Dear All,
many thanks for replying to my hasty survey on VLE funding. As promised
here is a summary of the replies (anonymised of course),
Stuart
Stuart Lee
Head of the LTG
Oxford University
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Snapshot Survey of VLE Funding
Unfortunately I have not had time to analyse this based on differing
replies from sectors so please forgive me for that.
There were 34 replies in total. Of those who indicated status 12 were from
HEIs, and 16 from FE/ACL.
In terms of which platforms people used results were: BlackBoard 35%,
WebCT 32%, Granada (various versions) 19%, Bodington 6%, Moodle 3%, other
5%. Others mentioned were Technikal, and self-developed specialised ones
for particular subjects (n=34).
In terms of the time the VLE has been in place the results were: 3 years
plus 58%, 2-3 years 24%, 1-2 years 15%, less than a year 3% (n=33).
Initial funding was received from internal grants (47%), external money
(29%), combination of the two 20%, other 4%. Funding agencies mentioned
were the EU, FE grants/LSC, and TQEF (n=34).
Most people recognised it was tricky to say how many people were
'supporting' the VLE as support is a loose term. Even when they indicated
a figure they noted that they also drew on such people as IT support,
trainers, pedagogy experts, etc. Moreover, it was noted that support was
low in some cases as opposed to development. Overall then one would
suspect that the replies indicate the minimum, and indeed 1 or 2 FTE could
be added in many cases:
2 FTE 23%, 1 FTE or less 17%, 3 FTE 17%, 5 FTE 8%, 5+ FTE 6%, 4 FTE 2%
(n=34).
In terms of funding (n=33) the figures varied. The average spend was about
45k pa, but many comments indicated that this did not include full
staffing costs, and it is extremely difficult to calculate this cost.
Rough breakdown though was: less than 10k 6%, 10-20k 12%, 20-40k 18%,
40-60k 6%, 80-100k 9%, 100-150k 6%, 150-200k 9%.
The penultimate question related to how the VLE was funded. Undeniably
most institutions funded their VLE support through centralised core
budgets (25, with n=33). Two institutions had a mid-way model with some
money coming out of central costs, and some charging to
departments/schools etc taking place. Only one indicated that the VLE was
being funded solely by charging to the devolved units. Others found
the question difficult to answer.
Finally, in terms of long-term funding, 33 replied to this but only 11
seemed to be able to place a figure on it (average was between 1 and 2
years). Many remarked that they had no idea, but hoped it was permanent.
Some pointed to regular reviews, which they would have to report to, but
several commented that it was on a year to year, hand to mouth basis.
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