Adult Enterprise Innovation Manual

THE INNOVATION MANUAL

1Produced February 2013 for AoC Shared Services, by Adult Enterprise

Introduction

Background

In 2011-12 a diverse group of nine partner organisations from the Further Education (FE), Adult Learning, Voluntary and private sectors worked together to create an innovative new qualification framework and curriculum materials to help adults gain the skills to become entrepreneurs. This was underpinned by the creative use of learning technologies, a strong brand identity and a sustainable approach to continued sharing in the sector.

The project was entitled ‘Adult Enterprise’ and was funded through the AoC/SFA Innovation and Shared Services Collaboration Fund. When the project funding ended in summer 2012 the original Project Steering Group set up a self-funded not-for-profit social enterprise to continue sharing the outcomes of Adult Enterprise with the adult and FE sector. The results of this shared curriculum project caught the imagination of the sector and by January 2013, 34 institutions (seven local authority Adult Learning services, one voluntary organisation and 26 FE Colleges) from across England had understood the merits of sharing an entrepreneurship curriculum and had financially contributed to Adult Enterprise as member organizations to continue working together. The Year 2 (2012/13) is now self-funded by member Colleges which has provided the new social enterprise with an important platform for the development work to continue. It is now running curriculum sharing across diverse institutions for field testing the prototype blended learning curriculum generated by the project, which demonstrates that the sector can generate a cost-effective model for curriculum sharing.

Using the Manual

This Manual1 analyses the learning points from this successful shared services project to provide a useful model to improve innovation practice in the sector. It is designed as a ‘how to’ guide for sector staff to improve strategies for innovation and curriculum development through undertaking shared projects. The Manual is divided into nine sections and commences with a overview of the Adult Enterprise Project

1 The Manual has been written by Christina Conroy OBE, who was Principal of Richmond Adult Community College and the Project Director for Adult Enterprise. It has contributions from Dr Ruth Cherrington, Adult Enterprise Curriculum Manager, Peter Kilcoyne, ILT Director and E-Learning staff from Worcester College of Technology (Dave Thurlby, E-Learning Coordinator and Adam Salem, IT Support Coordinator).


Case Study, followed by sections that detail the key themes and learning points for the sector. It is designed for practitioners who would like more detailed information. A short document is also available “Adult Enterprise: Curriculum Innovation” which provides an Executive Summary.

Christina Conroy OBE Chief Executive (Adult Enterprise)

Contents

Section Topic Summary Page Numbers

1Adult Enterprise Project Case Study

A contextual overview of the project.

5-15

2 New models of leadership for Project Innovation using Co-creation through Partnership Model for Curriculum Development

This provides a conceptual framework and guide to enable sector leaders to effectively lead innovation and direct projects to successful implementation. It will identify the essential elements that are required to generate new ideas through co-creation and an overview of the key management principles to be followed.

16-22

3 Using the Innovation Code to create New Qualifications

This covers the ‘how to’ of creating new qualifications to meet the needs of industry, or new and emerging markets. It covers a methodology for qualification and assessment design with a toolkit to follow.

23-29

4 Creating a blended learning Solution

This provides an analysis of the manufacturing process for creating blended learning materials within a pedagogic framework, and a toolkit for subject writers for developing blended learning and e-learning products.

30-40

5 E-learnification This section provides an 3

Produced February 2013 for AoC Shared Services, by Adult Enterprise

overview and evaluation of software available for online education and training with pros and cons. It also provides guidelines on how to ‘e-learnify’ subject writers curriculum’ content.

41-46

6 Developing a shared learning platform

This section provides guidance on how to adapt Moodle and integrate education and training software to create a strong user interface and user experience (UI/UX) for online learning. A guide to managing learners, providing online helpdesk support, and collecting data for benchmarking.

47-49

7 Managing a virtual team This covers the methods and processes for managing a virtual team of curriculum writers, curriculum editors, assessment specialists, awarding body staff and e-learning designers to create a shared team.

50-54

8 Brand development in a shared environment

This section explores the marketing principles to create a white label design and marketing proposition that can be shared.

55

9 Models for network generation for sharing and sustainability

A toolkit for selling shared services and creating a sustainable vehicle for sharing.

56-57

Bibliography 58


Section 1

Adult Enterprise project case study

Introduction

The Adult Enterprise project, funded through the SFA Grant Fund and supported by AoC, came about because of a business problem experienced by Richmond Adult Community College (RACC) regarding its relationship with local customers and its contract as an FE College to the national Government Skills Funding Agency. This section gives a background to the project inception in terms of an individual College’s problem and an overview of the project.

The business problem Richmond Adult Community College (RACC) is a General Further Education

College for adults based in South West London, providing annually over 1500 skills and leisure courses for 12,000 part-time adults.

Over 80% of its teaching was delivered by part-time, hourly paid lecturers the majority of which are professionally and industrially active portfolio workers.

The College had been successively rated Outstanding by OFSTED (2006 and 2010) in recognition of its excellent quality of provision and its responsiveness to the local community.

The College had its own dedicated Richmond Business School specialising in Digital Technologies, Business and Enterprise.

The business problem that the College faced was: Between 2010-2011 RACC was delivering entrepreneurship training in an

innovative way to meet local skills demand but this was not recognised by Government.

The College was unable to generate funding for this activity and was at risk of not meeting its funding targets as a GFE. This had major financial consequences for the College in that penalties were implemented by the SFA if the College did not comply with its funding target.

There was a clear mismatch between what the local community needed in terms of skills training and what was recognised nationally.

The general narrowing of the curriculum in terms of what was recognised as fundable for adult skills was a general problem that affected all Colleges but it affected RACC particularly as a GFE College because of its niche offer to adults.


Innovation through co-creation (Organisation and customer)

Since 2008 the College had experienced strong local demand from unemployed professionaladults and existing small businesses, in response to the recession, for a broad range of shortcourses in entrepreneurship training particularly around new technologies. The College hadgenerated these curriculum solutions in its Richmond Business School as a result of a richdialogue between the users and part-time lecturers who were portfolio workers running their own enterprises or working for global high tech companies such as eBay and PayPal (Both have their European Head Offices in Richmond).

This dialogue resulted in the users shaping and co-creating the College's curriculum to respond quickly to their local circumstances to gain the skills to get started as they sought to make sense of the increasingly difficult UK economy. The co-created enterprise curriculum at Richmond Business School was innovative, personalised and designed around the learning journeys of adults in Richmond and South West London. The South West London economy profile has the highest proportion of micro-businesses with less than 10 employees (91% of businesses) than anywhere else in the country. Of this proportion 19% of all businesses are self-employed sole traders. A rich eco-system of small businesses generates more small businesses as a result of the low barriers to entry, both for trading and in terms of the social acceptance towards start-up. Annual destination surveys since 2005 had highlighted that between 25%- 30% of College leavers from RACC went on to sell their work professionally, become self-employed or start a business after undertaking a course at the College.

Innovation as rule-breaking

Despite designing and implementing a rich innovative adult skills curriculum that the College was delivering, RACC was unable to draw down national funding because the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) did not recognise this type of entrepreneurship training for over 19s or enterprise short courses for adults. In contrast the NQF only recognised enterprise qualifications for 16-18 year olds and substantive long courses for adults. The NQF (National Qualification Framework) system and bureaucracy became a gatekeeper to legitimacy and thereby stifled innovative approaches to meeting new economic needs. Consequently the College was losing out on over half a million pounds of funding because what was


recognised and funded nationally, and what was wanted locally, were at odds. If the College had tried to claim funding for this work it would be breaking the ‘rules’ and undertaking an illegitimate act. If it carried on delivering innovative co-created solutions for contemporary economic needs it would lose money and face funding penalties from the SFA. If it stopped delivering it would not be meeting its service mission to the local economy.

In the perverse financial situation of potentially not meeting targets and not pulling down funding the College's options were to either stop being a College responsive to the community or try and change the national framework. It needed a way to make claiming the funding ‘legitimate’ but also ensure the curriculum was sustainable so that other Colleges could benefit within a national framework. Both solutions were not easily achievable as the way the College had developed the in-house enterprise curriculum was based on individual tutors and students through co-creation, and if they left the College had no sustainable curriculum plan or framework to repeat. Similarly stopping the entrepreneurship training during a recession when local adults want to make their own job would also have been perverse. The College recognised it needed a dialogue at national level to resolve the NQF issue and also develop a strategy to make the curriculum sustainable and usable by other learning and skills providers.

At that time changing national rules was risky for the SFA because their strategy had been to only fund robust, nationally recognised qualifications to ensure proper use of public funds. Yet new qualification frameworks were needed to respond to changes in the economy. The College was able to generate a dialogue with the SFA regarding this provision and the use of a holding code Z90P (now the Innovation Code) to claim funding until the provision was on the NQF. This provided the SFA scope for managed risk but also local responsiveness. The holding code was designed to fund qualifications for a temporary period if they were awaiting recognition on the NQF.

This still left RACC with a problem, as a small institution of how to create a national curriculum framework for adult entrepreneurs to get NQF recognition. RACC had achieved a solution to part of its business problem which was achieving its funding target for 2010-11 and securing half a million pounds of funding but it still faced the challenge of future proofing ‘legitimacy’ and developing a national framework.

Making innovation sustainable through partnership co-creation

The solution to creating a national qualification framework was to engage a diverse range of partners who had similar problems with the narrowing of the adult curriculum or who were working in the adult entrepreneurship space without funding who could help co-create a robust national framework. For example what is needed for entrepreneurship training by well-educated professional adults in Richmond will


be different for adults on benefits in East London. Yet a national qualification framework needs to be flexible and robust enough to serve a variety of users. A partnership of diverse providers was set up of like-minded leaders from the voluntary, FE, Adult and private sectors who bid for extra resources to the AoC/SFA Shared Services and Innovation Fund to develop the Adult Enterprise Project in 2011. This provided valuable resources to enable staff across the partnership to work together and solve the problem for mutual benefit.

The Adult Enterprise project

The Adult Enterprise project was funded for one year from September 2011- August 2012. 2 The overall aim was to provide a national qualification and curriculum framework that would be available to all Learning and Skills providers nationally from 2012/13. The skills qualification framework was designed to be at level 2 and 3 for adults who wish to be entrepreneurs. The Project also sought to develop ‘blended learning’ curriculum materials that could be shared with the rest of the learning and skills sector to enable national roll-out. The aim was to develop a prototype curriculum development and delivery model for a new curriculum area (Entrepreneurship Studies) and achieve increased innovation and efficiency gains by sharing across diverse partners, disseminating across the whole learning and skills sector, and ‘designing in’ flexibility and cost savings in how it could be delivered. The Project Director was Christina Conroy OBE, formerly Principal of Richmond Adult Community College who reported to an Adult Enterprise Steering Group comprising Heads of partner organisations.

Five Phases

The project was organised into five Phases. At every phase the project sought how to ‘do things differently’ and ‘design in’ innovation and efficiency.

1. Curriculum development (September – December 2011)

This involved:

Researching the learning journeys of adults who want to become entrepreneurs and identifying what qualifications were available.

2 The Adult Enterprise Partnership (www.adultenterprise.com) services curriculum project comprised 9 private, public and voluntary sector Partners including 4 General FE Colleges (Richmond Adult Community College, City of Bath College, Morley College, Tower Hamlets College, Paypal (Europe), HOLEX, WCL, Community Links, Social Enterprise London).


Developing a new model that is more applicable to adults from a wide variety of backgrounds (socio-economic, ethnicity, age and vocational area).

Using diverse partners from the public, private and voluntary sector to provide diverse perspectives on the learning needs of adult entrepreneurs.

