I had a quiet week in terms of meetings and events, but did go to the Bristol office for three days this week.
Monday was spent catching up with email and Teams messages from last week when I was mainly on leave. Also on Monday was our monthly leadership meeting.
I was failing miserably to use the campaigns function of Salesforce for one of my community groups as I don’t have the necessary profile to do specific actions in relation to the campaign function. Escalated the problem, but the person I need to chat with, is on leave this week.
I went through my research and notes for potential Intelligent Campus Member Stories for our communication team to accompany the publication of the Guide to the Intelligent Campus.
As well as updating the Guide to the Intelligent Campus, we have also updated the use cases, which were on the project blog. I spent some time mapping these to the guide, so that the use cases, which will be in PDF format can be linked to from the guide. Started thinking about the next generation of use cases, especially in the light of AI tools such as ChatGPT.
Had a meeting with the Professional Development Manager at UCISA on various ideas, submissions, and activities.
Invited by IGPP Institute of Government & Public Policy and University of East London to talk at their event on Advancing Blended Learning in Higher Education.
Undertook some research and development time on personalisation and intelligent campus.
Published some blog posts on the Intelligent Campus
Started planning the next of the Intelligent Campus community events.
If you are working in the area of the intelligent campus and have an interest in the work being undertaken in this space, we would like to invite you to attend the next in our series of community events. This community of practice gives people a chance to network, share practice and hear what various institutions are doing. You will have the opportunity to discover more about intelligent campus projects and Jisc’s work in this space.
I use to run these when I was project manager for the Intelligent Campus project, then they were taken over by a colleague, before being run by RUGIT for a while. However, since the lead person there left the sector, and the Intelligent Campus is a key part of our HE strategy, I have decided to start running the community events again.
It will take place in London at the Jisc offices on the 24th May 2023.
Planning the Intelligent Library community event for the 21st June 2023.
The DfE HE sector emergency planning liaison group meeting on Friday was cancelled. However, I did some preparation work for the meeting, and have been asked to provide current Jisc guidance for senior leaders on cyber-attacks.
My top tweet this week was this one.
This week is a quiet week for me. However from next week it all goes busy, busy, busy.
Just to let you know that I am presenting at Jisc’s Digifest 23 on the intelligent campus.
Fireside chat: Building the future intelligent campus
Universities and colleges spend billions on their campuses, yet they are frequently underutilised and are often a frustrating experience for students. In this session, James will describe the campus of the future. How does a traditional campus become a smart campus? What are the steps to make a smart campus, an intelligent campus?
The intelligent campus builds on the smart campus concept and aims to find effective ways to use data gathered from the physical estate and combine it with learning and student data from student records, library systems, the virtual learning environment (VLE) and other digital systems. We’ll look at what data can be gathered, how it can be measured and explore the potential for enhancing:
Student experience
Achieving net zero
Improving efficiency
Space utilisation
James Clay and Dom Pates will also ask you to consider the ethical issues when implementing an intelligent campus as well as the legal requirements.
I am presenting at Jisc’s Digifest 23 on the intelligent campus. I am having a fireside chat with City, University of London’s very own Dom Pates.
Fireside chat: Building the future intelligent campus
Universities and colleges spend billions on their campuses, yet they are frequently underutilised and are often a frustrating experience for students. In this session, James will describe the campus of the future. How does a traditional campus become a smart campus? What are the steps to make a smart campus, an intelligent campus?
The intelligent campus builds on the smart campus concept and aims to find effective ways to use data gathered from the physical estate and combine it with learning and student data from student records, library systems, the virtual learning environment (VLE) and other digital systems. We’ll look at what data can be gathered, how it can be measured and explore the potential for enhancing:
Student experience
Achieving net zero
Improving efficiency
Space utilisation
James and Dom will also ask you to consider the ethical issues when implementing an intelligent campus as well as the legal requirements.
On that note it was interesting to see Dom on the Twitter, using ChatGPT to write a story about the Intelligent Campus.
