In April 2008 the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) published Enhancing learning and teaching through technology: a strategy for higher education in Wales. This described a ten-year strategy that aimed to accelerate the mainstreaming of technology-enhanced learning and teaching provision processes and practice and to support Welsh higher education institutions in embracing new technologies and identifying how their application could enhance learning teaching and the overall student experience. In September 2011 HEFCW issued a ‘refreshed’ strategy based on an independent review. The review had concluded that the strategy had played a significant role in advancing technology-enhanced learning in the sector and that all institutions had achieved a good level of maturity in this area with some excellent examples of good practice. However the strategy now places greater emphasis than before on the need for an evidence-based approach.
The review had concluded that the strategy had played a significant role in advancing technology-enhanced learning in the sector and that all institutions had achieved a good level of maturity in this area with some excellent examples of good practice. However the strategy now places greater emphasis than before on the need for an evidence-based approach.
Institutions have engaged with the strategy through two main implementation initiatives. The most significant of these was a programme managed by the Higher Education Academy which came to be known as 'Gwella' (a term whose connotations include 'to improve' or 'to enhance'). Gwella was supplemented by a JISC programme entitled Building Capacity. This brochure highlights some of the progress made under these initiatives and features some vignettes of good practice in technology-enhanced learning (TEL) covering the first four objectives of the HEFCW strategy. The examples come from Gwella Building Capacity and related activities. The institutions highlighted are not the only ones working in each area (for example all Welsh universities are developing their assessment and feedback practice) but they serve to give a flavour of the range of activity going on across Wales.
