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Tuesday 9 February, 2010
 

E-learning

English Subject Centre E-learning Advocate Funding

Key document download

Notes for bidders in MSWord document E-learning advocates - Notes for Bidders

E-learning advocates - application form E-learning advocates - Application form

Notes for Bidders

These notes may be downloaded from the link above in MSWord format.

1. Introduction

The English Subject Centre has funding available from the JISC (under the Subject Centre Distributed E-learning Programme), to support  up to four e-learning advocates nationally.

An e-learning advocate is a member of academic staff within the English department who works with colleagues in a variety of ways to encourage and support the adoption of e-learning into face-to-face, blended and distance teaching contexts. In addition, in this second phase of the Subject Centre’s advocacy work, the advocate will also work on an innovative e-learning project of their own.

The funding is available for one year between September 2007 and August 2008.  Departments are invited to bid for up to £8,000 (inclusive of VAT and FEC if applied) for an advocate working in the English discipline (literature, language or creative writing) for at least one day per week i.e. 0.2 of an FTE. It is essential to the success of the advocacy that this time is protected.

Applications should be made on the associated form by the 4 June 2007. The English Subject Centre is happy to discuss your ideas informally prior to submission of your application. Please see the contact details in section 16 below.

An overview of the project is available below:

Milestone Action
April / May 2007: Call for proposals from Subject Community
June 4 2007: Deadline for proposal submission
July 3 2007: Decisions made and successful applicants notified
July 10 2007: All necessary agreement letters signed and in place
Sept 1 2007: Advocacy project begins
Mid Sept 2007: First Advocate project meeting
Feb 2008: Mid Project Report
Sept: 2008: End of project report and submission of materials

Related links

2. Background

The English Subject Centre’s research into the adoption, use and effectiveness of e-learning within English studies in the UK has highlighted several issues.  Whilst there is widespread recognition of the potential benefits of incorporating e-learning into a range of teaching methods, and a willingness to share learning resources/materials that are developed, few academics are able to find either sufficient time or technical expertise to realise their ideas.  Although we have no evidence of the extent of learning technology support available to departments in HEIs, our impression is that in most cases it is remote and spread too thinly.  The expertise of e-learning enthusiasts is rarely shared with colleagues or exploited in departmental contexts.

In the academic year 2006/7 the Subject Centre embarked on a new project to explore potentially sustainable models for embedding e-learning within the discipline at departmental level. Most of the existing research into ‘embedding’ has not had a discipline specific perspective.

Six e-learning advocates were appointed each with a potentially different ‘model’ of advocacy. (see link below): The 6 individual advocacy projects are making a significant impact on the embedding of e-learning in the participating departments. Some visible successes to date include:

  • A series of workshops exploring aspects of VLE use available to both local and regional English staff at the University of Wolverhampton
  • Enthusiastic advocacy of English departmental e-learning requirements on institutional committees at the University of Central England
  • The application of successful pedagogical approaches in Creative writing to English Literature courses at the University of Lancaster
  • The development of an enhanced e-learning component to all courses offered by the English department at Bishop Grosseteste University College
  • The installation of an interactive whiteboard and the development of personalised training courses in its use at the University of Hull
  • The design and development of an exemplar VLE course for use of all staff at Northampton University

The project has also attracted international attention for its innovative approach to the support of e-learning and the development of staff at a subject-level.
 
The aim of this new round of project funding is to build on the successes experienced by the first six e-learning advocates and to extend the idea of advocacy further out into the Subject community to continue to explore the nature of how we can effectively embed technology-enhanced learning into the HE English curricula.

We welcome proposals from any HEI where English Language, Literature or Creative writing is taught. Departments who have already participated in the e-learning advocates scheme may also re-apply for further funding, however, in the event of a ‘tie’ priority will be given to new applicants.

Related links

http://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/projects/archive/technology/tech22.php

3. The Wider Research Context

The English Subject Centre hopes to fund up to four new e-learning advocates for the new academic year and to use the experience gained from this heightened level of activity across a range of departments to provide insights into best practice for encouraging the integration of new teaching methods or materials in English.  At a wider level the advocates are part of a project asking How can effective and sustainable e-learning be encouraged in a teaching community by departmental advocates?  The Subject Centre will be reporting to the Higher Education Academy and to the JISC on this issue, and using a project manager and evaluator to help it to do this. 

