1.       Initiate change and continuous improvement in E-Learning culture, infrastructure and expertise that are welcomed and grounded in data collected through the comprehensive and regular use of a suite of audit tools at all levels within the institution and with all stakeholders (in particular students, colleagues, partners and our local community).

2.       Have a comprehensive E-Learning staff development portfolio of programmes and resources which is embedded into our Professional Standards Framework as accredited programmes and CPD  to provide knowledge and skills in E-Learning and to stimulate creativity, initiative and motivation.

3.       Embed E-Learning into all policies and practices for curriculum design, development, delivery and evaluation.

4.       Develop our internal and external communication strategy to support E-Learning implementation and our sustainable staff culture change.

We hope completion of these tasks will result in following:

1.       Students get more effective and rewarding learning experiences as evidenced by information collected by our audit tools.

2.       More of our colleagues have better developed awareness, knowledge, skills and competencies in E-Learning through a flexible, robust and comprehensive portfolio of staff development programmes.

3.       Institutional processes and policies have E-Learning embedded within them leading to more coherence, interdependence and alignment in support for learning and teaching and enabling ongoing change after the duration of the project.

4.       Change is seen as positive and progressive. Colleagues recognise the need for change in programme and curriculum development. They are open to change and take it in their stride, actively and willingly participating in the change process by initiating bottom up changes, delivering and evaluating their success. 

5.       Colleagues in management positions participate in staff development and initiate top down change initiatives as they are able to demonstrate leadership skills in E-Learning, facilitate and drive change and evaluate its effectiveness at institutional, School, Service, field or programme levels.

6.       Regular use of our audit tools enables us to identify our achievements, areas for improvement and gaps in our E-Learning provision, thus contributing to further change, research, evaluation and dissemination of good practice.

7.       Improvements in internal communications enable colleagues and students to use resources and developmental opportunities more effectively. Colleagues share expertise in their use of advanced learning and teaching approaches and are actively engaged in peer mentoring, coaching, joint research projects and other activities to benefit our students.

8.       Development of external communication processes leads to active dissemination of good practice, networking and collaboration with external partners in joint projects and research activities benefiting the HE sector and broader community.

9.       E-Learning initiatives and changes in Schools and Services are sustainable.

We had the working group meeting March 21st to discuss the progress, analyse objectives and review preliminary report. Peter Chatterton was present and provided valuable input. We also drafted a list of recommendations based on preliminary findings. The latter to be completed by mid April. A lot of data, a lot of things to consider,  a lot to do!

1. An urgent need to increase the rate and pace of change in individuals’ knowledge, understanding, behaviours, skills, values and beliefs related to E-learning to support students;
2. A critical requirement for a comprehensive, sustainable and scaleable staff development process and system to support the enhanced expertise and facilitate the change in culture;
3. UEL’s readiness for change as manifested through allocation of resources, growing number of E-Learning champions in Schools and Services and formal top level approval, drive and support;
4. The opportunity presented by: A Culture for Success, our Professional Standards Framework and a suite of M level flexible credit bearing and HEA accredited programmes.
5. The necessity for coordinated strategic management approaches to the development of e-learning and aligning learning and teaching, IT, HR and other institutional strategies to maximise the benefits of technologies to enhance student learning experiences.

• Reviewed each methodology, blogs, supporting documents, guides, etc.
•  Identified 2-3 that better suited our aims and objectives, had tools and facilitator’s guides available, had positive reviews from users, and seemed to be doable.

 UEL perspective on ELTI  (SWOT)

S: comprehensive approach (culture, infrastructure, expertise); has a range of support materials; has significant number of adopters to get feedback from.

W: has to be adapted for local context; some terminology is not applicable; might have different interpretation for ‘learning technologies’ for your university; can be perceived to be too long.

O: can be modified and possible tailored to different groups (academics, support staff, students).

T: if changes are global no comparative analysis across the sector is possible (if this is one of the objectives). 

More to follow upon completion of the project. 

