Meeting to consider the establishment of a Newham Learning Grid held
19th. October '98 at Newham College of Further Ed.
Present
Max Krafchik (Assist. Director, LBN Education)
Rik Lewis (IT consultant working for LBN on Education Action Zone)
Jacqui Mace (Business Manager, Newham Sixth Form College)
Chris McLean (Newham College of Further Education)
Roger McMaster (Assist. Head Librarian, LBN)
Prof. Nod Miller (Principal Lecturer, UEL Innovation Studies)
John Potter (Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at the University of East London
Gavin Sealey (Senior Development Worker, NewCEYs, Co-ordinator of Newham Young People Online)
Richard Steel - Chair (Head of IT Contract Services for LBN)
Richard Stubbs (Director of Newham Online)
Paul Whiteman (Head of Education IT for LBN)
Apologies
Danny Budzak (Database Editor, LBN Computing Services)
Steve Cameron (Head of Newham Community Education and Youth Service)
Lesley Cramp (Head of Quality & Communications, LBN)
Jim Graham (Head of Dept., UEL Education & Community Studies)
A Newham Learning Grid - Richard Stubbs
Richard Stubbs is Director of Newham Online which is a cross sector initiative involving the main organisational users
of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Newham, key partners include Newham Council, University
of East London, Newham College of FE. The Education Department had suggested that Newham Online call this
meeting to discuss the possibility of creating a Newham Learning Grid. (Richard's talk is at www.newham.org.uk/nlg)
Richard thought that a Newham Learning Grid would be the ideal first application to run over the Newham Extranet, it
would have broad public appeal and would involve many of Newham Online's partners. The NLG would provide a safe
and secure place on the net, focused on learner needs and providing or assisting with access to all local learning
resources. Learning does not only take place in schools and colleges, it was important to integrate other sectors into the
grid. Richard suggested that the vision should be to create Newham's one stop shop for life long learning on the Net.
Richard outlined five levels of applications that would be needed. The first level is the provision of information. This
can be about things such as courses or it could be online learning materials. The second level is interactive and provides
feedback to the user, typical applications at this level could be online peer to peer learning and online testing. The third
level is informal learning within online discussion groups, the fourth level is groups using the technology to support the
development of an on or offline project and the fifth level is a learning community in which the learners take control.
Newham Young People Online is the best local example of a learning community.
So what would be the benefits of deploying the grid? Easier access to resources for learners, better integration between
organisations providing education, greater integration between learning and other activities such as finding and creating
work. However the key benefit would be the increase of resources arising from harnessing the existing skills and
expertise of the wider community to support local learning.
Newham Education Department and the Newham Learning Grid - Max Krafchik
Max Krafchik is Assistant Director of Education and he has special responsibilities for the Education Action Zone. The
Education Department were strongly in favour of developing an Online Learning Grid. In the past teachers had
complained that it was impractical to use the net because of its slow speed and lack of relevant content. Now we had the
opportunity to produce local content and a recent technical breakthrough piloted within the Education Action Zone
meant that the Council was now in the position to offer schools fast and affordable Internet access.
The Council had started a programme that would ensure that all local primary and secondary schools would have
computer network linked to the Internet within 2/3 years. The intention is that there will be a computer for ever nine
primary and every seven secondary school pupils. Initially it is planned to pilot online learning activities within the
Education Action Zone and there is money within the EAZ budget to support developments of this type.
The Council is keen to work with other partners to create a Newham Learning Grid that could perhaps serve as a model
for developments within the National Learning Grid.
Views of the proposed partners
Richard Steel asked for comments.
Nod Miller pointed out that access problems to the Net can cause problems when developing training projects using it.
This is even the case for students as they often only have access when actually in the University and not at home.
Jacqui Mace saw the benefits of the institutions sharing their expertise and working together, it would be wasteful for
everyone to develop applications and resources independently.
Roger McMaster said that he was sure that the Libraries would have a lot to offer a project of this nature.
Paul Whiteman thought that we needed to focus on communication between the partners in the first instance
Gavin Sealey thought it important that we involve the people who we anticipate will benefit from the Learning Grid
from the start there was a danger of too much being done by experts for others when we should be supporting people to
become their own experts.
Paul Whiteman felt that it would be best for the partners to consult their own learners individually at least at first.
Richard Steel said that it was important that the Grid obtained formal backing by the various institutions and that it was
not simply dependent on individuals enthusiasm. Ideally the institutions should appoint a representative to the Newham
Learning Grid. Richard Steel thought that the NLG Steering Committee could evolve into a commissioning body for
projects.
Next steps
All present agreed that it was worth moving forward with the idea of creating a Newham Learning Grid. It was agreed
that the vision for the Newham Learning Grid should be to create Newham's one stop shop for life long learning
opportunities on the Net.
Richard Stubbs to set up a mailing list and subscribe to it all present and others invited. General agreement that the
membership of the list should be restricted but it was fine for the conversations to be available on the Web. Richard
agreed to set up a web site to support the development of the project.
It was agreed to continue discussions on moving the project forward via the mailing list and to hold another meeting at
the Beckton Glob at 10.00am on Fri. 15th. Jan '98