1. Online Learning for ACL Practitioners

The next free [to ACL practitioners] workshop in the Netskills/NIACE ACL funded programme, "Online Learning for ACL Practitioners ", has been arranged for Manchester University on Tuesday 15th November.
It is primarily aimed at e-Guides. The workshop is also complemented by follow-on activities allowing practitioners to focus on exploration and development of resources that will be relevant to them.
Further details and booking forms can be found here:
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/workshops/forthcoming.html
Hurry, places are limited!

2. e-Guides & Libraries Staff Development Programme

The e-Guides and Libraries staff development programme has been developed by NIACE to support library staff in developing and increasing the use of e-Learning. NIACE has developed this programme after considerable interest from the libary sector in the existing e-Guides programme.

The 'Post-16 e-Learning programme' has funded NIACE to roll out a pilot of this programme, and the training programme will be delivered from November 2005 - February 2006.

NIACE is currently in the process of contacting Heads of Library Services. For more information please contact Claudia Hesse claudia.hesse@niace.org.uk.

3 Into the Future - An e-Learning Experts briefing event for ACL Leaders and Managers

NIACE is organising a series of half-day expert briefing sessions for leaders and managers who are involved in the delivery of adult learning. The briefings attempt to provide a view of the direction e-learning is taking from a variety of different perspectives.

The first session's main expert viewpoint is being provided by Nigel Paine, BBC Training and Development. The event will take place in Birmingham on 24 November 2005. Further details are available from Philippa Cattell, NIACE, 0116 204 4245. Places will be limited to 50 attendees.

WebQuests - a learning activity whereby most or all of the information used by the learner is obtained from the internet. The use of WebQuests provides a focused method of using the internet effectively in lessons and provides the practitioner with a frame work for exploring and developing subject topics.

aclearn.net also has, among a number of other toolkits in the Community Resource section of the Website, a WebQuest Toolkit.

Connectivity for the ACL Services in the Northwest are moving forward; at the RSC we have equipment ready for instalation in ten of our Local Authorities. If you wish to keep up to date with connectivity issues and JANET then click on the UKERNA logo, on the left, and the ACL section of UKERNA's Website will open. ACL specific updates are available on this page via a menu positioned on the right hand side. For further details please email John Dalziel or Keith Wilson at the RSC-Northwest or Robert Prabucki at UKERNA.

Looking for appropriate resources to use in ACL? Well here is a start...
IT training packs in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu to support and promote the use of ICT by the over 50s and ethnic minorities.
You can read more about BITS at: http://www.chrysalisinfo.org.uk/bits.htm

Have you found the adult and community e-Learning: uk [ace:uk]Website? I believe I'm correct in saying that this site is produced by Theresa Welch, based in the West Midlands in a University as an e-Learning Adviser to the Adult and Community Learning (ACL) sector. I'm impressed with the up-to-date informationTheresa includes(I may be bias as she did included a WebQuest resource that I had produced for the ACL section of this RSC website) and draw your attention to Seven things you should know about... These very handy and recently updated guides from Educause provide concise information on emerging practices and technologies.

Each two-sided pdf focuses on a single practice or technology, describing what it is, how it works, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning.

The series currently covers Blogs, Wikis, Podcasting, Social Bookmarking, Video Blogs and Clickers.

SORRY! There was a date error on the last e-Magazine Managers and e-Guides who like the opportunity to meet and engage with other colleagues across the Northwest, note that the Christmas Market is taking place on 9 December 2005 at Woodlands Conference Centre, Chorley not as previously published. Sorry for any inconvenience. Further information, booking forms and programme will be available on our Website when they become available. In the meantime if you want more information email Benita Wiseman at the RSC.