The information authority board met this week and made decisions that will guide the work of the authority over the coming months. The main item on the agenda for this meeting was the consideration of changes to the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) specification for 2009/10.

In total, 32 requests for change to specification were considered by the board, out of an initial 73 requests received, including:

• removal of three fields
• addition of six new fields
• removal of the European Social Fund data set
• removal of a facility to collect ad hoc learner responsive ILR returns

The majority of the recommendations made by the secretariat were approved by the board - three fields have been removed from the ILR and three fields have been added. Requests for three new fields to be added to the ILR were rejected by the board.

In all, 73 requests were received by the secretariat - five were withdrawn after further investigation; seven requests were found to be unrelated to the ILR specification; 26 requests did not meet the criteria after being put through the challenge process and were rejected; and three requests were for minor changes to guidance and validation. Further details of the changes to the ILR specification will be made available on the website next week.

The organisations responsible for making the change requests will have been informed directly by the secretariat as to the outcome. An overview of the changes will be published by 10 October. The 2009/10 ILR specification will be published by the end of November 2008.

• held meetings with various stakeholders such as the LSC and DCSF
• held learning provider advisory group meetings
• emailed many more stakeholders regarding particular changes
• spoke to delegates at conferences. Events we presented at include the AoC Nilta conference,  the Sixth Form College Forum IS conference, and the PICS software users conference.

We want to improve the process for next year. We are particularly keen to get more people involved in the online consultation. Please do suggest how we can improve the process by contacting me directly or replying to this blog.

• The ILR specification publication date
  The vast majority of stakeholders wanted to see the date brought forward. The information authority board subsequently decided that the 2009/10 ILR specification will be published in November 2008. This gives providers and software houses much more time to amend their MI systems and processes.

• Making changes to the ILR
  Proposed changes to the ILR will now be assessed using published criteria. You will be able to comment on proposed changes in a consultation phase. Those views will be taken into account  before a final decision is made by the information authority board. 
   
• Data support
  The clear favourite forms of data support seem to be detailed ILR manuals and a helpdesk that can provide one to one data support for providers. The Data Service is currently looking into providing a service desk for data support. 
   
• ILR collection timetables
  Stakeholders do not like the bottleneck of collection dates each December and would like that to be addressed. Other than that they are broadly happy with the current collection dates. Providers would like to know what each data return is actually used for and where the data goes.
   
• Stakeholder engagement
  Stakeholders suggested that the best way for the information authority to contact and consult them is through websites, e-shots, workshops and working groups.

Paul

T: 02476 823597
M: 07917 475195
E: paul.kelman@theia.org.uk

The information authority secretariat has a presence at the Capita Conference  for further and higher education today and tomorrow. Una Bennett and Pete Ashton will both be speaking to the conference, and other members of the team are manning the stand:

More photos will be appearing throughout the day - see here for the latest. 

We're hoping to be able to provide various updates of what we are up to using the blog - feel free to get in touch with us in the comments!     

I thought I might use my first blog post on this site to talk about exactly what we hope the platform will be used for, and what are plans for the future are.

Before I do that, though, I probably ought to introduce myself. I'm Dave Briggs, and I am a Change Manager at the information authority. It's been one of my main jobs to get this site up and running - and so it's probably therefore my fault if things don't quite work as you had hoped!

The main objectives we had for this site were to provide the following:

• a platform through which the consultations and discussions around the individualised learner record can be held and recorded
• a system which enables the information authority to communicate better with our stakeholders
• a site which the many disparate groups within the FE system in England could use to share knoweldge, experience, information and indeed just have a bit of a chat now and again.

The developments in web technology over recent years - the explosion in 'user generated content' and buzzwords such as 'social media' and 'web 2.0' seem all the rage - meant that we had a real opportunity to redefine how a public body could use the web in order to engage with stakeholders. What we most certainly did not want was to use the web as a 'push' medium - in other words, "here's our content, now read it a go away".

Instead, we want to actively engage, to have a conversation with our stakeholders to ensure that not only are we passing on our message, but that we are listening too, and better understanding what it is that the people working in our sector actually want.

So, we are hoping that feconnect will help us to do exactly that. We have created a number of forums for you to use to discuss relevant issues with your peers, and with us. We have also created two blogs, one for the information authority Secretariat and one for the Board. Each blog post provides the opportunity to add comments so you can let us know your views on what it is we are saying - and we'll come back and respond to what you are saying. Thirdly, there is the Downloads section, where we make available as many documents as we can.

This site is very much a pilot - indeed, in the spirit of 'web 2.0' we should perhaps label it a 'beta' product. So, we will be adding more features as we go along, where people feel they will be useful. So if you have any views, I would be delighted to hear them.