A shorter week with the bank holiday and all that.. Talking of holidays, I read this news article on the BBC News site about reserving sun loungers with towels.
A German tourist has won a payout of more than €900 (£850) after he was unable to secure a sun lounger due to other guests reserving them with towels.
Of course if you were to go down to the swimming pool you would find that there were plenty of empty sun loungers (with towels on them). Reminds me why I never used PC booking software when running my libraries. Students would reserve PCs with their “towels” and then never turn up. The PC was unused and unavailable for others to use. Same can be said with sun loungers.
I had a number of meetings this week about the creation of a GÉANT group building on the success of NRENS 4 Education and the work we have been doing looking at student mobility.
The end of the week saw me attending a meeting with the OfS, one of the regular meetings Jisc has with the OfS. I spoke about some of the work we have been doing in the student experience space.
The current consultancy project I am involved in is going well.
I have been thinking about the future student experience. You can quite easily argue that digital is already embedded into the current student experience. Much of what they do at university is now dependent on digital; from connectivity, cyber, to authentication, access to resources. Online resources are more the norm these days, and resources like ebooks are proving more popular with students. The use of learning platforms (the ubiquitous VLE) is embedded as are video platform tools such as Teams and Zoom.
So what of the future?
As, we know predicting the future, is easy, getting it right though it nigh on impossible.
What we have seen over the last ten years though is widespread adoption and usage of digital technologies. Whereas twenty years ago we would be trying to “sell” the benefits of learning technologies, today the use of technology for learning and teaching is pretty much the norm.
Those with long memories may remember the many presentations I gave over ten years ago now on the future of learning. I was on the conference circuit then talking about the future impact of digital and technology on the learning experience. Some of what I said came true, other aspects less so. Look I told you, predicting the future, is easy, getting it right though it nigh on impossible.
One feature that I never really saw people predict was the widespread use of AI (well large language generative models) by students. The long term impact of that has to be seen, but in the short term we are seeing extensive use of AI by students in many different ways.
Getting back to where I started this blog post, the future student experience. Thirty years ago when I was teaching, I didn’t have the Internet (I didn’t get access (with a 56k modem) until 1998). The college I was working in as a lecturer did have a single computer with internet access and that was really slow. My students did use technology, but it was in the main using a word processor to write assignments, and Excel for doing finance stuff. I did use presentation software, but in the main that was for printing acetates which I then used with an overhead projector (OHP).
The current student experience is so different to where it was twenty years ago. Back then colleges had been connected to JANET and virtually all had decided to have a VLE. Usage of that said VLE though was inconsistent across not just the sector, not just the college, but also departments and teams. Many learning technologists of that era were trying to persuade and sell the use of said tech to academics, who were a little sceptical. At the same time though IT teams were expanding the network infrastructure, professional services were digitising their processes, and email became much more ubiquitous. Though there was still some wariness about learning technologies, digital technologies were been or had been embedded into the operational side of education. It was this that probably had more impact on the role of digital in education than anything else.
I headed to the office on Monday. The rest of the week I was working from home, in the main as I had number of online meetings and as I have mentioned before I don’t really see the value of heading off to Bristol, spending time (and money) commuting, to then frantically book meeting rooms for various online meetings, moving around during the day. If I have a lot of online meetings then I prefer to work from home and take them there. Having said that, I did have a couple of short calls on Monday, one was a team update, the other was a workshop planning session.
This week I was part of a panel session looking at LLE. My focus was on the importance of the student experience, the data journey, and thenecessity of the sector to adhere to standards and enable interoperability. Without this then there will be an administrative burden on both the students and the institutions. I did note some thoughts about the financial viability of LLE.
Had a planning meeting about a workshop at TNC 26 in Helsinki, unfortunately I am unable to attend TNC this year.
I have been doing some quality assurance for one of our consultancy projects. It has been interesting to undertake this and makes a nice change from my usual routine.
This week I was part of a panel session looking at LLE. My focus was on the importance of the student experience, the data journey, and thenecessity of the sector to adhere to standards and enable interoperability.
One delegate in the event spoke about the financially viability of LLE, indicating in their opinion that the proposed LLE model is not financially viable. That did get me thinking that what this does imply is not that LLE is not financially viable in itself, but the income derived from LLE will not cover the costs of LLE. You could also argue that the current spending model of higher education is not financially viable when delivering LLE.
So, do you raise the fees for LLE, and increase the student loans for the student, or do you change the business model of delivering higher education so that it is financially viable. It’s not too much of a surprise to see that a model designed for delivering a three year degree programme isn’t really fit for purposes in delving modular programmes.
One factor that traditional higher education institutions may want to reflect on, is that non-traditional higher education providers and new entrants may be more agile and able to change to deliver modular programmes in a cost effective manner. Just because you can’t see how to make LLE financially viable doesn’t mean that others won’t see opportunities.
A (much) shorter week this week as I was taking some leave towards the end of the week. I also spent time traveling up to Leeds for the AUDE conference where I was part of a panel session looking at the smart campus. We had a good session looking at the wider challenges for higher education and the opportunities for collaboration in the estates space. Due to a number of unavoidable meetings I didn’t really get to attend any of the other sessions at the conference.
Did some preparation for a webinar I am attending next week on LLE. I am focusing on the student experience and the importance of interoperability for student mobility.
Undertook some planning and brainstorming of ideas for workshops at the TNC Conference in June.
This was may first full week for what feels like ages. I worked from home all week, partly as I was expecting deliveries (one of the advantages of working from home) and also I had a lot of online meetings in the diary. I don’t really see the value of heading off to Bristol, spending time (and money) commuting, to then frantically book meeting rooms for various online meetings, moving around during the day. If I have a lot of online meetings then I prefer to work from home and take them there.
