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CAMELS to Elicit Tangible Benefits of E-learning project: revised proposal

1. Background to the proposal: relevant points from the JISC LT Committee report

Tangible Benefits and Real Value

For example, these could be e-learning activities that show:

  1. Actual savings in cost, time or resource for an institution;
  2. Significant improvements in student learning (eg assessment performance, pass rates);
  3. Significant improvement in student satisfaction with the learning process;
  4. Significant improvement in retention rates of an institution
  5. Significant improvement in staff satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for, e-learning
  6. Significant improvement in staff’s ability to deliver e-learning
  7. Significant improvement in staff performance more generally
  8. Increased performance towards institutional strategic targets (e.g. recruitment, retention, widening participation targets, space usage, computer availability, room allocation etc.) through the use of ICT.

Proposal

It is proposed to undertake a piece of work in the period from April –July 2007, to gather examples of the tangible benefits and real value of e-learning to institutions and also to assist the process of sharing these benefits and advantages between institutions.

2. Revised proposal following the JLT committee meeting

Summary (see attached plan for details)

2.1 Aim: to collate and share the tangible and real benefits to staff, learners and institutions of e-learning, through a discipline and academic department focus by using the CAMEL model devised by the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) and JISCinfoNet.

2.2 Governance and Management

  • JISC infoNet will take overall responsibility for the management of the project.
  • ALT will undertake the day-to-day management of project activities and workshop organisation, and lead evaluation of the process.
  • HE Academy will appoint consultants and recruit institutions through the Subject Centre network.

2.2.1 A steering group will be established to include

  • JISC infoNet representation – Gill Ferrell/Jacquie Kelly
  • ALT representation – Rhonda Riachi
  • JISC e-learning programme manager - tbc
  • HE Academy – David Sadler
  • CETIS – Sarah Holyfield/Christina Smart

2.3 Method: A series of consultative workshops will be managed and run by JISC infoNet and the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) using the CAMEL[1] (Collaborative Approaches to the Management of e-Learning) methodology and with Subject Centres as hosts. These workshops will collect examples of tangible benefits of e-learning, in its broadest sense, through a discipline focus and allow institutions to share and discuss these examples.

2.4 Activities and participants: Up to 16 institutions will be invited to participate in up to four workshops of 4-5 institutions. We would invite subject centres to identify suitable institutions and to either host these workshops or to find a suitable external venue. Workshop aims would beto discuss and share examples of tangible benefits and real values within their institutions. The workshops will be themed to align with key priorities of the e-learning programme. The institutions will then be supported via a group wiki to write case study examples of these benefits.

2.5 Outputs

  • Up to 16 institutional case studies, with a discipline focus which identify tangible benefits of e-learning
  • A report on the CAMEL workshops and evaluation of the process, which will aim to identify any real or perceived weaknesses or threats of e-learning

3. How the CAMEL model will work in this scenario

3.1 We believe the CAMEL model will work well here, but we note the following constraints:

3.1.1 From the experience of ALT and JISCinfoNet in running the first CAMEL project it is clear that the participants generally need longer to develop a good working relationship than is normally possible with short-term projects of this kind. The very tight timescale of this project and the need to produce outputs quickly means that there will not be time to “experiment” with the model.

3.1.2In order to meet JISC’s needs it will be necessary to focus on general e-learning topics that can be demonstrated to be of use both across departmental subject boundaries and across institutions. Through a discipline approach the aim is todraw out general issues related to e-learning wherever appropriate and to identify issues for academic departments, i.e. issues of strategic relevance to institutions and academic departments. It is important thatthe issues are not limited to particular subject areas,nor merely instances of individual practitioners trying something with small groups of learners. Suitable topics include e-assessment, e-portfolios, enhancements to VLEs, e-learning to support work-based learning, etc.

4. Roles of the project participants

From our experience in the first CAMEL project, we recommend the following working arrangements.

