Success Factors

What are the key outcomes of the initiative?

ISLE was a large project, involving nearly 100 cohorts with around 1,000 students, over 90 staff committing more than 30,000 hours of time and covering over 35 subject areas.

Evidence has shown that the project has:

• Fostered a major strategic change initiative, necessitating culture change and fundamental shifts in previous directions at policy and practice levels and the growth of an environment for transformational change
• Developed a shared understanding across all partners and participants of PDP, the operation of this on an e-portfolio basis and the concept of Effective Learning Environments based on the '3 spheres' pedagogical model from the ELF project
• Demonstrated that the pedagogical model drives the e-portfolio tool rather than the other way round
• Increased learner engagement and motivation to learn based on reflection on, and articulation of, their learning and other skills such as IT, e-learning, employability, action planning, time management, study skills and 'citizenship'
• Met the diverse needs and rising expectations of learning within the context of continued pressure to reduce costs
• Achievement of the original objective transforming the under-performance of learners has been more difficult due to the short-term nature of the project. However, at least two of the partners have reported noticeable improvements in module pass rate where the ISLE project was being piloted