RSCni supporting education

An overview of the Regional Support Centre of Northern Ireland (RSCni) and its forthcoming work.

With the start of the 2011-2012 academic year, the RSCni is once again at the forefront in delivering support to the six area-based Further Education (FE) colleges and the Higher Education (HE) institutions within Northern Ireland.

With the world economic profile changing Northern Ireland has witnessed extensive economic changes, none more so than in education. Issues such as increased student fees, organisational restructuring, and new budget constraints have presented new challenges within the sector. The RSCni supports the colleges and universities as they strive to find new and innovative ways to deliver a world- class educational service. The challenge for the sector will be to deliver this service on a reduced budget whilst maintaining the current high standards of quality.

The RSCni Support Programme

Within the context of austerity the role of the RSCni is to assist organisations find new and cost effective ways to deliver their educational services and strategic objectives. The RSCni provides a range of innovative training programmes throughout the year supporting all levels of staff from within the organisation. For example, using technologies such as video conferencing, webinars and collaborative platforms for the delivery of training demonstrates best practice in the area of sustainability.

The RSCni has recently complemented its training facilities, upgrading to a new Smart Board and high spec video conferencing unit. For any queries regarding RSCni training or booking of their facilities please contact Support at: support@rsc-ni.ac.uk

The programme of events is influenced by the FE and HE sectors which form part of the RSCni Advisory Group. This year the key themes emerging are: Virtualisation, Mobile Technologies, E-portfolios and the development of open source Virtual Learning Environments. Training events will be incorporated using a variety of delivery mechanisms such as face to face workshops, webinars, video conferencing and the use of collaborative technologies.

Annual Conference

In keeping with the theme of sustainability, this year’s Annual Conference will be held online, a first for the RSCni. This will provide the opportunity to engage with sessions of particular interest, thus reducing your carbon footprint. Dates for your diary are the 5-6 April 2012. Further details will be available on our website closer to the time. The RSCni hopes that this method of delivery will provide the forum for greater engagement with the FE and HE sector.

Training and Work Based Learning Sector The RSCni is happy to announce a programme designed specifically to support the Training and Work Based Learning sector in Northern Ireland. A catalogue outlining training options and a new support site which includes a pricing structure will be launched at the end of October.

In order that the Training and Work Based Learning sector is able to exploit the benefits of ILT and meet its e-learning objectives, appropriate and stable technical infrastructure and systems are needed. The RSCni can support organisations’ ICT and ILT planners and engineers in the delivery of these objectives by providing support, advice, guidance and hands-on consultancy.

The Technology in Learning Delivery Qualification The RSCni are pleased to be involved in a new development with the Further Education sector. They have been charged by the Department for Employment and Learning to work together and develop a new Level 4 Blended Learning qualification. This qualification will be mandatory for all further education lecturers who wish to incorporate blended learning into their course delivery. The RSC has been asked to support this project and to assist colleges in their production of the online teaching content.

The RSCni would like to take this opportunity to welcome three new members of staff who will work with the core RSCni team and assist in the conversion of course teaching materials to multimedia online content. The new staff are: Chris Boyle, Instructional Designer and Samir Mohamedain and Daniel Keenan, Placement Students.

Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) The RSCni is part of, and benefits from, a UK-wide service of 12 RSCs and 6 other support services centrally led by JISC Advance. JISC inspires colleges and universities in the innovative use of digital technologies helping to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in education. The JISC services aim to complement the support framework offered by the RSCni by providing advice and guidance on a wide range of issues. The services include: JISC Legal, JISC TechDis, JISC Netskills, JISC Digital Media, JISC ProcureWeb and JISC InfoNet.

Impact

The RSCni has remained the leading RSC within the UK in terms of customer satisfaction. It has had a very productive year with just over 500 support consultations and training provided for approximately 1,200 college and university staff. Some notable examples of their success were assisting colleges to successfully bid for JISC funded projects, the continual support to colleges in achieving embedded status of ILT and the initial engagement with the Excellence Gateway. Amongst the strengths of the RSCni is its ability to proactively offer solutions to colleges by remaining at the forefront of new and emerging technologies.

The Way Forward

The RSCni acknowledges the good practice within the field of e-learning that has taken place within Northern Ireland. In recognition of this, it would like to celebrate these achievements by hosting the first ever RSCni e-Learning Awards. Details on the award categories and how to nominate will be announced in the forthcoming issue of the RSCni Newsletter.

Welcome to a new member of staff to the RSCni The RSCni is delighted to welcome Donna Hyland from Belfast Metropolitan College as our new E-learning Advisor.

Donna has worked in the Further and Higher Education sectors for almost twenty years. Having a breadth of experience from lecturing to project development, her experience has given her an enthusiasm for technology enhanced learning which will be an asset within her role at the RSCni.

Team

Kate Guy, Manager Barbara Stewart, Administrator Audrey Graham, e-learning Advisers Donna Hyland, e-learning Advisers Noel McDaid, e-learning Advisers

Contact details 14 Lennoxvale, Belfast, BT9 5BY Tel: 028 9097 6511 Website: www.rsc-ni.ac.uk Moodle: http://vle.rsc-ni.ac.uk Twitter:@Rscni