4.1 Consultants

4.1.1 The Consultants (several staff drawn from up to 4 subject centres) will:

  • designate one Consultant to be the primary contact (lead) and other support persons
  • attend steering group meeting on 10 May
  • designate one consultant per workshop to act as host and liaise with ALT over the organisation of the workshop. The workshops will preferably be 24 hour events running from lunchtime to lunchtime but may be full day events with an evening start-up session the day before. The host will organise suitable meeting space, refreshments and dinner/social activities as well as providing local travel information etc.
  • attend all workshops
  • provide a template for the case studies before the meetings begin
  • support the academic departments/institutions in writing their case studies using the wiki (most likely by providing a first draft for the institutions to comment on)
  • produce a synthesis of the final case studies with definitions of the different types of e-learning used
  • help facilitate the workshops, eg through evaluation tasks or posing discussion points that feed into the wiki and the case studies
  • contribute to the final evaluation report

4.2 Institutions

4.2.1 The institutions will provide named staff involved in managing e-learning who will

  • attend the start-up meeting
  • attend at least one workshop and contribute to discussions
  • provide information on the main e-learning topics they wish to focus on
  • contribute to wiki discussions
  • write their case study with the consultants focusing on a specific aspect of e-learning
  • demonstrate clear benefits to the institution from their use of e-learning

4.3 JISCinfoNet

4.3.1 JISCinfoNet will take overall responsibility for the management of the project, including

  • providing a web-based form for institutions to express of interest in participating (if we do not get sufficient participants directly through the subject centres).
  • providing a wiki for discussion of each workshop
  • attending steering group meetings (where possible by phone conference)
  • assisting ALT in facilitating each workshop
  • contributing to the evaluation of the project
  • editing the final reports
  • disseminating the outcomes via its lists

4.4 Association for Learning Technology (ALT)

4.4.1 ALTwill undertake the day-to-day management, including

  • administering the start-up meeting and workshops, including invitations
  • managing and facilitating the workshops
  • setting up a JISCMAIL list for all participants
  • convening and attending steering group meetings
  • leading evaluation of the project
  • editing the final reports
  • disseminating the outcomes via its publications, members, and other networks

4.5 Higher Education Academy

4.5.1 The HE Academy will

  • disseminate the call for institutions to participate via its Subject Centre network
  • nominate Subject Centre Managers to undertake the role of Consultants
  • attend steering group meetings
  • host workshops
  • attend workshops whenever possible
  • contribute to wiki discussions
  • contribute to the final report

4.6 CETIS

4.6.1 The CETIS representative will

  • attend steering group meetings
  • attend workshops whenever possible
  • contribute to wiki discussions
  • contribute to the final report

5. Format for events

5.1 Start-up meeting: 17 May (tbc)

5.1.1 This meeting will introduce all the participants to the CAMEL model and to each other, and will distil the topics to be focussed on in the workshops.

5.1.2 Dates for the workshops must be fixed in advance of the start-up meeting.

5.2 Workshops (up to four in June and early July)

5.2.1 Each one-day workshop will have one e-learning topic as its focus, but may allow time for some discussion of related e-learning topics. Each of the participating institutions will present their work related to the chosen topic and discussion will be facilitated by ALT and JISCinfoNet with input from the Consultants. It is vital that all participants have time to contribute to discussion and that the sessions are not weighed down by too much presentation.

5.2.2 The institutions will need to demonstrate benefits such as:

-savings in cost, time or resource;

-significant improvements in student learning (e.g. assessment performance, pass rates); student satisfaction with the learning process; retention rates;

-significant improvements in staff satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for, e-learning; staff ability to deliver e-learning; and staff performance generally;

-improved performance towards institutional strategic targets (e.g. recruitment, retention, widening participation, space usage, computer availability, room allocation, etc.);

-improved progression between the sectors, e.g. schools, FE, HE.

5.2.3 A 24-hour lunchtime-to-lunchtime format is preferred but it might be harder to find dates so participants may meet for dinner the night before the workshop so that an early start can be made the next morning. 6. Topics

Topics relevant to the JISC strategy include e-assessment, e-portfolios, enhancements to VLEs, and e-learning to support work-based learning.

Rhonda RiachiPage 1 of 414/11/2018

[1]The CAMEL method has been used previously by JISC infoNet ( with ALT and an existing project under the Design for Learning programme (ElidaCAMEL at the University of Greenwich) to share institutional experience and practice and also gather meaningful examples.