Design issues
ICT
Becta and partners are providing this information to make sure that you get the best from technology from the LSC capital programme investment.
It is important that ICT is considered at the earliest opportunity in the design of a new building or refurbishment of an old one – if possible there should be discussions about the vision for how technology will be used to support learning well before any detailed discussions with architects and construction companies. The technology solution should support the overall educational vision and ethos of the educational institution and not be developed in isolation.
Becta have developed a tool “The ICT Quality Indicators” which can be used to help explore your expectations of how technology will be used in new and refurbished buildings. They have been designed to encourage discussion between students, parents, teaching staff and governors.
BECTA quality indicators
The indicators can be used in stakeholder engagement activities, enabling participants to reach a consensus about what their technology expectations are and feed these ideas into the specification and design of new learning spaces. This will help ensure that the building is fit for purpose for learning in the 21st century and that technology is embedded in the design and use of the new facilities.
When developing a functional specification for your project you should keep in mind the following principles:
-Be learner and user centric rather than technology focused i.e. focus on the functions that need to take place to support learning rather than technology intervention to support a discrete task.
-Be technology agnostic and provide a basis for technical staff/consultants to talk to senior management and educators in terminology that all can understand
Functional specifications
BECTA Functional Specification for FE Colleges
Becta specifies a comprehensive set of requirements for institutional infrastructure in order to offer learners, educators and administrators a wide range of choice and access to ICT, and to support flexible working via ICT, to manage data and improve efficiency, and to secure data and protect the user. These can be used as the basis of an institutions own functional specification.
BECTA Technical Specifications for colleges
The technical criteria required in order to deliver the functional requirements are split into four sections:
Section 1 – Local area networks in institutions
Section 2 – Services and applications in institutions
Section 3 – Implementation of ICT security in institutions
Section 4 – Network technologies in institutions
Where possible, the technical specifications described are based on open technical standards and specifications. Implementing requirements to known and specified standards is the best way, and in many cases the only way, to ensure that the institution’s infrastructure can evolve and expand in a sustainable and coherent way. A standards-based approach will also help to ensure that there can be seamless interoperability between different institutions; this will be of paramount importance as educational ICT moves into the future towards ever more integrated learning environments.
Consultancy
You may require ICT consultancy to help with planning. Becta's EU-compliant Consultancy Services Framework provides you with a simple way to access authorised suppliers who offer a range of ICT educational, technical and procurement consultancy services see www.becta.org.uk/feandskills/consultancy for more information on how to use this.
The National Audit office provide a toolkit to help determine whether the use of consultants is effective http://nao.org.uk/efficiency/consultancy_toolkit/index.htm.
Framework for ICT Technical Support (FITS)
http://becta.org.uk/fits/index.cfm
Technical support is the function responsible for ensuring the continued operation of ICT equipment and services. Technical support is a necessity in any organisation that is dependent on its ICT. It is important to ensure sufficient resources are allocated to supporting the ICT component of any new build project. FITS provides an industry standard approach to ensuring staff can rely on the Infrastructure provided.
JISC infoNet's resource on Planning and Designing Technology-Rich Learning Spaces has a range of information relating to the use of ICT in Learning Spaces. Further information can be found at http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/learning-space-design. The related Resources Collection (http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/learning-space-design/more) includes Case Study material and images of the application of technology in the sector.
