Supporting & Embedding CPD for BCE

Yesterday saw the launch of the AURIL/JISC Professional Development Framework for BCE, together with the JISC Netskills developed online tool to support BCE practitioners in their professional development at the 2012 Association for University Research and Industry Links (AURIL) Conference in Sheffield.

The launch marks the end of the Supporting and Embedding CPD for BCE project involving JISC and AURIL, with input from around 30 stakeholder bodies representing the sector.

The Framework is a major redevelopment of the AURIL Framework for Knowledge Transfer, and now incorporates other areas which make up BCE namely Employer Engagement, Lifelong Learning and Public, Community and Cultural Engagement.

The online tool allows you to browse the new framework, carry out a self assessment of your standing against the framework and to browse, upload and comment on professional development resources.

The launch was a great success and initial feedback from delegates attending a demonstration session was very positive.

You can try the out the tool at http://www.netskills.ac.uk/bcecpd2

The project is holding a series of focus groups to shape the development of a new national framework to support continuing professional development for Business and Community Engagement (BCE).

The impact of organisations on the wider business and community is increasingly important. These activities are also known as Third Stream, Third Mission, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Technology Transfer, Academic Enterprise, Enterprise, Innovation or Engagement. These events use the term ‘Business and Community Engagement’ (BCE).

Your help is needed to ensure these resources will meet your needs: we need to know what you do, why you do it and how your development is currently being supported. Your input will conrtibute to an important national initiative.

Whether BCE activities form your whole role or only part of it, whether these activities are formally recognised or not, we welcome your input at these events.

These focus groups are being run by AURIL (Association of University Research and Industry Links) and JISC in conjunction with all organisations involved with BCE in its widest form. The events are open to all staff involved in BCE activities in higher and further education, Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs) including Research Councils and Beacons for Public Engagement.

Dates and Locations

Click on the links below for further information and booking

• 18 May – London
• 25 May – Bristol
• 26 May – Birmingham
• 1 June – Newcastle
• 6 June – Edinburgh
• 15 June – Manchester

Topics

• What makes a successful BCE practitioner? What skills knowledge and attributes are required?
• How best should CPD supported?
• What type of framework would be most useful?
• How are your CPD needs currently supported?

An online self-evaluation tool, set to help universities and colleges identify development needs and point users towards relevant resources, was launched last Friday.

Focusing on the skills needed especially for successful external engagement, the tool is an output from the Netskills-led project Supporting Training, CPD and Staff Exchange for BCE Practitioners under the JISC Business and Community Engagement (BCE) programme.

It has been developed in collaboration with AURIL (Association for University Research and Industry Links) and is based on their existing CPD framework for Knowledge Transfer. The project leader, Netskills Consultant Trainer Helen Blanchett, was pleased with initial feedback from its launch at the AURIL conference, held in Newcastle last week.

“The tool is still in a pilot stage, but we’ve already had some positive feedback from users telling us they’re finding it useful”, she said.

“Our next step is to improve the targeting of resources, but we hope the tool, even in its pilot form, will help users identify their skills to deliver effective business and community engagement. We welcome all feedback and suggestions for improvement.”

The launch also marks a start to a follow-on project which involves working in collaboration with AURIL to support the review of their CPD framework, further development of the online tool and exploring how the framework and tool can become embedded within organisations.

You can access the tool at http://www.netskills.ac.uk/bcecpd/

The project recently ran three events to provide a ‘taster’ of JISC training and resources available for BCE practitioners. Presentations from all three events are now available on Slideshare. Videos of the presentations will also be available in the near future.

The events were themed covering web 2.0, legal issues and information management, with speakers from JISC services as well as guest speakers from the sector.
The presentations include:

Steve Boneham, JISC Netskills
Innovative Practice with Web 2.0

Laura Tyler, University of Glasgow
Digital & Social Marketing

Jason Miles-Campbell, JISC Legal
An Overview of Legal Issues Relating to BCE

Steve Bailey, JISC infoNet
What can Records and Information management do for you?

Karen Race, Teesside University
A Corporate CRM: The Teesside Experience

Go to the presentations on Slideshare.

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