At City and Islington College last week, members of the college e-learning, ICT, Learning Centre and teaching teams shared effective practice and support through the exchange of experiences, knowledge and practical know-how to speed up the effective use of technology by colleges across all aspects of their business to the ultimate benefit of the learner.

Participants from across the region benefited from workshops on the technology behind sharepoint, finding and using top class digital resources for teaching and learning online, as well as the College’s experience in moving to Moodle.

See more details at

http://www.candi.ac.uk/about_us/news/2009-10/jul16-becta.aspx

Sheron Burton, Head of Learning Centres at City and Islington College commented: “We want the best for our students; we want them to achieve their potential and succeed in life. Technology delivers and supports those aims by enabling learning styles that grab the imagination of our learners and help them achieve their potential.”

RSC London advisers were in attendance, having been cheerleaders for this approach since its inception.

Andrew Williams of Kingston College was impressed with City and Islington’s innovative use of SharePoint. He said: “City and Islington College is leading the way in the implementation of SharePoint technology, they are ahead of the game in the sector in the use of future technologies.”   Earlier in the year, Andrew hosted a similar showcase of college systems, organised by RSC London, that recognised the rapid growth of joined up college systems to benefit staff and learners.    See what was demonstrated at

http://www.rsc-london.ac.uk/1382/

Frank McLoughlin, Principal of City and Islington College and Chair of the influential 157 Group of Colleges has long been a champion for technology in  the FE and skills sector.

In a key discussion paper, Frank has outlined how technology is changing not just business processes, but also the power relationship, where the teacher is no longer the expert dispensing knowledge, under pressure from learners, employers, and as a result of a revolution in the information environment including Google, wifi, open content, new broadcasting models and user-generated content.

_towards_a_future_vision_for_the_innovative_use_of_technology_in_fe_colleges.pdf

RSC London will continue to play its part in bringing learning providers together and supporting these significant developments.

The SharePoint in Education event at Kingston College (24th November 2009) was a response to the growing demand for information and support from those developing systems using SharePoint.

Over fifty delegates from across the London and South East regions made the journey to Kingston College in November

The morning saw presentations on the SharePoint based developments at City and Islington College, Esher College and Kingston College. The common theme of all three developments was they integrated data from a number of different sources and made that information available to the user in a personalised context. However the approach and scope of these developments varied considerably. 
The event report and presentations are now available on the RSCLondon website…