— Dom Pates | @dompates@mastodon.online (@dompates) February 19, 2023
Write a short story in the style of speculative fiction about a university student who spends a day on a smart or intelligent campus some time in the future. Ensure that the campus is designed to address issues around sustainability and data privacy, yet is responsive to the student in a personalised (but not creepy) way. Ensure that the student is studying a course for a future-focused job, and that the campus is actually a desirable and ethically-designed environment. Make the short story go through different stages of the day, and comes to approximately 1,500 words in total. Include an ethical quandary that the central character faces during the course of their day.
Dom then posted the first paragraph.
First up, the prompt and the initial response. In the prompt, I’ve included some of the narrative features that I’d like to see in the story, the requirement for effectively a start, middle and end, as well as a preferred word count and a plot twist. So, meet Marcel… (4/8) pic.twitter.com/OTDOkSGD9T
— Dom Pates | @dompates@mastodon.online (@dompates) February 19, 2023
Dom went on to add further narrative.
The next four screenshots plot out the rest of the story, including how it responded when I asked it to continue what it had started and make sure it wasn’t just another sci-fi story about yet another privileged white man. (5/8) pic.twitter.com/iAMmWeHtdA
— Dom Pates | @dompates@mastodon.online (@dompates) February 19, 2023
Here is the full story (in text).
Marcel was both excited and apprehensive as he stepped onto the smart campus of his university. He was studying for a future-focused job in sustainable architecture, and he had heard many rumours about this intelligent campus that was designed to address the most pressing issues of the day. Marcel looked around and was impressed by what he saw: a vast, green space surrounded by glass buildings that glinted in the sun. He could see solar panels and wind turbines, all designed to reduce the campus’s carbon footprint. He walked towards his first lecture hall, and as he did, he heard a voice speaking to him.
What’s happening
“Good morning, Marcel. I hope you slept well. Your first lecture is in the building to your right, and it starts in fifteen minutes. Would you like me to guide you there?”
Marcel looked around, but he couldn’t see anyone talking to him. He realised that the voice was coming from the earpiece he was wearing.
“Yes, please guide me there,” Marcel replied.
“Of course, Marcel. Please follow the green line on the ground, and it will lead you to the lecture hall. You will be there in ten minutes.”
Marcel followed the green line, and he couldn’t help but marvel at the smart technology that was everywhere on this campus. The line led him through gardens and courtyards, and he saw many other students walking along similar lines, all following directions from their earpieces.
As Marcel arrived at the lecture hall, he noticed that there were no doors. Instead, the entrance was an open archway, and as he stepped through, he was welcomed by a soft voice.
“Welcome, Marcel. Please take a seat wherever you like.”
Marcel looked around and saw that there were no chairs. Instead, there were soft, cushioned pods that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Marcel chose one and sat down, and he was surprised by how comfortable it was. As he did, a screen appeared in front of him, showing him the schedule for the day.
His lecturer walked in, and he was impressed by how engaged the class was. The screens in front of each student allowed the lecturer to show interactive diagrams and videos, and Marcel could ask questions by speaking into his earpiece. The lecture was engaging and interactive, and before he knew it, it was over.
As Marcel stepped out of the lecture hall, he heard the same voice in his earpiece.
“Marcel, it’s time for your workshop on sustainable design. It’s in the building to your left. Please follow the blue line on the ground.”
Marcel followed the blue line, and he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. He had read about smart campuses that used data to track the movements of their students, and he wondered if he was being watched. As he approached the building, he saw a sign that read, “Data Privacy is Our Priority.” He relaxed a little and stepped inside.
The workshop was fascinating, and Marcel was able to experiment with virtual reality tools that allowed him to design sustainable buildings in a three-dimensional space. As he worked, the system recognised his movements and preferences, and it adapted to his design choices. Marcel felt empowered and inspired by the technology, and he couldn’t wait to use it in his future career.
As the day wore on, Marcel attended a variety of classes and workshops, each designed to challenge and inspire him. The smart campus was constantly adapting to his preferences and needs, and he felt like he was learning more in a day than he had in a week at his old university.
