eLearning

Andragogy & Pedagogy

In our early years, 1998 - 2002, our main Client was The Sheffield College. During this time we worked on multifarious projects aimed:

• To research, advance and promote standards of Information Architecture in general, and
• To research, advance and promote excellence in Information and Learning Technologies in particular.

Working in close relationship with the tutors, our job was to demystify the internet and provide a clean framework from which they could best provide learning. Much of what we learnt has been distilled in to our products and services.

Award : Business and Education Partnership (2002) - Sponsored by B.T. and the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce.

LeTTOL

• Shortlisted for an award in the National Training Awards (2002)
• Threshold award in the National Training Awards (2000)
• Becta Beacon Award for Information, Learning and Communications Technology to Support Effective Learning (1999)

Learning to Teach Online (LeTTOL) was piloted by the South Yorkshire Further Education Colleges (SYFEC) in 1996 in response to a number of challenges:

• To reach new markets for learning provision.
• To increase the flexibility of learning provision so that it can reach learners unwilling/unable to learn by traditional means.
• To establish a strong profile for SYFEC colleges in the strategic, growing and competitive elearning marketplace.

In 1998 The Sheffield College, the lead developer of the project within SYFEC, approached webarchitects to add dynamic user-functionality to the site, and to make it standards compliant.

There is ample evidence of the learning effectiveness of LeTTOL, and student and faculty satisfaction. Feedback received from the LeTTOL learners and their employers has been extremely positive.

LeTTOL completers are developing or deploying online content, in a wide range of contexts, for example:

• Developing online courses in using e-mail and the intranet for staff at a maternity hospital.
• FE teachers sponsored onto LeTTOL by Scottish Enterprise have successfully developed a range of online courses aimed at employers, such as an online pre-European Computer Driving License course.
• Developing on-line tutorials for the Teacher Education Programme in Harlow.
• Developing an online Global Communications module of Cambridge Information Technology's Certificate for an Open Learning Centre.
• Contributing annotated websites for the Oxford University Press 'World of Science' series for Key Stage 3 (11 - 14 year olds).
• A team of LeTTOL completers within the Sheffield College have an English GCSE Online course, in use since Autumn 2001.

English GCSE Online

• LSDA Beacon Award for E-Learning (2002)
• LearnDirect NILTA Award for Innovation (2002)

This is a very successful course developed and tutored by experienced staff working for The Sheffield College offering a flexible way of learning.

"The course has achieved a 100% success rate since it started in 2001/2002. Every student who has completed has achieved a grade C or above."

In 1999, two LeTTOL completers from the English Department suggested developing the Online English Language GCSE Course. As a result of our involvement in LeTTOL, we were brought on board as natural collaborators.

So began a lengthy period of consultation via face-to-face meetings and hundreds of emails. We continually redrafted and refined to ensure a fully interactive and user-friendly site, complete with email and web board discussion facilities. During this development period, the Course Co-Ordinators wrote and refined the course content and gained the approval of the examining body to offer the course online. Many prototypes of the site were created, tested and redrawn until September 2001, when the site was user-ready and had enrolled its first students.

Students on the course value the design and content of its material, which is accessible using any browser and Internet dialups. It has an online discussion environment that also works well over slow dial-ups, and which is not impeded by corporate and institutional firewalls. The materials are also accessible by learners using assistive technology for access. The interface has a consistent design structure at every stage of the course including easy navigation and checking features.

Dissemination events for the College's English division have been held at intervals of approximately two per year. These events have had the effect of making the English GCSE Online course central to the work of the whole English division, and it becoming a catalyst for staff to decide to train as online teachers. These sessions have also promoted the development of Information and Learning Technologies across this and other colleges, and has lead to the course being delivered by the Royal Forest of Dean College as well.

The English GCSE Online course has already had a very significant influence upon the future of online learning at Sheffield College. For example, the English Department now offers qualifications at both A and Degree Level also.

Whether you are planning an entirely new project or intending to enhance an existing one, we can ensure your strategy is complete and your project is successful -- Contact.