything is in house and delivered to a high standards – we compare very favourably with industry standardsThis capability gives us the platform to successfully take on e-learning projects

Staff Development

Organisational support for staff development in general Commitment to investing in staff a big advantage when we were presented with the challenge of developing e-learningResulted in a continuous offer of e-learning related training – sometimes with inducements like £150 bonus for passing ECDL to memory sticks for attendance on coursesCreation of the expectation that IT competence is a requirement of all staff

Vision To transform learning using the tools of 21st

century Detailed in our e-learning strategy Support from JISC, CEL, UKERNA & NIACE with

some input from LSC, BECTA, LMN Also very good ideas from networking and

visits to other providers Some useful information from IT firms e.g.

Microsoft and Evesham (our main suppliers)

Support from SMT and externally

Being a member of SMT makes the development of IT & e-learning much easier for me

SMT are not always fully conversant with IT issues but are committed to improving standards in teaching and recognise that e-learning is an effective way to achieve this

In IT at the Institute we have been successful and this has led to further support both internally and externally

Where we have got to so far Pottery use digital images to record student work and the internet for

design ideas ESOL use many web based exercises and resources in the their

teaching Care are great advocates of e-learning and embed IT skills as part of

their childcare programmes Art department are using IT more now with all the facilities available

on line for art We now have the capability for both chemical and digital image

processing and so can offer both types of photography to our learners Languages department use language software and on line resources Basic Education have found use of smartboards made a real difference

during Inspection as learners are stimulated by the possibilities of interactive tasks

Examples include videos of drawing techniques and yoga exercises

The challenges ahead

Review what we teach and the way we teach it Maintaining investment in the context of reduced

funding Developing effective teaching resources Taking e-learning to our out centres – further

developing infrastructure and exploring potential of mobile devices

Continuing to develop our staff Embed use of our learning platform Enable remote access to staff network via

sharepoint

Conclusion This is how we have approached e-learning. It is

largely tailored to our situation We have tried to develop our infrastructure, staff

and teaching content in parallel We have many challenges ahead but have had

enough success to give us confidence for the future

I hope you have found some of the ideas useful.