4. The e-learning advocate

We expect the advocate to be a member of staff, either full or part-time, in the department.  They need not be technically expert, but will have some knowledge and experience beyond that of the novice. The Subject Centre will provide training and development opportunities for advocates based on their requirements (which can be indicated on the application form in section 8: Expertise) and would expect those selected to participate as far as practicable. These might include:

  • Attending appropriate conferences and workshops
  • Attending training courses and other opportunities for familiarisation with new technologies, pedagogies, project management and national initiatives
  • Participating in an online community of advocates where questions and points of view can be aired and discussed
  • Participating in meetings with other English advocates

5. The Advocate project

Part of the advocate’s work in 2007-8 would be a project related to teaching or learning in the department. Please note that the project should not be the raison d’etre for the advocacy; rather it should be a vehicle for engaging other staff and/or students in e-learning.  Projects related to the JISC Digitisation Programme are particularly welcome, however other project ideas will be considered.

Project ideas

Using outputs from the JISC Digitisation Programme - The JISC digitisation programme has been running since 2004. The collections are making available resources in a wide variety of formats -  sound, images, journals, moving pictures, census data and newspapers. Advocates may be interested in developing pedagogical materials around these resources e.g. VLE based activities, worksheets, dedicated websites, a set of learning design sequences using the LAMS tool, a set of stand-alone podcast lectures etc. Please feel free to discuss your ideas with the Subject Centre Learning Technologist, Brett Lucas. (see contact details in section 16).

Related Links

 

6. The Role of the E-learning Advocate

We would expect the e-learning advocate’s role to include many (but not necessarily all) of the following:

  • Support colleagues to make educationally sound choices about using technology in their courses.
  • Help colleagues to realise their ideas for developing e-learning resources and to bring resources that may be at the ‘embryonic’ stage into fruition.
  • Encourage colleagues who may not otherwise consider e-learning solutions to develop ideas and to share these with colleagues.
  • Raise the profile and pedagogical application of JISC resources within the English Subject Community.
  • Develop and expand the English Subject Centre’s  previous research into learning designs in English from an experimental to live teaching environment.
  • Explore the possibilities of sharing and re-use in relation to learning objects.
  • Encourage the development of resources with both accessibility and reusability in mind.
  • Help to overturn some of the entrenched ‘beliefs’ held by colleagues regarding educational innovation.
  • Raise the general skill level in relation to e-learning tools and techniques amongst as many members of each department as possible and thus encourage a sustainable model for future nurturing, support and development of e-learning beyond the project’s lifetime.
  • Obtain a better understanding of how support can work best at a departmental level.
  • Develop their own expertise in e-learning and share this with others.
  • Building networks with advocates in other HEIs
  • Alerting colleagues to, the other agencies, support units and strategies within the HEI which are concerned with e-learning.

7. Activities

We have listed below examples of the kinds of work in which an e-learning advocate might be involved.  These are intended to trigger your own ideas, and are not prescriptive.

General Advocacy

  • Identifying academics with ideas for e-learning resources and helping them to bring these to fruition.
  • Publication of online or printed guides for new or existing staff.
  • A piece of work focussing on a particular aspect of e-learning e.g. e-portfolios, the use of blogs, online group-work etc.
  • A piece of research which explores the effect that e-learning is having across the courses offered in a particular department with a view to improving the level of support/ continuity and task development from level to level.
  • Providing formal or informal training, consultancy or help-desk services to academics.
  • Publication of research papers and participation in e-learning conferences.
  • Increasing awareness of the potential of e-learning by running seminars or giving presentations within the department and with the wider subject community.
  • Advising the department on the sort of facilities and hardware that would facilitate e-learning.
  • Analysing the student experience of e-learning across a 3-year programme and its implications for curriculum design and student progression.
  • Ensuring that the learner is at the centre of any of the above activities, and that student feedback is gathered wherever appropriate.

Advocacy project

Examples of the kinds of project the e-learning advocate might undertake  include:

    • The development of pedagogical materials (e.g. VLE based learning activities) based on outputs from the JISC digitisation programme
    • The development of a series of learning design sequences built in LAMS which would provide supplementary pedagogical activities related to digitised resources from the JISC programme
    • A piece of work focussing on a particular aspect of e-learning e.g. e-portfolios, the use of blogs, online group-work etc.
    • The customisation of learning objects developed by the LLAS funded L2O project for use by the English Subject Community, and an exploration of their usefulness for the community as a whole.

Related Links

8. Understanding the Institutional / National e-learning context

In order to articulate a coherent advocacy model within a discipline specific context it is necessary to have a good feel for how the proposed ‘advocacy project’ dove-tails with faculty-wide, institutional and even national e-learning contexts.

Applicants are urged to do at least one or more of the following:

  • Discuss their advocacy ideas with as many of their departmental colleagues as they can.
  • Make contact with their institutional e-learning / teaching and development unit to discuss their proposal.
  • Read the institutions teaching and learning and/or e-learning strategy documents to help understand how the advocacy will feed-into and possibly build upon institutional initiatives in this area.
  • Find out if their institution has been part of the Higher Education Academy Benchmarking project for e-learning and if so what the results of that process have been.
  • Read the HEFCE and DfES e-learning strategy documents.