Research with adults over 18 from a variety of vocational areas, educational attainment levels, and social and geographical backgrounds indicated that over 40% express an interest in running their own business or being self-employed, yet less than 10% actually do take the plunge. The lack of enterprise skills was cited as one of the greatest barriers to business start-up. Further research across the nine partners identified that successful adult entrepreneurs go through four main stages to business start-up which are First Steps, Creating, launching and growing. Whilst social entrepreneurs often have to transition out of the public sector or voluntary sector roles before Creating, Launching and Growing their enterprises.

2. Qualification framework development– (January - April 2012)

This involved the following:

Developing a national skills framework at level 2 and level 3, and compiling it into unitised qualifications that were flexible and attractive for charging fees but inclusive enough to attract funding for disadvantaged groups.

Ensuring the framework was robust and distinctive enough to be approved by OFQUAL. (The Adult Enterprise Partnership worked with Open College Network London Region (OCNLR) as the Awarding Body as the majority of the partners were based in London.)

Setting up the skills qualification framework which has been devised in a unitised fashion so that an adult can select units of learning that meet their training needs at the right time during their learning journey to entrepreneurship. (The qualifications have now all been accredited by a national awarding body (OCNLR). Both the Level 2 and level 3 were approved by OFQUAL and were recognised for funding (both the whole qualification and the units in 2012/13). All of the qualifications became freely available in July 2012 on the NQF.

Undertaking further work, due to the introduction of new regulations on adult loans for over 25s in 2013/14 to combine the level 3 awards into Certificates and Diplomas so that they are suitable and eligible to attract to loans).

An individual can take whole awards or just units of learning. A credit represents around 10 hours of learning. There is a rich mix of units including running a street market, social media, and developing an on-line store that would be attractive as stand-alone or as whole awards. The rules of combination involve mandatory and optional units. The assessment model is using an online portfolio of evidence (business development log) to demonstrate skills in developing their own business idea and running a business.


The new qualification framework is as follows:

Name of the Award UnitsOCNLR Level 2 Certificate in First Steps to Enterprise

Generating and Assessing a Business Idea 2 creditsAssessing Your Capacity to Start and Run a Business 1 creditFinancial Considerations for a New Business 3 creditsUnderstanding the Benefits and Tax Credit System for a New Business 2 creditsUnderstanding the uses of Social Media for Business 2 creditsStreet Market Trading as a Business Option 1 creditConsidering the potential to Run a Business from Home 1 creditLegal Aspects of Trading 2 creditsUnderstanding Social Enterprise 2 creditsUnderstanding how to Sell a Product or Service 2 credits

OCNLR Level 3 Award in Creating a Business – Concept and Planning

Deciding on a Business Model for a Product or Service 2 creditsProducing a Business Plan 3 creditsFinances for a New Business 3 credits

OCNLR Level 3 Award in Creating a Business – Product and Sales

Making a Product of Saleable Quality 3 creditsEstablishing a Service of Saleable Quality 3 creditsShowcasing a Product or Service 3 credits

OCNLR Level 3 Award in Launching a Business – Product and Sales

Selling and Branding a Product or Service 3 creditsWorking with Suppliers 3 credits

OCNLR Level 3 Award in Launching a Business – Technologies

Website fundamentals for a Business 3 creditsLaunching an online Business 3 creditsManaging an Online Store 3 credits

OCNLR Level 3 Award in Sustaining and Growing a Business – Business Survival Skills

Keeping up to date with Current Business Legislation 3 creditsAssessing Health and Safety Risks in a Business 2 creditsSelf-Development for Business Sustainability and Growth 3 credits

OCNLR Level 3 Award in Sustaining and Growing a Business – Planning for Growth

Sub-Contracting Work 3 creditsRecruiting Employees 3 creditsGiving a Business Presentation 3 creditsProject Management for a Business 3 creditsTendering for Work 3 credits

OCNLR Level 3 Award in Sustaining and Growing a Business – Business in an International Context

Trading in Overseas Markets 4 credits


OCNLR Level 3 Award in Creating, Launching and Growing a Social Enterprise

Creating a Social Enterprise 3 creditsSocial Enterprise for Voluntary Organisations and Charities 3 creditsDeveloping Social Enterprise for Public Sector Services 3 credits

3. Content development and shared delivery strategies – (May - August 2012)

A key aim of the Adult Enterprise project was to design a way to provide curriculum materials to share across the sector to support the new qualification framework and thereby reduce the costs of delivery.

The pedagogic approach, which has been termed ‘flipping the classroom’ whereby knowledge acquisition is developed through on-line content and understanding, meaning and skills is developed afterwards in the classroom,was used in planning the curriculum development.

Currently teachers use their classroom time for giving knowledge but they would be more effective in generating learning if they spent more time developing understanding and skills in the classroom rather than lecturing content. Consequently Adult Enterprise developed e-learning content to go alongside classroom materials.

The blended learning solution;

The teaching and learning strategy that Adult Enterprise used is known as ‘a blended learning solution’ on a learning platform hosted centrally to enable more efficient and effective implementation across the education sector.

The e-learning content was placed on a customised Moodle 2 platform with embedded articulate software. It was customised to commercial standards.

The platform was designed to facilitate easy management and tracking of delivery of over 80 standardised, separate L2 and L3 units to students across a large number of partner learning providers as well as delivering e-learning products with high user interface and user experience.

The blended learning content;

The blended learning content was developed by different partners and independent curriculum writers, with 50% of the curriculum materials to be used in the classroom and 50% to be available on an e-learning platform to be used directly by learners.

A web front-end was developed www.adultenterprise.com to be the learner portal for delivery backed up by a Moodle platform hosted by a leading e-learning College as a service to the sector (Worcester College of Technology).


http://www.adultenterprise.com/

By the end of the project funding the full level 2 content was completed and quality assured for sharing with the sector. New contracting arrangements had to be developed for curriculum writers who were disconnected from direct delivery in the classroom.

Worcester College provided e-learning support staff to work with curriculum writers to undertake ‘e-learnification’ of content. This deconstruction of the curriculum development and delivery process provided scope for innovation as well as significant efficiency gains.

In addition to a shared curriculum, a shared marketing model was developed where Adult Enterprise was branded alongside an individual College/institution’s brand. A set of shared marketing materials was developed with a shared website. All the art work has been designed centrally which can then be repurposed locally. The marketing pack includes a prospectus, promotional leaflets, display stands, poster designs, conference packs, learner badges, standardised hand-outs and power points. The designs chime with the user look and feel of the learning platform.

4. Sector roll-out and Dissemination - (May -July 2012)

Briefings were arranged with AoC groups such as ILT Managers, Enterprise Portfolio, Innovation Committee and the Shared Services Group which generated significant interest. Forty Colleges signed up to the website to get more information. The Project Director visited individual Colleges to gauge interest to identify what would be the most useful strategy for sector testing. As a result of sector feedback it was agreed to test the teaching and learning model, and the content across the regions with both HOLEX members and FE Colleges. The Adult Enterprise Partnership focused on having a number of the level 2 first steps to Enterprise units and the shared marketing materials ready for sector testing.

Five dissemination days were organised hosted at Tower Hamlets College, London Fashion Retail Academy, City of Bath College, Solihull College and Wakefield College, in July 2012. The dissemination events were presented by the Project Director, Curriculum Manager, Assessment Manager and a Worcester ILT representative.

Over 100 attendees from around 80 institutions attended the 5 dissemination days across the country. Sector institutions were given access the materials to review content to enable them to give feedback. Excellent feedback was received on the progress of the project, the blended curriculum materials and the shared curriculum model. The overview was that sector colleagues liked:

Excellent professional materials Meets a large market demand from different adult target markets Professional high-quality appearance Excellent range of units and attractive qualification framework Blended learning approach


Cohesive marketing and branding materials Flexibility for delivery Flexibility for learners Relevant content to suit the needs of adult target markets Openness to ideas from sector colleges Support for refreshing and updating materials Quality of on-line platform Collaborative approach Pre-prepared for teachers Opportunity to deliver bite size elements Reduction of delivery costs

Things Adult Enterprise needs to do to develop were:

Development of a Level one programme Tracking student progress online Size of print on marketing materials Need for clear explanation of difference between level 2 and 3 for learners Clarity on funding for each qualification for each eligible group, clarified with

SFA Combining level 3 Awards into Certificates and Diplomas in preparation for

Student Loans in 2013 Need to raise awareness of JCP and HMRC nationally Usage with 16-18 and HE students Business Development Log needs to be more user friendly Access to social media in councils may preclude offering the social media unit

5. Developing a Sustainability Model – (July - September 2012)

All the blended learning level 2 units were completed and were quality assured in August 2012. The aim was for interested sector Colleges to be able to start using the Level 2 curriculum in October 2012, with the rest of the Level 3 content available in 2013. By offering a blended learning solution the attraction for sector Colleges was that this will reduce teaching costs, save on curriculum development time, and standardise the quality of delivery but also provide scope for local customisation.

Although the project was funded ‘by the sector for the sector’ the reality was that it had to be self-financing if it was to continue in 2012/13 as AoC/SFA Project ceased in its entirety by 31 October 2012. The overall conclusion from the evaluation forms from the dissemination events was that there was a clear consensus that there would be value in the Adult Enterprise initiative continuing in a sustainable form. Over 30 Colleges and Adult Learning Services expressed an interest in providing the Adult Enterprise qualification framework and blended learning content.


The final stage of the AoC/SFA project was to explore what would be the most appropriate business model for its on-going roll-out to the sector given that the national qualification framework was freely available to the sector, in July 2012. Feedback from AOC and BIS was that because the intellectual property was developed with Government funds a not for profit social enterprise should be established.

To date (January 2013) 34 Colleges/providers (this includes 4 Founder provider members) have paid £5,000 membership fees to continue the work of Adult Enterprise and to continue to share the curriculum and marketing materials. In return they get unlimited use of the materials, reduced OCNLR fees, shared marketing materials, train the trainer events, central website and shared learning platform, curriculum writing opportunities for sector professionals and centrally provided learner MIS on destinations and success.

There is a good geographic spread across England with good representation in the North, Midlands and London and the South East.

A Board of Directors/Trustees was appointed in their own right comprising six Heads of institutions from the original nine Founding partners after discussions with their College/institutional boards (Morley College, Tower Hamlets College, Community Links, HOLEX, City of Bath College, WCL). The Social Enterprise has been registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee. The 34 providers are as follows:

Kent Adult Education and KEY Training London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Accrington and Rossendale College Burton and South Derbyshire College Redbridge Institute Westminster Adult Education Service Doncaster College Warwickshire College The Sheffield College Highbury College Stanmore College Solihull College New College Nottingham Uxbridge College Community Links City of Bath College Morley College Tower Hamlets College Oxford and Cherwell Valley College (including Reading College) North Hertfordshire College Birmingham Adult Learning Service


Worcester College of Technology West Suffolk College Southend Adult Community College West Herts College Newcastle Adult Learning Service Colchester Institute Sparsholt College Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education The Adult College of Barking and Dagenham Central Bedfordshire College Furness College South Essex College Totton College


Section 2

New Models of Leadership Through Co-creation

In this section we explore the following:

What are the learning points with respect to leadership and management. The concept of co-creation through partnership The management strategies for handling uncertainty and dealing with risk,

and identifing the important role of diversity.

Literature reviewThe academic literature on co-creation is focused principally on the relationship between consumers and the firm. Co-creation is a form of market or business strategy that emphasises the generation and on-going realization of mutual firm-customer value. It views markets as forums for firms and active customers to share, combine, and renew each other's resources and capabilities to create value through new forms of interaction, service and learning mechanisms. It differs from the traditional active firm - passive consumer market construct of the past.

