The United Kingdom Radiological Conference is the UK's flagship scientific conference that brings together 'clinicians, scientists, radiographers, technologists, managers and other professionals to present and discuss the latest developments and challenges in diagnostic imaging and allied radiological sciences.'
I had proposed to the conference organisers that we would deliver a joint session with the Society and College of Radiographers about how the CPD online system, we had developed with them, was being used by radiographers to enable them to apply for consultant and advanced practitioner status.
I was delighted when I received the programme for the event to see that there is now to be a full afternoon session to discuss the emerging models of consultant and advanced practice, with the final presentation by Michael Fell the first radiographer to have successfully applied for advanced practitioner stastus using CPDnow.
The facility to use our CPD online system to apply for different grades within the professional body is proving a great addition and was one of the features that has attracted the interest of the radiographers in Australia.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Hacking over the Careers Service
I recently spent a day with our company Chair Barrie Hopson and other leading experts in Information, Advice and Guidance learning about and experiencing the benefits of agile technology. The purpose was to see whether these group of experts could use this technology to come up with a new tool that would help deliver an effective IAG service.
Agile Technlogy is full of interestingly named techniques like 'scrums' and 'spiral waterfalls', which have ben developed apparently over many years, although I have not heard of the technique before. Except when they described this approach to building software it did seem very much like what we do. I cannot recall when we last produced a detailed specification for a project and my sense would be that all our customers would describe us as collaborative in our approach, open to change and constantly seeking continuous improvement.
It was therefore interesting to hear about the approach although frankly I am unsure that it will have helped UKCES to make the careers service more effective. This was because the organisers failed to practice what they preached. The developers worked separately rather than collaboratively and only engaged with the practitioners at the end of the day. As a result the whole day ended in disarray and whilst the developers were going on to produce somethg on their own I cannot believe that it will have any impact. An opportunity missed methinks.
Although not for us because we had some interesting discussions in relation to finding homes for our diagnotics that when on the direct.gov site were each accessed by 30,000 individuals every month.
Agile Technlogy is full of interestingly named techniques like 'scrums' and 'spiral waterfalls', which have ben developed apparently over many years, although I have not heard of the technique before. Except when they described this approach to building software it did seem very much like what we do. I cannot recall when we last produced a detailed specification for a project and my sense would be that all our customers would describe us as collaborative in our approach, open to change and constantly seeking continuous improvement.
It was therefore interesting to hear about the approach although frankly I am unsure that it will have helped UKCES to make the careers service more effective. This was because the organisers failed to practice what they preached. The developers worked separately rather than collaboratively and only engaged with the practitioners at the end of the day. As a result the whole day ended in disarray and whilst the developers were going on to produce somethg on their own I cannot believe that it will have any impact. An opportunity missed methinks.
Although not for us because we had some interesting discussions in relation to finding homes for our diagnotics that when on the direct.gov site were each accessed by 30,000 individuals every month.
Why JISC struggles to deliver Innovation
One of the other blogs I follow is Don Clark Plan B http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ There are lots of stimulating entries because as Don says on his introductory page he now has 'enough time to attend, read, listen, watch and comment on anything I want to'. I particularly like the way he 'attacks' sacred cows e.g. the most recent one is the notion that universities justify their existence because they teach critical thinking. The evidence suggests that this is not the case. He also has no hestitation in attacking learning institutions/organisations. I made the following contribution to his blog on JISC an organisation which was set up to inspire 'UK colleges and universities in the innovative use of digital technologies, helping to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in education.'
In my experience one of the major issues for JISC is the way they relate to private companies. They do have a relationship and we have been involved in events that they have organised, but they behave as if they would prefer all innovation to be solely generated from the FE/HE sectors and ignores the way that this sector can sometimes work effectively with and through the private sector.
We have been involved in some innovative work with Huddersfield Univeristy on exploring the use of e-portfolios to make it easier for work based assessors to comment on the work of learners registered on the nurse prescribing course. It is innovative in the sense that we are genuinely exploring whether such an approach makes it easier for nurses to capture evidence and have it assessed. At the moment the 'jury is still out'. We have had some technical challenges with NHS spam blockers but looks like we have now found a way round this.
We recently responded to a JISC request to present innovative projects to their local conference but were turned down on the basis that were 'giving priority to the colleges and universities rather than the private companies.'
