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In March 1987, the AAHE Bulletin first published "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." With support from Lilly Endowment, that document was followed by a Seven Principles Faculty Inventory and an Institutional Inventory (Johnson Foundation, 1989) and by a Student Inventory (1990). The Principles, created by Art Chickering and Zelda Gamson with help from higher education colleagues, AAHE, and the Education Commission of the States, with support from the Johnson Foundation, distilled findings from decades of research on the undergraduate experience. Several hundred thousand copies of the Principles and Inventories have been distributed on two- and four-year campuses in the United States and Canada. (Copies are available at cost from the Seven Principles Resource Center, Winona State University, PO Box 5838, Winona, MN 55987-5838; ph 507/457-5020.) - Eds. Since the Seven Principles of Good Practice were created in 1987, new communication and information technologies have become major resources for teaching and learning in higher education. If the power of the new technologies is to be fully realized, they should be employed in ways consistent with the Seven Principles. Such technologies are tools with multiple capabilities; it is misleading to make assertions like "Microcomputers will empower students" because that is only one way in which computers might be used. Any given instructional strategy can be supported by a number of contrasting technologies (old and new), just as any given technology might support different instructional strategies. But for any given instructional strategy, some technologies are better than others: Better to turn a screw with a screwdriver than a hammer - a dime may also do the trick, but a screwdriver is usually better. This essay, then, describes some of the most cost-effective and appropriate ways to use computers, video, and telecommunications technologies to advance the Seven Principles.

Building an online learning community to support nurse education 24 March 2009 This article explores developing an online learning community that student nurses can use to support their education Abstract Lee, P. (2009) Building an online learning community to support nurse education. Nursing Times; 105: 11. This article explores the topic of developing an online community for student nurses to use in learning. It examines the different definitions and types of e-learning and outlines the online community's role in healthcare education, together with some of its pitfalls. A comparison is then made to the process of bidding on eBay, to determine possible similarities.

"Supporting Learners In a Digital Age (SLIDA) Overview This project is investigating how institutions are creating and enabling opportunities that promote the development of effective learning in a digital age. The main deliverables of the study are 10 institutional case studies and a final report with recommendations for further and higher education on how to develop effective institution-wide strategies and practices which better support effective learners in a digital age. There is an opportunity here to build capacity in researching learners' needs and experiences. The project team are working collaboratively with each institution to assess what evidence they have available and what further evaluations they could conduct."

"Following on from the publication of the Leitch Review of Skills5 and the publication of the Government's World Class Skills implementation plan6 institutions are no longer expected to simply prepare graduates for a world of work, but to continuously support the learning and professional development of working people. It is therefore important for institutions to develop more flexible and creative models of delivery in order to support the development of autonomous, lifelong learners who are skilled in reflecting on their learning (both formal and informal) and planning for their personal, educational and professional development. This programme aims to stimulate change, working towards this vision. "

Writing a good research grant proposal is not easy. This document is an attempt to collect together a number of suggestions about what makes a good proposal. It is inevitably a personal view on the part of the authors; we would welcome feedback and suggestions from others. APPROACHING A PROPOSAL The first and most obvious thing to do is to read the advice offered by your funding agency. In the case of EPSRC, the primary funding body for computing science research, there is a "Guide to EPSRC Research Grants". We make no attempt to duplicate the material in the EPSRC guide or any other; you must get yourself a copy and follow the guidance closely. The most substantial part of any grant application is some form of "Case for Support". It is this case which will persuade, or fail to persuade, your funding body of the value of your proposal. Proposals range very widely indeed in their quality. You can improve your chances enormously simply by ruthlessly writing and rewriting. This document is entirely about improving your case for support.

Spaces for learning The Council is keen to encourage reflection and discussion about effective learning and the design and use of space. In 2008 we commissioned the Space Collaboration report (from Critical Thinking and Bellevue Consulting), looking at space collaboration between universities and colleges. The report draws on practice and case studies from the UK and internationally. It focuses predominantly on space for pedagogic-related purposes (for example, learning and teaching, libraries and learning support) and where appropriate also considers space collaboration in support services (for example, information and guidance and students' association services and facilities). The purpose is to aid institutions considering collaboration in the use of space, with advice on planning, management and implementation.

As a follow on to the discussion of social learning and formal learning in Long Live … great post by BJ Schone - Have LMSs Jumped The Shark? I constantly hear people (across many organizations) complain about their learning management system (LMS). They complain that their LMS has a terrible interface that is nearly unusable. Upgrades are difficult and cumbersome. Their employees' data is locked in to a proprietary system. Users hate the system. It's ugly. (Did I miss anything?) We've recently seen LMSs shift to include more functionality, such as wikis, blogs, social networking, etc. I think they're heading in the wrong direction. I don't really understand why LMS vendors are now thinking they need to build in every possible 2.0 tool. If I want a great blogging platform, I'm going to download WordPress (it's free and has a huge support community). If I want a great wiki platform, I'm going to download MediaWiki or DokuWiki (also free and they have huge support communities). And when it comes to social networking, as a co-worker put it, "Do they really think I'm going to create a 'friends' list in the LMS? Seriously?"