The future of competitionCo-created value arises in the form of personalised, unique experiences for the customer (value in-use) and on-going revenue, learning and enhanced market performance drivers for the firm (loyalty, relationships, customer word of mouth). Value is co-created with customers if and when a customer is able to personalize his/her experience using a firm's product-service proposition – in the lifetime of its use – to a level that is best suited to get his/her job(s) or tasks done, and which allows the firm to derive greater value from its product-service investment in the form of new knowledge, higher revenues/profitability and/or superior brand value/loyalty.

C K Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy introduced the concept and developed their arguments further in “The Future of Competition” (2004) where they offered examples including Napster and Netflix showing that customers would no longer be satisfied with making yes or no decisions on what a company offers. Value will be increasingly co-created by the firm and the customer, they argued, rather than being created entirely inside the firm. Co-creation in their view not only describes a trend of jointly creating products. It also describes a movement away from customers buying products and services as transactions, to those purchases being made as part of an experience. The authors held that consumers seek freedom of choice to interact with the firm through a range of experiences. Customers want to define choices in a manner that reflects their view of value, and they want to interact and transact in their preferred language and style. Prahalad and Ramaswamy identify that the informed, networked, empowered, and active consumers are increasingly co-


creating value with the firm. The interaction between the firm and the consumer is becoming the locus of value creation and value extraction. As value shifts to experiences, the market is becoming a forum for conversation and interactions between consumers, consumer communities, and firms.

Customer community leadershipRowley, Kupiec-Teahan and Leeming (2007) explore a case study of a leading player in the UK and international “sportkiting” market which focuses on product innovation through customer community development. Their study provides insights into the development and management of a customer community, informing product innovation and engaging customers in co-creation of a consumption experience. The case company's innovative product development strategy provides the catalyst for co-creation of a customer experience. Its marketing actions extend beyond product development and innovation to actively co-creating experiences with customers, fostering a sense of community among users, facilitating communication within that community, acting on the feedback, and continuously developing and maintaining the community relationship. The company's marketing strategy can be summed up as “customer community leadership”. This paradigm proposes a new role for businesses in sectors where there is a potential to develop and engage communities. It provides a context for the effective facilitation of customer knowledge management, within which marketing intelligence plays a significant role.

Co-creation through partnershipWhilst the academic literature on co-creation is rich in relation to consumers and organisations, it is less well-developed on how co-creation can be used between partners through collaboration as a business strategy for innovation.

Pavlovich and Doyle 2006 explored a case study of a range of diverse organizations in Waitamo, New Zealand collaborating to develop innovation in the tourism offer after the decline in day visitors to the Waitamo Cave system. The study examines the role that social capital plays when partners collectively develop new knowledge to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. They explore the structural, cognitive and relational dimensions of social capital and showed that the structural dimension helps initiate partnerships, gain access to important markets and build capabilities within partnerships. The cognitive dimension involved partners unfreezing the sense making frames of the parent company and co-constructing a new interpretive framework, specific to the partnership, with the alliance partner. Relational aspects of trust through professional competency, open communication and personal integrity were critical for close relationships to be formed in order that ideas could be integrated and developed. Thus they argue that co-entrepreneurship is a process whereby both partners contribute to value creation through their ability to transcend differences and 'negotiate space' in order to 'learn how to learn' for knowledge creation.


Leadership skills for co-creationIf co-creation through partnership is going to be successful the type of leadership skills required will be different from traditional models of leadership. From a leadership and management perspective the National School of Government identified co-creation and new models of leadership as imperative to respond to the challenges and changes facing public services economically, globally and in terms customer expectations. They ask the question: ‘What would it take to create more effective leadership of the whole governmental and public service system?’ The report puts forward the findings from the Warwick Business School (Hartley and Bennington 2009) research on public leadership which identified the need for new patterns of ‘adaptive leadership’ to tackle tough, complex, cross-cutting problems in the community. Whole systems thinking and action includes the capacity to analyse and understand the inter-connections, inter-dependencies and inter-actions between complex issues, across multiple boundaries, between different sectors, services, and levels of government. They argue that leadership development programmes need to translate individual learning into organisational and inter-organisational action and improvement.

"Think about leadership not just as about individuals but also about ‘leadership constellations’ which consist of a team, a partnership group or other stakeholders who can work in a whole systems way."

"Leadership development programmes in the public and voluntary sectors increasingly therefore need to cultivate the knowledge and capabilities necessary to work effectively across the boundaries and networks of the whole public service system, in order to tackle the complex cross-cutting issues which concern citizens and communities."

A shared visionA central theme is that diversity enriches but diverse partners need to all have a shared vision and values. This is the bedrock of co-creation through partnership. The challenge of the Adult Enterprise project was that it was required to develop an effective national approach to identifying the skills and qualification framework that adult entrepreneurs needed. Potential adult entrepreneurs come from a variety of market segments such as age, ethnicity, social class, gender, educational and occupational backgrounds so it was important to work with diverse partners from a variety of sectors who would have insight into this range of needs. However diverse partners create tensions because they have different world views. The view of voluntary sector practitioners from East London working with disadvantaged groups was necessarily different from private sector partners in West London working with affluent professional adults.

The shared vision of all the partners was that adults need the skills to survive and prosper in business to generate sustainable self-employment and business start-up.


40% of adults nationally report that they would like to start a business and yet only 5% do. There is clearly a mismatch between aspiration and ability which results in lack of confidence and inaction. All of the partners believed strongly that learning changes lives and life chances, and if you give adults the skills to be entrepreneurs they will have more choices to support themselves, their families and their communities.

Diversity is creativeThe diversity of partners provided a rich range of perspectives in viewing the framework required for adult learners wanting to become entrepreneurs.

Often partnerships are characterised by working with the same type of organisations, within same sectors, of similar size, operating in similar markets. Co-creation through partnership requires a different approach. In the case of Adult Enterprise each partner came with a different perspective and expertise which proved very creative and innovative.

The partners in the Adult Enterprise Project were:

PARTNER TYPE OF ORGANIsATION

EXPERTISE

Richmond Adult Community College

GFE for Adults Leisure and skills courses for adults in Richmond and South West London, with key specialism’s in Digital Technologies, Business and Creative and Cultural Studies

Morley College

Specialist designated adult College

Leisure and skills courses for adults across London with key specialism’s in Creative Arts and Crafts, and Music based in Waterloo, central London

Tower Hamlets College

A GFE College for Young people and Adults

Based in Poplar in East London providing FE courses for young people and adults with a key specialism of Full-time 16-18 programmes, Technical skills and ESOL for Adults

City Of Bath College

A GFE College for Young people and Adults

Based in Bath, Somerset providing FE courses for young people and adults with key specialism’s in Media & Performing Arts, Creative Arts and Beauty Therapy

HOLEX A membership organization

Representing 105 local education authority adult learning services across England. Strong


specialism and connectivity to adult education and leisure local authority services

Social Enterprise London

A voluntary organisation supported by London Councils

Providing training and funding to support the development of social enterprises across the capital

Community Links

A voluntary organisation tackling Poverty and disadvantage

Based in Canning Town in East London, providing advice and guidance, training and support structure to tackle poverty, with a key specialism in understanding and analysing the benefits system and the ‘black economy’.

PARTNER TYPE OF ORGANISATION

EXPERTISE

PayPal, part of eBay

A multinational private sector organization

Providing a global online payment system for individuals, small businesses and corporate partners

WCL Ltd A private sector business consultancy service

Providing project and change management solutions for the public and private sector

Open College Network London Region (OCNLR)

A private sector London Region Examining Board

Exam validation and accreditation service for FE and adult education Colleges in London and the South East.

Co-entrepreneurship

Pavlovich and Doyle (2006) argue that this type of co-creation should be termed co-entrepreneurship whereby partners contribute to value creation through their ability to transcend differences and 'negotiate space' in order to 'learn how to learn' for knowledge creation. Diverse partners provide different perspectives that enrich the creativity of the whole group.

However Pavlovich and Doyle identify that the partnership needs to take cognisance of the structural, cognitive and relational dimensions to generate new innovative social capital.

LEADERSHIP THEMES BENEFITS

STRUCTURE A clear partnership structure helps initiate partnerships, gain access to


important markets and build capabilities within the partnerships

COGNITIVE The cognitive dimension involves partners unfreezing the sense-making frames of their existing organisation and co-constructing a new interpretive framework, specific to the partnership.

RELATIONAL The aspects of trust through professional competency, open communication and personal integrity are critical for close relationships to be formed in order that ideas could be integrated and developed.

Innovation as a national movement

All of the partners shared a common vision and were committed to solving the business problem, and developed a strong trust framework for action. The Steering Group and Curriculum Groups met regularly and worked together to co-create the new qualification framework, the curriculum materials, the shared delivery strategy and new social enterprise. This generated on-going team development and a shared purpose. Each of the partners was very engaged and proud of their involvement and keen to encourage other providers to join in the project as part of a national movement.

Learning Points for Future Curriculum Innovation Through Co-creation with Partners1 Develop a high level understanding of the curriculum innovation problem that you are trying to solve e.g. the desire to be an entrepreneur cuts across vocational areas, cuts across different localities, different sectors and adults from different backgrounds - Can one institution innovate alone in a complex situation?

2 Work with enablers such as SFA and agree the use of an Innovation code and get their buy in to the Project

3 Identify partners who can help from different sectors, different localities, different vocational areas and serving different adults, and will work effectively on co-creation

4 Find resources to invest in co-creation as it takes time to generate effective solutions e.g. The shared services and collaboration bid to resource the project through AoC/SFA provided valuable resources to move the project forward but with clear milestones and effective evaluation.


5 Identify the importance of diversity in the partnership and how it can be led and managed

6 Develop a shared vision and an absolute shared commitment to project goals. Build trust and the inclusive sharing of information. Shared goals are more important than individual goals

7 Get the Structure right. This involves ensuring that there are clear roles and responsibilities at three levels strategic Project Director and steering group leaders, Operational and task Management Project Manager and curriculum developers/practitioners and staying in touch with learners

8 Ensure Steering Group cohesion, and try and involve leaders in their sector so that they can be ambassadors to other Providers whilst staying in touch with Curriculum Developers working on project task and engaging with learners

9 Find committed suppliers who want to join in and add to co-creation effort

10 Celebrate and disseminate to different sectors to ensure sustainability


Section 3

Using the Innovation Code

This section covers the new Innovation Code Guidelines with a Table setting out the Funding Rules and a toolkit on how to identify and create new areas of provision and the process for working with Awarding Bodies. In April 2011 Richmond Adult Community College was one of the first institutions to seek to use a more flexible method of recognising and funding new provision for its short course entrepreneurship programmes. This was the basis for the development of the Adult Enterprise Project in 2011/12. Since then the current regulations have been developed in relation to the introduction of an Innovation Code to enable all providers to create new qualifications to meet the needs of industry or new and emerging markets.

In Baroness Sharp’s report A dynamic nucleus: Colleges at the heart of local communities (November 2011) recognised that learning and skills providers nationally needed to have a mechanism to fund ‘responsive provision which meets locally assessed priority needs.’ In New Challenges New Chances (December 2011), BIS accepted this recommendation and stated that they would introduce an Innovation Code to be used by the Skills Funding Agency from April 2012 which would be used to: “support FE Colleges and providers to draw down funding for programmes that meet a particular employer skills need whilst they are simultaneously developed for the QCF”.

