Sarah Knight, Programme Manager: Pedagogy and Innovation Strands of the JISC e-Learning Programme, JISC Development Group, inform us that...

"We are currently working on the next e-Learning Programme Effective Practice guide. ‘Effective Practice with e-Assessment’ will focus on e-assessment and should be available towards the end of the year."

"We are looking for examples of practice where colleges have been making significant use of e-assessment (diagnostic assessment; formative (low stakes) or summative (high-stakes)), or have invested in an e-assessment centre."

"Should you know of any examples please contact Ros Smith, ros.smith@gpisolutions.co.uk. Ros is searching for case studies of effective practice in e-assessment in the post-16 sector and the impact of large scale e-assessment on institutional procedures and teaching and learning practice. Any case studies will form part of a forthcoming publication."

Also...

• Are you using educational games with your students?
  
• Are you using commercial off the shelf games with your learners?
  

If you or your colleagues are using games innovatively in your practice, please contact Dr Sara de Freitas on s.defreitas@bbk.ac.uk to tell her your experiences.

Sara is conducting research for the JISC e-Learning Programme and is searching for case studies of practice in the post-16 sector to illustrate innovative uses of learning with games. Her findings will be published in a JISC report towards the end of the year.

JISC Collections and the new JISC Content Procurement Company Limited

As you may be aware the JISC is establishing a legal entity to undertake the work currently undertaken by the JISC Collections Team and the NESLi2 Negotiators. The staff and mission will remain as before, but the legal entity will enable greater efficiency and transparency. JISC Collections will continue to:

• Consult with the FE library and Learning Resource Centre staff

• Negotiate with a wide range of content providers for consortia JISC banded discounts and preferential terms and conditions, for example InfoTrac, ProQuest Learning: Literature Colleges Edition, Know UK, Gale Virtual Reference Library, e-lawstudent and Oxford Reference Online

• Commitment to and ensure timely renewals of existing deals

• Provide stable, long-term archives such as the Oxford Journals Archive

• Support innovation in online resource provision and practice with resources such as DIGIMAP

The official title of the new company is the JISC Content Procurement Company Limited but it will trade as JISC Collections.

JISC Collections is a mutual trading company and therefore all UK further institutions must become members. Membership enables institutions to take out subscriptions to the agreements negotiated by JISC Collections. Membership also enables institutions to elect representatives to the JISC Collections Board of Directors. We hope to hold these elections for two Institutional Directors in the autumn of this year.
If your institution has not signed up, please encourage them to do so.
A college principal or other appropriate post holder can register online at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=form&formid=2923607656
There is no cost for membership and liability is limited to £1.