Growing Comms Phase 2 Report
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Growing Comms Project Report Appendix 5 GROWING COMMS Growing Regional Outputs With Innovative Next Generation Communications Lincoln Matt Jisc© and Project report – Phase 2 December 2020 Growing Comms Project Report Contents Appendices ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Figures ................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Growing Comms Management and Project Team .............................................................................................. 4 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 5 1. Background................................................................................................................................................. 6 2. Objectives and targets ................................................................................................................................ 8 3. Previous Collaboration Between Partners .................................................................................................. 9 3.1. College University Skills Partnership (CUSP)...................................................................................... 9 3.2. Swansea University ........................................................................................................................... 9 3.3. Pembrokeshire College ................................................................................................................... 10 3.4. Gower College Swansea .................................................................................................................. 10 3.5. NPTC Group of Colleges .................................................................................................................. 10 3.6. Growing Comms Collaboration Agreement..................................................................................... 10 4. Continuous Professional Development .................................................................................................... 11 4.1. Microsoft Teams Training................................................................................................................ 11 4.2. Virtual Reality Course ...................................................................................................................... 12 5. Hardware for Adapted Delivery ................................................................................................................ 14 5.1. Background ..................................................................................................................................... 14 5.2. Growing Comms Round Table ......................................................................................................... 14 5.3. Gower College Swansea .................................................................................................................. 15 5.4. NPTC Group of Colleges .................................................................................................................. 18 5.5. Pembrokeshire College ................................................................................................................... 19 5.6. Swansea University – College of Engineering .................................................................................. 22 5.7. Further observations ....................................................................................................................... 25 6. Virtual Student Experiences ..................................................................................................................... 26 6.1. Background ..................................................................................................................................... 26 6.2. Employer Talks ................................................................................................................................ 26 6.3. Taster Activities ............................................................................................................................... 27 6.4. Content for New and Current Swansea University Students ........................................................... 27 7. Innovation and Engagement with Industry .............................................................................................. 34 8. Impact ...................................................................................................................................................... 35 9. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 36 Page | 1 Growing Comms Project Report Appendices Appendix 1: Employer Talk Pre-Activity Template Appendix 2: Taster Course Lesson Plan Figures Figure 1: Online MS Teams Training for Swansea University............................................................................ 11 Figure 2: View of the VR game engine Unity during online course ................................................................... 12 Figure 3: Session 2 Week 4 videoconference ................................................................................................... 13 Figure 4: Table of equipment purchased for Gower College Swansea ............................................................. 16 Figure 5: Gower College Swansea using the creative tablet (left) and the ring light (right) ............................. 16 Figure 6: Screenshot of Gower College Swansea’s class about horses ............................................................. 17 Figure 7: NPTC's varied teaching approaches ................................................................................................... 18 Figure 8: Work from home equipment at Pembrokeshire College (from left to right: second screen, headset, digitising tablet and visualiser) ......................................................................................................................... 20 Figure 9: Classroom configuration in Pembrokeshire College .......................................................................... 20 Figure 10: Practical work solution for Pembrokeshire College ......................................................................... 21 Figure 11: Tom Booton’s masterclass at Pembrokeshire College during Covid-19 pandemic .......................... 21 Figure 12: Work from home equipment at Swansea University ....................................................................... 23 Figure 13: Screenshots from the video "Advice and tips for remote learning" ................................................ 28 Figure 14: 360 pictures taken inside one of the laboratories ........................................................................... 29 Figure 15: Screenshots of the Swansea University Virtual Tour ....................................................................... 30 Figure 16: View from the 3D scan of the EEE Lab ............................................................................................. 31 Figure 17: Screenshot from the YouTube Live stream ...................................................................................... 32 Page | 2 Growing Comms Project Report “The collaboration on this project between the Colleges and Higher Education has built up trust and respect in each other’s knowledge and expertise. (…) It would be fantastic if we could keep this partnership and collaboration going for as long as possible.” Kate Pearce, Information and Learning Technology Lead, Gower College Swansea “One of the big success of the project is collaboration. Kate, Geoff and myself meet almost weekly with Noémi to discuss the project and other current events.” Colin Bevan, Head of ILT, NPTG Group of Colleges “We are a community and we need to find a way to keep working together.” Paul Holland, Head of the Learning and Teaching Enhancing Centre, College of Engineering, Swansea University Page | 3 Growing Comms Project Report Growing Comms Management and Project Team Management: Paul Holland, Swansea University Mark Jones, Gower College Swansea Kelly Fountain, NPTC Group of Colleges Barry Walters, Pembrokeshire College Project Team: Noémi Hilaireau, Swansea University Kate Pearce, Gower College Swansea Colin Bevan, NPTC Group of Colleges Geoff Elliot, Pembrokeshire College Page | 4 Growing Comms Project Report Executive Summary Growing Comms is a successful partnership between Higher and Further Education. Thanks to a funding extension the project was able to support the partners in the change of teaching deliveries due to Covid-19 as well as to provide students with new formats of online activities. Growing Comms was initially funded by HEFCW in 2019 to enhance collaboration between HE and FE by exploring new ways of teaching and developing new spaces to encourage collaborative small group work. The partnership of four Welsh institutions – Swansea University, Gower College Swansea, Neath Port Talbot Group of Colleges and Pembrokeshire College – successfully designed and equipped such Collaborative Spaces, while building efficient cross institutional collaboration. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project was extended until December