The toolbox  allowed us to look at resources in a structured way -  using the learner journey as a guide to what and how to use the resources. the group of DTLLS tutors using these resources thought the layout and ease of use of the website was good, some of the resources might need a better introduction to what they are and how they can be used ( i suppose that the project will have generated some good practice examples which would be a good addition to the website )

The project gave some valuable real life opportunities to share good practice, show others what we're doing and firmly focuse the idea that resources are about helping the learners , involving learners and having an impact in the classroom.
The project also raised the profile of where and what type of resources are available - many of our new tutors are new to IT/ICT/ILT and indeed to teaching.

Some of the simple resources have been the most productive, although learners and tutors were initially attracted to the animation resources. We're hoping to get more tutors to try out the Job Match resource - it's something that we need to investigate further with our learners particularly in light of the large number of employability courses we run.

the project timelines were a bit tight, but we're hoping that some of the resources will be "slow burners " and their use will slowly spread - some of the resources that were popular ( animoto , quizlet, Poll ) will be shared at a newly proposed show and tell session. 
The latter " show and tell " session is also a direct result of this project, the group enjoyed taking part in the project ( thanks LSIS and Vic ) and it's reinforecd the idea of having  more structure around the sharing of this type of resource and effective practice in ILT generally.

Final Thoughts on the Toolbox - CLP Way

Community Learning Partnership's experience - Final Thoughts
We have found that the toolbox has enabled us to:

• Review what we use that became hidden from 'plain sight' & pass on to our 'discovery scout' to share
• Commit a member of staff as a 'discovery scout' to tell us what he has seen in the project and report back to us
• Discover what tools being explored by others
• Have a source of reference for future

This is the beauty of the 'Hive effect'. Sharing a collective goal that nurtures Collaboration, Co-discovery & Contribution.

Legacy, sustainability & the curation effort

Community Learning Partnership (CLP) have really enjoyed putting staff and resource into this project. We have been inspired and would like to see it continue after.

However, we are aware about the time & effort behind reporting the use of newly discovered tools. We experience a time lag between the capture of interesting tools (via the use of social bookmarking site Diigo - via a specific group set up for this project's purpose) and their dissemination - on this blog. In the case where staff require support/training with tools, we will be more than happy to share them in an expanded way. Otherwise the captured tools that are examined for their potential utility will be saved for posterity in our Third Sector Tooblbox Diigo Group. We have more tools and articles than we have been able to share here.

 You're invited to a reduction of effort in sharing your discoveries
So I cordially invite you to find out a bit more about Diigo (on this site), and if you wish to join our ThirdSector Toolbox Diigo Group you are welcome to request an invite. We can socially bookmark, hightlight, make notes on tools that we all co-discover, with much, much less effort. I have outlined CLP's workflow approach to sharing, hope you find it useful too.

One of our member's of staff who is obsessive about open-source, cloud tools, and new ways of enhancing learning will continue to populate this group as he makes new discoveries. Will you leave our lone ranger on his own? ;-). Who knows what he will discover next.

May you all continue to make fantastic new discoveries that makes your learning and teaching practices more engaging and inspiring.

InterAction-MK Have Fun With SlideShows

Played with Google Slides and made this simple little presentation using screen prints of our web site. I'm not too sure what I'd really do with this but I like the way a presentation can be set to display in a blog post like this, or on a web page (if I knew how to edit mine!)



I tried doing something similar with Animoto:


Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.

I should have used some actual images I suppose but I like the general presentation and choice of music. (My account didn't seem to work though so thanks to Andrew Hill for setting up one for us so that I could share this here). Lastly, much better is my Picasa album of photographs from an exhibition last summer. With all the cold and miserable weather we've had, I needed this to cheer me up! Here I used the embed as slideshow option to add the code to this post.

All pretty simple stuff but thanks to LSIS for the money and opportunity to try out things that I probably wouldn't have tried otherwise. We could do with a session or two to help staff get a bit more familiar with some of the tools here as I am pretty sure we could make good use of more of them given a bit more time to see what they an do.

