The DART Project

Rohan Slaughter12/6/13

Introduction to Beaumont College

• Scope run Independent Specialist College (ISC) based in Lancaster

• 96 learners in Lancaster, two satellite provisions with ~20 learners

• 330 FTE staff

• Ofsted “Outstanding”

• LSIS Beacon Status

• Curriculum focussed on personal development, independence, skills for life

• Creative arts specialism

The Technology Team at Beaumont

History of the DART project(s)

• 2010/12 DART1, an LSIS funded project

• Beaumont College and National Star College worked with 8 colleges, in a ‘deep support’ capacity

• Beaumont and Star are ISC’s : Independent Specialist Colleges

• One of those DART1 colleges was Henshaws

• Now we are running DART2, a JISC Advance funded project:

• Beaumont College, National Star College, Henshaws College, Colleges Scotland, NATSPEC, JISC all working together

• 10 deep support colleges, 2 in Scotland

• 3 workshops, delivered twice, once in Birmingham, once in Stirling

DART2

The DART project seeks to:

•Improve AT practice in the sector

•Enable the replication of the innovative Assistive Technologist role

•Produce AT case studies for the sector

The project is achieving this through:

•‘Deep Support’ for ten providers

• A Workshop series

• A Natspec sponsored research project

Deep Support

• Following an application and shortlisting process that was overseen by JISC TechDis 10 Colleges were selected

• Applications for the ‘deep support’ element were heavily oversubscribed, with approximately three times more applications than places available

• This indicates that there is a large unmet need in the sector.

• Unsuccessful applicants received priority booking for the workshop series. After the priority booking period, places will are allocated on a first come, first served basis

• We plan to move to a paid consultancy basis for this support going forward, but fear that contracting budgets will limit the appeal of this

Deep Support

Beaumont College to Support:

• Bridge College

• Myerscough College

• Kilmarnock College

• Edinburgh College

National Star College to Support

• Derwen College

• Homefield College

• Queen Alexandra College

Henshaws College to support:

• Landmarks College

• Percy Hedley College

• Royal College (Seashell Trust)

Workshops

• Day 1: Assessment for Assistive Technology Feb 2013

• Slides from the events:

• http://dart.beaumontcollege.ac.uk/?p=342

• http://dart.beaumontcollege.ac.uk/?p=358

• Day 2: Creating the Assistive Technologist role and it’s integration into a College structure, April 2013.

• Slides from the events:

• http://dart.beaumontcollege.ac.uk/?p=391

• http://dart.beaumontcollege.ac.uk/?p=384

• Day 3: Specific Assistive Technology software training, June 2013

• Slides from the events are not yet available

Natspec Research Project

• The Natspec sponsored research project (publication pending, expected shortly) was conducted via online questionnaire / telephone follow up, and sought to:

• Inform the content of the workshops (give the sector what it required in terms of AT related CPD)

• Define key themes around what is working well (or what is not working well) with respect to Assistive Technology in all types of FE College

• A summative DART2 project presentation will take place at the JISC RSC NW annual conference on 26th June 2013: http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/northwest/news/2013/february/jisc-rsc-northwest-annual-event.aspx

• For more information please see http://dart.beaumontcollege.ac.uk

College structure and relationships between teams

The technology strategy in a College stands or falls based on:

• Relationships between teams

• The College Structure

• Relationship of the IT/Technology team with:

Teachers Therapists (where present) Supporting staff People in the AT role

THANK YOU

Email us: maria.chambers@scope.org.uk rohan.slaughter@scope.org.uk

Follow us: @rohanslaughter

Any questions?