There's Something in the Air!

We're ready to rock!

For some time now we've been working closely with the tutor for BND Media Production (Radio) and his learners to broadcast some of their radio recordings and podcasts around the College.

The first challenge was how are we going to do this without spending a small fortune on high maintenance, expensive broadcasting equipment; without setting ourselves up as an illegal pirate radio station taking up valuable radio bandwidth or interfering with air traffic control at Southend airport!

Fortunately, the answer was simple! We'll build a dedicated radio station site, place it on C_Space (our intranet), upload the recordings of the shows and podcasts and stream them across the network to the learners on demand.

To get the message out there we set up a number of forums so that the Radio students could advertise their shows, ask for requests and gauge interest in their productions. The news spread fast and it was clear there was a huge demand for the shows. Learners would no longer need to whistle while they worked but instead plug in their headphones, choose a show which interested them and rock away to their heart's desires, all with their tutor's consent of course!

To stay on the right side of the law, we've purchased the appropriate broadcasting license and to get the ball rolling we started airing the shows in Scoff our student refectory. Again, simplicity is the key and we've merely hooked up a laptop to an LCD screen positioned on the wall in Scoff and the shows play via i-Tunes. So far the reaction has been great and the shows are certainly more popular than the derivative MTV drivel we used to pump out of the screen!

Now the site containing pre-recorded shows and podcasts is live and learners can stream the show of their choice at tghe click of a button.

This, however is just the beginning.

If the site is successful we can allow the learners to upload their own podcasts and radio broadcasts without our direct involvement and perhaps allow other learners to rate their favourites. We can also use this idea across the curriculum and work with other tutors and learners to showcase their work by uploading it to a dedicated site on our intranet which they can control. This will not only give the learners ownership of their own intranet pages but also allow them to demonstrate and showcase the work they do. We can allow our learners to create content for each other which is relevant and make the online environment really work for them while their studying with us. This notion could completely change the face of our intranet and the way in which we think about content control and content creation.

There's definitely something in the air and its signalling a clear change in the way we think about our intranet and the ownership of the content it contains!

Testing Times!

Nope, not a reference to the current economic climate and all the woes that brings but, instead, some thoughts on e-assessment and how this technology could potentially aid us in these troubled times.

At South Essex College we've been using TOIA (Technologies for Online Interoperable Assessment) for a number of years. The system allows tutors with the aid of our support to set up online exams, quizzes and assessments which self-mark and store results and reports in a number of formats for later digestion. Initially funded by JISC, TOIA is, unfortunately, no longer supported but has proved to be an invaluable tool in delivering curriculum outcomes, assessing learner progress, saving tutor time and helping shape and define the very nature of e-learning and online curriculum delivery within the College. Indeed, in a world where definitions of e-learning are at best hazy and understanding of the concepts limited, online assessment has proved to be the star of the show. It's easy, for example, to demonstrate and justify why going 'online' is more advantageous than using traditional pen and paper and it can clearly open up the curriculum to blended learning solutions.

This year we've been using TOIA to run online assessments for Bricklaying and Carpentry courses and so far we've set up and run over 40 separate assessments for 11 groups of learners. The results for each assessment are sent off to the examining body in order to evidence the learner's progress and count towards their final grades. It's clear that this would have been a logistical nightmare to organise using printed question sheets, pens, exam halls and invigilators, not to mention the huge amount of marking involved for the tutors.

Unfortunately, TOIA is past its prime now. Browser updates have rendered some of its features impotent, the clanky database back-end occasionally throws a 'hissy fit' and the process of setting up assessments can be lengthy, complicated and laborious...BUT...it is still an essential and well loved tool. Ideally we'd like to replace it with something 'shiny and new' but alternatives which offer the same set of powerful features are prohibitively expensive especially in these days of budget shrinking, cost saving and cut backs. The irony is, tools such as TOIA can save both time and money. Tutor time is liberated from hours of marking, courses can be delivered off-site reducing 'on' costs and tutor costs, class sizes are no longer dependant on room size or tutor availability, learners can complete a course at times which suit them etc etc...the benefits are many and clear.

So JISC, any chance of a TOIA resurrection? The timing couldn't be any better.

Jim

Video Conferencing

Working in a distributed environment, it's important to keep in touch with colleagues who are either based in a different location, or frequently on the move between sites.

At South Essex College we have 4 dedicated Video Conferencing suites spread across the 3 main campuses, a mobile unit and a number of desktop clients and HD webcams. Having access to these facilities means that less time and money is spent on travelling between locations, and also eases the difficulty of bringing together large groups of people that work on different sites.

Enrolment

Enrolment time is creeping up on us again, and it’s no mean feat to ensure the smooth running of such a large operation across 4 locations.
Enrolment involves the deployment and use of

• over 100 pcs


• 14 printers


• 15 photocopiers


• 17 water coolers


• 4 video conference centres


• 21 deskphones


• 7 tills


• 7 air con units

And that's just the basics!

Once again we will be using Audrey, our custom built queue management system. Audrey is directly connected to our Student Information Systems, and to our courses database. This means that when an applicant arrives, we can straight away allocate them to see someone directly related to the course they wish to enrol on, minimising their overall waiting time.

Outlook Live Single Sign On

Once again we have Single Sign On (SSO) working again for our students. This means that once students are logged into college systems, they can access their Outlook Live email inbox without having to enter a second username and password, thus upholding our ‘log-in-once, access-everything’ principle. Continuously having to enter usernames and passwords to navigate from one resource to another is a serious hindrance to the learning experience, and we’re committed to making resources as accessible and highly available to students as possible.

Students also have available to them:

• 25gb of free, online storage via skydrive


• access to Microsoft Office Web Apps

South Essex College: Learner voice – a 360-degree approach

The Excellence Gateway has just published a case study on South Essex College’s use of ILT and students use of communication tools on C_Space, the College's online environment.

Commissioned by JISC the case study is a report on how the College is making effective use of ILT to improve teaching and learning. One of the main findings of the report is that students are using C_Space to find new ways to promote the learner voice.

"The online tools and increased learner voice are making an impact on the whole college, as tutors and senior management can keep abreast of what is going on and what is wanted by reading students' comments."

You can view the report here.

Heads down!

Whew! It's been a busy time, with requests for work coming from everywhere!

The last few weeks have been full on e-portfolio building. It seems the word is spreading and more and more HE tutors are interested in their students using the e-portfolio pages we've developed to support their students' professional development planning.

It's quite a time consuming process to design templates, add resources and documentation and then build individual pages for whole groups of learners...but we're getting there! Thankfully Sharepoint makes life a little easier and is relatively quick to get the basics in place...alas, my organisational skills (or lack of them) make getting all the e-portfolios finished and in place all at the same time to the tutors' satisfaction a logistical nightmare!

So far we've built new e-portfolios for first year Sports Science students, first year Fashion and Marketing students, first year Photography students and added additional pages to the second year Fashion and marketing students exisitng pages. We've also desingned new templates for the Animation Degree students and the Business Degree students which are almost ready to go into production. After this we have interest in e-portfolios from the Televsion Production and the Engineering degree courses...

...ooooppppsss, sorry, got to keep my head down and get back to work!