Excellence Gateway

This case study was produced by JISC RSC (Regional Support Centres) East Midlands on behalf of the Excellence Gateway.

Sector relevance: Work-based learning

Keywords: Improving teaching and learning, improving responsiveness to learners, improving institutional effectiveness, e-portfolios, retention, achievement, training, 16 to 24 year-old apprentices, Train-To-Gain, entry to employment (E2E)

About the Technology Exemplar Network

The Technology Exemplar Network is jointly led by Becta and LSC. Within the Network, learning providers support each other and share effective practice. By sharing their experience, aspirations, issues and areas for development, learning providers are well placed to further develop their plans for future investment and implementation of technology for learning. More information on the Technology Exemplar Network can be found on the Excellence Gateway.

Summary
 

In order to improve efficiency of their learning advisors (assessors) and flexibility for their learners, ISIS Training introduced an e-portfolio system. This cut down on travel time giving cost savings to the organisation, changed the way that their learners undertook their courses and made it easier for employers.

About ISIS Training

ISIS Training provides learning and assessment programmes for 420 learners scattered around rural Lincolnshire. ISIS Training has a mixed bag of learners, focused considerably around ICT, business-related subjects and hospitality and catering. These are a mixture of 16 to 24-year-old apprentices, Train-To-Gain, entry to employment (E2E), FEFC and private learners.

The Challenge 

ISIS Training is based in a rural environment and its learners are spread across a wide distance. The county’s road network is on smaller roads, on which there is often farm traffic, so drive times are high. Public transport can be limited too. 

The vast amount of time being taken by learning advisors and learners to liaise over portfolios was having a detrimental effect. Instead of advising learners, staff were spending their days travelling from one learner to the next. 

 TraThe organisation was therefore looking to use e-portfolios in order to: 

• Cut down travel time for assessors;
• Save costs on travel expenses;
• Allow more time to be spent on learning and assessment; and
• Give learners greater control over their learning.

The activity

Mick Gilroy, e-Learning Manager at ISIS Training, persuaded senior management to invest heavily in e-learning and to implement an e-portfolio system. To help this, the organisation tapped into funding streams such as a collaborative Learning Innovation Grant (LIG) Phase 3 bid with five other providers that attracted £70,000. 

An e-portfolio system allows the use of a far wider range of methods of collecting and storing evidence of achievement and knowledge than the previous paper-based approach. Image, audio and video files could be uploaded into a learner e-portfolio from anywhere and at anytime. 

ISIS Training spent approximately £3.5k on the initial set-up of an eNVQ e-portfolio system that is hosted externally, which included the first 25 learners and some staff training on how to use the system. 

The organisation found that the eNVQ system did not suit their Hospitality and Catering learners and so decided to use the City & Guilds Proactive system once it became available as this was move suitable and effective. 

This highlights that there is no single solution to using e-portfolios but instead it is a case of finding what will work for your organisation. 

In order to make sure that the organisation could fully utilise its e-portfolio systems several potential barriers needed to be addressed. ISIS Training ensured that all staff and learners had access to suitable ICT equipment, a provision of suitable resources was developed and that their ICT skills were upgraded. 

In order to improve staff skills: One Friday every month is allocated for regular staff training on the use of all resources as part of CPD; Personalised training for individuals to meet specific needs was also made available; All managers/team leaders attended the e-Learning Guides and “ConnecT” courses as a minimum requirement. 

In terms of equipment all assessors were encouraged to use technology for assessment and were equipped with:

• Laptops
• Voice recorders
• Digital cameras
• USB memory sticks
• Devices for recording phone calls
• Access to a video camera pool.

In order to facilitate the use of these, USB transfer was ensured as the method of moving files from the devices to the e-portfolio. 

Resource-wise the organisation ensured that staff and learners had access to multi-media resources and online learning resources. 

A media suite for processing evidence was created. This meant that learners could send in files with any format and the files could then be converted to suitable formats for uploading to the e-portfolio.  Employers were a key part of the introduction of e-portfolios. The systems were set-up so that it was as straight forward as possible for them. With just a few clicks they could authorise a piece of evidence. 

Whilst some employers were keen for their employees to switch to e-portfolios there were several who were more reticent. Negotiation and intensive persuasion between ISIS Training and employers to show the benefits to the employer increased take-up.  One of the possible barriers was access to the internet. Again there was negotiation with employers who were not keen to have online access in their workplaces, in particular in the hospitality industry. ISIS Training is considering helping those businesses without broadband to purchase it via a Lincolnshire grant scheme. 

For learners, a laptop loan scheme was introduced, in some cases BT Openzone licences were offered and ISIS Training is currently drawing up a map of free wi-fi spots in the county. 

About LIG funding

The Learning Innovation Grant (LIG) funding is provided by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and administered by the Association of Learning Providers (ALP). LIG funding supports the innovative development and application of ICT technologies and e-learning within the work-based learning (WBL)/skills sector. As at June 2008, LIG funding has supported 224 projects across a wide range of geographical and occupational areas. Access LIG exemplars on the ALP website.

The outcomes 

ISIS Training has seen some fairly quick and identifiable benefits of switching to an e-portfolio and an all-round move to e-learning. These have included: 

• A noticeable increase in learner retention and achievement – learners complete approximately 30% quicker now;
• Flexible working for staff has lead to greater job satisfaction, eg staff can now work from home;
• Greater efficiency and cost savings across the organisation – even on conservative estimates a significant saving was made on travel expenses in the first year of introduction;
• Increased productivity time for learning and assessment;
• Increased learner choice and opportunity and improved quality of the learner experience; and
• Award of Exemplar Technology status.

According to Mick Gilroy one of the highlights has been the submission of “some unbelievably good evidence from learners”. 

The impact

The benefits to learners have been: 

• Faster feedback and results – new evidence is acknowledged straightaway and full feedback is given within two days;
• Flexibility – records show that learners are regularly logging on at all times of the day;
• Access to learning resources wherever they are;
• Opportunities for discovery-based learning through research projects; and
• More control over their own learning – one sign of this is that the vast majority of learners are submitting their work well in advance of deadlines and in some cases even ask for more work.

From an organisational perspective:

• 300+ remote learners are currently using the eNVQ e-portfolio system;
• The target of 25% of employers making regular inputs to learner qualifications has been met;
• Learning advisors are using a range of technologies to carry out assessment, including regular use of video; and
• Paper-based portfolios are only used when a learner or employer has a specific need and eNVQ is unsuitable. ~

The implementation of an e-portfolio system is not without potential pitfalls. One of the hardest lessons learnt by ISIS was early on. Despite researching the different e-portfoilio systems available thoroughly the first product that the organisation purchased was aborted after three months as it was not coping. 

Mick Gilroy offers the following advice to anyone else considering implementing an e-portfolio system:

• Don’t just copy what another organisation does – what is a good e-portfolio product for them might not be for you.
• A planned, organised approach is essential.
• Focus on what you aim to achieve.
• Have confidence in your own ability to deliver e-learning and increase your ICT skills.
• Make use of all the available resources.
• Continue to work hard to get the right mix of staff skills, learning content and ICT resources!!

ISIS Training has a new target of 50% active employer input into learner qualifications and plan to have more funds made available from senior management to continue to develop their use of e-portfolios as part of an overall e-learning programme. 

 To view the story on the Excellence Gateway click here.