The Innovation Code therefore is a mechanism designed to help Colleges and training organisations respond quickly to local employer needs and emerging skills gaps by designing and deliver new programmes. It allows them to deliver customised programmes of learning without having to wait for new qualifications to be developed and accredited. This is possible because the Code is designed specifically to meet demand where there is no current qualification offer. This could include provision which tackles unemployment and helps learners progress and remain in work, or which addresses a particular skills gap within a local area. It allows them to enrol learners on a course that at present does not lead to a Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) qualification and draw down funding. Central to the use of the innovation Code is that there is the understanding that the qualification has been designed in partnership with business, with a commitment to time limited funding, and that the qualification will migrate onto the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF)”


Providers are currently able to use the Code for a period of 12 months during 2012/13, working with local businesses and employers to develop and deliver provision. They will also need to work with an Ofqual-recognised awarding organisation, so that the provision can be migrated onto the Qualifications and Credit Framework using the Innovation Code. The Code initially consists of six learning aims which will enable Providers to draw down funding within a Provider’s existing funding allocation whilst simultaneously developing the programme and qualification. The Rules for the use of the Innovation Code are as follows:


GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF THE INNOVATION CODE 2012-14

WHO CAN BENEFIT

EMPLOYERS/LOCAL COMMUNITY NEED

METHOD OF IDENTIFICATION

TYPE OF PROVISION INELIGIBLE PROVISION

The Code is for Colleges and training organisations that appear on the Agency’sRegister of Training Organisations and have a current contract as a primecontractor to deliver Adult Skills Budget (ASB) or Offender Learning and SkillsService Phase 4 (OLASS4) provision

It can also be used by sub-contractors with the permission in writing from their prime contractor to use the Code. The Prime Contractor should monitor delivery..

It should be used for Developing specialist skills, Up-skilling in a particular sub-

sector, Re-skilling as a result of

economic conditions in a particular local area,

Specific skills required to support a growth sector,

Supporting entrepreneurship, Supporting employment

and/or progression and further learning in a particular sub sector or sector

responding to local needs – for example, adapting training for the needs of local employers seeking to recruit unemployed people

enabling individuals to prepare for and progress into an apprenticeship.

The Code can be used for both employed and unemployed learners.

Where the Code is used forunemployed learners, this should be to support them in moving into employment.

Local needs might be identified through a college and/or training organisation’s existing links with local/regional employers, with representative organisations such as National Skills Academies, SectorSkills Councils, Local Enterprise Partnership or Employment and Skills Boards.

LEVELProvision delivered through the Innovation Code can be at any level of learning, from Entry through to Level 8TYPEIt can be:

completely new provision adaptation of existing provision a new combination of QCF units

SIZEThe Code may be used for short course provision where that provision can, for instance, support someone into employment; or it can be used for slightly longer provision. There are six sizes of provisionbased on credit value aligned to the QCF which relate to SFA Funding (Full Funding and Co-Funding Rates):ZINN0001 Innovation Code Award (1 to 6credits) £203 £102ZINN0002 Innovation Code Award (7 to 12credits) £401 £200ZINN0003 Innovation Code Certificate (13 to24 credits) £703 £352ZINN0004 Innovation Code Certificate (25 to36 credits) £1,302 £651ZINN0005 Innovation Code Diploma (37 to24 credits) £2,005 £1,002ZINN0006 Innovation Code Diploma (49 to72 credits) £2,505 £1,252

Large Employers with Direct Grant Provision

Apprenticeships

Where QCF provision exists and is planned to be removed from funding

Non-regulated versions of units and qualifications that are already in the QCF.

For providing finance for awarding organisation (AO) for development costs

24+ Advanced Learning Loans will be introduced in 2013/14 and will provide funding for the delivery of Level 3 qualifications for learners aged 24 or above. As the Innovation Code relates to the delivery of provision that does not currently lead to a qualification, the Code would not be eligible for 24+ Advanced Learning Loans provision. (Once a qualification has been developed for provision delivered through the Innovation Code, if it is a Certificate or Diploma at Level 3, then the new qualification would be eligible for 24+ Advanced Learning Loans funding, providing it meets other funding criteria



Learning Points on how to Identify and Create New Areas of Provision Using The Innovation Code

1 LISTENS TO THE USERS - CO-CREATION

Value will be increasingly co-created by the provider and the customer, rather than being created entirely inside the learning provider. Co-creation is the trend towards jointly creating products. The interaction between learning providers and the consumer is becoming the locus of value creation and value extraction. As value shifts to experiences, the market is becoming a forum for conversation and interactions between consumers, consumer communities, and firms. In “The Future of Competition” (2004) Prahalad and Ramaswamy state that customers want to define choices in a manner that reflects their view of value, and they want to interact and transact in their preferred language and style. The starting point for any curriculum innovation is this dialogue.

Learning providers need to consider whether their portfolio of learning products are still fit for purpose for both young people, adults and employers. The nature of government funded regulated learning providers is that they fall into the strategic trap of ‘wanting to deliver what they like to deliver’ and ‘dusting down last year’s prospectus’. The starting point has to be community and business needs to shape provision in a much more responsive way. The Skills Funding Agency indicate that these local needs might be identified through a college and/or training organisation’s existing links with local/regional employers, with representative organisations such as National Skills Academies, Sector Skills Councils, Local Enterprise Partnership or Employment and Skills Boards. However often the users and potential users articulate their need to front-line staff and there is limited capability within learning providers to collect and analyse this market intelligence for curriculum decision-makers. A clear message is to ensure that your organization is alert to shifting demand and need.

2. Articulate Need

Once you have listened to the users you need to develop a high level understanding of the curriculum innovation problem that you are trying to solve. Try to articulate what is the problem, who does it affect and what is the training solution. See example below:

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What is the business problem?

Type of need?

Who does it affect?

What is the subject/

Curriculum area?

At what level is it

required?

Is there existing provision on the

QCF?

New types of energy generation using recycled methane

Up-skilling in a particular sector

Energy business/recycling companies who want to diversify

Energy generation/ waste management/ engineering

Level 2, 3 and 4

Some units are available but new units needs to be accredited

The need might be for individuals or whole new industries. Boydell (1983) identifies that new training needs can occur at either the whole organizational level, at the job/occupational level or at the individual/employee level. The Skills Funding Agency identifies that new type of provision can be for:

Developing specialist skills, Up-skilling in a particular sub-sector, Re-skilling as a result of economic conditions in a particular local area, Specific skills required to support a growth sector, Supporting entrepreneurship, Supporting employment and/or progression and further learning in a particular

sub sector or sector Responding to local needs – for example, adapting training for the needs of local

employers seeking to recruit unemployed people Enabling individuals to prepare for and progress into an apprenticeship.

3. Use ‘mash-ups’ as a source of creative ideas

The term mash-up refers to the capability to mix and match from multiple sources into one dynamic entity. The term mash-up comes from the hip-hop music practice of mixing two or more songs. It is applied to a new breed of web-based applications to mix at least two different services from disparate, and even competing, web sites. A mash-up, for example, could overlay traffic data from one source on the Internet over maps from Yahoo, Microsoft, Google or any content provider.

‘Mash-ups’ can be a very powerful way of developing new innovative curriculum and breaks the boundaries of traditional sector skills council approved provision. The way the economy is developing is where traditional areas merge and generate a new approach. For example Smart Phones were the combination of a phone, a web browser and personal computer. In the same way new areas of curriculum areas are generated through the merger of 2 or 3 subjects. It is useful to consider this when trying to address new and emerging community and business needs.

4. Identify the scale of the need

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If you are tackling a new industrial area where there are no existing QCF provision this will require much greater resources than if you are creating new provision for specific individual employees. You will need to consider that this might be a national need and therefore you might need partners to help you shape a national framework. In the case of Adult Enterprise the desire to be an entrepreneur cut across vocational areas, across different localities, different sectors and adults from different backgrounds and one institution could not have create a new national framework on its own.

The long term requirement is that a new qualification is designed in partnership with business/community, with a commitment to time limited funding, and that the qualification will migrate onto the QCF. If the provision is very distinctive and niche then you need to evaluate whether it might be better to run the programme as full cost delivery for a specific individual or company rather than to seek to claim funding for an area that an Awarding Body is not interested in accrediting because the market demand is too small.

5. Review the existing QCF to see what is available

Since 2011 there has been a narrowing of qualifications accredited with a removal of duplicates but there are still many vocational qualifications available and approved by OFQUAL. It is essential to undertake an analysis of what is currently available as there may be relevant units already written that can be reconfigured into a new qualification. Working with an Awarding Body (AO) is a useful first step. It is in their interest to accredit new provision that meets an identifiable market need that will have resonance for the sector.

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Section 4

Creating a Blended Learning Solution

The Adult Enterprise Project developed through co-creation a new innovative qualification framework and shared curriculum across a group of partners which was original and inventive and met a market need but it also developed a strategy to manufacture in a cost effective and efficient way ‘blended learning’ products.

In this section we explore:

What is blended learning The manufacturing process for creating blended learning products The pedagogic framework It will also provide a toolkit for subject writers involved in, or who are

considering developing blended learning and e-learning products based on the experiences of the Adult Enterprise Project.

Meeting a market need

The new Adult Enterprise skills qualification framework met a significant market need and was devised in a unitised fashion so that an adult could select units of learning that met their training needs at the right time during their learning journey to entrepreneurship. The qualifications were all accredited by a National Awarding Body (Open College London Region), approved by OFQUAL and recognised for SFA funding. In addition the Adult Enterprise Project devised a teaching and learning strategy for wider sector roll-out which was ‘a blended learning solution’ on a moodle learning platform hosted on a by Worcester College of Technology (acting as a community cloud) to enable more efficient and effective implementation across the sector. The Adult Enterprise Partnership developed e-learning content to go on to a Moodle 2 platform which was customised to commercial standards that combined both online and classroom based learning. The aim was to create 50% of the content online and 50% deliverable in the classroom to reduce costs.

Definitions of blended learning

From the outset, it is important to recognize that a variety of definitions and applications exist for key teaching and learning terms. Some are used interchangeably with a blurring of the boundaries that can cause confusion and hinder communication.

A Google search in December 2012 generated 6,390,000 results including numerous definitions, discussions, books, journal articles, conference papers, numerous

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examples plus video clips. This plethora of results reinforces the idea that one person’s experience of blended learning and preferred definition is not necessarily the same as someone else’s.

An article in the Washington Post summarized it in this way:

‘..blended learning is some mix of traditional classroom instruction (which in itself varies considerably) and instruction mediated by technology. The latter can be one student with a tablet or laptop, or small groups of kids working together on devices.’ (2012/09/22)

The common denominator brings it down to it being a mix of teaching/ learning in the classroom combined with some online learning in some form or another.

For some institutions and practitioners, blended learning involves the reproduction of a classroom situation online, a virtual classroom, with interaction between learners and tutors through video-conferencing, Skype and forums/blogs etc. This is considered in a video made by Common craft and the key points are that:

The students are part of a digital learning environment These types of environments necessitate Learning Management Systems

(LMS) that go beyond traditional classroom management. Curriculum writers contribute to such environments and systems when they

are producing materials for blended learning.

Blended learning can also be described as a form of technology enhanced learning (TEL). The result does not lead to a virtual classroom in this sense but one that supplements actual classroom sessions. According to a study carried out by the University of Oxford blended or hybrid learning is 30- 79% online and ‘typically’ uses online discussions. (2010 p. 25) Another basic definition from the same report refers to blended learning as ‘online with attendance. ’(2010, p. 13) Whatever definition being used, the aim is always to produce effective blended learning, that will enable learners and tutors to make good use of their time both inside and outside the classroom and that will open up new opportunities in both content, delivery and results.

Blended learning can be compared to e-learning. The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) defines e-learning as ‘e-learning facilitated and supported through the use of ICT. It may involve the use of computers, interactive whiteboards, digital cameras, the Internet, the college intranet, virtual learning environments and electronic communication tools such as e-mail, discussion boards, chat facilities and video conferencing.’ (Ofsted Handbook for Inspecting Colleges, p. 68)

Another definition comes from ‘Move_On_UP_Etutor_Guide.txt’. ‘E-learning: a general term referring to the use of digital technologies to support learning and teaching.’ What is clear is that e-learning differs from ‘traditional learning’ where 0% content is online, according to the Oxford Report (op.cit: 25) Even so-called traditional teaching is changing now with some elements going online such as lectures, powerpoints (ppts) and assessments. This can be referred to as Web Supplemented- classroom/campus learning but with materials available on the web. (Oxford Report op.cit:1) This might refer to the intranet of a particular

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM_Y2NSJcmE

college/university rather than the internet such as ppts being posted only for students enrolled on the course, additional readings etc.

