ICT and inter-institutional collaboration
2004 Annual Report: Findings from qualitative research
A cluster content-development workshop
In one cluster, it was decided that the college would establish a content development workshop with ICT Test Bed funding at the same time as it installed a VLE. This new facility to produce and organise e-learning resources, and make them widely available through the VLE, was important in enabling e-learning to have a much wider impact in the college than would otherwise have been possible. The facility was also made available to teachers in cluster schools.
The workshop employs three full-time materials developers to work with teachers to transform and enhance their existing materials and create new materials. It has the facility to create interactive materials and has worked with teachers from cluster schools to produce a range of materials including interactive presentations, digital video and project work in various subjects including science, geography and history.
The workshop offers a number of other services to the ICT Test Bed cluster, including offering a well-resourced space for staff from cluster schools and the college to come in and work with the team to develop their own materials. There have been some notable successes in the collaboration but generally it has proved difficult to get school staff to come into the workshop even when extended opening hours were offered. This seems to be as a result of the difficulties of traveling from the schools to the cluster through heavy traffic, either taking time out of teaching or working late in the evenings. It is discouraging for workshop staff, however. The workshop has the capability to use video conferencing to talk with teachers in the schools without them leaving their school but the necessary equipment has not yet been installed in the schools. The workshop team produces a newsletter which goes into all the cluster schools but sometimes there can be a bottleneck and the newsletter does not reach the individual teachers in the schools. Workshop staff meet with teachers in schools and attend management meetings where they generally get a good response.
As one developer said,
On Friday we had a general meeting with the entire staff, very good response there. We obviously made new contacts, people coming forward with ideas for learning resources. People see [what we can do]. What I normally do is show them examples of what is possible with e-learning, show them my past work, show them examples of how to use video to teach.
The resources offered by the content workshop have been used by one of the infants' schools. The staff commissioned short animations of a character called Dogum that can be used to start lessons and stimulate discussion. A member of staff from the content workshop visited the school three times and the school ICT Test Bed coordinator visited the college once. The development of this kind of resource can, therefore, be seen to be time consuming. Staff at the college is perceived to be friendly and helpful and also advised the school on the development of websites and resources. At one of the junior schools the content workshop team helped the ICT Test Bed coordinator to put five films of an assembly together with one sound track. The coordinator learnt from the experience and would be happy to do it himself in future. One of the secondary schools organised a presentation from the content workshop team in the autumn of 2004. This made staff aware of the service and created a buzz of excitement and interest. It has led to further meetings with the college and the English department is particularly keen to develop some resources. Some staff in these schools, however, said they would prefer to develop their own resources, although they recognize that they do not have the time to do so.
A collaborative project between secondary schools and a college in one cluster
The Digital Imaging for Creative Industries Project was conceived to meet the ICT Test Bed requirement that Further Education colleges should allocate some funding to support collaborative projects with their cluster schools. The initial focus, Art, was suggested by the heads and the project coordinators in the cluster. The project was outlined in the action plan produced by the college in February 2003. Prior to finalising the plans, college staff consulted with staff from the three cluster secondary schools (heads of Art and ICT Test Bed project coordinators) in order to identify areas of interest and needs. School staff identified a need to provide pupils with experience of Apple Macintosh computers, professional standard digital cameras and Photoshop (industry standard equipment and software) through whole-class teaching in order to strengthen vocational elements and opportunities to develop industrial awareness.
The original aims were to:
- establish a pool of transportable high-spec digital imaging equipment, cameras and laptops for whole-class delivery within each of the cluster group institutions.
- develop vocationally appropriate ICT skills in industry-standard software (Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop) and printing outputs.
- create a website for displaying students' project work which can be accessed by students, their parents and potential employers and to act as a motivator for assessed coursework projects.
- enable teachers and college lecturers to collaborate on digital imaging assignments and hence to share good practice and skills.
The focus was on creating modules for A/S art and A/S photography as well as embedding technology in photography courses in the college's Multimedia departments. The modules were designed to be delivered by school staff in their own classrooms, but teachers could arrange for their students to visit the college to use the professional photography studio. Because of the time needed to travel between the schools and the college, specialist equipment was lent to the schools for three-week periods in rotation.
The project is a good example of the complexities of collaboration between four institutions. The fact that one was an FE college and the other three were secondary schools was an additional complicating factor. Staff of both the schools and the college started work on the project with enthusiasm but a number of problems arose that proved difficult to overcome. By the end of the project, all continued to agree that the approach had huge potential. Next time round it would be possible to make changes which would overcome some of the problems.
Collaboration between staff from different institutions
Collaboration between staff from different institutions proved to be challenging. There were a number of confusions about what was expected, and different assumptions across the two sectors, which made it difficult to work under pressure. Part of the problem was in expecting people to collaborate who scarcely knew one another at the outset. Future initiatives should allow more time for planning and inter-institution networking. Additionally leadership, roles and responsibilities, team structure and resource ownership should be clarified from the outset and communicated at all levels from senior management to teaching staff and technical support.