These pages have been developed to provide college management with relevant information to help progress ICT developments within their institution. For further information about any of the items included call the RSC's Information Helpdesk on 0141 585 0022 or contact Fionnuala Carmichael at the RSC.
We've two new newfeeds which are emailed to you on the 1st of every month.
RSCInform - is specifically targeted at the Senior Mangement Teams in our supported institutions.
RSC CurriculumMatters - is specifically targeted at Curriculum Managers in our supported institutions.
If you'd like to receive either of these monthly updates please contact:
support@rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk
JISC activities act as catalysts for change and as a valuable means of binding together the community through common provision and common approaches to an innovative agenda in exploiting ICT. JISC's strategic vision reflects and supports government objectives and the needs of the education and research communities.
Follow this link for more information on JISC Strategic Activities
Successful bids can provide funding for college ILT initiatives, large and small. They can achieve awards that celebrate a college's success. But the bids received vary greatly in quality. Your college - and you - can easily miss out because you do not learn of the bid invitation in the first place, do not mobilise your colleagues to respond in time and do not make bids that present a strong case. Follow these links to find out more about JISC's Guide to Bidding and the Evaluation Process.
The world of technology moves at a relentless pace and it is difficult to keep pace especially when managers have so many other calls on their time. This link provides an up to date reference to the educational applications of many technology related issues which confront the busy manager.
Follow this link for more information on the JISC eLearning Focus
The JISC infoNet service was set up in 2003 specifically to advise managers in the post-compulsory education sector and promote the effective strategic planning, implementation and management of information and learning technology.
In particular, sets of online resources (infoKits) comprising of a subject overview, 'how to' guides and other supporting materials are available on their website. As well as covering generic issues such as change management and risk management there are applied infoKits which use the generic tools in particular circumstances such as designing technology rich learning spaces or using a VLE effectively.
Many institutions are currently facing a new build/space re-design. The links below provide useful information about pertinent issues that need to considered. The two Scottish Regional Support Centres have also established a Learning Space Design Forum. Further details about this forum are available in our Forums and User Groups section.
JISC infoNet have produced an infokit illustrated with case studies, images of buildings across the sector and a 'virtual tour' around an imaginary campus.
Follow this link for more information on the Learning space design infokit
The JISC publication Designing Spaces for Effective Learning (March 2006) reported on some of the projects taking place in FE and HE and provides useful guidance for those involved in developing new learning spaces. The Scottish Funding Council has also published Spaces for Learning. These reports have provided a sound basis for the continuing exploration by FE and HE institutions of new possibilities for learning space provision.
The University of Birmingham JISC funded report - Study on how innovative technologies are influencing the design of physical learning spaces in the post-16 sector - covers a range of topics of significant interest to managers based in colleges involved in, or contemplating a new build.
Follow this link for the University of Birmingham JISC funded report
The Colleges for the Future document gives a flavour of the current thinking and developments in Architecture for FE colleges. It is especially useful for senior staff engaged in planning for new build.
Follow this link for the Colleges for the Future document
The LSC, in association with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), has launched a website to advise the Further Education sector on the design of its colleges and offer guidance to those colleges embarking on major capital projects. The website is also designed to guide the professional project teams that support colleges, such as architects, engineers and quantity surveyors. It provides information on both the process and the design elements of a capital project and provides colleges with examples of best practice.
Follow this link for the LSC Design Guidelines Website
Primarily aimed at college senior and operational managers, the RSC has developed a suite of briefings on the benefits of using new technologies adnd the issues and challenges that they present for learning providers. These briefings are short, thirty minute sessions designed to be delivered either face to face or online. Briefings include:
For further information about arranging Topic Briefings for your institution, contact the RSC.
Significant investment has been made by institutions in recent years in technology for teaching and learning and many are keen to discover the 'distance travelled' in terms of technology use for delivery of the curriculum. The RSC will facilitate focus groups sessions to assist institutions establish staff and student perceptions & opinion about the use of technology on courses and the added value they feel has been provided. Focus groups provide an opportunity to gain in-depth insights into particular issues and are a valuable means by which to collect detailed qualitative data.
Read our Best of the West Case Study on Focus Groups at Motherwell College.
For further information about Focus Groups sessions for your institution, contact the RSC.
There are many different approaches to accessibility and many different arguments to support them all. So long as they result in positive outcomes for the disabled person involved it could be argued that they are all equal - but there is little doubt that:
The fundamental guarantor of good practice is the extent to which accessibility is embedded in the culture of an organisation rather than the enthusiasm of an individual or one specific team of well intentioned staff. This organisational approach leads to a 'maturity model' of accessibility practice where one of the main determinants of maturity is the extent to which staff working in a wide range of in all areas in your institution contribute to inclusive practice. See more on the JISC TechDis maturity model of inclusive practice.
The online accessibility self evaluation service is based on this maturity model of inclusive practice and we are offering our supported colleges and universities the opportunity to undertake this self evaluation process with our support. We will assist by working with identified groups of managers from several different practice areas within your institution, inviting each discipline to complete the survey from their own perspective.
At the end of the survey the RSC will create a report based on the outcomes of the evaluation from each discipline with a benchmark to wider practice across the UK (based on earlier findings from the UK wide JISC TechDis evaluations). Institutions will then be able to compare their own responses with those of the wider sector to benchmark their progress in a variety of areas and formulate a list of priority areas to address.
Further Information about the Online Accessibility Self Evaluation Service.
Senior Management Teams are the people with whom rests the legal responsibility for "getting accessibility right". This is not simple and there can be a tendency to focus on the accessibility of resources when teaching and learning are really about experiences. For inclusive learning to become a reality, all staff must feel equipped to work inclusively. Drawing this out and making it obvious to staff across a range of disciplines in an educational establishment gives people the chance to see the ways that they can very actively create an accessible environment in the way that they work and it allows senior managers to ensure that they adopt a more strategic approach to embedding inclusion within their environment.
For more information follow this link to the Access and Inclusion page for College Managers
This section provides access to publications produced by JISC. Some of these are available to order in print by following a link to an order form. Of particular interest are the senior management briefing papers.
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