This approach contrasts with the one taken by Learn Direct for example, who in my experience are very effective at harnassing the skills and knowledge of the companies they work with. Indeed we have been involved in a project where three companies have been involved with their own internal team and through collaborative work produced an interesting and highly innovative solution.
JISC has a key role in developing innovative practice but they will only partly deliver this if they fail to encourage engagement with a sector where innovative practice and ideas are being developed.
In my experience one of the major issues for JISC is the way they relate to private companies. They do have a relationship and we have been involved in events that they have organised, but they behave as if they would prefer all innovation to be solely generated from the FE/HE sectors and ignores the way that this sector can sometimes work effectively with and through the private sector.
We have been involved in some innovative work with Huddersfield Univeristy on exploring the use of e-portfolios to make it easier for work based assessors to comment on the work of learners registered on the nurse prescribing course. It is innovative in the sense that we are genuinely exploring whether such an approach makes it easier for nurses to capture evidence and have it assessed. At the moment the 'jury is still out'. We have had some technical challenges with NHS spam blockers but looks like we have now found a way round this.
We recently responded to a JISC request to present innovative projects to their local conference but were turned down on the basis that were 'giving priority to the colleges and universities rather than the private companies.'
This approach contrasts with the one taken by Learn Direct for example, who in my experience are very effective at harnassing the skills and knowledge of the companies they work with. Indeed we have been involved in a project where three companies have been involved with their own internal team and through collaborative work produced an interesting and highly innovative solution.
JISC has a key role in developing innovative practice but they will only partly deliver this if they fail to encourage engagement with a sector where innovative practice and ideas are being developed.
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Australia; final reflections
In the airport about to start the 'short' journey home. So what are the final impressions. Well none of them are going to be commercial or provide an insight into educational developments and opportunities as there are too many other companies happy to feed off that information.
As a country it leaves a very favourable impression. A public transport system that is integrated and works e.g. Manley to Sydney Airport in less than a hour through a combination of ferries and trains at rush hour and always an available seat; lots of people engaged in unpaid work to support the delivery of various services e.g. Manley beach full of volunteer lifeguards who have trained long and hard to be one; a general courteous 'air' in each of the four cities I have visited. The only major drawback is the cost of living there although as I discovered they also pay alot higher day rates.
A thoroughly worthwhile trip even with the 20+ hours flying time each way.
As a country it leaves a very favourable impression. A public transport system that is integrated and works e.g. Manley to Sydney Airport in less than a hour through a combination of ferries and trains at rush hour and always an available seat; lots of people engaged in unpaid work to support the delivery of various services e.g. Manley beach full of volunteer lifeguards who have trained long and hard to be one; a general courteous 'air' in each of the four cities I have visited. The only major drawback is the cost of living there although as I discovered they also pay alot higher day rates.
A thoroughly worthwhile trip even with the 20+ hours flying time each way.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Report on the Mahara salesperson
This week was the first time I have seen someone selling Mahara in action. Indeed it is the first time I have seen a Mahara site. Well of course I have to recognise the benefits of being able to link into Moodle, which is being used by many institutions in the UK but nobody can claim that it looks great.
Anyway here is the sales pitch. Can you really thrust proprietary software when it is quite possible that compnay's owning that software will be taken over, the implication being that of course that software will disappear, leaving the learning provider high and try. Instead you can have access to open source software which you can be assured will be always be there. No mention what state that software will be in nor how stable it is you can just have the reassurance it will be there.
You can of course if you wish pay a company like the one the salesperson was representing to help implement the software and of course if you need any other services like hosting and support we will of course be happy to oblige albeit at a fee.
Seems that institutions will swopping the so called dependence on a company where there is some guarantees on the security and availability of software with a 'relationship' with another company that will be using software over which there is ultimately little control apart from the fact you know it is 'out there' which apparently better...still struggling to see how.
Anyway here is the sales pitch. Can you really thrust proprietary software when it is quite possible that compnay's owning that software will be taken over, the implication being that of course that software will disappear, leaving the learning provider high and try. Instead you can have access to open source software which you can be assured will be always be there. No mention what state that software will be in nor how stable it is you can just have the reassurance it will be there.
You can of course if you wish pay a company like the one the salesperson was representing to help implement the software and of course if you need any other services like hosting and support we will of course be happy to oblige albeit at a fee.
