Julig Project

The University has made considerable progress with the use of Blackboard over the last few years for the delivery of on-line learning and for tracking learner progress. How much better would it be if we could offer on-line learning experiences and learner tracking that transcends institutional boundaries?

To find out what this might mean Learning Services has a project funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to pilot a managed learning environment (MLE) for lifelong learners in the City of Glasgow over the next two years for up to 20,000 learners. Currently learners joining the Real Lifelong Learning Network that is operated by the City Library service, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, the FE Colleges network, Learning and Teaching Scotland, and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow do not have access to a managed learning environment although each of the organisations do have their own MLE. The problem has always been how do we make our different systems compatible so that they can work together? The Joined Up Learning in Glasgow (julig) project aims to get over this by establishing a city-wide Oracle iLearning MLE that all learners can access from any of the partner institutions. The project with the JISC is an extension to an existing project in which Scottish Enterprise Glasgow provided a grant to Learning Services at GCU. The JISC funding provides a further £100K for the project. This has enabled us to appoint a project manager based in Learning Services at GCU to co-ordinate the implementation, data transfer, and use of the managed learning environment. The potential benefits to lifelong learners in the City are clear in that they will get seamless access to a city wide learning system. For the University this project fits well with our inclusive and responsive vision, takes a fresh innovative approach to the issue of tracking the activities of lifelong learners across the boundaries of individual institutions, and confirms GCU's commitment to community and lifelong learning.