Skills Self-Evaluation User Testing event, 1st March
The project ran a successful user testing event this week to trial the online BCE skills self-evaluation tool.
The tool aims to help BCE practitioners identify skills gaps and find relevant resources to help address these gaps. The tool is based on the AURIL CPD Framework and resources are mapped to this framework.
A small group of attendees, consisting of BCE practitioners and members staff development departments, were let loose on the tool and their every move closely observed and noted. Attendees were encouraged to give feedback on every aspect of the tool including content, appearance and navigation.
The system itself proved easy to use but several points for improvement were noted and will be implemented shortly. Although the resource catalogue is not yet fully populated, feedback from the event revealed the importance of relevant content. We aim to address this by including only the most relevant JISC resources and resources from existing sector training providers.
Once modifications have been made from this event, we are looking for further volunteers to trial the tool - if you are interested please email helen.blanchett@netskills.ac.uk
Project Team update
The Project Team has undergone some major changes in the last month. Helen Blanchett is now back from maternity leave and has resumed her role as Project Manager. Simon Fitzpatrick, acting Project Manager, will continue to work on the project as Project Consultant. Helen and Simon are both members of staff at JISC Netskills.
We would also like to welcome Alan Fitzgerald to the project team. Alan, an experienced Knowledge Transfer professional, has taken on the role of Project Consultant and will focus on stakeholder liaison.
Free Professional Development workshop for External Engagement Practitioners
This workshop has been funded by the ‘Supporting Training, CPD & Staff Exchange for BCE’ project which forms part of the JISC Business and Community Engagement Programme, and will be delivered by JISC Netskills and other external speakers. It will be held on Wednesday 20 January 2010 from 10am to 4pm at Oxford University Computing Service, Oxford University.
It is aimed at anyone in Higher or Further Education, who are involved in the management and/or delivery of engagement activities with external business and community partners.
This one-day event will address the issues of continuing professional development amongst University and College staff who deal with Business and Community Engagement (BCE). There will be speakers from JISC Advance services talking and demonstrating resources and staff development activities from their service, relevant to your work in BCE.
There will be some hands-on activities, discussions and opportunities to share good practice. The event will also see the launch of the new CPD Profiling tool which aims to support people looking for materials and training opportunities.
This is a free event, and is open to anyone involved in Business and Community Engagement activities working in UK Further and Higher Education Institutions.
Click here for further information and to book your free place
Praxis and Unico Merger
A merger between Praxis and UNICO, proposed at the recent Unico Conference in Brighton attended by Marc Dobson from the JISC Services BCE Team, has been approved by an overwhelming majority vote.
Unico is the UK’s leading representative body of professionals realising the potential of university and public sector research through commercialisation, and Praxis is a national training programme aimed at technology transfer professionals working in universities, research institutions and industry. Both are key stakeholders within the JISC BCE Programme, having been represented on the BCE Advisory Group through Dr. Alison Campbell, and Praxis have been involved in collaboration as part of the JISC Services BCE Project ‘Supporting CPD, Training and Staff Exchange for Business and Community Engagement’. This BCE project is developing a Training Support Package for BCE practitioners, building on the AURIL-CPD framework and other resources, combining online diagnostic tools and catalogued resources.
Unico Chair, Professor David Secher said, “This significant step will simplify the complex knowledge transfer landscape in the UK, improve the offering to members and enable us to strengthen international links with other similar organisations around the world. Universities and PSREs throughout the UK have shown tremendous support for this proposal.”
Praxis Chair, Dr Alison Campbell added, “Consolidating the strengths of two leading organisations is very sensible. The merged organisation will be in a stronger position to represent the views of its members. I look forward to working closely with Praxis and Unico colleagues to bring a diverse offering that better meets the networking and training needs of the profession, to Knowledge Transfer professionals in the UK and abroad.”
In response to the news, Simon Whittemore, JISC BCE Programme Manager said “This is excellent news and a significant step forward, which will further enhance the coherence of expert support and training for professionals and institutions alike in knowledge transfer and exchange - congratulations to Praxis and Unico”.
Let the development commence!
After all the hard work in the initial phases of the project researching needs and planning how to meet them, we’re pleased to say that we have now been granted funding for the delivery phase of the project. The last few details of the plan are being hammered out, but initial work has commenced on the development of a skills diagnostic for BCE practitioners and we’re talking to project partners about getting the rest of the proposed Phase 3 activities up and running as soon as possible
Training Support Package Design
The final deliverable of Phase 2 of our project - Design of the Training Support Package - is now complete. The document gives an overview of our Phase 3 implementation plans which include a skills diagnostic, training resource directory and a set of video-based information materials on the use of staff-exchange as a means of CPD.
Practitioner Survey and Training Needs Analysis
The first major result of the CPD project is now available. By means of a workshop, an online survey with 311 responses and follow-up telephone interviews we’ve conducted an in-depth study of BCE practitioners, their experience of Continuing Professional Development and their requirements for the future.
The report, Practitioner Survey and Training Needs Analysis, is available for download.
End-user consultation complete
The BCE CPD team have completed the final telephone interview and our online survey of BCE practitioners is now closed. We’re busily analysing the results of the consultations and will be reporting back very shortly. Watch this space!
We have a winner!
Congratulations to Warren Oliver, Business Relations Manager at Birkbeck, University of London who was picked by the random number generator to receive £200 in Amazon vouchers as a thank you for completing our online survey of BCE practitioners.
Warren was presented with his prize by Marc Dobson of Netskills and was kind enough to tell Marc It’s always nice to win a prize, and particularly from an organization I regard highly.
Congratulations to Warren!
Welcome to the new BCE CPD Blog
This is the new blog for the Continuing Professional Development project in the the JISC Business and Community Engagement programme.
The project aims to offer a complementary, integrated and coherent training support and enhancement package, the JISC BCE Training Support Package, which responds to the needs of BCE practitioners and enhances capability within institutions to better promote and support BCE activities.
You can find out more on our “About” page.