Never mind the technology, where’s the learning?

Vital is the new name for the ICT CPD service to be provided by the Open University and e-Skills UK under a £5.6m contract. Back in August I said they had their work cut out, not because of what they might provide, but because of the competition, free or otherwise that this market presents at the end of the 1st decade of the 21st century. Very sensibly they are not setting up bricks and mortar regional centres to try and deliver traditional face-to-face CPD, but offering a range of blended learning opportunities with different mixtures and at appropriate venues, such as schools, ICT Centres, or maybe even your local wi-fi’d coffee house.

Vital was soft-launched at this weekend’s Naace AMAC conference, and the enthusiasm and commitment of Debbie Forster, the Programme Co-ordinator is infectious. She and Peter Twining of the OU will certainly sign people up to the concept, and I wish all the luck in the world to them. That said, they still have a huge mountain to climb. Firstly there’s the natural inertia of educational change. Not only do they have to bring about a collaborative and trusting atmosphere to the CPD scene among providers, they also have to bring about a ’step-change’ in the way in which ICT CPD might be delivered and viewed by teachers. Their strategy is to map provision, support other providers by linking to them and avoid re-inventing the wheel. But it seems unclear what quality assurance mechanisms they might employ, or how they might change the practice of those providers to offer dynamic and appropriate offerings to bring about that step-change. The offer to use the OU’s online systems to provide a coherence is there, but this might suggest to some, a lose of control over their content and customer base. It may by a step too far, only time will tell.

Debbie and Peter’s joint presentation to the conference can be found below.

To follow vital on twitter: @Vitalcpd

Tags: vital, ictcpd, ou, e-skills, naace, naaceamac