As he left the last class of the day, he felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
However, as he walked back towards his dormitory, he noticed that the green line he had been following all day was now leading him towards a part of the campus he had never been to before. Marcel hesitated for a moment, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he followed the line.
As he walked, he noticed that the campus was quiet, and there were no other students around. He heard the soft voice in his earpiece again.
“Marcel, we have one more thing to show you. Please continue following the green line.
Marcel’s heart started to beat faster, and he wondered what the voice was leading him towards. As he rounded a corner, he saw a small group of people standing in front of a glass building. They were all wearing lab coats, and they were looking at him expectantly.
“Welcome, Marcel,” said a man with grey hair and a friendly smile. “We have been watching you all day, and we have a proposition for you. We are working on a top-secret project that we think you would be perfect for. It involves designing a sustainable city that will be built on the site of an old factory. We think your skills and experience would make you an ideal candidate to lead this project. What do you say?”
Marcel was taken aback. He had never expected anything like this to happen, and he wondered how they had been watching him all day. He felt a moment of hesitation, wondering if this was an ethical quandary he was facing.
But then he looked around him and realised that this campus was not just designed for sustainability and data privacy, but it was also designed to empower students to create a better future. He looked back at the man in the lab coat and nodded.
“I’m in,” he said, and the man smiled.
“Excellent. We’ll start tomorrow.”
The next day, Marcel woke up early, eager to start his new project. He made his way to the glass building, where he was greeted by the man from the previous day.
“Good morning, Marcel,” the man said. “I’m glad to see you’re excited. We have a few more people joining us today, including the project manager.”
Marcel followed the man inside, and was surprised to see a group of people sitting around a table. They were all different ages, genders, and ethnicities, and they all looked like they were full of ideas.
“Marcel, this is the project manager, Rachel,” the man said, gesturing towards a tall woman with dark hair and sharp eyes. “And these are the other members of the team.
We have engineers, architects, and designers from all over the world. We believe that diversity is key to creating a sustainable future.”
Marcel nodded, feeling a sense of pride at being part of such a forward-thinking team.
As they got to work, he noticed that Rachel had a way of leading the team that was both authoritative and inclusive. She listened to everyone’s ideas and made sure that everyone had a chance to speak. Marcel admired her leadership style and felt inspired to be a part of such a team.
As the day went on, Marcel found that the work was challenging but rewarding. He was able to use all of the skills he had learned in his degree, and he felt like he was making a difference. The team worked together seamlessly, bouncing ideas off each other and collaborating in a way that felt natural.
As the day drew to a close, Marcel realised that he had found his calling. He had always known that he wanted to do something that would make a difference, but he had never known how to do it. Now, he felt like he was on the right path, and he was excited to see where it would lead.
As he walked out of the building, he felt a sense of pride in himself and in the campus that had brought him there. He realised that the smart and intelligent campus was not just a place to learn, but it was also a place to grow and to find oneself.
Marcel felt like he had found a community of like-minded people who shared his values, and he felt grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it. He walked out into the sunlight, feeling inspired and excited for the future.
Clearly some of this story feels a little cliched and from a literary point of view, there are undoubtedly many points from which it could be criticised. However, even though the bot wouldn’t be winning a Nobel Prize for Literature, I do think that it makes an interesting stab at a ‘first draft’ of an idea. If I wanted to write a short story about an #IntelligentCampus, I have some material to work with and try to improve.
What are your thoughts on this particular story? Have you had any great successes (or horrible failures) from trying a collaboration with a #GenerativeAI for fictional purposes? Is there a role for chatbots as co-authors with human writers? #ChatGPT#LLMs#ALTc#AI (8/8)
— Dom Pates | @dompates@mastodon.online (@dompates) February 19, 2023
What are your thoughts on this story created by ChatGPT?
Back in 2018 I wrote a story about the Intelligent Campus. Sections of the story were part of the Guide to the Intelligent Campus. I posted the whole story to the project blog, but am re-posting here as a starting point for new and different stories.
