Bury College

							Focus on essential ILT skills for teachers



Q-ILT Project




George Cleary
Continuing Professional Development Manager
Bury College
Focus on essential ILT skills for teachers

Purpose
This project sought to plan, implement and review a staff ILT analysis tool that identified the ‘vital few’ skills that teachers
need to teach using ILT. The analysis tool would then be used to inform the development of a new CPD programme that
would deliver the missing essential ILT skills for teachers.

Bury College is a multi-site Tertiary College situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in Greater Manchester. It is one of
the most successful providers of education and training for the local area. It offers students a range of options including job-
related training, broad-based education and recreational activities, taking in a wide range of both full and part-time vocational
and non-vocational courses.

The need for this project was identified following discussions in relation to a College Annual Target, which aimed for
every member of staff to complete an IT CPD activity. To boost the impact and effectiveness of this target it was agreed
that an internal staff IT audit would help identify training needs and inform the provision of a relevant CPD programme.

The programme was envisaged to improve the confidence of all curriculum staff in their use of ILT in the classroom.
Planning, implementation and review of the staff ILT analysis tool helped highlight training needs. This, in turn, led to the
introduction of a new staff development programme focusing on the ‘vital few’ skills needed to teach using ILT.

Methodology
This project facilitated the formation of a multi-disciplinary team working together to create a staff CPD programme that
targeted the whole curriculum. Following initial communications a pilot questionnaire was prepared and distributed to test
for appropriateness, observation and comments. Feedback resulted in questions being removed, re-worded and
highlighted the need for additional questions to be added. After incorporating this feedback, the survey was amended,
accepted by the project team and distributed to College staff (copy attached). This was carried out electronically through
the College Intranet and through dissemination of hard copies across every area. To boost returns, awareness of the
survey was continually raised through entries in the College’s internal weekly bulletin.

Outcomes
432 surveys were completed and returned, with multiple returns received from every area. Results of the survey are
attached. Analysis of returns informed the CPD team on current levels of ILT usage in the classroom and identified a
range of training needs of curriculum staff to develop the ‘vital few’ ILT skills. For example, almost half of those who
returned a survey (48%) did not know how to use a scanner to copy images and import them into a file. 38% were unable
to create a presentation in MS PowerPoint. 30% and over 125 members of staff did not know how to search their
computer for specific text within a file.

Detailed analysis of the survey identified requests for ILT training in the following areas:
     Intranet
     E-mail
     Internet
     Word documents
     Word tables
     Word importing
     Files and folders
     Searching
     Saving
     Spreadsheets
     Spreadsheet formulae
     Spreadsheets Internet
     PowerPoint
     Scanning
Following analysis, an In-House IT Programmes Booklet was prepared to address many of the training requests,
including:
      The Intranet / Internet (copying data and importing into MS Word and Excel, creating and using simple Excel
         formulae)
      File Management (searching for files and searching for text in files)
      Scanning (using a scanner to copy images and text)
      PowerPoint (the basics, automation, importing sound and video)
      Induction to the FERL Practitioners Programme (FPP) (programme designed to help teaching staff realise the
         potential of ILT and equip them with these skills)
      Making the most of the WWW (understanding the WWW, browser software, saving web pages and images,
         surfing the net and using web based forms)
      Mail Merge (using Word, Access and Excel and creating address labels in Word and Access)
      ProAchieve (sorting information, filtering information, producing summary reports, producing detailed reports,
         producing ad-hoc reports)
      Using resources in teaching and learning (creating a lesson plan using online resources, locate relevant
         information web sites for FE teaching and learning and investigating subject resources)
A section of the booklet invited staff to make further suggestions for future training events.

Additionally, the College’s dedicated ILT Staff Trainer invoked a range of measures to ensure that staff ILT training
needs were met and that any barriers to involvement were overcome. These included:
     Working with individual staff and teams to raise awareness of application of IT in their curriculum or service area
     In liaison with teams, assisting in the formulation of ILT staff development
     Provision of ‘on the job’ training to teams and individuals
     Variety of training delivery approaches, including one-to-one, handouts, information on the Staff Intranet,
         overviews and group training sessions
     Provision of help desk facility for all staff
     Design and delivery of bespoke training sessions to staff as identified in training plans
     Evaluation of the effectiveness of implementation through consultation with users

Benefits
The primary aim of this project was to ‘add value’ to the learner experience through implementation of a staff CPD
programme across the whole curriculum based on staff ILT analysis. Successful delivery of this programme has resulted
in learners receiving more appropriate, engaging teaching through the use of technology. In 2003/04, 859 places were
taken-up on the in-house training programme.

Additional benefits included:
    Creation of an ILT audit instrument
    Identification of the ‘vital few’ ILT skills for teachers
    Design of a new staff development programme
    New ILT skills and expertise
    Additional method of introducing ILT into curriculum delivery
    Improved communication between staff and students

The project has allowed the college to develop a staff CPD programme in the use of ‘vital’ ILT skills that is accessible by
all teaching staff across all curriculum areas. It has also facilitated a framework from the incremental expansion and
refinement of the programme.

