Summary: Capacity and capability of providers workstream

This workstream focused on the capacity and capability of providers in relation to their use of learning technologies across Further Education. Its themes included the idea that a provider self-assessment tool could be developed to benchmark providers’ capability and skills use and application of learning technology and identify opportunities for improvement.

Another stream of thinking was for a set of products for FE leadership teams, including governors, to increase their understanding of the educational benefits for their learners and to develop their own knowledge and awareness of the opportunities open to them, including tools to evaluate investment decisions in learning technology hardware and software.

Draft recommendations:

1. Wanted: FE governors, leaders, tutors and teachers for the Digital Age – an online offer to professionalise leaders’, managers’ and teachers’ use of learning technology in the FE sector, building on the best current models
2. Curriculum planning and design: Ofsted to inspect a new learning technology strand in the Teaching, Learning and Assessment strategy. All providers should have a learning technology strand in the Teaching, Learning and Assessment strategy. This will be backed up by Ofsted’s recognition of the value of learning technology in their inspections
3. Celebrate success: identify and publicise top examples of learning tech innovation, scale up and reward the most effective and innovative ways in which technology is used in pedagogy, and develop the award landscape for providers and learners, such as kitemarking the best providers (open badges, sponsorship and prizes) to encourage and reward innovation
4. Strengthen support of the FE sector’s use of learning technologies by (among others) targeting the use of JISC’s RSCs to underpin the implementation of FELTAG recommendations
5. Think through change: create a plan to identify the best ways to make use of learning technology research (see the recommendation in the Learners’ workstream)

Your views:

• Building on these proposals, what specific changes to the ideas for providers are needed to make the biggest difference to you?
• Can you suggest any good mechanisms for achieving these recommendations?
• Are there other issues relating to providers that should be considered?

Rate the Capacity and capability of providers workstream:

In your opinion, how useful are these draft recommendations on providers (5 = very, 1 = not at all).