1. Policies, Procedures Roles & Responsibilities: Foundation Degrees – A Cautionary Tale Prof Mark Stiles Head of Learning Development & Innovation Information Services Staffordshire University

2. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 The Context at Staffordshire Doing eLearning since 98 on large scale with significant distance and off-campus learners So, we thought we knew what we were doing… Support for development Service standards and point of contact for IT for OCLs CDs for OCLs Library support for OCLs VLE to MIS links (Not all perfect of course!)

3. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 And then, Foundation Degrees… First FD with SURF partners started in Sept 01 Our FD model: –Directly funded consortium –Degrees developed by University and Colleges in partnership –Where VLE used, single server based at University (COSE) –Development support from the then Learning Dev Centre –Other support from the then LLRS and IT Services

4. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 What we did… Massive staff development effort for partners –Trained ILT Champions –Trained College Technical Support Staff –Trained deliverers and developers Induction Session held in early September Enrolment at Colleges planned…

5. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 Things that went wrong… Problems getting content in time to build into VLE and QA Problems getting students enrolled into MIS MIS to VLE link not granular enough Use of temporary accounts VLE not accessible from some colleges Deliverers not the people we trained Ownership of learner support (and the courses) very confused

6. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 Things we did wrong/forgot The cultural gulf FE staff workloads and work patterns Most learners from SMEs and out of normal college hours Firewalls The admin lag Making it clear who should develop, manage and support what

7. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 What we did… Clarify how each FD was owned and was being developed Recognise various realities Plan for things going wrong Improve support for development Improve support for induction Improve support for delivery

8. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 An outline of approach: An LD Manager & an Information Specialist to work with each module An agreed development plan and schedule Work with staff to plan modules VLE component structure and approach Produce a skeleton structure in COSE Help identify e-resources and help with © and IPR Take material staff produce and built in into COSE – ensure QA Train staff in using COSE for learning (not development unless needed) Produce a getting ready and induction checklist Make sure staff and students know where to go for help with what

9. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 Who helps? Learning Development Specialists: Planning and Management of Development Course Design Building the VLE Course Structure Planning Induction & Delivery Learning Support & Information Specialists: Resources Content Creation Populating the VLE Course Both of these plus IT Support: Supporting Delivery & Staff Development Help desks need to know all this

10. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 Plus: Using COSE slide sets and student handout Off-line SURF COSE content on CD-ROM for each FD –Staff and student versions, include all s/w and plug-ins needed and all support documents Problems script for staff and college IT staff Improved problem escalation to University Learning and IT support

11. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 Where do problems go? Learner Academic problems – College Tutor Learner VLE and IT Problems – College Tutor and College IT College Tutor VLE Problems: 3800 (or LDI during development) Escalated VLE problems – 3800 – then: –LS for resource, access and account issues – then: –IT for escalation from LS and bugs – then vendor (LDI COSE group) for real bugs –LDI for educational problems and liaison with University academic teams Vital to feedback outcomes to LDI for refinement of support tools

12. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 Conclusion? FDs require real partnership and mutual understanding eLearning in FDs mean a real mix of roles and responsibilities Its MUCH harder than you think We are still not there, but it IS better

13. JISC Joint Programme Meeting July 04 Thanks For the full monty see my paper on embedding eLearning on: www.staffs.ac.uk/COSE/cosenew/reportsandpapers.html