Federated access management: ongoing support arrangements confirmed

August 19th, 2008 | Connectivity, Content Management, FE & Skills, Further Education, Higher Education | No comments

As part of the ongoing commitment to the implementation of federation access management within the further and higher education and research sectors, JISC has confirmed the support arrangements for institutions.

The UK Access Management Federation provides the first port-of-call through the JANET helpdesk, which is fully supported by a team of access management technical experts. Training is available through both JANET and Netskills, and institutions are encouraged to talk to their peers through the JISCmail lists and at community events such as McShib and the RSC forums.

JISC has also confirmed a further three years of funding for Service Provider support, continuing the work of the Access Management Team and JISC Collections to bring publishers and other service providers in to the UK Access Management Federation.

Other related work that may be of interest to the community includes the upcoming Identity Management Innovation Programme, studies on access management for lifelong learning and Business and Community Engagement, and the work of the Strategic Content Alliance.

For further information, please go to: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/Home/news/stories/2008/08/support.aspx

News article: US to back 21st century learning

August 19th, 2008 | Adult & Community Learning, Connectivity, FE & Skills, Further Education, Higher Education, Offender Learning, Specialist Colleges, Voluntary Sector, Work Based Learning | No comments

The US Congress has given the go-ahead for a new centre to explore ways advanced computer and communications technologies can improve learning.

The National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies will focus on "bringing education into the 21st century."

Supporters said classrooms have failed to keep up with technology innovations.

For the full BBC report, visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7569484.stm

ALT Conference 2008 - booking deadline extended to Friday, 22

August 19th, 2008 | Events (All), Higher Education | No comments

ALT-C 2008: Rethinking the digital divide
9-11 September 2008, Leeds, UK
*ALT Conference 2008 - booking deadline extended to Friday, 22 August 2008 at 12 noon BST*

To book a place to attend the conference:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/registering.html

This conference will explore and extend the debate over the digital divide, providing an opportunity to develop both thinking and practice. The premise to be explored in the conference is that the digital divide
is multidimensional, rather than just being a problem of access, and that the divide is, in different ways, prevalent in many settings, and is not limited to the divide between first world and lesser developed
countries. In addition, several forms of the digital divide manifest themselves in everyday situations encountered by many in the learning technology domain.

Full details of the conference programme can be found at:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/timetable.html
with a fully interactive programme linking to authors and abstract texts.

For the first time, and as a trial for 2008, ALT is adopting the Crowdvine conference social networking service. We have great hopes that Crowdvine will enhance conference attendees’ experience. Amongst other
things, Crowdvine will enable attendees to bookmark favourite sessions, find out what events friends and colleagues are attending, establish communication with other conference participants and easily arrange to
meet them at the conference.

There will be major keynotes from:
* *David Cavallo*, Chief Learning Architect for One Laptop Per Child.
David’s keynote will stress how solutions to the digital divide should support the development of collective agency that gives users power over their own lives.
* *Itiel Dror*, Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton. Itiel brings a unique perspective on learning and its fit with cognitive systems, and the bridge between cognition and learning technology.
* *Hans Rosling*, Professor of International Health, Karolinska Institute, Han’s Gapminder Foundation invented the Trendalyzer data visualisation tool. Hans will use this to analyse the economic, social and environmental divisions that exist in the world, and while pointing to the severity of the situation note that there are some reasons for optimism.

Website building project for Royal National College for the Blind

August 19th, 2008 | Connectivity, Specialist Colleges | No comments

The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) is a specialist residential College of further education and training, working with people from the age of 16, who are blind or partially sighted, to promote their independence and potential. RNC provides a range of full time programmes and short courses designed to prepare people for progression to Further Education, Higher Education and the world of work … but most importantly… Life.

RNC would like to invite expressions of interest from individuals/organisations interested in designing and building our website.

We have a budget of ÂŁ 5,000 and in addition we would offer substantial development at RNC in terms of accessibility and related user testing.

Responses by 28th August 2008
Project start - 5th September 2008
Initial implementation - 20th October 2008 Complete - 15th December 2008

All enquires/expressions of interest to Shirley Evans - shirley.evans@rnc.ac.uk

First anniversary of QIA’s Excellence Gateway

August 14th, 2008 | ***HOT NEWS!*** - The must-read posts, Adult & Community Learning, FE & Skills, Further Education, Offender Learning, Peer Support, Resources, Specialist Colleges, Voluntary Sector, Work Based Learning | No comments

The Quality Improvement Agency’s (QIA) Excellence Gateway (EG), a complete online service for all those working in FE & Skills in England, has been going from strength to strength and helping colleges and providers in their pursuit of excellence, innovation and improvement.

EG gives everyone working in the further education system the opportunity to improve their own skills and professional knowledge by fostering professional networking and the exchange of good practice and materials.

The EG is the largest further education portal available and the main online service for those working in the sector.

http://excellence.qia.org.uk

Trainers and teachers to register with IfL by 30 September 2008

August 14th, 2008 | Adult & Community Learning, Events (All), FE & Skills, Further Education, Offender Learning, Voluntary Sector, Work Based Learning | No comments

Following the introduction of government reforms in 2007, learning providers that deliver further education provision through a contract or funding agreement with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) are required to ensure that all their trainers, tutors and teachers:

  • register as members of the Institute for Learning (IfL) by 30 September 2008
  • undertake at least 30 hours’ continuing professional development (CPD) each year (prorated for part-time trainers)
  • abide by IfL’s Code of Professional Practice

The reforms apply to learning providers operating in work-based, adult and community, offender and voluntary sector settings.

IfL will be hosting events for HR and staff development managers and senior leaders to understand the impact of the new regulations on their organisations, and the opportunities for staff development:

London: 2 September 2008
Birmingham: 3 September 2008
Leeds: 4 September 2008

Further information and registration details are available at http://www.ifl.ac.uk/services/p_wwv_page?id=169&session_id= , tel: 0844 815 3202, email: enquiries@ifl.ac.uk