The manufacturing process of shared blended learning products

The manufacturing process for developing the shared blended learning curriculum for Adult Enterprise was significantly different from traditional models of curriculum development where the teacher develops the courses and applies to an awarding body for accreditation, the teacher designs the curriculum content for the course and delivers and assesses the curriculum. In the model adopted by Adult Enterprise the manufacturing was disconnected from the teacher with the creation of a new qualification framework by partners in partnership with an Awarding Body (AO), procurement of curriculum writers to write content and elearning designers to transform the online materials into usable elearning content.

The process was as follows:

Stage 1: Market Map Need - The learning points from developing Adult Enterprise was that it is beneficial to develop a new innovative qualification framework and share its curriculum where the subject area is ‘ubiquitous’ and can be repurposed for a variety of markets by different institutions. This makes sharing more attractive for more users.

Stage 2: Development of a Qualification Framework - This needs the involvement of an Awarding Body that is skilled in designing qualifications, has a good understanding of the assessment and also how a new qualification fits alongside existing qualifications.

Stage 3a): Content Creation – curriculum content needs to be designed and written by subject experts who work within a pedagogic framework that provides both on-line and off-line content. The copyright needs to be owned by the Sharing Entity rather than individual writers.

Stage 3b): Editing- This needs to be edited to ensure that separate content writers’ approach is consistent and coherent. This involves designing a pedagogic model for a scheme of work that reflects the blended learning approach to curriculum development. The scheme of work and the content selected needs to be clearly laid out so that the desired learning process can be clearly articulated.

Stage 4: E-learnification – the content needs to be put on to a learning platform and ‘e-learnified’ which means that particular software needs to be used to enable the content to enable learning to take place online and offline. This requires technical software skills but also the ability to understand the learning process as set down by the content writers and editor.

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Stage 5: Creation and hosting on a Learning platform- there is a multiplicity of platforms available but Moodle represents the best value for education as it is written using open source software. However it requires a degree of programming and design customisation to make it attractive and accessible for teachers and learners. The content and learning platform needs to be written in such a way so that it can be streamed on to a variety of devices.

In the case of Adult Enterprise the business model was B2B (Business to Business) which was that the finished entity was a ‘white label’ brand that could be licensed to Colleges. The benefits of this approach was that the marketing brand could be shared and also awarding body discounts could be negotiated for a wide variety of users as part of a consortium use.

A B2C (Business to Customer) model where individual Colleges could develop their own curriculum products is possible but there is one big limiting factor and that is cost. This proposal seeks to address this limiting factor and empower sector Colleges to develop their own products at low cost thereby creating multiple creators as well as giving them the ability to share at low cost.

See Fig 1: Manufacturing Process

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The pedagogic approach

The Adult Enterprise project’s aim was to find ways to deliver a shared entrepreneurship curriculum across the sector in a more efficient way using a blended learning model. Its aim was to seek to deliver 50% of the content online with curriculum available for teachers to deliver the other 50% in the classroom. For quality reasons, as well as efficiency, Adult Enterprise was also keen to effectively integrate information technology into teaching and learning. OFSTED 2012 Report on Learning and Skills state that the best teaching and learning is where teachers are “skilled at developing learners’ vocational and subject expertise by engaging them in stimulating and challenging learning activities. Their confident use of information learning technology successfully helped learners become more independent in their learning through the use of technology at work and at home”.

The pedagogic approach was rooted in trying to ‘flip the classroom’ so the knowledge element could successfully go online but the higher order learning could be undertaken in a face–to-face interaction with a teacher. The flipped learning model, which started in the classroom, transposes homework with class work. In the world of education, this means students get the presentation portion of a class as homework through videos, screen casts and podcasts. Then during class, there is time for interaction, discussion, projects and individualised instruction. The model is based on the idea that learner interaction and enrichment in the classroom are more effective than passively watching a teacher present or lecture.

This model provided the starting point for schemes of work to be devised that could integrate learning objectives from both the online and classroom content. This is based crudely on Blooms Taxonomy of Learning (1956) which set out that knowledge can be acquired much more easily than higher level learning where the use of the social aspects of learning is important.

Fig 2 Bloom’s Taxonomy

The Adult Enterprise Project used this model with curriculum writers to assist them in developing integrated schemes of work.

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STREAM SHARE

TYPE OF LEARNINGKNOWLEDGE MEANING/UNDERSTANDING

SKILLS ACQUISITION

CONTENTWRITTEN

INFORMATION/AUDIO/VISUAL

eg POWERPOINT,VIDEO, EBOOKS,

HANDOUTS,PHOTOGRAPHS

GROUP ACTIVITIESPEER REVIEW

DEMONSTRATIONSPRACTICE SESSION

DISCUSSIONS ON THE MEANING AND APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE/CONTENT

METHODOLOGY/MODEMOODLE 2.2 PLATFORM

TEACHER LED CLASSROOM WORK FOR INDIVIDUALS AND

GROUPS

LEARNING STRATEGYON-LINE CLASSROOM

ROLE OF CURRICULUM WRITER

CURATING EXISTING and GENERATING

NEW CONTENT WORKING WITH

WORCESTER ON UPLOAD

DESIGNING CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

SCHEMES OF WORK LESSON PLANS THAT

INTEGRATE ASSESSMENT,UNIT

SPECIFICATIONS AND E-LEARNING CONTENT

The Scheme of Work for Blended Learning A model Scheme of Work was developed through a process of trial and error that enabled Curriculum Writers to ensure that they had taken account of the need to integrate online learning with classroom based activities.

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SCHEME OF WORK PRO-FORMA FOR CURRICULUM WRITERSUnit Title and OCNLR Unit Code

Please Complete in Full

Level Credit Value

GLH Unit sector Unit Writer(s)

Teacher(s)To be completed if known

Purpose and Aim: Provide brief statement (1 or 2 sentences)Part Learning

OutcomesAssessment Criteria Assessment Methods and

EvidenceThe learner will The learner can Online learning Classroom learning

1.

2.

3.etc

Insert as per Unit outline

Insert as per Unit outline

Please state Session 1,2, etc What will the learners be doing

on their own (or linked to other learners through online groups)?

Insert activities with links to any e-handouts/learning guides that will be used and materials/resources.

Please provide approximate timings for each activity- take into account that roughly 50% is online/ 50% class-based

Please provide in brief - for ‘at a glance’ information- full details will be in your learner and teacher materials.

Please state Session 1, 2, etc What will be happening in the classroom? Insert

activities with links to any handouts/learning guides that will be used and materials/resources. Clearly reference each e.g. 1.1, 1.2 etc.

Please provide approximate timings for each activity - take into account that roughly 50% is online/ 50% class-based activity.

Try to include a mix of teaching/ learning activities - group work, role play, focus groups, pair work, input from tutor, input from learners etc.

Please provide in brief - for ‘at a glance’ information- full details will be in your learner and teacher materials.

What will be assessed? What is the learner expected to submit for assessment? [NB- not all activities have to be assessed but learners advised to keep all their work as part of their portfolio]. You can indicate what is for portfolio and what is for assessment (A and P) What will be the assessment products? E.g. Short reports, personal development plan, set of notes, set of calculations, list of key websites, and use of Business Development Log etc.

Additional Notes Insert here anything else you think would be useful such as any alternatives or optional, additional work Resources and Materials: List here all resources and materials to be accessed and used for both classroom and online learning sessions. Resources can include- power points, YouTube videos, sections from books, learner handouts and notes prepared by tutor, indicative websites, TV programmes, film, newspaper articles, government reports, etc. Be as contemporary as possible but do include key works in the area that should be looked at. Newspaper articles and reports, for example, can be useful trigger materials as well as business sections. You might like to indicate what is recommended for full participation in online/classroom learning (R) and those materials/resources that are additional (A) for those who have more time/interest to pursue further.

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Toolkit for Curriculum/Subject Writers Developing Blended Learning Materials

The Adult Enterprise Project used a Curriculum Editor Manager, Dr Ruth Cherrington to manage all of the Curriculum Writers to ensure a standardised approach. This Toolkit provides advice for other organizations who might wish to employ this approach for creating blended learning. This Toolkit was written as a result of her experience of managing a diverse team of writers to create rich blended learning content for Adult Enterprise suitable for use by a range of Colleges across the country.

Toolkit for curriculum writersUltimately, however, what Curriculum writers use and how they adapt any templates and other materials, depends on a range of factors:

• The specific nature of the courses under development• What level they are• The target audiences• The resources of the learning providers • The nature of the e-learning platform/Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

When starting out, curriculum writers need to be provided with their remit. This should detail what is expected of them, the boundaries of their work, deadlines and so on. They will also need to be provided with related documentation and course/unit specifications. These should be read through carefully to gain a clear idea of:

• The awarding body e.g. OCNLR, City and Guilds etc. • The key features of the units/modules/course • The level(s)• Number of hours and, if applicable, Guided Learning Hours (GLH) • Timings in terms of unit/module/course length or session length, both

classroom and online • Other relevant information

It is important for curriculum writers to gain as much contextual background information as possible especially when working for a particular body or organization for the first time. Further information about awarding bodies and the courses can be found by going online to their websites. Some areas to consider are as follows:

Are there areas that need clarifying? If so, the writer should contact the organization/body/employer.

What degree of autonomy does the curriculum writer have in terms of deciding number of sessions, content, activities, and outcomes and so on?

Are templates provided that have to be used or are they only suggestions? What does the VLE - Virtual Learning Environment look like? How are curriculum writers expected to contribute to this? What is the LMS and how does it work? How are the materials to be curated?

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After considering all of the above and gaining any additional information required the curriculum writers are ready to start designing their materials. They may already have some ideas about how to approach the unit. The best place to begin is with the Unit Specification and the learning outcomes and assessment criteria. These should guide writers into what sort of material and topics should be covered in each classroom and online session and help them envisage what will be the evidence for assessment.

Scheme of workHow Many Sessions? How long should each be? What is the expected or preferred ratio between online/classroom learning?

If there is no given/ set number of sessions then writers must decide according to how the teaching and learning is being built up throughout the Unit. The number of GLH should also be a guide as well as the assessment criteria and expectations of learning outcomes. There is also the possibility that the learning providers, when they deliver the Unit, might decide to merge some sessions or, alternatively, split some up into smaller sessions.

It might be that three classroom sessions and two online sessions would work well, with each being 2 hours long. Writers are advised to carry out an initial mapping out of sessions and see how they look before filling them out with content and activities.

Classroom Sessions A suggested time should being given for the session (1 hour, 90 mins, 2 hours

etc.) A varied mix of teaching and learning activities should be included- not just

‘teacher talk’ but activities in pairs and groups, role play and games, powerpoint presentations, guest speakers, recording (tape and video) activities where useful /feasible, etc.

Any special facilities or equipment that are required such as computers, Wi-Fi/internet, TV, cameras etc., should be listed.

Learner activities should be delineated as assessed/non-assessed.

Please note: it is up to the learning providers to subsequently factor in time needed for health and safety checks, taking of registers, tea/coffee breaks etc., not the curriculum writers.

Online Sessions A suggested time should being given for the session (1 hour, 90 minutes, 2

hours etc.) A varied mix of learner activities should be included in addition to researching

relevant websites. Specific tasks/activities should be provided throughout the session with over-

general and vague instructions avoided. Each session should have aims and specific learning outcomes- these are not

just chunks of time to be filled. Tasks should be manageable and achievable within the time frame given and

should facilitate improvement in the learner’s research skills They can encourage further exploration and work outside the time set for

each session

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Learners should always be aware of what they are meant to be looking at, finding out about or practicing.

