This chapter critically examines innovative approaches to the evaluation of a European funded project involving nine countries in the development of a virtual campus to provide training opportunities in ICT for teachers and trainers across Europe. It explores project management processes and decision-making and the impact on outcomes as well as relationships between project team members. It concludes with recommendations for the more effective use of a range of these approaches, asserting that a critical analysis of the processes of engagement is as important as the outcomes.

This chapter traces the embryology of students as change agents in relation to digital practices, including their experiences of operating in different disciplines and contexts. It outlines benefits, issues and challenges of employing students as digital change agents and proposes a model for implementing cultural change. Mini case studies include first-year students operating as 'e-champions' within a university module, the second considers the impact of student-led projects in evaluating and innovating technology provision in a business school and the third examines recruitment to a student-led interdisciplinary research group. The 'e-champions' reflect on their experiences of using Facebook at Wolverhampton and consider the impact of their role on peers and staff and on their own social and digital identities. Lessons learnt at Exeter reveal that institutions who embrace the passion, creativity and energy of their most talented students gain positive, tangible and lasting benefits. Reflecting on a novel recruitment process at Greenwich, the student research group were found to be enterprising and dynamic and the mini case study proposes a series of recommendations. Throughout this chapter the experiences and 'voice' of the students provide unique insights alongside practical guidance to those wishing to employ the concept of student digital change agents within their institution.

In 2006, the Leitch report propelled an increasingly centralized governmentled agenda for skills reform into further and higher education (Leitch 2006). Questions concerning the appropriateness – or not – of academic and vocational skills have seeded a debate about the relevance and types of skills that graduates should possess to enable them to take a full and active role in a democratic learning and earning society.

This publication comprises papers from presenters who, having made a conference presentation, were invited to author an academic paper about their work.

The Student Experience of e-Learning Laboratory (SEEL) project at the University of Greenwich was designed to explore and then implement a number of approaches to investigate learners' experiences of using technology to support their learning. In this paper members of the SEEL team present initial findings from a University-wide survey of nearly a 1000 students. A selection of 90 'cameos', drawn from the survey data, offer further insights into personal perceptions of e-learning and illustrate the diversity of students experiences. The cameos provide a more coherent picture of individual student experience based on the totality of each person's responses to the questionnaire. Finally, extracts from follow-up case studies, based on interviews with a small number of students, allow us to 'hear' the student voice more clearly.Issues arising from an analysis of the data include student preferences for communication and social networking tools, views on the 'smartness' of their tutors' uses of technology and perceptions of the value of e-learning. A primary finding and the focus of this paper, is that students effectively arrive at their own individualised selection, configuration and use of technologies and software that meets their perceived needs. This 'personalisation' does not imply that such configurations are the most efficient, nor does it automatically suggest that effective learning is occurring. SEEL reminds us that learners are individuals, who approach learning both with and without technology in their own distinctive ways. Hearing, understanding and responding to the student voice is fundamental in maximising learning effectiveness.Institutions should consider actively developing the capacity of academic staff to advise students on the usefulness of particular online tools and resources in support of learning and consider the potential benefits of building on what students already use in their everyday lives. Given the widespread perception that students tend to be 'digital natives' and academic staff 'digital immigrants' (Prensky, 2001), this could represent a considerable cultural challenge.

Introduction This proposal aims, through debate within symposium to explore the student experience of e-learning. The team facilitating the discussion will draw upon their experience of an HEA funded pathfinder project, the main aim of which was to collect learner stories about their experience of using technology in their everyday learning activities at the University of Greenwich across a range of programmes, levels, locations and student groups. Method The project design responded to the growing body of student voice literature and then utilised and built upon the JISC-funded studies that focussed on understanding the learner perspectives on the role of technology in learning, namely: • the LEX study which investigated a broad spectrum of technology use by eliciting rich data about learners’ feelings, beliefs and intentions towards e-learning (Creanor et al, 2006); • the LXP studies which explored disciplinary differences in uses of technology by university students through a variety of methodologies (Conole et al, 2006). Results The symposium will be organised as a round table discussion that will be structured into three sections: • Designing an online survey tool, and the results of our survey. • Exploring student stories. • What can learned from the project and taking the findings back to enhance learning. To stimulate discussion each section will start by asking the participants to discuss and debate a particular question, this will be followed by an interactive presentation by the respective member of the project team who will share the findings of the project and invite contributions to the resulting discussion from personal perspectives. The questions are: • What is effective learning within a context of digital technology? • What are the myths and truths about the identity of today's learners? • What practical changes need to happen in order to see real change? Conclusion The final section of the symposium will invite contributions from the participants in order to collate the views and perspectives of all the participants in order to focus the discussion on the following: • The issues that have arisen as a result of the round table debates. • New speculative approaches to enhancing the student experience. • A controversial stand to the future of Higher Education teaching and learning and the role and integration of technology within that education. The symposium will provide an opportunity to explore the predictive value of Student Experience of E-Learning Laboratory (SEEL) project.

