Implications of ECM for the use of Electronic Data and Personalised Learning ■ Mike Bostock, New Media Learning A summary of some research findings in this area and the impact on personalised learning and the broad Naace ‘agenda’

ECM was set up to prevent vulnerable pupils falling through the net ECM requires Primary Care Trusts, Social Services, Education and Police working together ECM requires a multi-agency approach in Local Authorities, reflected in schools Underpinning this work is the need for the combination of all sources of data into a a single repository which will enable alerting, tracking, progression management and personalisation

“Good information sharing is the key to successful collaborative working and early intervention to help children and young people at risk of poor outcomes. ”

“Local authorities and partner organisations should ensure that information sharing is properly addressed in their own organisations.” “Change strategies and service delivery plans should incorporate effective and clearly understood mechanisms for sharing information across service and professional boundaries. ”

What does ‘improving’ Information Sharing mean? Effective communication between practitioners Understanding what information should be shared Better knowledge of other agencies services Working in multi-agency teams to deliver services Less repetition

What data? family information, health, social context data, population, labour market, local skills needs, curriculum offer, provider comparisons, pupil destinations, deprivation, area trends, special needs, teenage parents, youth offenders, looked after children, abusive parents, absenteeism, behaviour, attendance, achievement, attainment, learning preferences, broader pupil achievements, within school variation, student satisfaction levels Are there groups in our community that we are failing? Does education provision meet the needs of all pupils? What degree of personalisation can schools offer? If Every Child Matters, why do we use % A-C as a measure?

“The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a new, standardised approach to assessing children’s needs for services. It has been designed for practitioners in all agencies to help them to communicate and work together more effectively.”

Information sharing index A national index will be completed by end of 2008 It is a tool to enable practitioners to share relevant information about children who need services Local authorities to take the lead in maintaining the accuracy of the records for children living in their area “Changes have taken place for one particular child in terms of educational attainment, health provision, housing provision and mental health support for the mother”

School MIS Learning Platform National Index attainment achievement attendance exclusion post code learning profiles progress strengths and weaknesses targets e-portfolios At school level.... At national level.... (a limited dataset for vulnerable pupils) Information stored in an MIS could be linked to a Learning Platform to provide complete learner progress profiles Background information about learners can trigger positive intervention by education professionals

How can we draw together data across all areas of ECM and make it compatible? Can the National Index be expanded into a complete Education Data Repository covering every learner? Can we allow differential access to a common data set for each set of professionals?

"The term learning platform describes a broad range of ICT systems used to deliver and support learning. The government's target is that all pupils will be able to access a personalised online workspace, capable of supporting an e-portfolio, by " 'Learning Platforms: Making IT Personal', DfES publication, December Learning Platforms

Continuity and extension of learning Increasing stimulating/motivational experiences Providing wider and more flexible courses Involvement in and management of target setting Tracking learning and interventions Improving planning and preparation Assessment for and of learning Reducing administration easing organisation Involving and communicating with parents Exploring progression by ability not age Offering learners greater autonomy Learning Platforms Source : Becta

E-Portfolios An e-portfolio is an electronic format for learners to record their work, their achievements and their goals, to reflect on their learning, and to share and be supported in this. It enables learners to re-present the information in different formats and to take the information with them as they move between institutions.

Management Information Systems “The successful provision and use of management information directly supports the drive to raise standards in schools. MIS systems provide leadership teams with essential tools to support personalised learning strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their learning institutions.” source: Becta

Becta intends to regulate the MIS market to: improve value for money create open technical and data standards ensure interoperability of data make technical support more cost effective increase use of MIS for school improvement improve electronic data collection Management Information Systems

The Strategic Development of MIS in Education 14 Principles that should underpin developments in the use of Electronic Data by Don Passey Chair of the BCS Working Party on Data Management Senior Research Fellow, Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University For the full picture see Don’s research paper ‘The Strategic Development of MIS in Education - the Two Hearts of Data Management: Technology and Curriculum’ (Naace 2006)

The Strategic Development of MIS in Education 1. The data and analysis techniques that are essential for informing effective teaching and learning should be identified 2. We need to integrate an understanding of how pupils learn in order to define data and assessment requirements 3. The key relationship between the metrics of learning and the collection of data needs to be defined 4. The collection of formative data, as well as summative data, should inform monitoring and feedback mechanisms

The Strategic Development of MIS in Education 5. A distinction should be drawn between individualised targets and group targets 6. An entitlement to access to data for every group of users should be identified 7. Teachers should receive specific training in the use of data intelligence 8. The collection and application of data knowledge should take place locally, but data records could be stored remotely

The Strategic Development of MIS in Education 9. The effort needed to collect data needs to be balanced against its value 10. Measures of data reliability should be integrated into every stage of data collection and use 11. Once data management systems meet minimum requirements, responsibility for their effective use lies with the end user 12. Data access, flow and reliability will underpin useable, flexible and accountable data systems

The Strategic Development of MIS in Education 13. Systems must first demonstrate coherence before they can become reliable, dependable and sustainable 14. How data intelligence functions are supported by each group of IT professionals needs to be identified

The Strategic Direction for Data Management - Some recommendations Gather examples widely of how data intelligence is leading to enhanced outcomes Set up blue-sky thinking opportunities to fuel further developments Define a data entitlement for all key data users Ensure that intervention analysis, integration with virtual learning environments, and the linking of assessment profiles to learning outcomes are in place.

Some conclusions... The ECM agenda will require data aggregation across IT systems in order to track the development of the whole child Electronic data is a key area of development as important to ICT professionals as teaching and learning Data analysis and feedback systems will become more widespread, more integral with job functions, and more accessible by teachers, learners and parents All those who work in this area need to be data smart and data confident

Some conclusions... The development of electronic data in education has significant technical, ICT, pedagogical and professional implications An effective national system for managing data, linking with school learning and management systems, will offer greater personalised learning, achievement and protection for pupils Naace expects to extend its range of professional support to members who operate in this area Naace would be pleased to hear the views of members on what activities would be of most value.