Sequencing of classroom sessions and online sessionsThis is up to the writer to decide, based on what is trying to be achieved. It might be advisable for learners to do an online session prior to their first classroom session, as a ‘warm-up’, familiarisation exercise or to obtain some information they can bring with them to the first class-based session. If this is the case, the Unit writer needs to flag this up on the Scheme of Work.

Sourcing and referencing materials/content Only websites and links that are reputable, relevant and up-to-date should be used with alternatives provided in case these go down. Wikipedia has become a very popular website, accessed by millions on a regular basis. It is certainly useful as a starting point but we have to remember that the information placed here is not always correct, accurate or reliable. Most teachers and lecturers discourage the use of Wikipedia so curriculum writers should give this a wide berth as well. Tutors and learners expect and are buying into something more thorough in their blended learning course. Whenever any existing material is cited, whether it is a journal article, book, a YouTube video, TV programme, etc., the full details should be referenced. When a web link is given as a reference, the date this was accessed should also be included. When repurposing materials that you have used in other circumstances, all necessary permissions should be obtained.

Blended learning tutor guidance notes for classroom sessionsUnit writers need to provide thorough instructions for the tutors so that they understand what they are meant to be doing in the classroom. Suggested timings give them guidelines to work with though also offering some room for flexibility. Suggestions for individual, pair and group work are to be detailed and where learner input takes the form of an assessed activity.

Learner guidance notes for online sessionsUnit writers are to provide instructions and materials for the learners in a way that they can follow easily, that are user-friendly yet not overly chatty. Illustrations, video clips, animations, examples and case studies should all be included where necessary.

It is advisable to avoid just providing pages of text or notes to read. Links to texts and notes which learners need to find and research for themselves, with associated tasks/activities, are preferable. The online sessions should be informative, instructional, interactive and interesting- what is termed here as ‘the 4 i’s’.

Writers must also bear in mind that these instructions will be prepared for the e-learning platform/VLE by the relevant team. Instructions for them should also be provided logically and clearly.

Assessment and Assessment Guidance NotesAssessments should be written according to the assessment criteria and learning outcomes provided in the course/unit specifications. In the case of Adult Enterprise the assessments formed part of the learners’ portfolio of evidence and were part of

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the Moodle package in the form of a Business Development Log. The following guidance notes were used:

Each assessment should be clearly numbered and/or labelled with a title such as ‘Going into Business SWOT analysis.’

What the learner needs to do to meet the criteria should be detailed. It is possible for one activity to meet more than one assessment criteria. Each assessed task should enable the learner to produce evidence that is

directly related to their own business or business plans as well as the assessment criteria.

They can be uploaded for the tutor to access and assess but also downloaded for learner to retain. Each assessment builds on the others and leads to a tangible set of skills and experience.

Any special instructions for the learners should be properly flagged up as well as any for the e-learning team.

Learners should also be encouraged to make additional notes on any research activities they undertake as part of the online learning element of your unit content, even if not assessed content.

Checklist Finally this list was provided as a useful aide de memoire to ensure writers have included everything in their package of materials in the form of a Checklist for Curriculum Writers.

Checklist for Curriculum Writers

ITEM Submitted? (please tick)

Comments/queries

Completed Scheme of Work (with classroom sessions and online sessions)

Tutor guidance notes for classroom sessions

Powerpoints (where necessary)

Learner guidance notes for online sessions

Handouts for classroom (where necessary)

Assessment tasks

Non - assessed activities

Additional resources/reading

Other?

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Section 5

E-LearnificationWorcester College of Technology were procured to e-learnify the curriculum content generated by the Curriculum Writers in Adult Enterprise (see Fig 1: Manufacturing Process for Blended Learning Page 28). To ‘elearnify’ means the act of converting non-web or non-internet content into web based, eLearning, and or distance learning content.

This section has been compiled by Dave Thurlby, ILT Coordinator at Worcester College of Technology and provides an overview and evaluation of software available for online education and training with pros and cons. It also provides guidelines on how to ‘e-learnify’ Curriculum Writers content and advises on their strategies and key learning points developed during the Adult Enterprise Project.

Use of a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment)

The use of a VLE to deploy online learning content (for both online and blended learning) has been the default method for the vast majority of educational institutions over the last ten years or so. A VLE was used for the Adult Enterprise project, however, it was the way we delivered the content that is of significant note. The main items are as follows

Uniform look, feel and layout to all courses. A recognisable corporate image and business like environment. A range of “Out of the box” courses with complete curriculum, activities and

resources mean the tutor can just teach the course with minimal preparation and administration.

Development of a Business Development Log as a single container for both student assessed work and personal note taking.

Online sessions delivered via an interactive learning resource, guiding the learner through their learning, supporting resources, required assessments and relevant documents.

Self-help support documentation backed up with a dedicated support team (see relevant section below.)

Choosing your E-learning Authoring tools

This section will concentrate on choosing e-learning authoring tools.

There is a wide selection of e-learning authoring tools available and the ones in this section cover six options which were considered and evaluated at the beginning of the project. As this software was to be used by learning technology staff, and funding was available to purchase higher end products we could look at the full range of packages available.

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Some of the key items we were looking for in the software were:

Scope for creativity Easy branding and colour scheme setting to reflect the Adult Enterprise brand Possibility to publish for delivery on mobile devices Easy to learn Well supported Access to tutorials and online community

Below are the products we considered for our e-learning authoring tool with a short description of what they offer. All of the paid for options have a 30 day free trial with full functionality to allow full evaluate the product.

Microsoft PowerPoint

(Part of the ubiquitous Microsoft Office package) PowerPoint is often overlooked when developing learning content. When you look deeper into its capabilities it is more than possible to create some quite advanced content. Adding media, narration, animation and navigation buttons are the key areas to look at. It is recommended to export a completed file as a PowerPoint Show file type, which in most cases only allows users to view the file as slides.

GLO Maker (FREE) This authoring tool focuses on good learning design and uses pedagogical guides to direct the development process. It provides powerful features in an easy-to-use interface. Finished learning resources are exported to a folder which is a self-contained website, and is capable of displaying a range of content types.

Xerte (FREE) Xerte was developed by the University of Nottingham. It is an Open Source content creation tool that allows non-technical staff to quickly and easily build rich, interactive and engaging resources. There are a good range of tutorials, webinars and support forums to help developers get to grips with Xerte. You can create sequences of on-line learning activities that can include a wide range of media types. In addition you can add simple quizzes using various question types. One unusual addition Xerte offers is that the presentation of the output can be changed easily by the viewers; this includes the colour scheme, screen, text font, text size and volume. (Please note all prices are approximate as of January 2013)

eXe (FREE)eXe is another authoring application for publishing e-learning web content without the need to become proficient in HTML or XML mark-up languages. It was developed by a New Zealand-based not-for-profit educational research and development organisation. It is still being actively developed and supported by a group of organisations. eXe offers a good range of activities and media types which can be incorporated into your learning resource. Export options also include IMS

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http://exelearning.org/wiki

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte/index.aspx

http://www.glomaker.org/index.html

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/products/

Content Package, SCORM 1.2, or IMS Common Cartridge formats or as simple self-contained web pages.

Adobe Captivate (£285)Adobe Captivate is available for both Windows and Mac OSX. It has huge capabilities as a learning resource production tool. It can be used to author software demonstrations, software simulations and randomized quizzes that are exported as Flash files. There is potential for it to be used for podcasts, screencasts, or the conversion and modification of PowerPoint Presentations. This product offers full creativity in all aspects of content creation, and as a result, a lot more time is required to develop your skills in order to unlock the full potential of the programme. Time invested in this product results in more advanced, varied and professional looking resources. There is also plenty of online support and tutorials, as you would expect from a company of this stature.

Articulate Storyline (£550) Storyline offers a near identical range of facilities as Adobe Captivate. It is only available for Windows at the moment, so this, for some developers, excludes it from further consideration. The price for some may be prohibitive, however the product is so accessible and easy to use that time saved in training and increased productivity could make this viable. The fast learning curve comes from a well-designed and intuitive user interface and the near eradication of action scripts to control interactive elements of the page. As with Captivate, covered above, software demonstrations, simulations, quizzes, screen casts and imported PowerPoint presentations are possible. Mobile Learning is also catered for with an iPhone app and HTML5 export options. There are a range of video tutorials that can get you up to speed quickly, and a dedicated community area where resources and advice are available.

Explanation of our choice of authoring tool.All of the authoring tools outlined above are good products and maybe be a good choice depending on what you want to achieve and how far you want to take your authoring skills. At the time of making this decision, in May 2012, Articulate Storyline was new to the market. It offered an excellent user interface that you instantly recognise and is clean and simple. The Adult Enterprise project also requires that the content be compatible with mobile devices, which was only offered by this software at the time. Photographic characters are available with this software, which we have used extensively throughout the online resources, to guide students, and options for the resource player window offered easy addition of logos, colours and styles based to the Adult Enterprise corporate design guidelines. Since our initial purchase of Storyline, we have purchased the full range of photographic characters to reflect a diverse group of users. We have also purchased a copy of Articulate Studio ’09 a suit of 4 content programmes to further increase the potential and efficiency of our learning resources. More details on Articulate Studio’09 are available here http://www.articulate.com/products/studio.php . We have found this software to be very effective for the team to date. It should be noted that Adobe Captivate has since updated its offering since we took the plunge in May ’12 and has now addressed many of the shortcomings we found at the time, so, for some, the

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http://www.articulate.com/products/studio.php

http://www.articulate.com/products/storyline-overview.php

http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/captivate.html

cross platform compatibility and price may make this a good option for those looking to develop intricate resources.

Guidelines of E-Learnification

In this section we will take you through the key areas that require attention and consideration when creating Moodle courses, and the online learning sessions used throughout the Adult Enterprise learning platform.

1 Learner Profile and User Centred Design.Understanding your audience and their needs is probably the most important part of this process. Getting this part right will make a truly usable and successful product. For adult learners, it is crucial that a wide range of digital literacy skills are catered for. One of the methods I have found very effective in testing content for ease of use is Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/ . These heuristics allow you to constantly evaluate how your users engage with the course, and ensure they have a positive user experience.

It is important to be mindful of the level of language used throughout the course. The initial group of courses we were asked to develop were ten Level 2 courses. Learners were at GCSE level, and so complex words should be avoided where possible to help students remain engaged.

Often, with courses delivered via a virtual learning environment, learners find it difficult to understand what they need to do outside of contact time and distinguish between what are the most important things they need to concentrate on. From our experience in the Further Education sector we are also aware of the importance of keeping students motivated. This can be particularly challenging when learners are working independently online. A key area to deal with these issues was the development of a single interactive learning resource that covered all the learning, resources and assessment tasks that were required in a single resource. This means that the learner is guided and receives clear instructions about what they need to do during their online session. These resources also provide a more immersive learning experience and helps learners complete all their online session activities. Here are a few example pages to give you an idea of how these look

This online session is backed up by a tutor lead classroom sessions. The Adult Enterprise courses use a blended learning approach called the “Flipped Classroom”.

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http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/

http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/

This requires the learner to do their basic learning and initial activities online then extend and apply their knowledge during their contact time with a tutor.

The use of photographic characters has been a key driver in the success of the online resources. It moves this resource away from a passive PowerPoint slideshow to something that is perceived as being personable, there to help and of value. When we have demonstrated these resources to many Colleges around the UK they have often commented on the expressions these characters have. This shows there is an emotional response with the resource, and whether this response is complementary or not, it demonstrates that the resource is of significance.