Welcome to JISC Casper The copyright advice & support project for JISC e-learning resources JISC CASPER will be supporting the 19 projects funded as part of RepRODUCE (Repurposing & reuse of digital University-level content and evaluation) as they engage with all of the issues related to IPR and copyright. JISC CASPER will be: * capturing their experiences - good and bad * guiding the projects to the wealth of rights related materials currently available and helping them apply it in their projects * developing new materials as required * undertaking rights clearance centrally when it makes sense by saving time and money for all * helping to build capacity in the sector All of the case studies and materials developed as part of JISC CASPER will be made available to the wider JISC community (some already are) on an ongoing basis both from this web site and by their deposition in JORUM.

window into learning - a portal for supporting talent

"Now that we're certain of the value of storytelling, the pressing question that remains is how to tell stories on the web. I don't think that the existence of the story is in question-every product or service's value can be expressed as a story. The difficulty is in framing that story for the people that you know need to hear it. Take some time to remind yourself of that story: What was the problem that you set out to solve? How did you find the solution? Why is your solution special? Why are things different now that you've solved the problem? It's a simple structure, but often one that eludes marketers who are sometimes too close to their product or service to see the story clearly. Once you're clear on the story, there are two things to focus on next: (1) Writing the story, and (2) making sure that your website supports that story."

When times are tough, institutions are under more competitive pressure than ever to do well for their students. Unfortunately this is the precise time when cash is in short supply, faculty workloads may have increased, and development/support staff and budgets are often slashed. For institutions that want to do a more effective job of competing and meeting external demands for quality, it's time for a more frugal approach to innovation. One approach to frugal innovation: help faculty share low-cost, low-risk, easy-to-explain improvements in teaching and learning with each other.  That's really two ideas, and they go well together: Faculty helping each other improve their courses (with a slight assist from staff to help them get together) Low Threshold Activities and Applications (LTAs) -- small steps toward improvement -- that each faculty member can grasp quite quickly and try safely, easily, and inexpensively and that promise real rewards if successful, e.g.  better learning, time-savings.  (For on LTAs, click here.)  "Frugal": These kinds of improvements are a good fit for peer-to-peer assistance because LTAs can be communicated quickly and easily: e.g., in: a casual conversation among faculty, a 5-15 minute workshop scheduled as an agenda item in a departmental meeting and led by a faculty member, a page-long description written by a faculty member and appearing on the web or in a newsletter, an eClip (brief video clip online that explains how to do something or why it's worth doing), or just a few sentences in an email or on a web page.

"The Cognitive Edge Network is evolving a series of open source methods based on naturalising sense-making through the Method Development Cycle. The full list of methods can be accessed here. The Method Template is designed to provide some guidance to users of the Cognitive Edge Wiki and also a cut and paste capability to assist in setting up a new page. In general the following principles should be followed: 1. Consistency: should be consistent with the principles of naturalising sense-making. In other words it should avoid idealistic approaches based on defining future states rather than enabling evolution 2. Minimalism: a method template should contain the essence of the method and should be written so that a practitioner can quickly glance through the sheet (especially the work flow) during use without the need to navigate through a large amount of text. 3. Use HTML: additional material, illustrations, detailed check lists, supporting documents, action forms or whatever can also be stored as files or as new articles and then referenced from the method document. 4. Object based: methods should be descrete items, which can easily be combined with other methods. As such they should be codified at a level which allows that. Assemblies can be written up as Offerings 5. Non-specificity: as far as possible do not make the method description specific to a particular application area or industry sector. If there is a good example of the application then create a new article and create a link to that article 6. Avoid recipes: the Cognitive Edge method is object based, it is not a recipe. We expect adaption in context. Methods should therefore not read like recipes, or encourage people to repeat past practice. The method document is an original from which context specific practice can be developed. "

" Sustaining and embedding innovations - A Good Practice Guide This Guide is intended to distil lessons learnt from various JISC innovation and transformation programmes into a Good Practice Guide for sustaining and embedding innovations. It is intended to support project steering groups/management teams in decision-making in this area and focuses on: Changing people and culture * Embedding or aligning with strategies, processes, systems, initiatives and services * Creating useable tools and resources * Creating appropriate organisational structures for sustaining and embedding innovations * Becoming more business-like * Key sector resources, case studies and exemplars"

"Welcome to Communities of Practice Connect to Collaborate to Innovate This is a community platform supporting professional social networks across local government and the public sector. It provides a secure environment for knowledge development and sharing through online communities of practice. "