Related links

9. Timetable

The closing date for applications is 9am on Monday 4th June.   Successful applicants will be notified by the 3rd July, and projects must be completed by the end of August 2008 with the final report submitted in September 2008.

Applications should be made on the form available on the Subject Centre’s website at :
www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/resources/technology/docs/deptlappnform.doc

10. Funding

A maximum of £8,000 (including VAT and FEC if levied) is available for each project.  We recognise that buying out time for lecturers to invest in the development of materials and ideas is likely to be the main feature of applications, which should state clearly how much time is being bought out. Successful applicants will be asked to provide a statement from a Head of Department (or equivalent) that the buy-out of your time will be respected in the allocation of duties.  No overheads can be charged. Purchase of equipment should not form a significant part of the bid, but where small items are purchased the Subject Centre may ask for copies of receipts.  Any unspent funds at the end of the project will be retained by the Subject Centre.

11. Payments

Payments will normally be paid in three tranches: one-third at the start of the project; one-third at a mid-point dependent on evidence of satisfactory progress and one-third when the project is completed to the satisfaction of the English Subject Centre. If this funding pattern would be inappropriate for your project, please say why in your application, but note that it is our policy to retain a significant proportion until the project is fully completed. 

Payments will be made on receipt of an invoice from the institution.  Note that travelling expenses associated with the project should be reclaimed from the institution, but where these comprise a significant proportion of the bid, then the Subject Centre may ask to see copies of claims. 

12. Selection Process

Applications will be assessed by the Subject Centre in consultation with external evaluators on the basis of:

  • Relevance of the advocacy to e-learning  (including e-assessment)
    • Proposal sets out clearly what the advocacy is intended to achieve
    • Proposal is feasible and practical and can be achieved within the proposed resources and timescale
    • Proposal demonstrates that the advocate will be adequately embedded in departmental or institutional activities and initiatives and supported at a senior level
    • Proposal builds on existing departmental e-learning practice
    • Proposal will have an impact across a significant portion of teaching in the department
  • Monitoring and Evaluation
    • Incorporates a system for monitoring and evaluating the progress and outcomes of the project
  • Costs and value for money
    • Justification for the funding requested
    • Value for money
    • Successful applicants will be asked to sign a Statement of Responsibilities.  Unsuccessful applicants will be given feedback on why their proposal was not funded.

13. Project Liaison

The Subject Centre’s Learning Technologist, Brett Lucas, will be the principal contact person for each project, and will monitor progress against the plan which has been agreed and advise as appropriate.

All advocates will participate in a project website and maintain a regular weblog containing reflective thoughts on activities they are undertaking as part of their respective bids.

The Subject Centre will also appoint an evaluator whose purpose will be to evaluate the E-learning Advocates Project as a whole. Successful departments will be expected to co-operate with this evaluation.

14. Reporting

Requirements:

  • Description of the work to be undertaken by the advocate in a form suitable for the English Subject Centre’s website.  (It is anticipated that this can be based to a large extent on the funding application itself.)
  • An interim report in February 2008 when the second tranche of funding is claimed.  This may take the form of a weblog, a reflective diary or a formal written report.
  • A final report by the end of September 2008

15. Learning Materials Development

Advocates will be informed about guidelines which advise on how the reusability of the resources can be maximised.  As the funding for the advocates is coming from the JISC, it is expected that appropriate materials will be deposited in the JORUM Repository. In addition we would expect all materials produced to adhere to accessibility guidelines. Whilst adherence to these guidelines is not compulsory, we would expect all funding holders to do their best to meet them within the resources they have available in order to enhance the benefit to the wider community.
 
If the project involves the use of copyrighted materials, project applications should state the extent to which copyright issues have been investigated.

Related links

16. Informal Contact

The Subject Centre encourages informal contact about a proposed project prior to submission.  Please contact Brett Lucas (brett.lucas@rhul.ac.uk, 0207 848 2546) or Jane Gawthrope (jane.gawthrope@rhul.ac.uk , 01784 414381).

17. Approval

The grant holder will be responsible for carrying out the project in a timely and financially accountable manner, including reporting and evaluation.  Your application (and the associated release of your time) should be discussed with your Head of Department or Dean or Pro-Vice Chancellor for Teaching, who will be asked to sign the Statement of Responsibilities if your application is successful.

 

Key document download

Notes for bidders in MSWord document E-learning advocates - Notes for Bidders

E-learning advocates - application form E-learning advocates - Application form

 

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