5A: How to achieve success in leadership and management

A whole-organisation approach

It is important for organisations that are providing any form of literacy, numeracy and ESOL training to ensure that the approach taken to e-learning is clearly communicated to all staff. Therefore, in mission and vision statements and strategic plans, there should be explicit reference to e-learning. It should be an integral part of the learning process and not seen as something which happens in an ad hoc or insignificant way.

The overall management of e-learning is a complex concept for organisations to grasp. In order to demonstrate that there is a holistic strategic approach, providers need to be able to answer these questions.

• Is there someone within the organisation who is responsible for e-learning?
• Do you have any e-learning champions?
• Do you show, in your strategic plans, the importance of e-learning as a learning tool in your organisation?
• Do you enable e-learning to take place anywhere, anytime?
• Are you working with other organisations to facilitate e-learning?
• Is there a joined-up approach in your area?
• Does your promotional material identify you as an organisation that incorporates e-learning into its learning programmes?
• Are you investing in piloting activities that allow you to find out the best way of teaching literacy, numeracy and ESOL through e-learning?
• Do you encourage and reward innovation in e-learning for literacy, numeracy and ESOL learners?
• Is the prevailing organisational culture positive about using e-learning to teach literacy, numeracy and ESOL skills?

Staff qualifications and training

The new qualifications framework and subject specifications for literacy, numeracy and ESOL teachers must form the basis for all future qualifications gained by specialist subject teachers involved in e-learning provision. All volunteers and support workers should undertake recognised initial training in supporting literacy, numeracy and ESOL development. These staff must be of high calibre, be skilfully deployed and well supervised to ensure that learners receive the help that they need. Vocational teachers should undertake literacy, numeracy and ESOL training courses, wherever possible leading to national accreditation.

Online teacher training

BSOL

learndirect’s Basic Skills Online (BSOL) course was offered to staff in its centres as a professional development opportunity for members of staff involved in supporting basic skills learners. The course was designed to deliver key information about delivering the Skills for Life strategy and to give a nationally dispersed group of teachers the opportunity to create an online professional community in which to reflect on, share, discuss and build their mutual resource of experience in teaching Skills for Life. Learning materials were delivered in eight mandatory modules and a choice of two optional modules. The duration of the course was 10 weeks, but completion was staggered over eight months.

Each module addressed a specific aspect of teaching literacy, numeracy and ESOL in accordance with the Skills for Life strategy. Discussion and support was facilitated using the learndirect staff development discussion board or e-mail. learndirect also provided technical support. Groups of between 10 and 22 tutees were assigned to teachers. Each group was given its own structured conference area as well as access to a general area for all groups in order to share and reinforce their learning through group reflection.

This model was particularly useful in the learndirect context as staff across a national network of learning centres work to different part-time, full-time or flexible patterns, with evening and weekend work being common. There is often no physical interaction between centres and little opportunity for staff to discuss issues with staff at other centres or even their own centre. As with any professional environment, staff are pressured for time and they benefited greatly from the flexibility that online learning gave them.

Informal group mentoring was used, with the group teacher performing the roles of both facilitator and mentor. Mentees were able to benefit from both group and individual advice, support and guidance. Mentoring was done publicly on the discussion board and chat rooms or privately by e-mail.

learndirect’s BSOL was a non-accredited professional development course. The assessment method required each tutee to post a short assignment to the conference area in response to an activity or case study in each module. The content of the case study or activity varied considerably, but specific instructions were posted in the introductory message of each module. Tutees had the opportunity to comment on or respond to other tutees’ postings, but each assessed posting had to be the tutee’s own work.

LETTOL

The Learning to Teach Online (LETTOL) course provides accredited training and awareness-raising for teachers who will be supporting learners online and developing courses online. The objective of LETTOL is to enable potential online teachers to experience a course where there is a substantial overlap between the medium of the course (online distance learning) and its content (how to teach, manage, design and evaluate materials and activities for online use).

Teaching practice

The Continuing Professional Development Department at the City University in London offers a Certificate and a Postgraduate Diploma in online learning which have been developed in conjunction with the London Central North learndirect Hub. Online teaching practice for both courses is provided with learndirect ICT and Skills for Life learners.

Effective use of e-learning resources within the organisation

E-learning can be effective with Skills for Life learners. But this is only if there are qualified staff who understand its role and who can use it effectively as part of the learning process. Just as a teacher in a more traditional role must use good resources, the same applies to e-learning contexts. Colleges and organisations need to do the following to ensure success:

• organise e-learning training sessions for staff on the benefits of using e-learning in the classroom
• organise e-learning training sessions to look at how learners learn from e-learning.
• encourage staff to attend events looking at the pedagogy of e-learning
• work out a system so the different kinds of support needed can be identified and established, for example, online and face-to-face
• set up awareness sessions about learndirect (contact your nearest Ufi regional office – a list is available at: www.ufi.com)
• carry out task-based reviews of relevant materials to check the level of support that is integrated into materials
• plot and review the evidence of learning outcomes
• create electronic forums where teachers can exchange ideas and best practice
• provide a range of ICT tools for teachers and learners to use in addition to computers
• show staff how to adapt computer screens and keyboards for people with disabilities.

Why we need good teachers

A new publication from the LSDA, IT can Make a Difference if IT is Fit for Purpose (LSDA, 2004) examines the impact of ILT on education. The publication is based on five years of research carried out in further education and sixth form colleges. It is helpful in that it takes the often vague attributes of IT in learning and talks about measurable benefits.

Specifically, it seems to show that when used as part of an overall strategy, IT can help reduce student drop-out, increase motivation and boost overall performance by acting as a catalyst for change. But crucially this can only be achieved when the teaching is in the hands of confident and well-trained educators who are focused on improving learning.

Teachers themselves succeeded in using technology to track the progress of individual students, identify potential problems and help select the learning styles best suited to make those individuals learn more efficiently and enjoyably. A learner tracking system such as Easy Track achieves all this and more. It also does it while creating less paperwork for the teachers themselves, an issue that upsets a lot of educators, because it reduces the time they can actually spend imparting knowledge and enhancing learning.

One FE college used software called Keyskill Builder to great effect in approving retention and achievement. It enabled teachers to identify earlier and deal with potential difficulties, largely by replacing paper-based assessment with a computerised alternative.

Vikki Smith, development adviser at the LSDA, commented: ‘This research lays to rest the myth that the use of IT will decrease the need for teachers. If used effectively with a clear focus, it shows clearly that IT can help good teachers to become better and help students to progress in a relatively short time. The ways in which people learn are not likely to change fundamentally but what IT can do is motivate students, make it easier for staff to track their progress and identify those at risk at an early stage.’ (Source: Exploring e-learning newsletter Autumn/Winter 2004).