Some of my meetings were in relation to student mobility, including an interesting session on stakeholder mapping. The reality of the student mobility agenda is that there are multiple stakeholders, including students (obviously) higher education institutions, national agencies, government departments, and others.
I did attend one meeting, it made me realise that the concept of strategy is one that still seems to confuse people. If you decide what you want to do, and then use that to inform the strategy, then that is not a strategy. At a simple level if you choose what you want to do, then it doesn’t really matter if you then write a strategy based on that or not. I did buy and read Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard Rumelt a few years back on the recommendation of a colleague, it certainly is an interesting read and reflects that a lot of people don’t know what strategy is and how to develop and deliver strategy.
Did preparation for the panel session I am on next week at the AUDE conference. Though the primary focus of the session is on digital, the current university sector climate will be looked at, in terms of collaboration and sharing. I worked on some notes and briefing points for the session.
I also did some work on what LLE could mean for the university sector and for Jisc. Of course the only real focus of Lifelong Learning Entitlement is on the entitlement part, in other words the funding side. Reading about that on the various stakeholder, such as the Office for Students and the Student Loans Company, their focus is on ensuring that the cash side is sorted.
Of course, the full potential of LLE is in the lifelong learning with people being able to draw down funding (loans) to pay for part time learning at a time and place of their choosing. However without some kind of infrastructure and ecosystem in place, then the administrative burden on students and institutions will be huge (and costly). Thinking about every time a student applies for a programme of study, they will need to prove who they are each time, their current qualifications and these will then need to be verified as a true account from accredited institutions. This is why I have been looking at the European Higher Education Interoperability Framework as a potential solution for the student journey in an LLE world.
I will be speaking at a couple of (online) events over the next few months, including one on LLE. I was also invited to speak about digital at an online event on estates.
Another shorter week with Easter Monday. I was working this week, but many of my colleagues had taken the week off, so it was somewhat quiet in the “office”. Actually quite quiet across the sector as many people were having a break at Easter. I suspect next week might be quite quiet as well.
Having said that, I did present at an online event this week, a Public Policy Exchange webinar on supporting university students. The focus of my presentation was about innovation in (essentially) curriculum design, and the importance of interoperability in all that.
Finished adding my comments to a review of the GÉANT TF-EDU survey which goes out soon. The survey looks at how NRENS across the GÉANT community support, provide or deliver services for education.
I have also been writing up some of the internal conversations I have been having around the European Higher Education Interoperability Framework (EHEIF) and what this means (or could mean) for the UK and Jisc.
Did some logistical planning for my trip to Leeds in a couple of weeks where I am on a panel session at the AUDE conference.
I was reminded again this week about how often “solutions” are seen as the problem that needs to be solved, so much so, that the actual problem is lost in the background.
A shorter week this week with Good Friday at the end of the week. I did go to the office on Thursday which was quiet, as expected, as many people were going on leave.
I had quite a few meetings this week.
I did see on WonkHE briefing about a potential £360m fund for restructuring higher education. David Kernohan digs into the detail.
If we have indeed found evidence of DfE plans to prop up the sector, what might such a scheme look like? So is there really £360m in DfE for loans available to help the higher education sector restructure?
Many higher education institutions have been asking for funding to support collaboration, this restructuring fund may be an option. However, this is a loan, so collaboration would need to result in enough savings to pay back the loans. There will probably also be conditions. The WonkHE article does dive into the similarities that we saw some years back in the FE sector and their restructuring.
Last week I was in Oxford for the HESCA conference. I have been a regular presenter at the Higher Education Smart Campus Association (HESCA) conference, and for the third year running I delivered a keynote presentation on collaboration.
I was talking once more about working together, but taking more of a reflective look on where we are as a sector. I was presenting a state of the nation look at collaboration and why the higher education sector is not doing more collaboration. In many ways the focus of my presentation was based on my blog post on building bridges.
The presentation went down well, and as well as a range of questions, my talk was referenced by other speakers during the rest of the conference.
There were a range of presentations at the event, some from vendors, and a fair few from the sector. Actually this year a considerable number of the speakers were from universities. It got me thinking that many of the talks would be of interest to many in the sector, and due to the number of sponsors the event is free to those from colleges and universities.
There isn’t really another event like this, the AUDE conference does cover some of the topics, likewise Jisc events cover the technology side of things. The smart campus and intelligent campus space which spreads over estates and IT is often missed, but this is an ideal event for presentations and discussion about that landscape. So, something to think about for HESCA 27 next year.
This week I was in Oxford for the HESCA conference. I enjoyed the conference and it was good to hear a range of diverse viewpoints on the use of technology to support the student experience.
I was talking once more about collaboration, but taking more of a reflective look on where we are. I was presenting a state of the nation look at collaboration and why the higher education sector is not doing more collaboration. In many ways the focus of my presentation was based on my blog post on building bridges.
On my way back from Oxford I did pop in and have a meeting at our offices in Milton Park before then heading back to our Bristol office.
I have been having conversations and discussions with colleagues inside Jisc on digital credentials and digital wallets. Within the European Higher Education Interoperability Framework one of the use cases is about how a student can communicate their educational credentials to both other educational institutions and employers. There has been quite a bit of work done in this space, what I was interested in was what has been happening in Jisc.
I wrote a blog post about the impact of student loans on peoples’ lives.
Over the last couple of years I have been saying across various conversations about the impact of paying back student loans could have on future student recruitment. I would talk about how the next generation of students will be the first whose parents were required to take out student loans to pay their fees and for the maintenance. Their parents would have the seen the real life impact of their student debt on their lifestyle. It would reduce their real income and would have had an impact on other financial choices such as mortgage affordability.
I read WonkHE’s report on AI and students. It reflected much of my (admittedly limited) knowledge on how students are using AI.
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