Further benefits of this resource include tracked progress, so learners can return to the resource at a later time and be prompted to continue from where they left off, or use the menu system to return to a particular part of the resource for further study or revision.

2. Building the learning environment

Now we have covered the items that would deliver a good user experience, let’s turn our attention to how we set about building the courses.

Challenges

One challenge we had with a new project of this type was the number of staff involved, curriculum writers, Adult Enterprise staff and our own ILT team at Worcester College of Technology.

We quickly found that a single point of contact between Adult Enterprise and our content development team worked best to deal with issues, coordinate work and communicate efficiently. This was particularly important at the early stages.

Building the Learning the environment

When the initial two courses were ready we set about developing these courses, first with the intention of finishing them fully, and then complete an evaluation process, so these courses could be used as a blue print for other courses to follow.

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This allowed us to define the expectations of our client so new courses could be added with a clear vision of what the end result should be. We found it best to spend some time unravelling a new course when we first received it so we could:

o Identify what parts were important,

o See how the course flowed and start to plan, page by page,

o What the learning resource should look like.

Amongst the learning resource development team we have a lot of teaching experience. This allows us to quickly get to grips with new courses, develop the resources and know what will work for learners and tutors. Once we began to create pages of resources we were aware that it is important to limit text and information on a page, and we followed this principle. Learners need time to understand and follow instructions; go too fast or present too much information, and the learning process breaks down. We also wanted to make the pages and the course visually rich, so use of icons, screen grabs and clear signposting were incorporated. This would also support learners with poor computer skills.

Much thought was given to our approach to assessment and learner online communication. For the Adult Enterprise courses a Business Development Log has been used, and acts as a generic container to handle both assessed tasks and as a personal space for the learners. Students can add as many logs as they wish by filling out an entry page, where the type of log (e.g. assessed task or research note), text, actions points, notes and an option to upload files are afforded. Once entries are entered, only the learner and their own institution tutors can view it. Each entry also contains an option for both the learner and tutor to leave comments. So, for the tutor this could be used to distribute feedback and grades. The Development Log uses a database to collect entries, which allows tutors to search for the logs they wish to view; this could be by type of log, learner name or combination of both.

We found that standardising the layout and structure of the courses has helped us develop content more quickly. This also helps with the overall look and familiarity across all courses for our end users, so using the learning environment for them is consistent and user friendly no matter which courses they choose.

This project is ongoing, and over the coming years there are plans for more courses, primarily at level 1 and 3. These courses will be developed using the strategies outlined in this section as we have found them to work well. We will therefore evaluate the first new course for each of these levels which are likely to focus on language levels, information displayed per page, and the methods of assessment deployed as key areas.

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Section 6

Creating a Shared Learning Platform

Once the content was elearnified it was important for the blended learning to be hosted on a Learning Platform with an associated Learner Management System. Adult Enterprise had selected a commercial design company, LogicSpot to design the website but it needed to find a more cost-effective and sustainable solution for maintaining the hosting as it rolled out the provision across the country. Adult Enterprise selected Worcester College of Technology to host the website and also provide a Moodle VLE and learner Management System. This section provides guidance on how to adapt Moodle and integrate education and training software to create a strong user interface and user experience (UIUX) for online learning. It also provides a guide to managing learners, providing online helpdesk support and collecting data for benchmarking. This section has been compiled by Peter Kilcoyne, ILT Director at Worcester College of Technology (WCT).

Creating a Learning PlatformTo work in with the overall aims of the Adult Enterprise project a learning platform was required that could be used to host the distance-learning element of the project. Worcester College of Technology were procured to provide this service. As Adult Enterprise was already an established brand both in terms of name and visual branding, it was important to the validity of the project that the created learning platform matched the extant visual branding. To achieve this, Adult Enterprise procured their web designers, LogicSpot, to investigate the theming of Moodle in keeping with the overall Adult Enterprise brand and novated them to WCT. After a short learning curve, LogicSpot developed a theme for Moodle, which matched, very closely, the overall Adult Enterprise theme which could be used by WCT.

In addition to theming, the overall user experience within the Adult Enterprise project was at the heart of many decisions taken by the team. These decisions pertained to content creation and the tools and methods used to both assess and deliver learning content via the learning platform. To deliver a quality user experience and ensure that the user interface was consistent and easy to use, the content and technical teams at WCT collaborated to come up with a clear, navigable structure for courses and a consistent look and feel for graphical elements such as buttons, hyperlinks and section titles. This approach of consistency between courses was well received by the Adult Enterprise team as it fit well with their desire for a branded, consistent look and feel throughout the learning platform. The decided upon look and feel was made into a Moodle course template which can be backed up and restored in instances a new course is required to allow the easy replication of subsequent courses to the same look and feel.

Whilst user interface was a big concern whilst developing the learning platform, also key to the user experience was the element of ensuring that all the Moodle tools and documents they engage with are simple to use. To enable this, much testing and

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revision was done around the Moodle tools, particularly the Business Development Log (BDL), to ensure that users are given a good user experience. In particular the BDL was created using the database tool in Moodle. This choice of tool allowed a good level of customisation to allow us to fulfil requirements whilst remaining simple to use for students and tutors alike. To achieve this overall simplicity, using clear language and imagery were of vast importance, making sure that any tools that were not immediately obvious to use were accompanied by good guidance as to how to use them.

This dual approach of usability and user interface combine to make an overall good quality experience for users of the system for both tutor and student alike. Having been through multiple iterations of testing and feedback the learning platform is well positioned to support this user experience throughout its lifecycle and will continue to be iterated upon as and when user feedback necessitates.

Developing a shared learner management system

Underpinning the development of a shared learner management system is the concept of supporting users, both tutor and student alike, in the use of the learning platform that comprises approximately 50% of their Adult Enterprise teaching and learning experience. To enable this, a simple to use but comprehensive enrolment mechanism was required to acquire data from institutions to allow the creation of accounts for tutors and students. To this end, Worcester College developed a pro forma that could be sent to institutions for them to fill in with the data on their students and tutors involved in the programme. This pro forma requested data for each student including their name, email address, city of residence and the Adult Enterprise modules they are taking. As well as this, the pro forma requests many other data which are required by Adult Enterprise, but not by the learning platform. The pro forma, once filled in is returned to Worcester for them to manipulate into a CSV format. This CSV is used to populate tutors and students into the learning platform and assign them to the correct roles, i.e. student or tutor and also to the correct courses for the modules they are studying.

As well as ensuring people get on the system, another key element of the way the Adult Enterprise system works is ensuring that we have a quality, user focussed, support system and help desk to assist users with any issues they may come up against. As a first port of call for support a FAQs page was created to assist in answering any basic queries users have such as how to use the Business Development Log or open the file types and resources they will be presented with throughout their course. If the FAQs do not solve students’ issues they are invited to use a support request form to request further assistance form the support team. A form was deemed the appropriate medium for these requests rather than an email as with forms it is possible to specify required fields to allow the support team to acquire all the information they require to provide support to users. For tutors and centre managers, however, e-mail was deemed more appropriate due to the widely varied nature of enquiries coming through to the support team. In addition to email, the centre managers and tutors are supported by telephone on a number specific to

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Adult Enterprise support. This specific channelling of support through different avenues allows the support team to deal with different enquiries in the way that is best suited to provide a quality response to users whilst ensuring that all the information required to properly give support is provided. To enable this highly reactive level of support, the e-mail address [email protected] was created the intent of this generic email address is that no one person is sent emails by users so absences in the team can easily be covered without access to an individual’s mail box. Similarly with the support telephone number, it is configured in such a way that we are able to redirect it to other members of the support team if individuals are absent from work for any reason.

To enable the creation of reports and tracking of support activity, a job ticketing system was chosen to enable the easy recording of support whilst ensuring that good quality information is able to be produced. To achieve this, Worcester College of Technology instantiated Microsoft’s System Centre Service Manager a fully featured help desk product, with reporting, service level agreement tracking and many other advanced features. The usage of a proper ticketing system has been instrumental in tracking jobs, assigning them to support staff and recording resolutions to issues, allowing us to look at patterns in support requests, and pro-actively change processes and systems to better support users so they are more autonomous.

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Section 7

Managing a Virtual TeamThe Project operated in several stages as set out in Section1 and at each stage the Adult Enterprise Team changed as the task changed (see Table below). The strength of the steering group in keeping momentum even when at certain stages their own staff were no longer involved in the project was also important for its successful spin-out and the creation of a new team. Their roles as Heads of Institutions also meant that they could give strong institutional support and profile to the Project. The opportunity for the Project Director to move from a strategic role to a hands-on role due to her departure from Richmond Adult Community College gave additional leadership resource at a critical time when the team structure was changing to a virtual team model. This section focuses on how to manage virtual teams across a range of partners, service providers and independent consultants given the learning points from Adult Enterprise.

PROJECT STAGES

TEAM STAGE TASK MANAGEMENT STRATEGY PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Curriculum Development

This involved a team of designated staff from Partners meeting to generate ideas for a new curriculum framework model

Brainstorming/Meeting up in real-time/Researching what is currently available

Project Director coordinated Heads of Institutions on the Steering Group and they took oversight over the involvement of their own staff. A Project Manager from a Private consultancy company and an OCNLR Development Officer coordinated the meetings

Traditional Project Model

Qualification Framework Development

This involved individual team members majoring on a specialist subject area (eg City of Bath on Social media) and drafting new course units as part of a cross-institutional team from Partner organizations meeting in an advisory capacity with OCNLR Officers

Reviewing and developing new courses and working with OCNLR to frame a new qualification framework for OFQUAL approval

Project Director coordinated Heads of Institutions on the Steering Group took oversight over the involvement of their own staff. A Project Manager from a Private consultancy company and an OCNLR Development Officer coordinated the meetings

Traditional Project Model

Content Development and Shared Delivery Strategies

This involved the creation of a virtual team. This stage involved the procurement of other service providers some of which were not connected to the original partner organizations as a result of the need for new expertise

Content creation by Curriculum Writers, Content Editing by Curriculum Managers, Assessment design by an Assessment Manager,Web design for the web portal and learning platform, Elearnification of Content and the setting of a learner

Project Director’s role became hands-on to hold the virtual team together as a constellation of groups working on a whole work task without real time group meetings. It also involved tight management of independent service providers and melding them into the Virtual team. The Project Director also had to engage the Steering Group to

Virtual Project Team Model

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PROJECT STAGES

TEAM STAGE TASK MANAGEMENT STRATEGY PROJECT MANAGEMENT

such as specialist Curriculum Writers, Worcester College of Technology and LogicSpot.

Management System ensure that they could keep oversight on accountability of the performance of the Virtual Team

Sector roll-out and Dissemination

This involved the creation of a Dissemination Team made up of the Project Director, Curriculum Editor Manager (independent freelancer), Assessment Manager (independent freelancer) and team members from Worcester College of Technology which was supported by the original Partner organizations, members of AoC and interested Colleges around the country that hosted events.

This involved promoting the Qualification Framework and new Blended Learning Content and running Dissemination Events around the country to generate interest in sustaining the Adult Enterprise model. It also involved 30 follow- up visits from the Project Director to interested colleges around the country who wanted more information before getting involved.

Project Director’s role became hands-on to hold the virtual team together. The Dissemination Team comprised a mixed group that were not related to the original partner organizations. The Project Director worked closely with the Steering Group to maintain commitment and focus on the long term benefit to their organization on the output of Adult Enterprise and member organisations.

Virtual Project Team Model

Developing a Sustainability Model

This stage involved the Steering Group re-shaping itself in a Board of a new Social Enterprise with the Project Director becoming the new Chief Executive. A new Treasury being appointed and the Assessment Manager, Curriculum Manager, Curriculum Writers and Worcester College of technology being formally procured.

