Welcome to the Official Launch of

The Northern Ireland Integrated

Managed Learning Environment

Welcome

Mr Brian Turtle, Director

Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education

The NIIMLE within the DEL Agenda

Mr Alan Shannon

Permanent Secretary

Department for Employment and Learning

Promoting mobility between FE and HE: the NIIMLE in the national context

Ms Sarah Porter, Programme Director, Joint Information Systems

Committee, Managed Learning Environment Programmes

• Key aspect of the JISC’s five-year strategy 2001-2005

• Investing substantial sums in working with the educational community across the whole UK

• MLEs for Lifelong Learning programme is a flagship programme

Managed Learning Environments

Context of the Programme

• Need to support institutions in their core business within the 21st century

• Drivers – e-learning– Widening participation – Student retention and progression– More efficient and effective institutions – Technology can help but needs to be strategic and

well planned

Quality Process

BusinessSystems

LearningResources

CurriculumMapping

Assessment

Communication

Delivery

TutorSupport

Tracking

OtherAgencies (e.g. HESA)

OtherOrganisations

Virtual Learning Environment

Student Record System

Off-LineLearning

Registers

Reproduced by kind permission of BECTa

Managed Learning Environments

MLE

the learner

the institution

the teacher

Integratingtechnologies

Changing culture

Changingprocesses

a new pedagogy?

MLEs: Where would we like to be?

• Moving towards integrated technologies• Taking a whole-organisation approach to

technologies– Choosing a solution that suits the organisation

• Improving storage and use of information systems and learning resources

• Re-focussing multiple end-user systems on the user’s needs

• Giving the student a better learning experience

MLEs for Lifelong Learning

• £3 million over 3 years

• Exploring cross-institutional architectures and processes to support learners

• To show all colleges and universities in the UK the potential for MLEs

Related MLE Programmes

• MLEs for Interoperability in England

• Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland programme

• Digital Libraries and VLEs

• Exchange for Learning

What have we learned about MLEs?

• MLE development is particular to each institution• Organisational issues are key to successful

implementation• Have not yet seen a ‘complete MLE’ in the UK

FE or HE sectors (though many are under development)

• Standards and specifications have an important role to play– But are not a ‘magic’ solution to integration

• To be successful, institutions need to identify the drivers for change

Sources of informationand advice

• Regional Support Centres– NI Centre is based at QUB and NWIFHE,

managed by Sandra McKillop

• JISC InfoNET– Started on 2nd Jan 2003– Supporting UK FE and HE in the planning and

implementation of Information Systems– Information systems; learning and teaching

technologies; approaches to technology

http://www.rsc-ni.ac.uk/

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/mle/

Contact details

Sarah Porter

Programme Director

s.c.porter@bristol.ac.uk

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/mle/

The NIIMLE Project: the implications and opportunities for the Northern

Ireland tertiary sector

Mr Paul Little, Director

Armagh College of Further Education

What is an MLE?

• Even without computers, the real learning environment is a managed learning environment

• Institutions manage the process of student’s learning

Components of our existing MLEs

• MIS Systems

• VLEs

• Library Systems

• HR and Financial Systems

A Regional MLE - the Northern Ireland Integrated Managed Learning Environment

• Separate institutional MLEs working intelligently and rationally across the region

• The first step towards achieving the same interoperability the banks and building societies have

• Real life business cases will force us to share data and work collaboratively

What will the NIIMLE look like?

• Student focus - a personalised web-page as the launch pad to the MLE services

• Regional information about courses - better informed progression decisions

• On-line academic and student mentors - less anxiety, improved retention

What will the NIIMLE look like?

• Information about careers - better informed careers decisions

• Transcripts and Personal Development Portfolios (PDPs)

Conclusion

• One of only two projects in the UK to be awarded funding

• Success based on timeliness and regionality

• Concordant with the political expectations for FE and HE sectors

• Will develop alongside NICIS in the FE colleges

• Will build upon institutional VLEs

Project Plan and Timescales

Mr Robert Roulston, NIIMLE Project Manager

Definition of the 3 phases of the NIIMLE services

• Core Data

• Subject Services

• Transcript and PDP

• Project Initiation & Gearing Up

• Visit Consortium Institutions

• NIIMLE website & project literature

• Identify Pilot Course Cohorts

• Outline Specification

• Establish Technical Approach

Year 1 - Progress to date

Our Future Plans

Year 1 cont. (Now to May 03)

Formal Technical Specification

Build & Test Prototype

Student Trials

Issue Call to non-consortium Institutions

Brief Academics & Students

Year 2

pilot subject - pilot institutions

Year 2 (Jun 03 – Nov 03)

Define Data Needed

Agree Mechanisms forData Delivery

Build & Test Prototype

Select VLE & Mentoring Framework

Roll out NIIMLEServices

Disseminate to Non-Consortium

Institutions

pilot subject – pilot institutions pilot subject – all institutions

cont. Year 2

Year 2 cont. (Dec 03 – May 04)

Student Trials

Define data Needed

Agree Mechanisms for Data Delivery

Roll Out NIIMLE Services

Roll Out NIIMLE Services

pilot subject - pilot institutions pilot subject - all institutions

Expansion to New SubjectsExpansion to New Subjects

Year 3

Year 3 (Jun 04 – Feb 05)Pilot subject Pilot institution

Pilot subjects All institutions

New subjects All institutions

Roll Out Transcript & PDPRoll Out Transcript & PDP

Roll Out NIIMLE Services

Roll Out NIIMLE ServicesTrial Transcript & PDPTrial Transcript & PDP

Define & BuildTranscript & PDP

Define & BuildTranscript & PDP

Roll Out NIIMLE Services

Roll Out NIIMLE Services

Disseminate to Region

Disseminate to Region

Year 3 (Mar 05 – May 05)

• Evaluation & Dissemination

• Case Studies & Reports

• Exit Strategy

Question and Answers

chaired by

Mr Alan Dummigan