Welcome to the Official Launch of The Northern Ireland Integrated Managed Learning Environment
Dec 18, 2015
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
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
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
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
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