Amplification 1: Vision & Strategic Planning

1. Vision and strategic planning

The ILT strategy is the document that expresses the organisation’s vision and aspirations for their use of technology.

a. Clarity of vision for development of e-learning within the organisation
The vision statement defines where the organisation would like to be in the future. The vision should articulate how ILT will contribute to the organisation’s provision. All staff should be involved in defining a clear vision and then the organisation should ensure that the vision is owned by all staff. .

b. Communicating the vision across the organisation

Following the involvement of staff in defining the vision it should then be shared across the whole organisation so that all staff, learners and employers are aware of how ILT will contribute to the organisation’s provision. This could be implemented through staff meetings, publicity material, a website, newsletters, focus groups, email and ILT Champions communicating and promoting the vision.

c. ILT/e-learning strategy
The ILT/e-learning strategy defines the organisations objectives and how they are going to achieve those The ILT/e-learning strategy defines the organisations objectives and how the objectives will be achieved. It should include where the organisation is now, relating to the use of technology, as well as where they want to be in the future, and the roles and responsibilities relating to the agreed objectives. Within the strategic headings e.g: Vision, Teaching and Learning, Assessment and Verification, Learner Support, Staff Development, Infrastructure and Equipment and Managing the Strategy, consideration should also be given to Accessibility, Management Information, Quality Assurance, Equal Opportunities and legal responsibilities. Having set objectives within the strategy an action plan or schedule of activities should be put in place with timescales. Many organisations choose to embed the action plan into the Quality Improvement Plan. Budgets should be prepared identifying expenditures arising from the implementation of the strategy over the planning period.

d. Relationship of ILT/e-learning strategy to other strategic plans

The ILT/e-learning strategy should link with the annual cycle of strategic management activity and the other organisational strategies, for example: the Three Year Development Plan, Self-Assessment Plan, Quality Improvement Plan, Staff Development Strategy and Skills for Life/Key Skills Strategy.

e. Strategic management of ILT/e-learning
There should be a defined framework or procedure for the management of the ILT/e-learning strategy which is lead at senior management level and includes representation from across the organisation. An example of this would be an ILT Steering Group, made up of managers from all departments across the organisation, including administration and finance, which is chaired by a member of the Senior Management Team. The role of the Steering Group is to manage, review, monitor and support the progress of the ILT strategy, including identifying courses of action to be implemented and resource requirements, monitoring the delivery of ILT across departments, cascading good practice, ensuring all staff are aware of developments in ILT, reviewing developments, advising on staff training requirements and co-ordinating applications for funding

f. Evaluation of the impact and effectiveness of the ILT/e-learning strategy

The impact and effectiveness of ILT should be reviewed systematically and comprehensively with the outcomes becoming an integral part of the organisation’s self assessment and quality improvement process. Embedding the use of ILT in quality assurance procedures will provide the required evidence to evaluate the ILT strategy e.g. learner and employer satisfaction surveys, session evaluations, lesson observations, IV sampling, team meetings, and staff appraisal etc

g. Coherence with local, regional and national strategic priorities
Full consideration should be given to local, regional and national strategic priorities, which includes the governments e-strategy, LSC priorities, the Common Inspection Framework, the Framework for Excellence. Identify partners to create strategic alliances in the development and delivery of the strategy. Identify and participate in local and regional networks to share good practice, to aggregate equipment and resource requirements to lower the purchase price and pool resources for staff development. Form a project consortium and bid for joint funding. Work with key organisations such as your JISC Regional Support Centre, NIACE, Becta, CEL and ALP.

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Produced and edited by John Dalziel & Colin Gallacher (eLearning Advisers) JISC RSC-Northwest