Annual Visits

A selection of ILT/eLearning comments from Ofsted Annual Assessment Visits of Colleges in the West Midlands

Jim Judges [email protected] Dec.2007 JISC RSC West Midlands www.rsc-wm.ac.uk

(1) 11/10/07 How effective is the use of information learning technologies (ILT) across all sector subject areas?: Significant Progress At the last inspection, inspectors found that in better lessons the use of ILT was good, as was access to computers across the college for staff and learners. However, the use of ILT in lessons was limited in many sector subject areas, an area for improvement noted in the college’s self-assessment report. The college has taken substantial action to address this issue. A review of ILT resources and the skills of staff has taken place. The college established action plans to remedy identified problems and initiated training programmes for staff, and in sector subject areas where ILT skills and use were weaker. Staff now receive regular training on the use of ILT and specific training for particular areas of need and interest. Observations of teaching and learning now refer clearly to the use of ILT by teachers. The college has nearly doubled the budget for ILT between 2005/06 and 2006/07 to provide learners with resources which are of a high standard, motivating and innovative. Teachers’ and learners’ use of ILT has increased very substantially by over five fold between 2005/06 and 2006/07 including in the sector subject areas where there were issues. (2) 05/07/2007 How effective is the use of information learning technology (ILT) at the college? The 2005/06 self-assessment report noted a key area for improvement in the use of ILT in some lessons. Managers have taken substantial action to resolve this issue. Investment in ILT over the last two year has been marked. Training for staff to improve their use of ILT is frequent and regular. Within sector subject areas, staff use a variety of good approaches with ILT. These include the preparation and presentation of learning materials, the innovative use of these materials in lessons through ILT by teachers and learners, visits to educationally relevant chat rooms and the checking of understanding and knowledge. All course reviews make sure the use of ILT is effective. Since the last inspection, managers and staff have ensured the use of the college’s virtual learning environment is no longer restricted to some sector subject areas only. (3) 19/06/2007 What actions has the college taken to further improve the quality of teaching and learning? What has been the impact of these actions? The college has a clear focus on improving the quality of teaching and learning, and regularly reviews staff training, the use of learning

resources and curriculum development to promote further improvements. All teachers are observed by a member of the college lesson observation group once every two years. In addition, all staff are also observed annually by their line manager. Observation forms are detailed and judgemental but lack specific and focused actions for improvement. The outcomes of lesson observations are used in staff performance reviews and to inform self-assessment. These outcomes are also used to plan staff development activities and share good practice across the college. The college notes improvements in teaching and learning in the current year against the areas identified in the 2005/06 selfassessment report. These include more active involvement of learners in lessons, greater account taken of the individual needs of learners and increased use of integrated learning technology (ILT) to support learning. The proportion of lessons judged to be good or better increased from 64% in 2005/06 to 79% in 2006/07. (4) 15/06/2007

Quality of education and training How is the college maintaining good quality teaching and learning? The college has built substantially on the good teaching and learning identified at the last inspection in November 2006. Managers set high standards for teaching and learning. Teachers take pride in their work and want to make teaching and learning better for learners. The college has improved on the good aspects of teaching and has added further strengths including stronger checks on learners’ progress. Teachers continue to make better and more effective use of ILT and make very good use of pertinent examples from life and the workplace to ensure teaching and learning is relevant. A group of fully trained and experienced staff observe lessons and give constructive feedback to teachers. Their work has led to continuing improvement in teaching and learning. In addition to being observed and graded once, teachers observe an experienced or outstanding teacher to help them improve their teaching. Moderation of observation is rigorous. The college has made good progress in moving satisfactory teaching to good. Effective staff development and support is effective in addressing weaker teaching. What progress has taken place to resolve the dull teaching and insufficient account of individual learning needs in a minority of lessons?

The last inspection identified that in a small minority of lessons teachers did not take sufficient account of individual learning needs and teaching was dull. The college has provided extensive staff development and supported staff well through a range of initiatives to resolve these issues, particularly for new staff by the use of mentors. Support for staff in handling poor behaviour is now stronger. Training sessions encourage teachers to talk less and to provide learners with a range of activities. These initiatives have an effective focus on meeting learners’ individual learning needs and preferred ways of learning. To support these initiatives staff make good use of the virtual learning environment and electronic discussion boards. (5) 21/06/2007

Quality of education and training

How successful have initiatives to improve the quality of teaching and learning, including the revisions to the lesson observation arrangements, proved to be? The quality of lessons has improved with close to three-quarters of lessons graded good or better. The proportion of lessons judged inadequate is very small. The areas for improvement are identified clearly using analysis of observation reports. These include several recurring weaker areas, namely, less effective questioning techniques and a lack of variety in the use of teaching methods. An extensive range of staff development takes place, including twilight session for up to four evenings a week throughout the year. However, some areas of teaching and learning requiring improvement are not always given high priority in the overall planning of staff development. The work of three advanced practitioners is proving successful. Their role as a mentor and as a facilitator to ensure that teachers are given support and helped to develop their skills is becoming increasingly influential in improving teachers’ practice. The college has supported all its teachers to strengthen their literacy and numeracy skills and is about to undertake an audit of IT skills to help provide appropriate support and development work. The resources available to support greater use of information and learning technology (ILT) in lessons have been improved by the addition of wellresourced learning centres based in curriculum areas in various parts of the college. (6) 12/06/2007

Quality of education and training

How effective have actions taken to improve the quality of teaching and learning, including the use of information and

learning technology (ILT) since the last inspection proved to be? •

Work is ongoing to improve the quality of teaching and learning. The college is part-way through its cycle of lesson observations in the current year and has completed three-quarters of the total number. All teachers are observed. The process is very rigorous and used well to support and develop teachers. The focus is clearly on evaluating learning and this has been well supported by relevant staff development and guidance. Observers and teachers have taken this very seriously. The profile of grades from lessons observed indicates, based on observations to date, that the quality of lessons is similar to the previous year, with about two thirds of lessons graded as good or better. The very small proportion of inadequate teaching has largely been eradicated. The college’s target of a higher proportion of good or better teaching in 2006/07 is unlikely to be met. •

The sharing of good practice is increasing, but takes place largely in subject areas and is not yet widespread across the college.

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The use of ILT has increased and students gave many good examples of how it is used in learning. Increased, up-to-date resources are planned and budgeted for, to be in place for the next academic year. A detailed ILT development plan is in place, which covers relevant training needs.

How have physical resources and accommodation been improved to ensure an adequate learning environment in the areas judged at inspection to be unsuitable or poorly equipped? •

The college has been involved for several years in careful consideration of various options to improve its overall accommodation….

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The college has also funded considerable improvements to the ILT resource base, including more data projectors and digital media systems as well as a new server to allow remote access to the intranet for staff and students.

How well is information and learning technology (ILT) used to enhance the learning experience for students? •

The college recognises that the use of ILT to support and enhance teaching and learning is underdeveloped. Practically all

classrooms have a data projector coupled with an internet-linked computer. Discussions with students and curriculum area leaders suggest these are used regularly and appropriately. Provision of interactive white boards is very limited. A virtual learning environment (VLE) is under development. The college’s experience of using Digital Brain was not particularly successful and the use of Moodle is now being trialled by several curriculum areas before an expected roll-out across the whole college next academic year. Developments are properly supported by an action plan. An ILT ‘champion’ promotes the use of ILT and is improving teachers’ understanding of its advantages. A very useful monthly newsletter is produced to increase teachers’ awareness of sources of e-learning resources. Students can access e-mail and some parts of the VLE from home and appreciate the opportunity to submit their work and receive it back once assessed by this method and have marked work returned in the same way.