Benchmarking E-learning - ELTI

ELTI

ELTI is the name of one of the methodologies that was trialled in 2006 in the UK Higher Education Academy Benchmarking Pilot, by three universities:

  • University of Bristol
  • University of Hertfordshire
  • University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.

The version of ELTI on which the trials were originally based is the revised 2003 JISC version held at the JISC site http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=project_elti. The document ELTI Audit Tools is the most directly relevant to what is commonly accepted as benchmarking, especially section 1 on so-called "Institutional Factors"; however, one at least of the pilot sites took a broader view.

The UK view of ELTI is given in the entry for ELTI in the Higher Education Academy Wiki.

Further details

The ELTI audit was originally developed as part of a JISC project and was designed to inform the process of embedding learning technologies, assist in developing appropriate institutional structures, culture and expertise and to encourage cross boundary collaboration and groupings.

The ELTI approach focuses on:

  • 3 general areas for exploration: Culture, Infrastructure, and Expertise
  • 12 key factors are identified, 4 in each area
  • Up to 10 indicators are agreed, to reflect institutional context, for each factor
  • Indicators are expressed as positive statements, which can be assessed according to a 1-5 scale but can also include qualitative statements.

During the e-Learning Benchmarking Pilot the three institutions used the tools and produced alterations and their own contextualised indicators. The three institutional blogs are at:

  1. University of Bristol blog
  2. University of Hertfordshire blog
  3. University of Wales Institute, Cardiff blog.

Further reading for UK HE newcomers to the ELTI framework

  1. Higher Education Academy e-Learning Benchmarking Project Consultant Final (Public) Report, Peter Chatterton, September 2006 - available at http://elearning.heacademy.ac.uk/weblogs/benchmarking/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/Chatterton-final-public-report20060904_publish.doc. In this crisp 13-page report the main section of relevance to methodology is Section 3 (especially pages 7–8).
  2. Benchmarking e-learning: Embedding Learning Technologies Institutionally (ELTI) - a series of Reports from the University of Hertfordshire. This is a comprehensive and rather daunting set of reports with a mass of information. From the narrow standpoint of methodology the most useful are:
    • Guide to Proforma Spreadsheets, available at http://perseus.herts.ac.uk/uhinfo/library/s77652_3.pdf. This is an introduction to the next document.
    • UH Benchmarking Report - Annexe (of spreadsheets), available at http://perseus.herts.ac.uk/uhinfo/library/r77422_3.pdf. This has a series of Excel spreadsheets including a comprehensive revision of the ELTI audit tool with amended questions (including some new questions and many revised questions) and scoring statements.
  3. A department-based revision of the ELTI survey available via the University of Bristol blog or directly at http://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/ltss/elti.

Read more about this topic:  Benchmarking E-learning