It was raining and Leda was off to her University for the day. Her phone had already sent her notification to leave for campus early as there was a lot of traffic on the roads and the buses were being delayed. She got to the bus stop earlier than usual and within a few minutes the bus arrived. On the bus, on her phone using the University App, she looked over her schedule for the day. There were lectures, a seminar and she also had a window to get to the library to find those additional books for the essay she needed to hand in next month. She was hoping to catch up with some friends over coffee. There were some notifications in the app, the seminar room had been changed, there was a high chance that the library would be busy today. Leda looked out of the window of the bus at the rain. Today was going to be a good day.
The bus arrived at the campus and Leda got off, she checked her app and started to walk to her first lecture. As she passed one of the campus coffee shops she was sent a notification that three of her friends from the course were in there, so she checked the time, she had the time, popped in and found her friends. Her app let her know that she had enough loyalty points for a free coffee, well why not, Leda thought to herself. She could check if there were any additional resources for the lectures today.
As Leda drank her coffee, she reflected on why she had chosen thus university. One of the things that had attracted her was the positive reviews and feedback that had come from existing and previous students on the whole student experience. This positive view of the university had resulted in her putting in an application. She was reminded though of one of the induction sessions where the University had taken the time to discuss the whole concept of the gathering of data, the processing of that data, the what interventions were possible and the importance of consent at all three stages. She did worry about this and wondered if all appropriate mechanisms and security was in place to protect her personal data. As she finished off her coffee, she did think was all this data gathering really necessary?
Leda’s phone buzzed, she needed to be at her lecture in ten minutes, however the room was different to the one she was usually in. Leda didn’t concern herself with this, as she knew that the phone would direct her to the room quickly and efficiently. What was so great about this, Leda thought to herself, was that the sessions she attended were always in the right kind space. Sometimes her lecturer wanted to do group work and the usual lecture theatre wasn’t appropriate, so having that in a more suitable room allowed her and her friends to focus on the learning.
As Leda walked around the campus she noticed that there was a lot of devices attached to ceilings and walls. She recognised the CCTV style cameras, though some looked more like speed cameras with some kind of sensor. She had also seen devices with lights in the classrooms and the lecture theatres. Leda made her way to her next session, she used the Wayfinding app on her phone as she knew due to building work on the campus, her usual route was closed. The app would give her the fastest route to get there. As she walked into her seminar room she touched her RFID enabled smartphone to the touchpad by the door. This registered her attendance, but the app recognising her location, started to download the resources for the seminar to her phone and registered her device for the polling and audience response system. Leda found the process much more transparent than being given a clicker. She liked being able to use a single device, her phone for all her smart campus interactions, rather than using a range of devices, cards and equipment to do so.
When Leda had started her degree programme she had been concerned about how data on her was being gathered, processed and acted upon. It was apparent from the start that her journey through the university, both academically and physically would be tracked. She was happy though that the University had published a guide for students on the ethical use of data. She was aware of what data she had to provide and other data about her for which she had a choice on whether it was collected or not. Leda with her friends had been looking at the open algorithms the University used and had been playing with some of them to see if there were any interesting insights into the way her and her friends interacted with the university systems and the campus.
Though Leda had concerns about her personal privacy with all the data gathering happening on campus, her and her friends had noticed a reduction in crime and vandalism. When incidents happened on campus, reaction time from the campus security officers was really fast they could get to the right place much quicker. Leda did think it was all a bit Big Brother, but did feel safer.
Leda was sitting in the library reading through the book she had borrowed, her phone buzzed with a notification, her bus home was due shortly and if she left now, she would be able to catch it. Leda really liked this as though there was a bus timetable, the realities of traffic and weather meant that the buses weren’t always on time. The bus company used GPS to identify the exact location of their buses and this data could then be used by the university app to help learners catch their buses on time. One of the reasons Leda liked this was that it was raining and it saved having to stand in the rain for too long. As Leda sat down in the bus, her phone buzzed again, as she had walked from the library to the bus stop, the phone had downloaded an interesting podcast related to the lecture she had been to ready for her to listen on the journey home.