General Advice 

1. Working team

• Invite people capable to deliver 
• Have a broad representation 
• Might want to have several ‘on demand’ members 
•  Involve senior management members 
• Time allocation depends on scope, size of the university, your objectives and availability of resources

 2. ELTI questionnaire and follow up focus groups 

• Modify to fit your objectives and context 
• Reword if needed (e.g., abbreviations, job titles, terminology, etc.) 
•  Provide definitions and examples if needed (e.g., what is e-learning according to your e-learning strategy) 
• Keep a log of ELTI questionnaire changes as suggested by HEA 
• Make a questionnaire available on-line 
•  If targeting different groups, modify questions (academic schools, services, students) to make it relevant 
• Provide incentives (e.g., a school with more active participation will get a prize) 
•  If possible, arrange for research assistant to collect and analyze survey data· 
•  If possible, set aside budget (printing, prizes, catering, PR, e tc.) 
•  Make sure to check your survey does not coincide with other surveys done at the University 
•  Obtain ethics committee approval (if required by your University) 
• Stick to deadlines 

3. PR activities

•  Discuss PR campaign with your Marketing Department 
• Use all means possible/available to get a buy-in
• Present at meetings 
• Write an article for your internal University publication(s) 
• Display info on notice boards or TV/LCD displays 
• Present at various committees 
• Meet with heads of schools and University senior management team 
• Send status reports to senior management team 
• Create posters and/or flyers 

4. Information management 

• Use blog to communicate your progress to University community and beyond.
• Use your VLE as a site for regular e-mail communication, working documents, discussion foruns, data dump, etc. 
• Communicate regularly with your consultant and methodology colleagues.

We are currently in the the advanced stage of Benchmarking project. Our surveys are available on line (as of today collected 66 form staff and 92 from students re E-Learning; 140 student responses about our VLE); we are collecting documents/evidence from schools and services. Interestingly, data were not always available in presentable format or located in a single source. 

More ahead: focus groups, interviews, collection of artefacts pertaining to E-Learning.  Intermediate reviews will be done January 11. So, we are rolling our sleeves up!

1. Collect information/evidence regarding use/development of E-Learning in individual Schools and Services
2. Devise UEL E-Learning Profile

Time frame: December 11-January 22, with intermediate review

Collection methods: either send to Dina or post on UEL Plus website for Benchmarking

Major documents in schools: 

1. Any publications and/or reports (internal or external) related to E-Learning (can be in electronic or paper format to be scanned later)
2. Projects involving development/use of E-Learning (contact information, brief description, reports, if possible; ideally to use ERIC format for structured abstract , but optional at this time; we can align them later)
3. Any initiatives in E-learning from academics and students (description and contact info)
4. School plan info for last year—performance against last year objectives and how e-learning is presented/reflected in the next year plan
5. List of any groups or committees involved in E-Learning or related to it

Major documents in Services (IT is an example here):

1. List of hardware (number of computers, printers, scanners, etc., computer lab facilities, any other special labs supported by IT)
2. List of software
3. University policies related to E-Learning
4. List of any groups or committees involved in E-Learning or related to it
5. Any publications and/or reports  (internal or external) related to E-Learning (can be in electronic or paper format to be scanned later)
6. Projects involving development/use of E-Learning (contact information, brief description, reports, if possible; ideally to use ERIC format for structured abstract, but optional at this time; we can align them later)
7. Any initiatives in E-learning (description and contact info)
8. Service plan info for last year—performance against last year objectives and how e-learning is presented/reflected in the next year plan

All memebers of the working group will target their respective units.

1. Set objectives: raise awareness of the Benchmarking of E-Learning project, attract attention to E-Learning in general

2. Evaluated already completed PR activities:

• Presentation done by Joan at the Program and Field Leaders’ Conference (about 80 participants) and attended by VC Academics.
• Reports done to the following Heads of Schools by Dina: Psychology, Business, and School of Distance and E-learning and Services—IT (their planning day) and IT management team meeting; and to the Professional Standards Committee; into SCoT newsletter, Learning Technology Advisors meeting; by  Jules—SSMCS.

3. Assessed a current university-wide PR strategy and decided to use the following PR venues:

• Internal publication In Focus sent weekly to all staff via e-mail
• Plasma TVs –info displayed on both campuses

4. All: use information (ppt, flier, and intro available at UEL Plus) to disseminate information in respective Schools and Services:

• Internal publications (newsletters, noticeboards, posters, break rooms, etc.)
• School/Service meetings of staff and committees
• Pigeon holes

5. Key message: Institutional benefit; a chance to identify SWOT in the area of E-Learning and make a difference

6. Time frame: asap!

7. Surveys to be ready the week of December 11, 2006)

1. Add “Do not know” column.
2. Devise separate surveys for students (it is their learning experiences we are enhancing!) and support staff in Student Services, Library and Learning Services and IT.
3. Add demographics questions (school, year started at UEL, etc.)
4. Add a definition of e-learning at the beginning of the survey
5. Make all surveys available on-line in the next 10 days.

Coming next week:

• Finalising the survey questions
• Collection of documents
• Deciding on focus group questions
• Revising our PR strategy to promote e-learning, Benchmarking activities, etc.