The Assessment and Learning in Practice Settings (ALPS) project has been shortlisted for ICT Initiative of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards. The nomination have recognises the ALPS programme's innovative use of mobile learning technologies.

As lead partner of the ALPS project, the University of Leeds will attend the award ceremony. This partnership also consists of the Universities of Bradford and Huddersfield, and Leeds Metropolitan and York St John Universities. The universities have worked collaboratively to develop an interprofessional mobile assessment and e-portfolio system.

Professor Trudie Roberts, Director of ALPS and the Leeds Institute of Medical Education said: "The Faculty of Medicine and Health Care at the University of Leeds is delighted to lead this nomination for the ALPS programme. To be named a finalist at such an exciting and renowned event is wonderful, especially coming on the heels of what has been such a successful and extremely rewarding ALPS conference."

The ALPS project has been selected as a finalist in the ICT Initiative of the Year category, sponsored by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). The THE Leadership and Management Awards showcase leadership, management, financial and business skills in universities, and the ALPS project has produced an ICT initiative which demonstrates a positive effect across the five universities involved, as well as the potential for wider impact across the UK.

MyKnowledgeMap worked with T-Mobile and mobile software specialist ecommnet to create the mobile assessment and e-portfolio system for ALPS. This allows health and social care students on work placements to use mobile devices to complete and upload assessments instead of having to rely on paper or a PC.

Tutors use the system to create assessments based around core health and social care competencies and send them to the devices of students on work-based practice. As well as mobile assessment, the devices have also been used to improve students' access to learning material, including videos, PowerPoint presentations and quizzes.

The ALPS project recently won the Innovation Award in the Tertiary, FE & HE category at the 2009 Handheld Learning Awards.