Discover JISC Project Maria Neary ACL Essex Bob Read ACER

Background to the project Further Education and Skills: Development and Resources Programme; Funding for new learning resources, methods and expanding opportunities in post-16 learning across the UK; £1.35 m of funding; 32 projects with over 90 partners.

Discover JISC Funded by BIS Programme managed by JISC Advance Project managed by JISC TechDis Partner driven project: The partner providers were drawn from across the FE & Skills sector

Partners East Riding Council Adult services Karten Network UK Online Centres Derwen College Weston College Myerscough College North East Autism Society Thornbeck East Durham College ACER Essex Adult Community Learning

JISC Techdis –JISC Techdis is the leading UK advisory service on accessibility and inclusion; –JISC Techdis is one of eight complementary, advisory services which was co-ordinated by JISC Advance, created to provide inspiration and advice to support the innovative use of technology within the education, business and community sectors; –JISC Advance was a not-for-profit company financed by grants from the UK funding councils for further and higher education.

Objective of the project The objective of the project is to build a community of excellence in inclusive practice based on a greater understanding of JISC and its resources and the skills to optimise their use and development.

Rationale Lack of awareness of how JISC resources, services or Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) can be fully utilised to support inclusive learning; Skills sets of practitioners is variable and may be a limiting factor in the exploitation of digital resources; Many resources were not created with the FE and Skills sector in mind.

Three Strands 1 – Accessible Technologies/ Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) 2 – Staff Training Materials 3 – Curriculum Pathways

How we got involved! Face to Face: Residential meetings Online Collaboration: Google group Virtual: 10 weekly 5-minute missions Range of Webinar sessions Phone: Support from key TechDis staff Individual: Action plans

30 assessors working nationally 1:1 workplace visits Equine Studies, Animal Care, Floristry, Business Admin, Customer Services contextualised e learning resources that embed L1 & 2 Functional Skills in authentic and motivating ways KEITS

Create A Safe Environment Mucking Out Bedding Materials

a specialist training provider based in Norwich, Norfolk Foundation Learning programmes covering creative arts, media and graphics, music and sports and healthy lifestyle. explore use of e learning tools for use in the delivery of Functional Skills sessions at Level 1 & 2Functional Skills Broadland Council Training Services

Techdis Toolbox different types of mind mapping tools text to speech software screen casting QR codes online sticky boards like Padlet and Lino it use of Audacity to record & edit audio converting workbooks into digital resources on the web Other e learning tools BCTS found useful -

Adult Community Learning Essex Looked at Accessibility Technologies and Free and Open Source Software to create a bank of exemplars for entry level Foundation Skills learners which draws on the skills, information and techniques explored within the various strands of the project.

Entry Level 2: Literacy Created a Scheme of Work for use in Entry Level 2 Skills for Life Literacy classes (covering 6 sessions). Created 6 weekly lesson plans. Embedded assistive technology and free software identified as a result of the project.

New Website Coming! A Discover JISC project website is planned to be launched by the end of November The site will include: Content for Teaching Teaching Techniques Case studies from project partners

New Resources Partner providers have also fed into the creation of new TechDis resources. There are five titles: Introduction to Accessibility and Inclusion Built-in Accessibility Accessible Documents and Presentations Delivering Accessible Digital Learning Assistive Technology in Learning and Teaching