Myerscough College
Myerscough College is one of the largest land-based colleges in the UK and has a dedicated Skills & Enterprise directorate focusing on Work-Based Learning. They currently deliver 16 apprenticeship schemes and over 40 NVQs. Paul McGrail, the Skills & Enterprise Quality Manager, talks about his decision in choosing OneFile.
I looked at 12 systems in total but instinctively knew from experience that OneFile met the most important criteria — accessibility. If a system isn’t appealing and easy to access from both the learners and assessors perspective then it is unlikely to be used. Other key aspects included the frequent back-up of data, approachability and support of OneFile staff, plus the access to a training server so the in-house training sessions could be fully supported.
The support has been second to none and the online help facility is quick and efficient to use. OneFile staff are always willing to work with new qualifications which we have plenty of in the land-based sector.
OneFile makes the internal verification of portfolios quick and effective and the video evidence puts more authenticity on the evidence. It negates the need for weighty paper portfolios and also speeds up the mapping of evidence to the standards. Some schemes/NVQs have moved entirely to OneFile which is great, and at the same time External Verifiers have welcomed the system especially to improve remote visits.
Cost and Time Effective
The cost of the learner licenses are easily recouped by our peripatetic assessors, even by replacing just one face-to-face visit with an e-assessment.
One example of a peripatetic assessor using this system resulted in the reduction of visits by four. Each visit would have cost us £100 for mileage and assessor time, so the total saved was £400. Using OneFile saves us over thirty hours per candidate. We no longer spend time mapping evidence to standards or waiting for portfolios to get handed in.
Assessors have found they can visit additional learners because other visit times have been reduced. They now keep allotted days for e-Portfolio days where they can service a group of learners from home using OneFile. This allows assessors to focus more on the quality and training side and give them scope to keep their admin more up-to-date.
Internal Verifier time can be cut by a significant margin sampling alone can be reduced by 50%. The struggle to get portfolios in on a national basis is totally reduced.
Advice to other Centres
Go for it. In the future, most young people entering work will be fully familiar with virtual learning environments and electronic portfolios, so centres and colleges must move into this area as soon as possible.”
Paul McGrail
Director of Quality
Myerscough College