Project Conclusion and Future Planning

The SWANI project concluded its work with the final Stakeholder Workshop/Steering Group meeting yesterday. The meeting reviewed the work of the project and noted that all of the key objectives had been achieved and outcomes delivered. It recieved the draft project report and discussed the content. Some minor amendments were made, principally the updating of the number of WBL forms now available in digitised form on the Joomla platform, and the report was then approved for submission to JISC.

The follow on work, dissemination and benefits realisation activities were discussed. It was agreed that a six month period of implementation, testing and evaluation would begin in January 2012, in parallel with the existing paper based WBL administration processes. The outcomes of that evaluation would then be discussed with all the WBL partners, with a view to full implementation thereafter. It was agreed that the successful outcome of the project would be disseminated through appropriate channels in 2012 and this would be led by Prof Toole who would identify and prepare for suitable conference presentation opportunities in the first half of the year. The possibility of organising a Webinar was also discussed.

The meeting concluded by thanking all of the stakeholders for their contribution and commended, in particular, the work of the technical team who created the digitised version of the WBL management and administration system.

End of Project Planning

The SWANI project is due to complete at the end of this month and the project team is in the process of producing the necessary paperwork, particularly the project final report. The latest draft was discussed with the Programme Manager, Rob Englebright, this morning and the final version will be released following the final stakeholder meeting scheduled at Coleg Sir Gar tomorrow.

The plan will now be, following the end of the project, for the new digitised system to run in parallel with the paper based system during the first half of 2012. A review of the system will then take place, in collaboration with all WBL partners, to decide on the future implementation of digitisation on a wider basis.

In terms of project dissemination, it is expected that the project outputs will be included in conference presentations in the new year, and that a journal publication will be planned, possibly as a technical note, that would be of value to others in the community of practice planning similar development.

Acceptance of Digital Pen System

Feedback from the WBL Manager and Auditor in the Welsh Government DfES has confirmed that the use of the digital pen system for signing off all audit documents in the work based learning system is acceptable. Their response states that it meets the requirements of the EU audit process and can be used as planned to complete the digitisation of the management and administration of the programme.

Digital Signature Testing Complete

All of the digital forms created for the SWANI WBL project have now been successfully tested with the digital pen and shown to work as planned. The recent steering group meeting discussed the results and approved them. The information is now being presented to the relevant WBL authorities for their agreement to proceed to a full trial during 2012.

Testing fastdox

To begin the process,the fastdox software was installed and the digital pen registered for use. Although the documentation implied that a postscript laser printer would be needed, a standard Lexmark ink jet printer was tested to see if it had adequate resolution for the pen to record the written script. It had, and this implied that any modern printer would be OK.

The printer was configured for digital paper printing using the setup menu. The effect of this was to add 'fastdox' as a new printer in the list available when using any application that has a print function.

When the print function in any application is selected and the 'fastdox' printer option chosen, the software prepares to print the document concerned on top of a dot matrix that will be recognised by the digital pen. This results in a printed page with a light grey background.

The process of preparing the page for printing also creates a PDF copy of the page which can be stored in any location. All pages are uniquely identified and date-stamped by the software.

The digital pen can now be used to write on the digital paper. All writing is recorded by the pen in an inbuilt memory for subsequent processing. When the pen communicates with the computer hosting the fastdox application (either by a direct docking cradle or via bluetooth/mobile phone), the software is activated and the page is displayed, together with any writing added using the digital pen.

A key feature of the software is the way it allows modifications to the documents to be time-stamped. The original printing date is automatically recorded, as is the most recent 'inking' when it was last annotated. An option is for each alteration to be saved as a separate PDF file which records the date and time the alteration was made. This provides the audit trail for signatures that the project is looking for.

Digital Signature System

The Fastdox digital pen system testing began last week. The system was chosen as it allowed physical signatures to be recorded on all formal audit documentation, and a digitised version of the same documents to be transmitted by mobile phone to the central recording system.

The system will be trialled for a further two weeks as operational procedures are devised for efficient use by Training Advisors in the field. The use of the pen will then be incorporated in the overall field testing of the digitised WBL administration system to be carried out over the next two months.

Steering Group Meeting 26.09.11

The steering group noted that the digitisation of the WBL administration and management documents was at an advanced stage of development and that the use of the digital pen signature system was planned for testing over the next two weeks.
It was agreed that plans could now be put in place for the field testing of the system with the Training Advisors, employers and learners. This would determine the operational procedures that needed to be put into place for the recording of WBL activity, learner progress, and the securing of appropriate audit documentation.
The meeting concluded that the project was on track to achieve all of its targets by the end of the year.

Screenshots of the database

The database and the adminstrative forn and back ends are now largely complete. Screenshots of the pages have been uploaded to the project website and can be viewed in the window below. to download the file click here.

Most of the descriptive text has yet to be inputed, but the overal structure is in place and the data field management has been implemented.
Over the next few weeks the forms will be fully populated and field testing with the Training Advisors and other stakeholders will take place.

Trialling Mobile Digital Pen

If this works it will solve the problem of digitising the signatures so that the centralised system can record them as they occur, whilst satisfying the audit requirements of the EU and the Welsh Office.
There are a number of digital pens on the market that digitise handwritten text. The product being trialled here is the Destiny.Fastdox pen and software which creates a version of the audit forms that the pen, when the signature is written, records this digitally and sends it, via blutooth and mobile phone, to the document database.
In this way, there is a written signature that meets the EU audit requirements, and there is a central verifiable digitised version that completes the objective of fully digitising the administrative and management document system.
The outcomes of the trial will be reported here in due course.

Significant Progress on Digitisation

Following a review meeting today, it can be reported that significant progress has been made towards the target of fully digitising the workbased-learning documentation at Coleg Sir Gar. Of the nine main forms that make up the WBL record, seven are now complete and are available as templates on the Joomla-based WBL online environment.
The online environment provides both back office and front office administration of these forms and the data fields they contain are all linked to a single database. The aim is to have a system where common data fields are automatically populated from a single data entry event and that data consistency and accuracy across the system is ensured.
All this has been achieved over the summer period when not only were key project staff taking leave, there was a change in the format of the WBL forms required to be used by the institution, so a lot of the initial work had to be updated!

Possible Plan B for Digital Signatures

An interesting option has emerged from the digital signature research that might represent an immediate intermediate solution for the audit trail problem being addressed by the SWANI project. A digital pen system that allows the physical signature of paper copies of the audit documents, whilst simultaneously updating the digital records of the online system of WBL management and administration. This maintains the current EU and WAG requirements, whilst also allowing the full digitsation of the management system. We will be testing and evaluating this option and will report in due course.

Welcome to the SWANI Project Blog

The JISC funded SWANI Project began earlier this year with the objective of fully digitising the Work Based Learning system at Coleg Sir Gar. At present, the system is paper based and this makes it relatively inefficient, costly to manage and carries risks of information loss as it is shared between the key system stakeholders.
The new system will make all the information and paperwork available online and will implement a system of secure digital signatures that will satisfy the need for an audit trail of documentation that verifies learner achievement.