JISC

Start date: 14 March 2005

End date: 16 March 2007

Funding programme: SFC e-Learning Transformation programme

Project website: http://www.blend-ed.ac.uk

JISC theme(s): e-Learning

Read the transformation story which highlight keys issues, lessons learned and outputs

The BlendEd project seeks to adopt a holistic approach to the introduction of blended delivery in specific curricular areas and in so doing explore the associated issues challenges and benefits. The aim is to produce a robust working model which can be adopted by the College sector in order to help address issues such as:

• a need to improve inclusion
• a need to maintain or improve recruitment levels in a challenging environment
• difficulty in achieving viable class sizes
• duplication of topics across programmes
• falling demand for full-time programmes
• high assessment loads in many units
• increased demand for flexible delivery
• increasing demand from learners and employers for CPD programmes
• increasing demand from learners and employers for qualifications
• increasing demand on institutional resources
• inefficient and inconsistent utilisation of ICT and learning technology to support the teaching process
• inefficient delivery of theory
• lack of consistency in programme delivery across institutions and the sector
• limited range of options offered in most institutions
• reduction in potential for joint delivery of units as a result of programme reviews
• variable attainment rates
• variable retention rates
• increased learner expectations with regard to the use of ICT

BlendEd will specifically target the HND in Business and the HNC in Social Care. These two qualifications attract different types of learners and each qualification has its own unique issues and challenges in addition to generic issues and challenges. The aim is to demonstrate that the inherent flexibility of the blended learning model can provide solutions for both the programmes specific and the generic issues and challenges and thus deliver tangible benefits.

Aims and Objectives

The primary aim of the project is to collaboratively introduce a pedagogically sound “Blended” delivery model which provides benefits such as efficiency, flexibility, and an enhanced student experience within mainstream provision whilst also delivering cost benefits. The objectives are to:

• design and implement staff development programmes and support mechanisms to meet the needs of staff engaged in the development and delivery of blended learning programmes
• develop documentation, standards & templates to support the development and implementation of a blended learning
  programme
• analyse course units within representative mainstream courses and produce pedagogically sound blended learning plans
• source, modify, develop and assemble a range of quality assured teaching resources to support the delivery of the blended learning programmes
• pilot the delivery of the blended learning programmes using the learning plans and supporting teaching resources with a representative range of students
• analyse, evaluate and report on the processes and deliverables associated with development and delivery of the blended learning programmes
• disseminate to the sector the project deliverables in order to encourage and support the wider adoption of the blended learning model
• explore and define the role of a Blended Learning Technologist within individual institutions in supporting the delivery of a blended learning programme.

Project Methodology

The project will adopt a collaborative approach to the analysis of the target programmes and the development of blended learning plan for the component units. Learning Technologists supported by a central technical development team will have a key role in assisting curricular staff to discover, modify and develop resources, activities, assessments etc to support the learning plans. A topic based approach will be adopted for the disaggregation and development of resources which will be packaged as content packages and stored in JORUM. 

A rigorous peer and technical review process will be developed and applied to all resources which will be catalogued using an application profile of UK LOM Core. The Learning Technologists will support curricular staff to deliver pilot programmes which utilises the blended learning plans. Project evaluation and dissemination will focus on the process associated with developing, implementing and supporting a blended delivery model in the college sector.

Deliverables

The tangible deliverables created by the project will comprise:

• A proven implementation and delivery methodology with reference implementations
• Advice and mentoring service from the consortium
• Emerging standards and tools which reflect the sector’s requirements
• Fully developed and tested Learning Plans for several mainstream courses
• Identification of best practice, issues and potential barriers
• National recognition of the innovative and progressive nature of the sector within the field of eLearning
• Quality assured resources to support the delivery model
• Robust staff development programmes to support the process
• The adoption by COLEG of a new instructional design model which supports blended learning
• The availability, and demonstration of, methodologies for content discovery and re-use;
• Project Documentation including: Best Practice Guides, Guidelines, Procedures, Case Studies, Project Evaluations, evelopment Standards, Technical Standards; Exemplar Licences

The less tangible deliverables of the project will take the form of a body of knowledge, experience and expertise in the successful delivery of a blended learning model on the part of the consortium members. For all of the project partners the idea of a blended learning approach is one which has been, until now, either relatively new, or something which has only been implemented in a piecemeal fashion across a few programmes. The successful outcome of the BlendEd project will give the college partners confidence in a new model for the learning experience and for the delivery of learning, as well as the embedded staff skills to be able to take that model and apply it more widely across the entire range of learning provision. In other words the most important intangible outcome of the project will be to enable the partners, and institutionally embed the capacity to adopt this new model. Furthermore, in approaching development and delivery of this model through a consortium arrangement we believe that the college partners will find new ways of working collaboratively, which will affect and reshape operations far outwith the immediate scope of the project. Finally, if these less tangible benefits will be available to the college partners they will also then be available to the sector as a whole, given that the BlendEd model will offer the potential for adoption by any other groupings of educational institutions. The BlendEd model has the capacity to change the way that education is delivered across the sector, and to transform the way that colleges and agencies work together.

Stakeholders

Learners, Curricular Staff,COLEG – College’s Open Learning Exchange Group,  JISC RSC, Scotland (South and West), Scottish FE Sector,  SQA - Scottish Qualification Authority, SFEU – Scottish Further Education Unit,  Wider JISC Community, Employers. 

Project Partners

Cardonald College
Coatbridge College
Dundee College
Glasgow College of Nautical Studies
Langside College
COLEG - College’s Open Learning Exchange Group
JISC RSC, Scotland (South and West)

Lead institution

Reid Kerr College