Supporting & Embedding CPD for BCE

A series of workshops being delivered as part of this project are now available for booking – details of the workshop content and available dates are below:

Supporting Professional Development for Engagement – FREE workshops

Institutions are involved in a wide range of external engagement activities and supporting the development needs of staff involved in these diverse activities is a challenge. These workshops provide an opportunity to discuss these issues, explore new resources and contribute to national strategy.

The workshops will also introduce a new JISC-funded online skills tool which has been developed to guide users to relevant resources based on an individual skills profile. The tool is based on the AURIL CPD Framework and resources are mapped to this framework.

Each workshop will include a themed session, highlighting key issues for staff development relevant to that theme. Dates, locations and themes are listed below – book online for your free place:

29th April Newcastle, Web 2.0 Focus event
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/workshop/4402

5th May, London, Legal Focus event
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/workshop/4401

13th May, Edinburgh, Information Management Focus event
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/workshop/4403

The workshops are part of the “Supporting Training, CPD and Staff Exchange for BCE Practitioners” project, funded by JISC’s Business & Community Engagement (BCE) Programme. The project is working closely with relevant sector bodies and providers, including AURIL, the IKT and PraxisUNICO, to ensure a coherent approach.

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

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.