As Leda settled down for the evening, she reflected on her day. What kind of day would have it been without her phone, without it connected to the different services on campus, the way it worked in a smart or even intelligent way. It was making her whole experience better, she could focus on her studies and spend a lot less time trying to find rooms. The university called it the intelligent campus, in Leda’s view it was more than that, it was a campus that improved the whole student experience. Well for her it did.
I am planning to update the story to reflect changes in both society and technology.
A busy and unbusy week, in the sense, fewer events and meetings in my diary, but lots of things to get done.
According to a BBC report, digital cameras back in fashion after online revival.
Digital cameras from the early 2000s are becoming must-have gadgets for many young people because of a burgeoning trend online. And in the past 12 months, videos with the hashtag #digitalcamera have amassed more than 220 million views on TikTok.
…and to think I still consider this *new* technology!
One of my favourite photographs. Taken with a Sony Cybershot Digital Camera in 2004.
On Tuesday I headed off to the Bristol office by train. My usual train use to be a GWR Castle class HST train, but today it had been replaced by one of the newer GWR Intercity Express Trains (IET). I believe that the HSTs on GWR are being slowly withdrawn from the services they currently do as they are expensive to run, and also produce more emissions than the IETs.
Attended an Intelligent Campus guide launch and engagement planning meeting. We reviewed the complementary materials to go alongside the launch of the second edition of the Guide to the Intelligent Campus. We clarified that this was not a big launch. Also discussed potential sessions for Networkshop on the foundations required for the Intelligent Campus. I am doing a fireside chat at Digifest in March, and we will launch the guide there. I spent some time reviewing and proofing the Guide to the Intelligent Campus.
Had an interesting conversation in our office on issues around the concept of the Intelligent Campus including security of IoT devices and smart devices. There are lots of smart devices out there, and across many institutions, people are plugging them into the network, without necessarily thinking about the security implications. I am reminded of the chaos caused when a series of soda vending machines and lamp posts hijacked the network of an American university. In my own home I have a smart washing machine, have I attached it to my network, no I have not.
So Bard got one of its facts wrong on its public debut. It looked plausible so nobody at Google checked it. It was immediately obvious to an expert in the field.
Google’s AI search bot Bard made a $120bn error on day one. This does demonstrate that we are at early days with AI supported search. Also, this week Microsoft added AI search to Bing. This will make it easier and simpler for students to utilise AI when making (internet) searches for content related to their studies. I do think we need to start thinking about both academics and students understanding these tools, and the potential of these tools and what it means for teaching and learning. The essence of assessment is something else that will need to be rethought.
Advocates of “block teaching” are teaming up in an attempt to hasten its adoption by universities worldwide.
This isn’t new, as the article says, it has been around for fifty years.
Read this tweet responding to the article
However in other cases students do need time to build up their understanding & the conventional approach enables this. Unfortunately unis’ timetabling & other admin systems don’t handle a blend of conversational & block teaching v easily 2/2
I have to agree that this isn’t a one or the other situation, it’s about doing both, a spectrum of teaching. Back in the day when I was teaching at City of Bristol College (in the 1990s) we designed a GNVQ programme that was a combination of block and linear, for those very reasons. Some areas benefited from a deep dive and others were about building knowledge and skills over time. We had to design the whole programme to then fit the timetable. The main challenge was that we couldn’t devote one person to deliver each subject block, so we shared the teaching. The students had block learning, we had linear timetabled teaching.
Booking events and conferences for April. I am attending the UCISA Spotlight 2023 and LILAC 2023. Various issues with the LILAC booking, so had to redo the whole purchase order process for this conference. Spotlight 2023 is in Leeds, so will be nice to be back there. The last time I was in Leeds, was in January 2020 just before the first Covid-19 lockdown.
Also booked into an online event, UCISA Starting the year on the right foot happening next week.
Sent out information on next Senior Education and Student Experience to members of the group, and inviting new members to the group. The group in the main consists of PVCs in the Education and Student Experience space, but also has some DVCs and VCs (or equivalent) on the group as well.
