JISC

Start date: 2 October 2006

End date: 30 September 2008

Funding programme: e-Learning Capital programme

Project website: http://web.mac.com/garfield.southall/iWeb/SOLVS/Welcome.html

JISC theme(s): e-Learning

Committees: JISC Learning and Teaching committee

The three fully-funded Lifelong Learning Networks in the NorthWest region, involving 9 universities and a larger number of FECs, are working in partnership through this project to provide support to the vocational learners who are part of their client groups. Taking two employment sectors, Health and Social Care and Creative Industries, the project will develop an approach to personal development planning that can be later rolled out to other sectors. A learner portal for each sector will enable learners in employment to plan routes for their career and personal development, and provide ways to search for learning opportunities from multiple providers that fit their needs. ePortfolio facilities will help them present applications to enrol on courses, and 'social software' will be explored as a means to give mentoring and peer support.

Aims and objectives

The key aims are to:

• support the development of personalised learning within a work based environment
• embed PDP into the pedagogy within representative specific areas of practice in response to the particular needs of the employer’s sector and responsive to the needs of the individual learner
• standardise practise for part-time applications through an e-portfolio, and to provide online learner support in preparing applications
• provide standards-based technology allowing participating institutions
  • to publish learning opportunities to a learning bank
  • to receive standardized learner applications to courses

The specific objectives are to:

• develop tools to assist in the design of PDP activities tailored to specific employment sectors
• use the tools developed to design activities and e-portfolios to support applications for enrolment on courses for two sectors
• build searchable Learning Banks of learning opportunities from LLN institutions
• link to information, advice and guidance resources
• deploy these tools and resources with vocational learners within learner portals specific to the sectors
• evaluate and report on the experiences

Project methodology

Project work will build on technology developed in the course of the earlier Learning Matrix project on Merseyside. The open-source, standards-based approach was developed by Phosphorix ltd who are partners in this project. Input from employers and experts in PDP and e-Portfolio will be used to design and produce “PDP activity design tools”. Course information publishing and aggregation systems already developed in previous projects will be refined and deployed more widely. They will use the XCRI emerging specification to describe courses from many providers in a coherent way.

Anticipated impact

The project work will be a key element in the LLN partners’ strategy for learner support, advice and guidance. The evaluation and reporting of our experience will provide lessons of potential value to LLNs in other regions. The further articulation and maturing of the software base (ioNetwork and ioPortal) will provide alternative solutions for those grappling with similar problems of supporting learners in cross-institutional contexts. Contributions will be made to the development of the XCRI specification for course description.

Lead institution
University of Chester

Project partners

• Cheshire and Warrington Lifelong Learning Network
• Greater Manchester Strategic Alliance
• Greater Merseyside and West Lancashire Lifelong Learning Network