JISC

In response to a projected increase in lifelong learning, there is a need to support learners as they move between institutions of Further and Higher Education, and between Higher and Further Education. This support will increasingly include IT systems that underpin the learning process. The increasing use of Managed Learning Environments within FE and HE institutions provides a context within which to explore the benefits of 'joined up' systems that are focused on the needs of the learner.

This JISC-funded programme is a step towards a longer-term strategic aim of student-centred information systems that facilitate the mobility of the lifelong learner in the form of an individual student portal that provides a single entry point to relevant learning and administrative resources. A number of areas of the education sector, for example within the DfES, are also putting some of the educational goals of life-long learning into practice, and it is expected that areas of this programme will complement and draw upon the findings of the most relevant outcomes, such as the student progress file.

Aim and Objectives

The aim of the programme is to explore the issues related to developing learning environments to support the seamless movement of the learner between and across sectors and institutions. Achieving this will require a "bringing together" of existing expertise and experience from JISC projects and services, to support the funded projects, to achieve benefits for the whole JISC community. The specific objectives are to:

• establish cross institutional architectures to deliver learning which can provide generic solutions of benefit to the whole JISC community
• explore access to and delivery of learning materials across institutions
• develop protocols and standards for the transfer of information across institutions and explore the use of student learning profiles
• measure and record the impact of cross-institutional systems on business processes of institutions
• identify and address the implications for staff development
• provide a formative development and dissemination process throughout the lifetime of the project which will engage the (JISC community)HE/FE sectors

See information for projects