JISC

Start date: 17 January 2005

End date: 31 December 2006

Funding programme: Distributed e-Learning programme

Project website: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/rippll

JISC theme(s): e-Administration, e-Learning

Final report available below

Region:  East Midlands

Overview

This project will establish a national demonstration model of cross-sector collaboration in personal development planning technology to support Widening Participation
It will build on the University of Nottingham’s previous JISC project by making interoperable all the major study-based electronic Progress File systems in the Nottingham area (i.e. University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and the City of Nottingham Passport used in FE) plus the new Greater Nottingham post-16 admissions process currently under development
Staff and student experience of at least five transition routes into and out of HE/employment will be studied, through work with post-16 partners and Ufi/learndirect

Aims and Objectives

Aims

• To support progression to HE for widening participation (WP), by making all major existing electronic systems in use in the Nottingham area for study-based Progress Files interoperable, using the UK LeAP interoperability standards
• To pilot the transfer of data directly from the main post-16 PDP system (City of Nottingham Passport - CoNP) into HE PDP systems (University of Nottingham ePARs; Nottingham Trent University PDP) to support learner admissions and transitions, thus joining up successive phases of study, pre-HE and HE
• To develop understanding of further transition processes between study and employment (in both directions) and consider connections with issues of graduate retention in the region
• To pilot the use of Shibboleth to facilitate access to learner information deposited at key partner organisations
• To contribute to the building of interoperability specifications for systems supporting lifelong learning by providing further development of the UK LeaP open standards and proving their applicability in a number of different environments.

Objectives

This project will:

• develop 10 new progression/transition use cases reflecting a broad range of learners, including vocational pathway learners and work-based learners, progressing into further study or employment at both school and HE level, and identified in collaboration with at least three FE colleges, with employers and with the regional division of Ufi/learndirect
• extend interoperability pilots of data transfer between the Passport and the University of Nottingham PDP systems to the PDP system at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), carrying out five mapping exercises and five LIP transfers, responding to the requirements identified in the use cases for the purposes of progression/transition, induction and ongoing PDP
• support the use of UK LeAP in the parallel development (2004-2006) of a post-16 on-line admissions project for Greater Nottingham
• scope and document the interoperability issues raised for at least two major employers and for the main commercial supplier of FE systems in the region
• pilot the use of Shibboleth to facilitate access to learner information deposited at key partner organisations.

Project Methodology

The work of this project will build on the foundations laid in the Nottingham MLEs for LLL project ‘Specifying an ePortfolio’, sharing the experience of the University of Nottingham in PDP LIP-mapping, data exchange and use case development from that project with NTU and local FE colleges, and extending the coverage to include the Nottingham Passport data for application to post-16 education.  Activities critical to success include:

• Mapping the NTU PDP system to UK LeaP
• Mapping the CoNP FE application tools to UK LeaP
• Developing use cases for a wide range of learners, including learners on vocational pathways and work-based learners through collaboration with Ufi/learndirect and/or at least two local employers.

The use cases are to be developed through a series of workshop events led by pedagogic staff from UoN and NTU.  Following an initial training workshop for NTU staff and a launch event with FE, Ufi/learndirect and employer partners, the team will draw up a programme for the workshop series, fixing the timing and content of the workshops and the precise deployment of team members across the programme.  

Given the wide range of stakeholders within the participating institutions, some cross-project fora will also be convened, as necessary, for colleagues in cognate areas in different sectors to come together to share learning and develop materials: e.g. pedagogic/guidance staff, technical staff, careers staff, admissions staff, students.

Implications/ Deliverables/ Stakeholders

This project will provide the following outcomes:

• Demonstration of the feasibility of transferring personal data using UK LeaP  between a range of FE, HE and employment-related databases.  Also therefore achievement of continuity of PDP and achievement records for learners between successive episodes of study at different institutions, improvement in quality of applications for work, training or further study (reducing the need for 1-1 interviews for admission to HEIs) and new opportunities to showcase achievements
• Identification of the needs of vocational and work-based learners and students progressing from FE and HE to training/employment.  The outcomes will provide important input into the ongoing development of the technical specification for UK LeaP.
• Enhancement of collaborative relationships between employers and education providers and identification of appropriately enhanced information, provided by PDP in FE/HE, to facilitate employers’ recruitment and ongoing staff-development processes.
• A demonstration example of cross-sector and cross-institutional collaboration, important both for the region and nationally
• Significant enhancement of perceptions of the City of Nottingham Passport among school-based learners and increased levels of take-up of and engagement with PDP
• Increased staying-on rate at the transition from KS4 to FE, leading to increase in WP recruitment of locally-based learners to both HEIs
• Improved information for staff for the purposes of induction and for early identification of learners’ support needs after transitions into FE and HE, optimising appropriate placement arrangements and maximising retention
  A demonstration of the use of the UK LeaP interoperability standards in the Greater Nottingham post-16 admissions process, an innovative implementation which other institutions will be able to build upon, elsewhere in the region and nationally.