This document discusses the Blended Learning Consortium (BLC), which allows colleges to collaboratively develop and share high-quality online learning content. It has over 100 member colleges who vote on content areas and contribute staff to develop over 1600 hours of interactive content in various subjects. This shared content saves colleges significant development costs and promotes digital skills. Statistics show students using BLC content achieve higher grades on average. The consortium also allows members to collectively purchase digital tools at discounted rates. Going forward, the BLC aims to expand internationally and include higher education institutions.

1. Blended Learning Consortium
Peter Kilcoyne
ILT Director
Heart of Worcestershire College
pkilcoyne@howcollege.ac.uk

2. A quick look

3. Blended Learning Consortium
• Benefits of Blended Learning
• How the consortium works
• BLC Content
• Benefits of working as a consortium
• Future plans, international and HE BLCs

4. Why Blended Learning?
• Independent
learning
• Digital literacy
• Flexibility
• Efficiency

5. SOLA Statistics
Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma in Health and Social Care 2016 - 2017
0.00
50.00
100.00
150.00
200.00
250.00
300.00
350.00
400.00
450.00
D* (30) D (9) M (5) P (8)
InteractionswithSOLAcourse(Mean)
Grade Achieved
Interactions with SOLA Moodle Course
Grade Number Hits Total Hits Mean
Distinction * 30 11979 399.30
Distinction 9 2448 272.00
Merit 5 1392 278.40
Pass 8 2022 252.75

6. SOLA Statistics
Level 3 Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production 2016 - 2017
Interactions with SOLA Moodle Course by Grade Average
Grade Average Logged interactions total Mean Logged Interactions
Average of Distinction* 266 266
Average of Distinction 1173 234.6
Average of Merit 1136 227.2
Average of Pass 673 134.6
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Average of
Distinction*
Average of
Distinction
Average of Merit Average of Pass
InteractionswithSOLAcourse(Mean)
Student Grade Average

7. SOLA Statistics
Level 3 Extended Diploma in Applied Science 2016 - 2017
Interactions with SOLA Moodle Course by Grade Average
Grade Average
Logged interactions
total
Mean Logged
Interactions
Average of Distinction* 11791 907
Average of Distinction 4889 815
Average of Merit 1879 469.75
Average of Pass 538 538
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Distinction * Distinction Merit Pass
InteractionswithSOLAcourse(Mean)
Student Grade Average

8. SOLA Statistics
Level 3 Extended Diploma in Business 2016 - 2017
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Distinction * (6) Distinction (8) Merit (7) Pass (0)
InteractionswithSOLAcourse(Mean)
Student Grade Average
Interactions with SOLA Moodle Course by Grade Average
Grade Average Logged interactions total Mean Logged Interactions
Distinction * 1125 187.5
Distinction 1265 158
Merit 682 97.4
Pass 0 0

9. Ofsted 2018
“Learners benefit from good resources and
facilities, teachers make effective use of
information learning technology (ILT) to
engage and motivate learners.”

10. Ofsted 2018
“Most teachers skillfully use a broad range
of resources and ILT, both to enliven
learning in the classroom and to enable
learners and apprentices to access learning
resources when undertaking independent
study at home or at work.”

11. Ofsted 2018
“The large majority of teachers are adept and skilled at
using the college’s virtual learning environment to enrich
and enliven learning both within lessons, and when
learners are working independently to carry out research
outside the classroom. Most learners report that they enjoy
this style of learning; they feel that, as well as being an
effective way to learn, it helps them extend their learning
and develop the self-discipline they need to be successful
when they progress to the next level of learning, university
or employment.”

12. Why a consortium?
• Lessons learnt at HOW College,
issues with commercial, free and
homemade content
• Costs of developing high quality
content is too high for individual
colleges
• We all have much the same content
needs
• Benefits of sharing costs
• Developing capacity
• “For the sector by the sector”

13. Blended Learning Consortium- FE
How it works
• Open democratic partnership led by HoW College with
democratic decision making on content developed
• Annual membership fee of £5K, free to Specialist
Colleges
• Members vote on content to be developed
• Staff in member colleges paid to write and develop
content (Involvement in this is optional)
• Sharing existing quality content with other members
• Members get all content developed, source files and
later updates

14. Progress to date
• 100 learning providers have joined. This is nearly 50%
of all UK Colleges plus some ACLs, WBL, Specialist
Colleges and 6 FCs
• Six rounds of content development completed or
underway. Making up over 1600 hours in 43 subject
areas. 1200 hours developed, 400 hours in
development
• Members get all content plus source files – can
repurpose and adapt
• 300 hours of existing college content being shared

15. About the Content
• Interactive learning objects
• Any device and platform
• Thirty one hour objects per subject
• Formative assessments in all
• HTML5 and SCORM
• Source files provided
• Customisable
• Not specification specific
• Stand alone (can be used in any
order)

