Nick Rushby

An Assistant for Crew Performance Assessment

This article describes an airline trial of a prototype personal digital assistant (PDA) intended for use by Check Airmen and Flight or Simulator Instructors. The prototype PDA is capable of electronically recording, storing, and transmitting data in both simulator and airplane across a range of pilot proficiency assessment categories. The background to the trial and our findings are discussed. Potential future applications and developments relevant to the future development of PDAs and similar equipment are also outlined. The concluding section discusses important insights and perspectives developed subsequent to the trial.

Understanding the Past--Illuminating the Future.

This is the report of a project funded by the British Educational Communications and Technology Research Agency (Becta) to identify the key—but forgotten—information and communication technology research projects in the UK between 1980 and 1999 and to review the contribution that these projects can make in informing the current Becta research agenda and making future research more efficient.

Assessment and Learning Technologies: An Overview.

Assessment pervades the learning process. This paper provides an overview of the application of technology to support and enhance diagnostic, formative and summative assessment. The focus is on examining how it can replace what already exists, improve the functionality, catalyse a redesign of the process and in some circumstances, make possible what was previously inconceivable. The paper considers formal and informal individual learning environments, group settings and assessment at a national or international scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where are the desks for the virtual class

The need for desks on which to put desktop computers and for laps on which to use laptop computers seems an unnecessary constraint for the virtual class. The concept of flexibility in learning is central to the virtual class and that is going to require mobile learning solutions. The current generation of mobile devices give us Internet and world wide web access: the next generation will have greater bandwidth and will be able to support multimedia. This paper draws upon experience of mobile solutions in business and training, to explore the potential of current and future mobile technologies and explore the spectrum of mobility in an educational context.

Editorial: Trends in learning technologies: Editorial

Regular readers will recall that we carried out a straw poll in December 2009 in which respondents were asked to select their top five key topics in learning technology from a list of 34 possibilities. Those possibilities were compiled from an inspection of the papers submitted to the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) over the past years with a few additions taken from conference presentations and discussions with colleagues. The results from 416 respondents were reported in May 2010 (Rushby, 2010). Encouraged by the response, we decided to repeat the exercise in June 2011 (and thus probably establish it as an annual event!).

Assistants for Assessment

SUMMARY A workplace study was devised to evaluate the concept of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) as job aids for workplace assessment in the signal and telecommunications environment of British Rails West Anglia Infrastructure Support Unit. This is one of the newly formed organizations responsible for maintaining the railway track and its signalling systems. The study concluded that PDAs are effective job aids for workplace assessment in this environment and that, given the need to be certain that staff are competent to undertake safety‐critical work, the cost‐benefit of the approach can be demonstrated. The cost‐benefit is even clearer when there is a portfolio of performance support applications provided through a PDA. Several important issues about the presentation of evidence for assessment were identified. Following the study, British Rail Infrastructure Services have decided to implement the system throughout the organization and similar systems are being developed for use in other industries. (...

Editorial: Making serious games better.

The author argues that, although some qualitative evidence suggests that people can learn from serious video games, little research exists regarding the process by which learning occurs. Topics include flight simulations, the use of video games for training by the U.S. Army, and the transfer of skills from virtual worlds to a real-world environment.

The learning credit card: A tool for managing personal development*

This is the report of a five month study, undertaken by Sundridge Park Training Technologies in association with Guildford Educational Services to assess the potential of smart card technology to support learning and the management of learning. The study had two strands—the state of the art of the technology and its potential for supporting, delivering and managing learning. In addition to a study of the literature and extensive discussions with people using smart cards, potential users of smart card and visionaries, the project team developed two illustrative systems using cards to store personal data relating to education and training. The term ‘smart card’ is often used loosely to describe three different types of card, each of which is similar in general shape and size to a traditional credit card. These are: memory cards, laser cards—and true smart cards incorporating a processor and memory. This study has been concerned with memory cards and smart cards. The focus for smart card applications has been predominantly financial: there are relatively few applications in education or training. A notable exception is the large scale project at the University of Bologna which uses smart cards to manage the progress and achievements of a large number of students in the Department of Electronics. The two illustrative systems provided valuable experience of using memory cards and smart cards in quasi-real education and training applications. They highlighted the problems of limited memory capacities and confirmed the high level of user acceptance reported by other trials. We can expect considerable advances in the technology of both memory cards and smart cards over the next months and years. The memory capacities of both types of cards will increase many-fold and the unit costs will fall as large quantities of cards are produced for financial applications. Education and training applications will benefit from this expanding market. The major surprise from the study was the level of interest in the work and the enthusiasm expressed by almost all of those who came to hear of it. The general level of awareness of smart card technology was found to be low. However, the requirement for a system which will enable individuals to manage and own their learning on an extended timescale was generally recognised. Some of the possible applications for smart cards and memory cards in education and training had emerged before the official start of the study and it is clear that the technology is potentially pervasive. The project team and those consulted identified a wide range of possible applications both in education and in training. These focussed on assessment, personal course planning and management, identification of relevant learning opportunities, and the ownership of learning. It was felt that, over the next few years, smart cards are very likely to be in common use as credit cards for financial applications. Therefore, their use for education and training should be planned now. The recommendations from the study are that: More detailed studies are needed to find out how smart cards and memory cards could be used by different organisations in a fully operational system; Standards should be established for smart card applications in education and training, similar to those governing financial applications; Applications should be developed after the standards have been established. To be convincing, these should take a case study approach with small pilot studies in a variety of contexts and must follow real needs rather than attempt to drive them; The case studies would then form the basis for a campaign to increase awareness of smart cards and their potential for education and training, together with a programme for building an infrastructure to support the proposed systems. The public sector should fund the task of developing standards and providing interfaces with existing educational systems and projects to demonstrate the feasibility of various applications. Since educational standards have a European dimension, the European Community may be a source of support for work in the area of standards. At the same time, private sector funding should be sought for skill development and career development systems in industry and in education. The Training Agency itself should consider the application of smart card technology to the control and management of the Youth Training Scheme (YTS).

Editorial: Understanding the past—illuminating the future

The author focuses on e-learning in adult and continuing education. Particular attention is given to the impact of computer network resources on education. Article topics include the potential of smart cards for e-portfolios, the development of The Learning Credit Card, the evolution of library science and its relationship to technology, as well as why projects from the 1980s-1990s are evading the attention of the current generation of researchers. Additional article topics include educational research taking place in Great Britain in the 21st century and a historical review of technology in education and training since the 1950s.

Editorial: Avoiding training waste

There is currently a great deal of discussion on calculating the return on investment (ROI) in training. ROI is important. It helps us to understand whether the training has had an effect on the bottom line of the business—and it helps us to convince decisionmakers that they should invest in training. Different authorities advocate the merits of different ways of calculating and presenting ROI. It seems self-evident that one way to improve the ROI—regardless of the way in which it is calculated—is to improve the efficiency of training and to avoid wastage. We can calculate the efficiency of training as the ratio of desired training outcomes to the amount spent on that training. You can maximize this ratio by avoiding—or at least minimizing—training waste.