Welcome to the August issue of our e-books for FE newsletter. We hope your summer vacations and staycations have provided some relaxation before the start of the new term, at a time when travel and social interactions are still liable to sudden disruption and continuing uncertainty.

Win a £30 National Book Token

The monthly National Book Token giveaway is back! In April we suspended this regular prize, due to Covid-19 disruption in the workplace, but with the new term on the horizon we are ready to start this again.

Each month we will ask a question relating to our digital resources, whether e-books or Vocational Learning Resources, and invite you to respond via Twitter. The winner, chosen at random, will receive a £30 National Book Token.

The question for August is:

“How are you planning to embed our digital resources into your remote learning strategy in the new term?”

Your responses will provide ideas and inspiration for all institutions, as well as showcasing your own initiatives.

You must include @ebooksforfe and @fe_jisc in your Tweets so that we see them. Feel free to thread multiple Tweets together, if your response requires it.

Deadline: 31 August.

The winner will be announced in the September newsletter. Good luck!

Welsh government guidance on blended learning

The Welsh government has published its blended learning guidance for post-16 providers, with key documents available at https://hwb.gov.wales/distance-learning/post-16-learning-and-skills/blended-learning-guidance-for-post-16-providers

This guidance was produced in consultation with Jisc, and provides a wealth of information that will be useful for library and teaching staff in the year ahead, so please share the contents with your colleagues. The key documents are:

Covid-19 Resilience Plan for the post-16 sector: guidance for blended learning (6 pages)

Content headings:

What are the characteristics of effective blended learning?
Planning blended learning programmes
Teaching and learning strategies
Digital wellbeing
Accessibility and inclusion

Covid-19 Resilience Plan for the post-16 sector: basic principles in designing blended learning programmes (7 pages)

Content headings:

Designing blended learning
Support and guidance

Webinar clinics

The next webinar clinic will be on 26 August from 2-3 pm. There will be two topics:

JUSP

We will discuss what JUSP is, why we work with COUNTER complaint data, how it can be used, and where JUSP fits in. Throughout the session there will be an opportunity to share your experiences and your challenges with e-resource usage data. Find out more about JUSP at https://jusp.jisc.ac.uk/

Virtual Learning Resources (VLRs)

We will be giving an overview of our Vocational Learning Resources, outlining the new pricing model, and answering any questions you might have about using this service.

The clinic can be accessed at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/training/e-books-for-fe-online-clinic

Support site

In the coming months we will be updating the e-books for FE support site at https://support.ebooksforfe.jisc.ac.uk/

There is a fair amount of duplication in terms of content at present, so we aim to simplify what the site contains and improve the overall structure. An overview of the updated site will be given at a future webinar clinic, with an opportunity for feedback.

Top 20 users in July 2020

Well done to all organisations who reached a spot in the top 20.

Rank	Organisation	User sessions
1	King Edward VI College, Stourbridge	470
2	Brighton, Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College	378
3	Varndean College	325
4	Hereford Sixth Form College	254
5	Summit Learning Trust	238
6	South Thames College	233
7	The Manchester College	229
8	Shrewsbury Colleges Group	226
9	Nottingham College	225
10	Farnborough Sixth Form College	222
11	Colchester Sixth Form College	189
12	The College of Richard Collyer	160
13	Burton & South Derbyshire College	158
14	New College, Pontefract	155
15	Capital City College Group – WKCIC Group	146
16	Luton Sixth Form College	138
17	New College, Swindon	134
18	South & City College Birmingham	133
19	Kirklees College	131
20	Holy Cross College	126

Mergers: If your organisation has recently merged with another, ProQuest may not have the most current merger information and your merger may not be reflected in the usage data. Please check with ProQuest and request that they update your account to reflect the merger. Their e-book support contact address is: ebooksupport@proquest.com

Top 20 titles in July 2020

Rank	Title	User sessions
1	CACHE Level 2 Diploma for the Early Years Practitioner	655
2	CACHE, Level 3 – Diploma in Supporting Teaching and Learning	345
3	AQA A Level Biology 1 : For A Level Year 1 and AS	327
4	US Government and Politics for A Level, Fifth Edition	324
5	OCR A Level Law Book 2	233
6	Edexcel GCE Geography Y2 A Level Student Book	229
7	CACHE Level 3 Child Care and Education : Early Years Educator	214
8	CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator : for the Work-Based Learner	208
9	Law: The Basics	204
10	OCR A Level Mathematics Year 2	160
11	AQA A Level Psychology Book 1 : For A-level Year 1 and AS	157
12	Pearson Edexcel A Level Politics	149
13	OCR Psychology for A Level Book 1	147
14	BTEC Level 3 National Health and Social Care: Student Book 2	142
15	BTEC Level 3 National Health and Social Care: Student Book 1	139
16	AQA A Level Geography : For A-level and AS – Fourth Edition	128
17	BTEC Level 3 Nationals 2016 Applied Science Student Book 2	128
18	AQA A Level Law for Year 2	127
19	Civil Rights and Race Relations in the USA 1850-2009 for Edexcel	126
20	AQA A Level Biology 2	122

Support queries

Email: content.feandskills@jisc.ac.uk
Website: https://support.ebooksforfe.jisc.ac.uk/