HOW TO MANAGE THE WIDESPREAD USE OF LEARNING TECHNOLOGY: MANAGED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

The widespread introduction of technology to support learning and teaching has put pressure on the UK educational community to consider its ability to support and manage online learning. The Joint Information Systems committee (JISC) has recently invested £5 million in working with further education colleges and universities to implement and research Managed Learning Environments as a key concept in the support of learning through the use of IT. This is in response to driving strategic objectives in the Further Education (FE) sector and strategy combined with a gradual uptake of learning technologies in the Higher Education (HE) sector. JISC has worked with the educational community to agree definitions of Virtual and Managed Learning Environments and through its development programmes has tested out these definitions. Recommendations for good implementation practice have focused upon cultural and organisational issues to support change management in organisations. The use of emerging learning technology standards is crucial to the future development of flexible learning environments that meet the needs of the whole UK educational sector