On Thursday I attended a technology for teaching discussion meeting with the Department for Education. It reminded me that a research informed evidence base is critical for many conversations in this space.
IFTTT let me know that changes to the Twitter API means that some of my IFTTT applets will probably stop working.
Starting Monday, February 13th, 2023, Twitter will no longer support free access to their API. As a result, we expect that any Applet that connects with Twitter will stop working.
I am mainly using IFTTT at the moment to post native images from Instagram to Twitter. However in the past I have used IFTTT to collate tweets to specific hashtags.
We’ve not seen the complete collapse of Twitter as many were predicting a few weeks back, but we have seen problems this week and many other issues as well. I am still using Twitter, but also drop in on Mastodon as well.
Most Kipling cakes come in sixes. Why do the Battenberg cakes only have five in the box? Is someone at the Kipling factory eating that extra Battenberg cake?
Spent a lot of time this week reading, digesting, reviewing, and reflecting. Also attended a few meetings and spent time having conversations on Teams.
On Tuesday I went to our Bristol office. The train was delayed, so I started attending a meeting on my phone, which I find weird, but it worked.
Attended an internal meeting about Microsoft – Mixed Reality (MR) and Metaverse. There is some excitement around the Metaverse. As I said last week industry perspectives on the metaverse and immersive platforms are varied. Meta, Google are all laying off technical staff in this space, Apple have delayed their AR/VR product again. Lots of confusion between immersive games and the Metaverse. Apart from some niche areas (such as education) what is the unique selling point of the metaverse? As Paul Bailey in a recent blog post said, the “effective” metaverse is probably decades away…
Had an interesting discussion about the Office for Students and its future. There is criticism that they have been receiving from members and member organisations (such as GuildHE and the Russell Group). Labour (who are likely to win the 2024 election) have been quiet on HE and the OfS. Also found and read this Can Labour de-Commodify Higher Education? It has a Minor Problem.
The education system in Britain is in the mud. That is scarcely news. But would Labour have the courage and values needed to revive it? The trouble they would have if they win the next General Election is due partly to their Party’s legacy and partly to a personal problem.
Could we use space utilisation data to support wellbeing?
As students frequent and move about the campus, the spaces in which they study, learn and relax can have an impact on their wellbeing.
Student wellbeing is a key priority for the Higher Education (HE) sector. The Stepchange framework, created by Universities UK, calls on all universities to make wellbeing a strategic priority which is “foundational to all aspects of university life, for all students and all staff.” We know, as discussed in a recent Jisc blog post, that good data governance provides the foundation to build new wellbeing support systems that can respond to the needs of students – helping more people more quickly while maximising the use of available resources.
As well as the usual suspects that universities can use to collect engagement data, such as the VLE, library systems and access to learning spaces, could universities use space utilisation data to, enhance and improve the spaces (formal and informal) on campus to deliver a better student experience and support wellbeing?
Could we use data from how spaces and when spaces are being used to deliver a better student experience and maximise student wellbeing.
Space utilisation
Currently universities will use manual and automated methods to measure space utilisation. Often this data is used to for self-assessment reports and proposals for expansion. Few are analysing that data in real time and presenting the information to students.
We know that measuring usage of space, tables and desks can be fraught with ethical concerns. It is critical when measuring space usage that the university is transparent about what it is doing, how it is doing it and why.
You can imagine the scenario when a student who is facing challenges on their course, and decides to visit the campus, expecting to find space to study, but the library is busy, the study areas are noisy and even the café is closed. This disappointment can lead to annoyance. This small negative experience could potentially impact on the wellbeing of the student. They are probably not alone, as other students (and staff) are equally frustrated and disappointed. If they had known about the current (and predicted future) utilisation of that space, they may have made different plans. They could have left earlier, or arrived later.
Using data on spaces to support wellbeing
Analysing the data on space utilisation could provide a valuable insight into ensuring that when students need space to study that space is available, and can support wellbeing.
