A Guide to using your e-learning credits

The DfES have issued the following:

Standards Fund Grant 618: Curriculum Online and distribution of E-Learning Credits - Guidance from the DfES.

Curriculum Online

Curriculum Online was announced in Autumn 2002 with £50m of new funds available for schools in England to spend on digital learning resources in the school year 2002/2003. The Secretary of State has also announced continued funding of Curriculum Online for a further 3 years.

Curriculum Online is designed to give teachers easy access to a wide range of digital learning materials, which they can use to support their teaching across the curriculum. These materials will form a consistent, coherent and comprehensive educational service for teachers to find, compare, select and share relevant digital resources. Over time, this will help free teachers to do what they do best ? teach ? by making lesson planning easier and faster and by making it easier to tailor their lessons to the needs of individual pupils.

The Curriculum Online portal offers a database of free and priced Curriculum Online-certified products and services, searchable by Key Stage, subject and topic. These resources will be provided by publishers, teachers and a range of public sector bodies including museums, galleries and, subject to DCMS approval, the BBC. Users will be able to find further information about products, including publishers? guidance, teacher reviews and guidance on how to buy.

Visit the Curriculum Online Portal http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/

E-Learning Credits

The DfES will distribute £30m in Autumn 2002 and a further £20m in Spring 2003 across all maintained schools, non-maintained schools and pupil referral units in England to spend on digital learning resources. These funds are 100% devolved to schools and are in addition to existing NGfL Standards Fund money, 15% of which is still available for content purchase.

These funds are known as e-learning credits or eLCs, and can only be spent on certified products and services through retailers registered on the Curriculum Online Portal.

Expenditure Of E-Learning Credits By Schools

Schools should only use eLCs to purchase digital resources approved under the Curriculum Online scheme. A full list of Curriculum Online approved products can be found on the Curriculum Online website.

Schools should only purchase Curriculum Online approved digital resources from Curriculum Online registered retailers. A full list of registered retailers for each product can be found on the Curriculum Online website.

Schools should use existing procurement processes to purchase approved digital resources from registered retailers.

Schools should record purchases of approved digital resources from registered retailers in the same way that they would record any other inventory.

Schools may choose to group together to negotiate bulk discounts on approved digital resources from registered retailers.

Schools may choose to purchase approved digital resources from registered retailers using part eLCs and part funding from other sources.

For more information, please see:

http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/curriculumonline/
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/standardsfund/

Also check out the e-learning foundation at:

http://www.e-learningfoundation.com/default.cfm?fuseaction=news.viewItem&itemID=41

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