Trust and collective learning are useful features that are enabled by effective collaborative leadership of e-learning projects across higher and further education (HE/FE) institutions promoting lifelong learning. These features contribute effectively to the development of design for learning in communities of e-learning practice. For this, reflexivity, good leadership and the capacity to engage in innovation is crucial to team performance. This paper outlines a serendipitously useful combination of innovative models of collaboration emerging from two 2005-06 UK e-learning pilots: the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) e-Learning Independent Study Award (eLISA) and JISC infoNet Collaborative Approaches to the Management of e-Learning (CAMEL) projects. The JISC-funded eLISA Distributed e-Learning (DeL) project set up a collaborative partnership among teachers to try out LAMS and Moodle using study skills in e-learning. Simultaneously, the JISC infoNet CAMEL project developed a model of collaborative approaches to e-learning leadership and management across four UK HE/FE institutions. This paper proposes two new theoretical collaborative team leadership and operational models for e-learning projects, including indices of trust, reflexivity and shared procedural knowledge, recommending that these models are further developed in future communities of e-learning practice in institutions promoting lifelong learning.

Trust and collective learning are useful features that are enabled by effective collaborative leadership of e-learning projects across higher and further education (HE/FE) institutions promoting lifelong learning. These features contribute effectively to the development of design for learning in communities of e-learning practice. For this, reflexivity, good leadership and the capacity to engage in innovation is crucial to team performance. This paper outlines a serendipitously useful combination of innovative models of collaboration emerging from two 2005–06 UK e-learning pilots: the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) e-Learning Independent Study Award (eLISA) and JISC infoNet Collaborative Approaches to the Management of e-Learning (CAMEL) projects. The JISC-funded eLISA Distributed e-Learning (DeL) project set up a collaborative partnership among teachers to try out LAMS and Moodle using study skills in e-learning. Simultaneously, the JISC infoNet CAMEL project developed a model of collaborative approaches to e-learning leadership and management across four UK HE/FE institutions. This paper proposes two new theoretical collaborative team leadership and operational models for e-learning projects, including indices of trust, reflexivity and shared procedural knowledge, recommending that these models are further developed in future communities of e-learning practice in institutions promoting lifelong learning.

In 2003-04, The Universities of Greenwich and Oxford agreed collaboratively to develop a new Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Training in e-Learning (CeTTeL). Led by the University of Greenwich, the bid was supported by Oxford University Learning Technologies Group and Educational Studies Department. Joint discussions enabled iterative design for new models of epractitioner research, e-learning pedagogy and dissemination. Greenwich focused on scholarship in learning and teaching and practitioner research. Oxford focused on the interactivity between pedagogy, research, and technological development. The resulting models specified a new dialogue between scholarship, research, practitioner-focused student-centred pedagogy and technological advancement, initiating a process for overcoming a key national issue: UK learning technologies research and development rarely connects with teacher-practitioner technology usage. This paper outlines joint work in progress on the emerging models.

This article reports on the results of a study undertaken into innovative practices in the development and uses of eLearning for teachers and trainers, and the activities, competencies and roles used in such practices. 25 case studies were purposively selected across 7 countries and included both small scale and large scale projects, including some with a national focus. Results revealed that in nearly half of the projects blended learning was the strategy of choice, but that other approaches included virtual classrooms, tele-teaching and collaborative learning. A diversity of strategies towards the management of e-Learning projects were revealed, with some organisations struggling when moving from single authored to team delivered projects. In terms of instructional design, no definitive answers emerged as to what pedagogical approaches were being adopted, projects often demonstrating a common-sense approach. But it was clear that the growth of e-Learning has resulted in the development of new skills and competencies and novel ways of putting them to work in project teams. This includes ways of exploiting the new technology and how to manage the special problems arising from contact with learners who are at a distance. A number of key recommendations are made for practitioners and policy makers.