Below is a brief report on the NLN materials following the recent survey .
Details are also available on the Excellence Gateway http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=313435
SUMMARY REPORT
The future of the NLN Materials service survey
The survey was live from Tuesday 21st December 2010 to Friday, 28th January 2011.
It was announced on the nln.ac.uk site, the Excellence Gateway, the ILT Champions mailing list and through JISC RSC channels, together with an email to all registered users .
Response and respondents
There were 271 respondents. 80% of these were from FE, 9% from ACL and just over 3% from work-based learning, with the remainder from other providers, national organisations or commercial organisations. There was an almost equal split between managers and tutors amongst the provider-based respondents, ensuring that both strategic and classroom perspectives were reflected in the responses.
Relevance and importance of the NLN materials
Despite the age of the materials, some of which are over ten years old, 91% of respondents considered them to be an important resource for staff and learners , with 43% saying they are very important .
One in three respondents named specific sets of materials as being particularly important. Their choices covered a wide range of subjects and areas.
77% of respondents thought it would be worthwhile to repair materials that no longer work because of dated technology, whilst 83% thought it worthwhile to update those that lack contemporary relevance (old fashioned, outdated practices etc).
The survey made it clear that there would be little or no funding for updating. 149 respondents thought providers would benefit from working together to carry out or support such updating, 65 of whom were willing to contribute to such a group and gave their contact details. 33 said that they/their organisation would be willing to lead a group.
Mode of engagement with the materials
The majority of users have downloaded some or all of the materials, with only 8% relying solely on online access. 23% had downloaded most or all of them and a further 60% had downloaded some. Despite this, there were continuing high levels of reliance upon online delivery of the materials through the nln.ac.uk site.
33% said they linked to materials through the Noodle application for Moodle, whilst a further 41% linked directly from their VLE, whether it be Moodle or another platform. 38% of these said that the workload involved in redirecting these links elsewhere – to another url or to an in-house server for example – would be substantial. Only 13% said that the workload would be minimal.
Preferred options
There was overwhelming support for the retention of the nln.ac.uk site in a cut down form that would continue to support direct links from provider VLEs. 44% of respondents considered it essential to retain the site and a further 29% viewed it as very important.
The same total percentage considered it essential or very important to maintain availability of the materials for download and 95% thought it essential that a source of advice and guidance on download be provided.
Total closure was considered unacceptable by 84%.
Additional comments
74 respondents took the opportunity to air other views about the future of the NLN Materials that we might take into account when determining a course of action. Overwhelmingly they supported the value of materials and the retention of online delivery. A number suggested that the materials continued to attract and be of value to new audiences, both existing tutors innovating their practice and new entrants into the field.
Next steps
LSIS, SFA and JANET have collaborated to ensure funding for the current nln materials service for the current academic year. There is no possibility of further funding after July 2011.
LSIS is committed to listening to the views of sector practitioners and managers and trying to keep the service alive if it is at all possible. We have been talking with Xtensis and JANET, who currently run nln.ac.uk, to explore ways for LSIS to continue the core service into the future. We are also working with a number of partners including Excellence Gateway Advisory Groups and Worcester College of Technology to see how we might go about setting up communities of practice to update the resources.
We will make an announcement within the next two weeks about our plans for the future of the nln materials.
