At the end of the RSC Customer Satisfaction Survey 2009 (CSS), respondents had the opportunity to opt-in to further research about the future of the RSCs. This took the form of a survey investigating the relative priorities that should be given to the different support areas in the proposed RSC Round 4 remit. Learning Resource, Staff Development and Technical Managers were excluded from the sample, to allow a focus on more senior management roles.

Of the 340 potential invitees from the CSS, 135 opted to participate in this follow-up survey, with completed responses being received from 85, representing a response rate of 63%. Despite this level of response, however, the small sample and structure of the questionnaire limited the analysis that could be conducted. Notably, comparisons between RSCs could not be made, respondent sector/role differences were generally not apparent, and rankings for individual support items in different overarching areas cannot be directly compared.

Respondents were first asked to describe the top two ICT related challenges facing their organisations over the next three years, to put them in the appropriate frame of mind to evaluate the relative priorities that should be ascribed to the differing Round 4 support areas. The top three challenges related to: implementing or developing e-learning (45% of respondents), embedding e-learning/ICT within the organisation (30%), and ICT infrastructure development (26%). Notably, the first was important in all sectors whilst the latter two were more important for Adult and Community Learning (ACL) and Further Education Colleges (FEC), respectively.

Next, respondents were asked to rank the four main Round 4 support areas in order of priority. Joint first were 'Learning, Teaching & Assessment' (1.79 mean rank) and 'Infrastructure & Systems' (2.18), third was 'Organisational Improvement' (2.64) and fourth was 'Business Management' (3.40), essentially following the ranking given in the CSS. The rank order was not related to respondent sector but rather the future challenges facing respondent organisations: those concerned with e-learning further prioritised 'Learning, Teaching & Assessment', whilst those embedding e-learning/ICT gave greater weight to 'Organisational Improvement', and those developing ICT infrastructure prioritised that.

Each of the four general areas was then examined in greater detail, with respondents ranking individual support items in order of priority (see Table 1). 'Learning, Teaching & Assessment' was the only support area where respondent priorities were well resolved, showing a strong preference for direct learner-centric support. 'Infrastructure & Systems' was particularly poorly resolved, perhaps reflecting the diverse range of organisations in the sample: however, where it was considered a future challenge, IT systems beyond the basic network were most important. 'Organisational Improvement' was also poorly resolved, with the only clear priority being embedding e-Learning, and this was even clearer for respondents who cited it as a challenge. 'Business Management' was marginally better resolved with a distinct preference for the more learner-centric items at the expense of organisation-centric administrative support.

Table 1: Rank position and mean score for the support areas and items questioned; although presented hierarchically, rank comparisons between support items in different support areas should not be made

The strong desire for continued learner-centric support, which has been the core offering of the RSCs from Round 2 onwards, is the most notable outcome from this survey; not only is that general area ranked highest overall but individual learner-centric support items are consistently highly ranked across all four support areas. ICT infrastructure and systems are also highly ranked, in part due to VLEs, but that aside it reflects the necessity of the network rather than a desire to develop management information systems et al.

Embedding e-learning is perhaps an emerging priority for many of the surveyed organisations, and is reflected in the top rakings given to 'Physical & virtual learning space design' and 'Quality enhancement'. Organisation-centric, administration and management support is not a priority for most of the respondents, as illustrated by the low ranking given to 'Business management' and non-learner focussed support items in other areas.

The implications for developing and implementing the Round 4 remit is that the focus should remain on established learner-oriented support provision, although increased support on embedding e-learning/ICT may be welcomed by some organisations. Care should be taken over the new organisation-oriented management and administration support as there little evidence of any demand for it.

The only caveat to this concerns the composition of the survey sample, which included a majority (76%) of Adult and Community Learning providers, Work Based Learning providers, and Specialist Colleges, which are likely to be less advanced with regard to ICT and e-learning than Further Education Colleges. This may have had an effect on the overall rankings: however, there is little evidence to support this.