The survey was designed to provide an overview of the sector's training needs in the area of
Information and Communication Technology, while recognizing that staff in particular roles would
have different and perhaps more specialised training demands in this area. Such a detailed training
analysis would allow College Staff Development Officers an overview of the training necessary and
would allow the two Scottish JISC RSCs, in co-operation with SDAS (the Staff Development
Advisory Service), to plan training courses in the short to medium term which would meet the
needs of FE staff. It was carried out primarily during the week 25th-29th of June 2001, though the
completion time was extended at the request of some of the Colleges and the final date for returns
was 31st August. It was designed to be completed entirely online and to take no more than ten
The survey, which can be found on the web at http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/tna/, had a common
format but was designed to sample responses among four distinct staff groupings who were each
offered a variant of the standard questionnaire:
The survey was designed to capture a range of yes/no and multiple choice responses,as well as free
text observations. All free text answers used in the report are presented unedited, exactly as written.
The final return of 13.4% of the target population (based on staffing return data, FTE headcount
1998-9 supplied by SFEFC), while low, does represent a significant proportion of the staff in the
sector and will give accurate pointers to the training requirements of Colleges, and of the specific
cohorts of staff analysed. However, to some degree the sample will inevitably be self-selecting,
reflecting those staff in the Colleges who have access to, skills in and familiarity with online
Access to ICT provision is widespread in
...