This document discusses a blended learning program for a Professional Development Award (PDA) in project management at Forth Valley College. The program aims to maximize inclusion and learner engagement through a combination of asynchronous and synchronous online learning. It uses three e-learning platforms: Moodle for asynchronous resources and activities, Blackboard Collaborate for live workshops, and an e-portfolio for student profiles and collaboration. The program provides vocational skills that can be applied directly to students' real work projects. Evaluations found high levels of output and that the blended approach helped establish online learning standards at the college.

1. Nader Jarmooz
Forth Valley College
2014

2. To maximise Inclusion
To enhance Learner Engagement
The primary aim of Technology Enhanced Learning and
Teaching is to empower learners to take charge of their
own learning.

3. Many more individuals considering retraining and entrepreneurship
through blended learning. Empirical research have shown very little
difference in overall outcomes between synchronous and
asynchronous learning and teaching. Our challenge was two folds:
1. Firstly, be as inclusive as possible with respect to accessibility
and participation;
2. secondly, to make learning as vocational and relevant to
learner’s requirements, thus resulting in increased learner
engagement.
To reconcile these two issues, a blended mode of synchronous and
asynchronous model was developed.

4. The PDA in Project Management is designed to enhance and
accredit the skills of individuals in the project management
environment;
The accredited course by Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA)
and Chartered Managers Institute (CMI) was adopted as the pilot
programme, and adapted for online delivery.
The programme is vocational based on real Projects

5. Programme’s guiding principle remains inclusion and engagement:
• Inclusion refers to access, regardless of physical barriers,
• Engagement is achieved through virtual vocational training. the
course provides the skills to be applied to real projects being
undertaken by the individual at work.
In order to maximise access and engagement the programme is
delivered entirely online utilising three e-learning platforms:
Moodle, Blackboard Collaborate, and e-portfolio

6. Moodle is adopted by many institutions as de facto open source e-
learning platform. It forms the primary platform for asynchronous
delivery of the PDA programme.
Learning and teaching: course resources and lessons are provided
as a library and form sequential chapters containing teaching
notes; other media such as embedded webcasts; and assignment
submission, feedback, and grading.
Forums and workshops: information is exchanged between tutor
and learners; and activities such as online Collaborate workshops
and e-portfolio are planned and accessed.
Administration: learners are enrolled and graded through
Moodle; and records are kept within Moodle environment for
quality assurance.

7. Blackboard Collaborate provides the synchronous live workshops
for enhanced learner engagement and participation in a virtual
community.
 Collaborate sessions can be arranged as activities within
Moodle and allow the participants to meet in a virtual
classroom environment where they can discuss ideas, resolve
queries, and create a virtual community.
 The facilities within Collaborate offer smartboard, web
touring, and application sharing. Learners can also breakout
into multiple virtual rooms for group activities and
collaboration.

8. e-portfolio provides learners with personalised online space:
 creating individual profiles;
 maintain diaries/blogs
 upload and edit documents
 create groups for peer review and collaboration.
e-portfolio is maintained online as an electronic archive, thereby
offering security and mobility.

9. Perhaps the greatest achievements of the PDA programme has been
in terms of its output and its knock-on effect on use of technology
within the Organisation.
the current cohort consists of lecturers, managers, and engineers
undertaking the programme as part of their Continuous
Professional Development (CPD)
Their efforts have created the sum of output that exceeds the
benefits offered by the programme itself.
The success of this approach to blended learning has helped in
creating a standard template for blended learning at FVC.

10. Learning can best happen in an environment that promotes and
encourages the efforts of learners. Therefore, in order to ensure
successful outcome, the programme’s goals and objectives have also
been aligned with the learner’s goals and objectives.
Technologies afford us the opportunity to enhance teaching and
learning in terms of support for people and objects that are not within
physical reach.
Technology enhanced learning is becoming more relevant in informal
learning by challenging the established perceptions of objectives and
evaluation; as well as assisting in competency identification and
tracking learner’s progress.

11. http://moodle.forthvalley.ac.uk