Mapping the Territory: Map2Learn Progress Report
Map2Learn is a project sponsored by the JISC Regional Support Centre for Scotland North and East Introduction The idea behind Map2Learn arose from the national online Training Needs Analysis of the use of IT in Further Education carried out by the JISC Regional Support Centre for Scotland North and East in the summer of 2001. The report made interesting if not unexpected reading.
Here was a self-selecting sample of the FE population - they did after all feel comfortable enough to complete the survey online. And they were using the technology. More than 90% could create a file using Microsoft Word, more than 90% felt comfortable communicating via email, more than 60% could even induce 'death by PowerPoint'. Yet when we asked those same staff how many of them used ICT in any way as part of teaching and learning rather than as a communication, storage or research tool the numbers barely reached into double figures. Given the self-selecting nature of the sample, the true picture of the use of new technology for the core business of FE was a depressing one, particularly in the light of heavy recent investment in infrastructure and hardware on the part of the Funding Council.
That might have been the end of that. The report was duly delivered to the sector and heads duly nodded in agreement. 'Nothing new there.' Yet at the RSC we felt that there had to be a way of beginning to close that gap. Every college in the country was being encouraged to purchase a shiny new VLE by the end of the next session, some were even considering MLEs but what exactly was going to flow down these new pipes when the connections were made? Yet more emails, spreadsheets and college calendars? Where was the learning and teaching material to come from? In a sector where finances were historically tight and getting tighter would colleges be able to buy materials off the peg? It seemed unlikely. Even if they could source materials, would their staff use them?
And yet the materials exist, bursting out of every filing cabinet and store cupboard from Shetland to the Borders, the legacy of years of experience and development by professionals. The challenge was to find a way to turn that wealth of paper-based resources into a treasury of online learning and teaching materials. The challenge was to close the gap between ICT and ILT. Added to this was the challenge of encouraging staff to use the accumulated resources of the JISC to enhance their own learning materials. These resources are growing rapidly as new material is being introduced to match FE curricular areas. (Check out the growing list of Virtual Tutorials at and the Resource Discovery Network) But staff need a way in to these resources and a method of blending them with their own materials.
