Extending opportunities for life-long learning in a digital age

Peter Chatterton Eta De Cicco

Neil WhittAndrew Comrie

Institutional approaches to mainstreaming new flexible and cost-effective practices and technologies

Workshop format

Overview of JISC Guide

Case study 1Exploring

APEL

Case study 2Building

Partnerships

PlenaryFeedback

from Groups

JISC Guide

resources

Objectives &“ice-breaker”

Short presentations +

Discussions on issues and implications for developing

and mainstreaming new practices and technologies in different institutional contexts

The workshop will explore how institutions are meeting the needs of lifelong learners by developing and mainstreaming cost-effective, scalable and efficient new practices and technologies.

The University of Plymouth Colleges regional partnership of Further Education College’s PINEAPPLE project adopts technology solutions to make the APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning) process more efficient and cost-effective (Neil Whitt)

Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh’s Telford College have worked in partnership with Edinburgh City Council to design and deliver a new suite of programmes that provide seamless articulation pathways and alternative work-based routes to degree study where technology is used extensively to provide cost-effective and flexible delivery (Andrew Comrie)

Ice-breaker

Identify your top challenges:

….associated with implementing new practices and technologies for Lifelong Learning (including work-based learning):

Institutional

Programme design & delivery

Staff / cultural

Student / employer

Technology

New JISC Guide

Learning in a Digital AgeExtending higher education opportunities for Lifelong Learning

Explores how institutions are developing and mainstreaming new lifelong learning practices and the technologies they are using.

Support for lifelong learners Responsive curricula design Flexible curriculum delivery Assessment, feedback and accreditation Stakeholder engagement and sustainable

partnerships

+ 11 case studiesForms part of the successful

Effective Practice series.

Table summary

Support for lifelong learners

Some learners, particularly non-mainstream learners, may experience difficulties managing the social and academic aspects of HE

Learners can lack a sense of belonging to an HE community within an FE environment

Responsive curriculum design

More responsive curriculum development depends on participation from those individuals that have a stake in the outcome

The absence of shared vocabulary and employers’ unfamiliarity with HE level descriptors can form barriers to sustainable employer-centred provision

Table summary

Flexible curriculum delivery

University admissions and other support processes cannot always adapt rapidly to the needs of diverse learners

Employers and learners want smaller and shorter learning experiences

Not all learners perceive their interactions with HE as a holistic experience

Assessment, feedback and accreditation

The need to capture staff CPD activities in a manner that respects the concept of the reflective practitioner whilst meeting the requirements of an award

Finding ways of embedding feedback activities in the online delivery of learning to remote learners

Mainstream application processes do not easily recognise and accredit the prior experiences of non-traditional learners

Table summary

Stakeholder engagement and sustainable partnerships

A lack of standardisation of terminology to describe data, across key stakeholders such as information providers can prevent effective re-use and blending of data from different sources

Difficulties for course teams and careers guidance and information professionals to access accurate, at-a-glance labour market information

Provision of work-based programmes depends on collaborative partnership working

Workshop format

Overview of JISC Guide

Case study 1Exploring

APEL

Case study 2Building

Partnerships

PlenaryFeedback

from Groups

JISC Guide

resources

Objectives &“ice-breaker”

Short presentations +

Discussions on issues and implications for developing

and mainstreaming new practices and technologies in different institutional contexts

The workshop will explore how institutions are meeting the needs of lifelong learners by developing and mainstreaming cost-effective, scalable and efficient new practices and technologies.

The University of Plymouth Colleges regional partnership of Further Education College’s PINEAPPLE project adopts technology solutions to make the APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning) process more efficient and cost-effective (Neil Whitt)

Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh’s Telford College have worked in partnership with Edinburgh City Council to design and deliver a new suite of programmes that provide seamless articulation pathways and alternative work-based routes to degree study where technology is used extensively to provide cost-effective and flexible delivery (Andrew Comrie)

Online resources

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/digilifelong

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/digilifelongresources

Learning in a Digital AgeExtending higher education opportunities for Lifelong Learning

Online supplementary resources

Work-based learning maturity toolkit

http://tinyurl.com/wbl-toolkit