City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 87/96 and 83/00)

Comprises two Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) inspection reports for the periods 1995-96 and 1999-2000

Ludlow College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 103/95 and 78/98)

The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. This record comprises the reports for periods 1994-95 and 1997-98

Building the foundations of professional expertise: creating a dialectic between work and formal learning

Recent critiques of management and teacher education curricula and teaching pay particular attention to the disconnection between the de-contextualised, formal knowledge and analytical techniques conveyed in university programs and the messy, ill-structured nature of practice. At the same time research into professional expertise suggests that its development requires bringing together different forms of knowledge and the integration of formal and non-formal learning with the development of cognitive flexibility. Such complex learning outcomes are unlikely to be achieved through a 'knowledge transmission' approach to curriculum design. In this article we argue that in many ways current higher education practices create barriers to developing ways of knowing which can underpin the formation of expertise. Using examples from two practice-focused distance learning courses, we explore the role of distance learning in enabling a dialogue between academic and workplace learning and the use of 'practice dialogues' among course participants to enable integration of learning experiences. Finally, we argue that we need to find ways in higher education of enabling students to engage in relevant communities of expertise, rather than drawing them principally into a community of academic discourse which is not well aligned with practice

An introduction to learning technology in tertiary education in the UK.

Contents: 1. The Learning Technology Arena 2. The Learning Technology Community 3. Learning Technology Tools 4. Key issues and developments in the Learning Technology Field 5. Implementing Learning Technologies 6. Further Resource

Bedford College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 56/96 and 44/00)

The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. This record comprises the reports for periods 1994-96 and 1999-2000

Networked Living: a new approach to teaching introductory ICT

The course T175 Networked Living is a 300 hour, multiple media, distance learning course offered by the UK Open University. The first presentation of the course, in 2005, attracted over 1600 students. T175 introduces students to general concepts of information and communication technology in a range of contexts, including: communication and identity; entertainment and information; and health, transport and government. It is an introductory (level 1) course for a variety of bachelors’ degrees, including the BSc programmes in: Information and Communication Technology; IT and Computing; and Technology; as well as the BEng engineering programme. The course was designed with a focus on retention of students and preparing them for further study. Student workload and pacing was carefully planned and there is a significant study skills component. The course uses a range of media, including: text, audio, computer animation and other software, and a website. Active learning is encouraged by means of activities, online quizzes, animations, spreadsheets and a learning journal. Continuous assessment is carried out via a mix of multiple-choice assignments (to test factual and numerical skills) and written assignments (which include elementary research into new topics). The course culminates with a written end-of-course assessment. This includes a major reflective component, as well as more traditional questions designed to test knowledge and understanding