This involved charging the 34 member organizations and taking accountability for the income, registering as a company limited by guarantee and registering for VAT.

Commitment levels of the Steering Group remained very high as a result of the success of the Project and 6 out of the 9 members became Foundation Board members. The Chief Executive and all Adult Enterprise staff work remotely and there are regular monthly Board meetings to ensure accountability of the virtual team.

Formal Virtual Team Model

In the final half of the Project Adult Enterprise developed Virtual Team Working to complete the task of creating a prototype blended learning curriculum on a learning platform that is shared across a range of institutions. The key learning points from this experience of managing a virtual team is that you cannot rely on being co-located to be an effective and efficient team. It became more important that team members understood the project goals and objectives whether or not they interact and communicate in the traditional face-to-face manner. The Project Director had the responsibility to ensure that deliverables and milestones are achieved on time and

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with the utmost quality. The many moving parts to the virtual team makes managing them that more difficult. This final sections looks at the learning points for managing virtual teams.

In 10 tips for Managing Virtual Teams Tom Mochal (2007) writes that:

“Most everyone works in a team environment. It has always been understood that the most effective teams are those located together. In fact, many managers decide to co-locate their team after reorganization, even though the constant churn of people moving from place to place is seen by others as unproductive. Against this backdrop is a global phenomenon that is driving team staffing in the other direction. The Internet, faster and more reliable communication, and collaborative tools are allowing people to come together on teams that are no longer co-located. In fact, the whole concept of “globalization” is pushing work all over the world, with independent people and teams working anywhere and everywhere. These groups are sometimes referred to as “virtual teams.” They are real teams and they fit a classic definition of teams in terms of working together to achieve a common set of objectives. However, they are referred to as “virtual” mostly because they do not communicate and interact in a traditional face-to-face manner.”

Over the past 10 years, various studies have investigated the differences in performance of co-located and dispersed teams, quietly assuming that members of the latter never meet in person and members of the former work together in the same office throughout a project. But dispersion is not only a matter of degree; it is also a matter of kind. Most teams are dispersed on some level. They can be spatially separated (from “across the hall” to “scattered worldwide”), temporally separated (spanning different time zones), configurationally uneven (for example, five members in one location and two in another) and culturally diverse. And as past research has repeatedly shown, even the smallest degrees of dispersion, such as working on different floors in the same building, can greatly affect the quality of collaboration. The key findings from How to Manage Virtual TeamsSiebdrat, Hoegl and Holger (2009) is that :

• The overall effect of dispersion (people working at different sites) is not necessarily detrimental but rather depends on a team’s task-related processes, including those that help coordinate work and ensure that each member is contributing fully.

• Even small levels of dispersion can substantially affect team performance.

• When assembling a virtual team, managers should carefully consider the social skills and self-sufficiency of the potential members

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Toolkit for Managing a Virtual Team

1. Set project objectives and expectations for your team. The team members need to know and understand what it is that they are doing together. If they understand only their own role and their own work, they will always just be individual contributors. Clearly communicate the project objectives, schedules and individual roles and responsibilities. It is important that everyone knows what they are doing, how their work contributes to the project, what other team members need from them, and why. Though everyone can work independently, it is important to constantly communicate the team’s objectives. Failure to do so can be catastrophic for the success of a project.

2. Set the tone early and remind everyone they are a team.If the team members think they are all working independently, they will act independent. If they know they are part of a team working on common objectives and deliverables, they will tend to feel better about their work and be more active in their collaboration with other team members. At the beginning of the project it is crucial to let the team members know what is expected of them. Status reports, participation in conference calls, hours of availability, and deliverable schedules are essential parts of managing virtual teams.

3. Establish ground rules but understand and respect different organizational cultures. Even though the team members may be remote, they still need to exhibit a common and acceptable set of behaviours. In fact, this is probably more important for virtual teams. Ground rules include things like responsiveness to emails, when they are expected to be working, determining which meetings are mandatory (in-person, Web-based, or via telephone), and defining expectations for communication turnaround times. This is very important if you are managing team members from different institutions or who are freelance.

4. Choose the right technology to foster communication. The anchor of every virtual team is the technology used to support communication. So in lieu of face to face then the use of online chat on social media, conference calls, online conferencing using Blackboard and group emails are ideal. In addition, there are collaboration tools that allow team members to share and collaborate on documents such as Drop Box.

5. Be specific about time scales for completion. Never leave something to chance. Make sure that all team members know when deliverables are due. You never want to remind them the day before and have them scramble to get something done before close of business the next day. In these instances the quality of the deliverable almost always suffers.

6. Get the team together on occasion and look for opportunities to socialize. Team members located together have opportunities to socialize throughout the day. Virtual teams don’t usually have this same opportunity to interact with each other, so it is more important for the project manager to look for ways they can bond. This might include getting everyone together one time in a face-to-face setting — perhaps for a project kick off meeting. Although it is expensive to bring remote teams together, it is a necessary element to managing a virtual team. In order to build and continue team chemistry, gathering the team together strengthens personal relationships and

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working partnerships in both the short and long term. Never underestimate the importance of team camaraderie and rapport.

7. Communicate, communicate, communicate. You need to be extra proactive in your communications to make sure everyone understands what is expected. People can start to feel isolated if they do not receive regular communications. It is hard enough to keep everyone informed on a “regular” project. The communication lines on a virtual team must be opened up especially wide. As project manager, you need provide this steady stream of communication.

8. Be extra diligent in workload management. Be precise and explicit in assigning work to the virtual team members. You also need to ensure that work is completed on time.

9. Give people shorter assignments. This is not the time to give people long assignments and hope they are completed by the deadline. Instead of assigning a six-week activity, for instance, assign the work in three two-week activities. In the former case, you won’t know for sure if the work was done for six weeks. In the latter case, you can tell every two weeks if the work is on track

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Section 8

Brand Development in a Shared Environment

This section explores the marketing principles to create a white label design and marketing proposition that can be shared. Adult Enterprise went out to tender and procured LogicSpot, a Richmond based web design company, and Desypha Design agency to develop an Adult Enterprise Brand.

Desypha developed a primary mark identity, a fluid brand which could be adapted to create secondary brands. The use of geometric shapes communicated the idea of connection, growth, and not being restrained by a single brand mark created a strong unified brand which looks fresh when applied to different materials. Using strong primary colours was a positive and uplifting palette, and throughout the brand the colours are strong and vibrant never pastel or flat and uninspiring. From an early stage they designed the brand to work with partner logos to be overlayed on a partner brand or to be 'bolted on' with a typographic brand mark. In addition they also provided supporting graphic patterns for the brand, the concept for these is connections, the idea of learners and partners connecting with each other and with the curriculum to learn and grow.

The website www.adultenterprise.com was designed by LogicSpot to also link into social media with a strong Twitter and Blog presence. The brand features on the website, the published material and also the learning platform. The website acts as a portal for the Learning platform for Adult Enterprise learners across the partnership.

In addition as part of the brand development a broad range of marketing materials were designed and shared with participating Colleges using a Dropbox account. The aim was to enable partners to repurpose the materials and add their own brand to save them the design costs and also increase the collateral of the Adult Enterprise brand.

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http://www.adultenterprise.com/

Section 9

Models for Network Generation for Sharing and SustainabilityThe key success of the Adult Enterprise project is that it has captured the imagination of the sector and it is now self-funded and supported by 34 institutions across the country for its year 2 roll out. The key learning points from this project is that if shared services are to become sustainable they need to consider the following points:

1 OFFER A WHITE LABEL PRODUCT OR SERVICE Have a product and service that is not owned by one institution. The Adult Enterprise is a white label brand that can be used by each College of adult learning institution as their own. There is no territoriality as it is owned by everyone with the brand and content looked after by a sector led, not-for-profit social enterprise.

2 SAVES MONEY It saves each institution a significant amount of time and money in curriculum development and delivery, and provides a cost-effective solution for providing adult learning

3 HIGH QUALITY Adult Enterprise is very high quality, with time and resources invested in seeking the best method for developing and hosting blended learning

4 STRONG SECTOR PROFILE AND REPUTATION The role of the four Principals and the HOLEX Chief Executive on the Steering Group gave the Project credibility in the sector. This was reinforced by AOC who valued the Project and promoted it within their conferences and events. This gave confidence with Principals who were interested in developing their entrepreneurship curriculum.

5 TOPICAL AND CURRENT The area of Entrepreneurship was topical and current given the economic recession in addition the development of curriculum materials for adults complemented the work of the Gazelle Group of Colleges within the sector without competing with them.

6 SOLVED A DEVELOPMENT PROBLEM The sector has grappled with trying to develop high quality blended learning and many teaching staff are very resistant to adapting their traditional classroom teaching. However the Adult Enterprise area was a new qualification and therefore there were no teachers losing teaching hours as a result of a college adopting the Adult Enterprise model. It was therefore welcomed as an example of a successful strategy for blended learning that could be used to help change professional practice in college providers

7 LOW COST MEMBERSHIP Because of economies of scale and pump-priming through the AoC/SFA funding Adult Enterprise was able to share the benefits of the project for an affordable membership fee (£5k) that enabled the development to continue in Year 2. The cost of membership contrasts well with other schemes in the sector.

8 TRAIN THE TRAINER PROGRAMME Once new Colleges and adult learning providers were signed up a programme of training was provided for College staff to

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use the materials and blended learning system. This provided connectivity to the creators and helped teachers feel part of a virtual team.

9 NON-COMPETITIVE Users of Adult Enterprise are not competing institutions and therefore learning points are shared across institutions as the new members join the virtual team.

10 INNOVATIVE The methodology adopted for the delivery of learning is different and innovatively creates and shares content using new technologies. It also seeks to develop new models of teaching and learning and also explores the different roles of a traditional teacher.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Beetham, H. & Sharpe, R. (eds) (2007) Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age: Designing and Delivering E-Learning, Routledge

Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., & Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals; Handbook I: Cognitive Domain New York, Longmans, Green, 1956

T. H Boydell “A guide to the identification of training needs” 1983 London British Association for Commercial and Industrial Education

Commoncraft video on Blended Learning ‘Blended Learning in Plain English’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM_Y2NSJcmE

www.Move_On_UP_Etutor_Guide.txt Harvey Mellar et al., (2007), Effective Teaching and Learning: Using ICT. London: NRDC

Ofsted Handbook for Inspecting Colleges, May 2006. HMI ref. 2651

OFSTED 2012 Annual Report on Learning and Skills HMSO

Tom Mochal “10 tips for Managing Virtual Teams”www.techrepublic.com (2007)

National School for Government “Whole systems go. Improving leadership across the whole public service,” August 2009

Kathryn Pavlovich and Patricia Doyle Corner, "Knowledge creation through co-entrepreneurship” International Journal of Knowledge Management, Volume 1, Number 1-2/2006

C K Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy “Co-Opting Customer Competence” Summer 2000Harvard Business Review

K. Prahalad, Venkat Ramaswamy “ Co-creation experiences: The next practice in value creation" C Journal of Interactive Marketing Summer 2004 Volume 18, Issue 3

Sharma, P. & Barrett, B. (2007) Blended Learning, MacMillan Books for Teachers

Frank Siebdrat, Martin Hoegl and Holger Ernst “How to Manage Virtual Teams” July 1, 2009 MIT Sloan Management Review

Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning (TALL) Department for Continuing Education University of Oxford

UK Online “Study of UK Online Learning Final Report”, March 2010 www.UKOnlineLearning Study-FinalReport-Mar10-FINAL-FORPUB.pdf

Washington Post Article-http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/three-fears-about-blended-learning/2012/09/22/56af57cc-035d-11e2-91e7-2962c74e7738_blog.html (accessed Dec. 19th 2012)

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http://www.UKOnlineLearning/

White, D., Warren, N., Faughnan, S. & M. Manton

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