Staff found the CPD programme to be extremely useful and worthwhile :
     “The course helped clarify areas of uncertainty”
     “I feel more confident in disseminating the use of new software to my team”
     “There was lots of information relating to current ideas and best practice”
     “Very useful, now I can use these tools to improve the student’s learning experience”
     “Informative and thought provoking”

Contact
george.cleary@burycollege.ac.uk
Bury College, Market Street, Bury BL9 0EE
Tel: 0161 280 8697        Fax: 0161 280 8348
                                                                         STAFF IT SKILLS AUDIT


Name:

Job Title:

Curriculum / Business Support Area:

All staff are requested to answer questions 1 – 19.
Teaching staff are requested to additionally answer questions 20 – 26.                    Would
                                                                                          like to
                                                                                         acquire
                                                                                            skills
                                                                           Yes     No          in
                                                                                        2003/04
1. Do you have the skills to access information on the Staff Intranet?

2. Do you have the skills to send, receive and reply to Email messages?

3. Do you have the skills to send and receive/save an attached file
   by Email?

4. Do you have the skills to access specific sites on the
   World Wide Web/Internet?

5. Do you have the skills to create a document in MS Word?

6. Do you have the skills to create a table within a Word document?

7. Do you have the skills to copy data from the Internet/Intranet and
   use in MS Word?

8. Do you have the skills to create/move/delete files and folders?

9. Do you have the skills to search your computer for specific files?

10. Do you have the skills to search your computer for specific text
    within a file?

11. Do you have the skills to save files to ‘My work’ area
    (My Documents) or floppy disk?

12. Do you have the skills to create a spreadsheet in MS Excel?

13. Do you have the skills to create a simple formula in MS Excel?

14. Do you have the skills to copy data from the Internet/Intranet and
    analyse in Excel?

15. Do you have the skills to create a presentation in MS PowerPoint?

16. Do you have the skills to use a scanner to copy images and then
    import them into an appropriate file?

17. Are you familiar with CPD courses available through Learndirect?
18. Please could you list any additional ICT skills that you use in the course of your work?




19. Are there any other IT skills that you wish to improve/acquire?




                                                                                               Not
                                                                          Yes        No Applicable

20. Do you have the skills to use a PC to design
    delivery/revision/assessment material?

21. Do you have the skills to use the Student Intranet to present
    delivery/revision/assessment material?

22. Do you have the skills to use the Electronic White Board to
    deliver your course material?

23. Do you have the skills to use the Electronic White Board to
    link to the Student Intranet or the World Wide Web?



The Bury College Virtual Learning Environment is called Web CT, and is in use in pilot curriculum
areas.

24. Do you have the skills to use Web CT for
    delivery/revision/assessment material?

25. Do you and your group have the skills to utilise the Bulletin Board
    in Web CT?

26. Do you and your group have the skills to use the Email facility
    in Web CT?




Please return to Bob Sherrett, Room 206, Peel Centre
e-mail: staff.trainer@burycollege.ac.uk
Staff IT Skills Audit Analysis
Total returned questionnaires 432

Positive responses to – ‘Do you have the skills to-‘
                                                                  No.   %
1. Access information on the Staff Intranet?                      388   89
2. Send, receive and reply to Email messages?                     408   94
3. Send and receive/save an attached file attachments by Email?   364   84
4. Access specific sites on the www/Internet?                     387   89
5. Create a document in MS Word?                                  409   94
6. Create a table in MS Word?                                     378   87
7. Copy data from the Internet and use in MS Word?                295   68
8. Create/move/delete files and folders?                          369   85
9. Search your computer for specific files?                       375   86
10. Search your computer for specific text within a file?         306   70
11. Save files to ‘My work’ area or floppy disk?                  402   93
12. Create a spreadsheet in MS Excel?                             314   72
13. Create a simple formula in MS Excel?                          287   84
14. Copy data from the Internet and analyse in MS Excel?          166   38
15. Create a presentation in MS PowerPoint?                       268   62
16. Use a scanner to copy images and import them into a file?     226   52
17. Access LearnDirect?                                           181   41
20. Use a PC to design delivery/revision/assessment material?     243   56
21. Use the Student Intranet to present material?                 103   23
22. Use the Electronic Whiteboard to deliver course material?     64    14
23. Use the Electronic Whiteboard to link to the Internet?        43     9
24. Use WebCT for delivery/revision/assessment material?          30     6
25. Utilise the Bulletin Board in WebCT?                          25     5
26. Use the Email facility in WebCT?                              28     6
Example of Bury College ILT CPD Resources and Activities   2003-04

1. Intranet
1.1 Intranet IT Tutorials
1.2 Intranet Workshops