Design and development
The scope of the ICCA pilot was not to investigate the design approach and development processes that had been used but rather to look at factors influencing adoption. It was always possible however, that the results might indicate that improvements could be made to the design and development processes.
The evaluator suggests two areas are worth reflection. One is the issue of the overall conceptual approach to the use of learning technologies (discussed above in the background comments).
In the judgement of the evaluator, the approach adopted for Learning for Living falls into the more standard approach of self-learning content where support may or may not be provided as required. The results of the pilot suggest that for this type of learner, support will be extremely important - much of that support will need to combine remote and onsite support, and the greatest challenge will be how to ensure the right support is provided when and how it is needed, and how this will be paid for.
The process of designing and testing the content first and following this with design of required support (tutor profiling, tutor training, tutor support materials) places the support intermediaries (tutors, guidance coaches) in a secondary role to the content. It also requires the channels of delivery (ie those who will support learners more broadly through engagement in the learning process eg carers' centres and colleges) to accommodate the resources within their capacity and structures. Whether they have the resources to accommodate them to the level of quality required is unknown. However, given the high level of skills required to support learners such as these, few carers' centres are likely to have the requisite staff. While some tutors with experience in supporting learners with self-learning using learning technologies in this subject domain may be found in the colleges, training and development will be required and it is unclear from where this will come and how it will be funded.
For future developments in e-learning, City & Guilds may wish to consider re-conceptualising their approach. Building process models around clear use cases, recruiting tutors to work with learners through these learning processes (processes that may adopt the pedagogical practices of the tutors own institutions and own practice experience), and testing these out with a range of resources (including formative assessments) that may be used more flexibly, are all practices they may wish to consider adopting. Any re-conceptualising of the approach has implications for the cost model - with a shift away from the high costs associated with developing fixed resources, to costs associated with building appropriate pedagogical approaches using learning technologies with all relevant stakeholders, probably over a longer time period, who may themselves provide some of the resources needed.
The second issue relates to the communications' functions and interfaces within the Learning for Living Resources and which the learners and tutor stated were not as easy to use/navigate as they would like. This is a relatively minor issue and is being dealt with by the design team following the feedback from the pilot.
Implementation, support, evaluation
It is often only through the implementation phase of new e-services initiatives that many of the factors that are really significant in the rollout of services become evident. However, modelling the rollout in advance, as in a pilot such as this, can help to identify those issues before the final product/service is market/user ready. This is why there was such emphasis in the ICCA pilot on replicating a specific scenario as closely as possible in terms of all systems/processes. It has enabled some useful lessons to emerge in relation in particular to e-learning tutoring and the business model in an FE setting. ...continue to factors
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