Seems that institutions will swopping the so called dependence on a company where there is some guarantees on the security and availability of software with a 'relationship' with another company that will be using software over which there is ultimately little control apart from the fact you know it is 'out there' which apparently better...still struggling to see how.
Can you trust your presenter
I am surprised that one of the other main UK e-portfolio providers is not fully represented at this conference, given that they have a major presence in Australia. What they have decided to do instead is to trust some of their users to present their product.
One of these is the University of South Australia. The presentation starts with some understandable concerns about the ability of students to use an e-portfolio. However then the presenter launches into the challenges they faced implementing the e-portfolio. There was too much there; there were initially some technical bugs; the e-portfolio required a fast connection; it makes marking slower because there are lots of pages that need to pop up and the e-portfolio does not look like a professional tool e.g. pebbles and little kids does not tally with ongoing professional development.
Changes were then made to make it better but this seemed to be internal ones by the University rather than any changes to the product.
So what the presenter told the audience that the software was initially difficult to implement and then when it was successfully implemented the University of South Australia ditched the software in favour of open source software.
To then compound the poor presentation, the company now have an out of focus virtual presentation in which no attempt is being made to use multi-media until the end. We are just being given a static lecture.
I do not say any of this with great relish, because in my view it is incumbent on all of us in the e-portfolio business to effectively demonstrate what they offer in order to engineer the important ‘cultural’ change which will encourage more people to use e-portfolios.
One of these is the University of South Australia. The presentation starts with some understandable concerns about the ability of students to use an e-portfolio. However then the presenter launches into the challenges they faced implementing the e-portfolio. There was too much there; there were initially some technical bugs; the e-portfolio required a fast connection; it makes marking slower because there are lots of pages that need to pop up and the e-portfolio does not look like a professional tool e.g. pebbles and little kids does not tally with ongoing professional development.
Changes were then made to make it better but this seemed to be internal ones by the University rather than any changes to the product.
So what the presenter told the audience that the software was initially difficult to implement and then when it was successfully implemented the University of South Australia ditched the software in favour of open source software.
To then compound the poor presentation, the company now have an out of focus virtual presentation in which no attempt is being made to use multi-media until the end. We are just being given a static lecture.
I do not say any of this with great relish, because in my view it is incumbent on all of us in the e-portfolio business to effectively demonstrate what they offer in order to engineer the important ‘cultural’ change which will encourage more people to use e-portfolios.
The challenge of Mahara
I have naively underestimated the power of internal technical teams or prehaps there desire to survive. All the talk here is of Mahara and Moodle. What is the main attraction of this software is that it allows the technical teams within Universities and other institutions to retain control. Of course nobody really buys Mahara, what you do is get hold of the open source software and implement it and therein lies the cost either the internal cost of your technical team or bringing in experts to help you use it.
However you would not believe it from the discussions here. As I previously reported the South Australia University are moving over to Mahara although not quite yet. When the poor lecturer was told that they were switching to Mahara; she was also told that she had to wait for a couple of terms because we have a ‘team working on it.’
What a surprise?
Again to repeat my previous comment that I will support anything that encourages more people to use e-portfolios, however I would urge that a proper evaluation takes place of cost and benefits associated with each portfolio.
Mahara like all open software is freely available that does not mean that it is free. Someone has to maintain the core software and deploy it.
It would be good to know how much that on average it is costing to implement Mahara e-portfolios in particular institutions.
Here is another question if Open Source is so great why are not major corporate bodies, with their eye on the bottom line falling over each other to use it?
However you would not believe it from the discussions here. As I previously reported the South Australia University are moving over to Mahara although not quite yet. When the poor lecturer was told that they were switching to Mahara; she was also told that she had to wait for a couple of terms because we have a ‘team working on it.’
What a surprise?
Again to repeat my previous comment that I will support anything that encourages more people to use e-portfolios, however I would urge that a proper evaluation takes place of cost and benefits associated with each portfolio.
Mahara like all open software is freely available that does not mean that it is free. Someone has to maintain the core software and deploy it.
It would be good to know how much that on average it is costing to implement Mahara e-portfolios in particular institutions.
Here is another question if Open Source is so great why are not major corporate bodies, with their eye on the bottom line falling over each other to use it?
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