Selecting the future host for the Vital website
Sara Younie
September 2012
Introduction
Vital is a DfE funded programme to enhance ‘ICT teaching’1 in state funded 5-19 education
in England. Since 2010 Vital has provided thousands of teachers (and other staff) with
support, including face to face events (such as TeachMeets), online and blended courses,
TeachShares, Portals providing advice about the best (free) resources on the web and how
to use them, and the In-house Professional Development Partnership (a new school basedmodel of professional development).
Vital (in its current form) comes to an end on the 31st March 2013. The Open University and
the DfE intend to transfer the Vital website (including the Vital brand, Drupal code, and
content) to a new host so that the resources continue to be available to 5-19 educators in
England after the 31st March 2013. By ‘content’ we specifically mean the content of the
Portals and some of the Resources. User data, course materials, Vital Guides and the right
to use DfE and OU branding are excluded from this transfer. The content within the website
will also be available to any interested party on the Government Open License.
Criteria
In selecting the future host the Open University and the DfE will be taking into account:
1. The number of staff in 5-19 state funded education in England who will have access
to the website and its content.
2. The number of other educators (i.e. in the private sector and/or outside England) who
will have access to the website and resources.
3. The time period over which the website and its content will continue to be made
available to the target groups identified in items 1 and 2.
4. The basis upon which access will be provided (e.g. free, for a subscription of £x per
year) to the target groups identified in items 1 and 2.
5. The way in which the website and its content will be managed and maintained – with
a particular emphasis on:
o the extent to which the website will continue to be updated
o how the website will continue to be updated
o the quality control processes and mechanisms that will be in place to assure
the quality of the content provided via the website
o the viability of the proposed model
6. The extent to which ‘added value’ will be achieved by combining the Vital website
with the new hosts existing offer.
7. The way in which the new service will be promoted and extended in the future.
The ‘tendering’ process
Applications should be submitted electronically using the template provided overleaf.
Target date
Who
What
20-Sept-2012 Vital
Put out a call for applications via relevant networks
15-Oct-2012 Applicants
Submit brief proposal that outlines their plans and identifies
how these relate to each of the 7 criteria.
30-Oct-2012 OU/DfE
Agree who the preferred future host(s) should be
1 ICT teaching is teaching about ICT (including IT, Digital Literacy and Computer Science) as well as teaching
with and through ICT (e.g. the embedded use of ICT across the curriculum).
1-Nov-2012
15-Nov-2012
1-Dec-2012
1-Dec-12 to
31-Mar-13
OU/DfE
Vital
Vital/Successful
applicant
Vital/Successful
applicant
Get formal signoff within the OU and DfE
Enter negotiations with selected host(s)
Publicise plans for the Vital website
Develop and execute transition plans (technology, etc.)