Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning

The Teaching and Learning Technologies
Programme and the Fund for the Development of
Teaching and Learning
TLTP began in 1992, supported by the four funding bodies. Seventy-six
projects were funded under the first two phases, which aimed to
introduce, support and develop new technology-based teaching and
learning materials. In 1996, the funding bodies commissioned a
consortium led by Coopers & Lybrand to evaluate the programme. The
findings indicated the need to concentrate more on implementation and
embedding of materials within institutions. The higher education
funding councils therefore initiated Phase 3 of TLTP, with funding of
£3.5 million a year for three years. Most projects were for
implementation, to increase the use of technology-based materials in
teaching and learning. Four projects are to develop new materials.
In 1999, following the success of the first and second phases of the
Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP), the Higher
Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) commissioned a study
to examine the use of TLTP materials in higher education in the UK.
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The study demonstrated that TLTP materials have been adopted
throughout UK higher education. They were embedded in conventional
courses, alongside a very substantial use of other types of
communication and information technologies.
Meanwhile the Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning
(FDTL) was launched by the HEFCE and the Department of Education,
Northern Ireland (DENI) in December 1995. The aims of the FDTL were
to:
■
stimulate developments in learning and teaching;
■
secure the widest possible involvement of institutions in the take-up
and implementation of good practice.
While this funding strand was not associated specifically with
technology, arguably it was another important mechanism for initiating
change. Funds were awarded to projects that showed the potential to
make a contribution to the development and improvement of learning
and teaching through the transfer of information and ideas. This was the
first time the results of the quality assessment process were linked to the
allocation of funds to the higher education sector. Phase 1 covered the 15
subjects assessed under the quality assessment method used between
February 1993 and June 1995. Forty-four projects were funded at a cost
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Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning Environment
of £8.5 million. In December 1996 bids under Phase 2 were invited. This
phase covered eight subjects including: chemical engineering, sociology,
linguistics, French, German and related languages, Italian, Iberian
languages and studies, and Russian and Eastern European languages and
studies. Nineteen projects were funded at a cost of £4 million. The
majority of these projects started in October 1997 and ran for three
years.
Phase 3 of this programme was launched in 1999 and a total of 33
projects were funded, at a total cost of £6.8 million over three years.
Phase 4 of the FDTL covered the 13 subject areas assessed by the Quality
Assurance Agency for Higher Education in the period October 1998 to
September 2000. The aims of Phase 4 of the FDTL are to stimulate
developments in learning and teaching and to secure the widest possible
involvement of institutions in the take-up and implementation of good
practice.
The Dearing Report
However, the real impetus for change arguably came in July 1997 when
the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (NCIHE,
1997) produced what is commonly known as the Dearing Report. The
report made recommendations for the development of higher education
over the next 20 years and recognised that communication and
information technology was central to the progression of the national
education system. Dearing maintained that:
Communication and information technology holds out much promise
for improving the quality, flexibility and effectiveness of higher
education. (NCIHE, 1997)
In particular, innovative application of technology was highlighted and
it claimed that the potential benefits would ‘extend to, and affect the
practice of, learning and teaching research’. In many ways this report
was the catalyst for ongoing efforts to embed learning technologies in
education in the UK.