Using JobMatch...

...is a requirement for most of my learners who are Job Seekers, it's one of the reasons they find themselves having to become ICT users. Many are completely new ICT users.

There are a significant number of ICT hurdles to negotiate in order to set up a GOV.UK account which is excellent for learning ...usernames, passwords (more than one!!!), form filling, emailing, clicking links to activate accounts, web browsing, navigating a website, word processing & much more… Many problem solving opportunities!! - V good practice for becoming confident operators of the digital environment. 

My learners create CVs in Google Docs which they store on their Drive & can attach to emails - all within their Google account. They can copy & paste their CVs from Google Docs into the CV tool on the JobMatch site. Most importantly, this means, it is possible to achieve everything necessary without the expense of owning a computer. No downloading/uploading documents...

Final thoughts on the Toolbox

Final thoughts on the Toolbox 

Great idea, some very useful resources, some resources that we will keep on using past the project deadline such as Jobmatch, Animoto and Blogger. Some resources we have “bought into” because we can see the benefits that they will bring, but one of the primary reasons for purchasing has been the relatively cheap cost.  A prime consideration for most third sector providers. Some of the tools are visually exciting, and could make a real impact on learners’, and some of the tools are perfunctory.

Unfortunately a lot of duplication of the tools within the steps of the learner journey, and a number of the tools require purchasing to get any real benefit from.  Personally I would have liked a tool in the “Reviewing learners’ progress” step that measured the before, the in-between and the after portions of a learner’s journey. For me, a tool like that would be really meaningful, and of benefit to our organisation.

Everyone from our organisation has enjoyed taking part in this project, it has proved to be a really distraction from the front-end of delivering. We all welcome the prospect of tools and resources to enhance our delivery, especially if that come at very little cost. Having the chance to do things differently, or to innovate our induction process, or to roll out a really useful resource such as jobmatch makes the job that little bit more bearable.

Terry McHale  -  28^th March 2013

Ongoing use of tools

Ongoing development of resources using Quizlet has been very successful. We have developed resources linked to employability and currently a tutor is designing a resource for learners to help them with the new universal jobmatch.
Although I had used Youtube before for personal use I had never used it with a view of including it within a teaching capacity. I have been surprised by the amount of valuable material that can be located there.

Have also viewed morguefile and have shared this site with all tutors, a good collection of photos that can be added to Powerpoints and learning materials

Humber Learning Consortium Review: QR Codes

QR codes are an increasingly familiar feature in daily life – small square patterns of irregular blocks found on letters, and promotional materials etc. Up until now none of us at HLC had really considered their potential application in recruiting learners, the role that they can play in the learning experience, or simply promoting our organisation.

The concept is actually pretty simple. The QR code is scanned by a smartphone (the scanning apps are free, we used “i-nigma”) and this provides a link to a website, telephone number, Google map location, Facebook page, Twitter feed, in fact a whole host of information you might want to convey to a learner / customer.

You need 2 things to make it work – access to the internet to generate the QR code on a QR website
(www.qrstuff.com) and a smart phone that can read the QR code (and link it to a website, telephone number etc.)

Positives

• If you / your learners have internet access and a smart phone, this is a really quick and simple application to use
• It could be used in a wide variety of ways e.g. providing a link to further information about a course, sending directions, or encouraging learners to visit a specific website as part of their learning experience
• The QR code can be embedded in learning materials, sent in an email, or hosted on a website making the learning experience potentially more interactive

Negatives

• Learner needs a smart phone to access the information within the QR code, which is a major limitation
• QR codes could be seen a gimmicky

Overall

We liked QR codes and could really see their application in a variety of settings. We need to be mindful that their reliance on the learner / customer having a smart phone with an app that can read the QR code could limit their accessibility and usage. We therefore feel that their use needs to be carefully thought out and alternative ways of accessing information considered for those without a smart phone