16. Benefits of this model of content
development
• Flexible usage – can used to fit in with individual
organisation, course and teacher approaches
• Accessibility
• Interactive and engaging
• Updated (not like milk)
• Tracking progress, attainment and completion
(Ofsted)
• Sharing of cost, effort and expertise

17. How is content being used?
• Blended Learning onsite
• Main qual, tutorial, maths and English
• Online learning
• Classroom
• Absence Cover
• Additionality
• Tasters
And many others

26. Voting Consultation
Curriculum
writing Editing
E-learning
production
QA & user
testing
Development Process

27. 100 Learning Providers and counting…

28. Blended Learning Consortium – current members

29. and some more…

30. BLC Community
• Termly meetings
• Annual Conference
• Sharing good practice
• Building capacity
• Niche collaborative
projects
• Democratic “learning
impact award”
• Elearning industry
partnerships

31. Feedback from members
“The quality and the content of the BLC learning
objects as well as the ability to quickly install them
into our SOLA courses has made them an
invaluable resource for the Grimsby Institute. They
save us huge amounts of time and are an
incredibly cost-effective way of having consistent
and well-constructed activities.”
Graham Raddings, Learning Innovation
Manager, Grimsby College

32. Learner Feedback
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Ease of use
Easy to Understand
Helpful with Studies
Poor
Satisfactory
Good
Excellent

33. Learner Feedback
• “they are easy to understand”
• “Easy to read, contain key information and
include plenty of detail”
• “very effective for learning”
• “it was very informative”
• “making ron disappear”
• “its going to help my career”

34. Content Development
2015/2016

35. • Digital Literacy L2
• Employability L2
• Employability L3
• English L2
• Engineering L2
• Engineering L3
• Health and Safety in
Social Care L2

36. • British Values Prevent
• Health and Social Care L3
• Business Studies L3
• Sports L2
• Sports L3
• E-safety – Anti Bullying
• Beauty L3
• Travel and Tourism L2
• Enterprise L2

37. • Study Skills
• Public Services L2
• Hair and Beauty L2
• Travel and Tourism L3
• Early Years Childcare L3
• Interview Preparation
• Maths Contextualised for Vocational Areas
• Hospitality and Catering (L2)
• Hospitality and Catering (L3)
• Health and Care (L2)

38. Content Development
2016/2017
Higher Specification

39. • Plumbing L2
• Maths, FS L2
• Site Carpentry and Joinery L2
• Numeracy L3
• Public Services L3
• Brickwork L2
• Animal Care L2

40. • Computing L3
• Numeracy L1
• Sport L3
• Digital Technologies L3
• IT/Software Development L3
• Art and Design L2

41. Video Content
• Sport L3
• Engineering L3
• Maths L2
• Sport L2
• Construction
• Public Services
• Motor Vehicle

42. Content Development
2017/2018
Higher Specification

43. • Catering L3 – Tier 3
• ICT L2 – Tier 2
• Motor Vehicle L2 – Tier 2
• Health and Care L3 – Tier 3
• Plumbing and Gas L3 – Tier 3
• Engineering L3 – Tier 2
• GDPR
• More to come

44. Video Content
• Early Years
• Plumbing L2
• Plumbing L3
• More to come

45. Content Upgrades and Refresh
• New colleges join can get previous years
content by “back paying”
• Will be used to refresh and possibly
upgrade content as and when needed

46. The Power of the Consortium
Digital Economics or Buns vs Bytes
• Each college getting £500K+
of content development for
£5K
• Leveraged efficiency saving of
£495K per college
• Approximate Cost
– £7 per learning object tier 1
– £12 per learning object tier 2
– £14 per learning object tier 3

47. The Power of the Consortium
Collective Buying Power
Including
• 70% off Articulate Storyline
• 20% off ALT Membership and CMALT
• VLEs: Canvas, Moodle, ItsLearning
• Click view, Planet Estream
• Dolphin accessibility softwear
• 40% off Cengage e-books and textbooks
• 25% off Skills2Learn resources
• Virtual College and many others
• £15K Sponsorship from City and Guilds

48. Benefits to Colleges in the BLC
• Access to a large and growing collection of
outstanding vocational learning content at a
small cost to help move blended learning
forward
• Developing capacity in content development if
they chose to get involved in this
• Sharing best practice across BLC community
• Savings though collaborative buying power on a
range of digital products and services

49. Moving Forward
• Continued growth
• New areas of
development
• Different kinds of
content?
• US, Australian and
South African BLCs?
• HE Consortium

50. International BLCs sharing content

51. Any Questions?
For more info -
pkilcoyne@howcollege.ac.uk
http://blc-fe.org/