Synthesising the programme
George Roberts
Isobel Falconer
Patsy Clarke, Ellen Lessner
Mark van Harmelen

A complex strategic
environment
[In] Today’s complex strategic environment … a threat
or opportunity can emerge from almost anywhere,
there is no single point for analysts to focus on.
Intentions and relationships are much more dynamic,
so the context in which raw intelligence must be
analyzed is far more ambiguous.
Access to information is almost unrestricted, now that
the world is wide open and awash in data.
http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/06/26/intel_outside

Institutions of society
• Institutional innovation takes place in the
wider context of the institutions of society
• Institutions are powerful, persistent and
emergent
• Institutional innovation is about the
connected commons (21st c learners)
gaining a purchase on the institution of
education

• The strategy an institution chooses will depend
on its self conception (identity)
• Most universities think of themselves as brick
and mortar institutions with a physical campus..
• However, a university could see itself as a
global change agent, acting through teaching,
research, and public service.
• Or a university could try to be known as an
institutional improvement facilitator—for
businesses, government agencies, NGOs, and
other universities.
Umpleby et al (2009)

Data collection from phase 2 projects
• Purpose
– developing themes that may:
– guide project assemblies, benefits realisation
calls and proposals
• Approach & Methods
– 3D matrix:
• D1 – the projects
• D2 - bottom up emergent themes from projects
• D3 - top down themes from JISC, HEFCE, etc
– cross correlation and interrogation between
top down and bottom up

Deriving bottom-up themes

Elicited themes – clustered (D2)
• Open educational dialogue
– Information Sharing
– User-centred design
– Community
– User-generated content
– Assessment, feedback/forward
– Learning resources and services
– Audio & Video
– Student induction & retention
• Technical enabling practices
– Systems mapping, BA & work flow
– Information aggregation practice & RSS
– Web services/SOA
– Mobility and location-based services
• Social and cultural enabling practices
– Legal/IPR
– Flexibility

Top Down themes – Institutional Pragmatics
• Learning teaching and assessment
• Research and development
• Business and community engagement
• Learning resources
• eAdmin
• Institutional ICT services
• Physical estates and learning spaces
• Mobile, location aware and pervasive computing
• Green ICT
From JISC topic list (36 topics), initial administrative
grouping of projects (6), HEFCE funding streams (3), JISC
strategic themes (8)

Synthesis & the LLLWFD
projects
• Since the April start of the 13 Lifelong Learning
and Workforce Development projects (LLLWFD)
• Analysis and discovery (by Ellen and Patsy)
– Collecting projects’ key words and themes
• Baseline report from each project to JISC – 30
June
– Including outcomes and lessons of previous projects
and initiatives, and the experiences of other
institutions who have implemented similar types of
innovations or technologies.
– key lessons relevant to the focus of the project
– Intended to to provide a broad view of sector practice
in lifelong learning and workforce development

http://www.wordle.net

Key points from first reading
• There are many areas where projects can support each
other, learn and develop
– APEL
– shell frameworks
– XCRI standards for course information from different
institutions
– ideas about employee engagement
– CRM -customer relations management systems
– e-portfolios and VLE use
• between HEIs, learners and employers
– online socialising and support for work based learners
– identity management systems

Institutional views
• Projects were looking to develop something which
would be useful to the institution, be valued and
sustainable – to bring together and provide a tool
(s) for separate systems within the institution
• A number of projects already have good employer
engagement – not starting from ‘first base’
• Variety of types of software/e-portfolios being
tried/used – PebblePad, Mahara, Bb, Moodle etc.
• Most projects have partners outside of their
institution
– FE is seen to have a useful history of employer
engagement

Nationally
• HEFCE and the Leitch Review – emphasis
on employer engagement
• Demise of Dius and the rise of BIS
– Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills is in charge of universities
• Other (JISC/HEA) projects – use of
different software tools and systems, apel,
e-portfolios with learners

Modeling the programme
Various 3D representations
• Projects, emergent themes, given themes
• Micro, macro, tools (Phipps)
• What, why, how (Wentworth)
• Deductive, inductive, pragmatic
– Theory, experiment, engineering (Gailson)
• Theory, practice, praxis (Freire)
• Knowledge, power, discipline (Foucault)

From model to methodology
• The challenge is operationalising the
model
• to choose the elements of any model such
that they either answer given questions or
are productive of new and useful
questions

Where next?
• 2 level synthesis
1. Projects as actors using tools in contexts
• Programme is the system
• Focuses on the local/micro/what
• Institutional improvement facilitation
– Programme as actor using projects as tools
• How widely do we draw the system?
• All HE? JISC?
• Focuses on the wider/macro/why
• Global change agents

What next?
• Tools
– Social & cultural enablers
– Technical enablers
• Rules
– Institutional pragmatics
– Open educational dialogue
• Communities
– Stakeholders
– Disciplines
• Roles
– Institution-centred
– User-centred