Universities could use the data to ensure that when space is unavailable, for example for cleaning, so that this is done at the best possible time, for the minimal impact on student wellbeing.
Space isn’t the answer
Of course, when it comes to improving student wellbeing, just having data about the spaces students use is most certainly not going to be enough. Data on how students interact with online systems and services, the resources they engage with, all provide a wealth of engagement data. We know that engagement is one measure that universities can look at to understand if there is a story behind a student’s dis-engagement with the university and work to improve that student’s wellbeing.
If their new university does not use data intelligently to improve their day-to-day experience, students could be disappointed, which reflects badly on the institution.
Universities should reflect on all the data they collect, and decide what the data can tell them about the student experience, and importantly what interventions they need to make to positively impact on student wellbeing. Running out of coffee isn’t the end of the world, but combine many small negative impacts on the student experience, students will not be happy and wellbeing could suffer as a result.
Read Jisc’s framework and code of practice for data-supported wellbeing – which outlines how to promote ethical, effective, and legally compliant processes that help HE organisations manage risk and resources.
I had my quarter one review this week, I had a productive review meeting with my line manager. I have made good progress against my objectives for this year. I was commended for the content of the review document. This is of course quite easy to fill, as I use JIRA and Confluence to plan and implement my objectives. In addition, I have these weeknotes to refer to for other things I have done. I also made use of the blog posts I published this quarter in addition to the weeknotes. I am reminded though I have published less this quarter than I have in previous quarters, so time to get that typewriter out and get typing.
Elon Musk started to impact on the Twitter, so much so that lots of people were talking about moving off the Twitter and onto other similar services, with Mastodon getting much of this traffic. We had some discussions about Mastodon at work. I went out and created an account on mastodon.cloud and then discovered I had already created an account before, well back in August 2018, on mastodon.social. So, I went back and deleted the new account and started to use the original account.
Though I had been on Mastodon since 2018 the recent influx has got me back on the app. Though my stream of stuff is mainly people telling people how to use Mastodon and what and what not to do. Reminds me of Twitter in 2009 when there was a similar level of new users starting to use that service.
We had a sector strategy meeting to discuss future strategy and planning.
Had a learning spaces meeting with our Advice Team on their forthcoming project on learning spaces. Gave background to the scoping work we did last year and provided insights into their brief.
Had a Funders and Public Affairs catchup meeting.
Chaired our bi-weekly HERLT meeting – as we develop the ways in which we work, this was an useful exploration of the purpose, function and need for the meeting. It raised a lot of questions over what and when we discuss activity across the directorate. I do feel we need to reflect on the spread and breadth of what we do and how we incorporate that into our future meetings.
Had an excellent discussion on the concept of a teaching and learning service wrapper for Content & Discovery. Reflecting on an offer for members and customers that incorporates community, advice & guidance, thought leadership, other (transformative) content, different audiences across an institution and reflecting about what this could look like. Next step may be to workshop this into a plan of action.
Had a meeting with a university where we discussed the history of Jisc’s previous work in the intelligent campus space. We explored what Jisc is currently undertaking in the smart campus space.
I did some preparation for the Learning Places Scotland presentation I am delivering next week. I also worked on my Moving Target Digitalisation keynote.
Setting up a meeting to provide advice on strategy development with an internal team.
Read GuildHE’s briefing paper on how OfS could be a better .
My top tweet this week was this one.
So who do I know has moved to Mastadon (assuming that they are still here too).
This week we saw our third prime minister this year take office and a new cabinet and another new education secretary. So how long to the next one then?
Well I go on leave last week and come back to a full and bursting inbox (which was empty when I left) with over 140 emails to read, review, and act upon.
I had some more thoughts about what universities could do in the event of blackouts or on the impact of the energy crisis on changing student behaviour.
I spent most of the week in London.
I had some discussions on future content (what we use to call thought leadership) that would inspire digital transformation, provide insights into current practice and imagine what the future possibilities are. As a result, I spent some time scoping out some concepts and ideas on what this could look like, across our HE strategy.
Our HE strategy says for example
We will, in partnership with universities, develop approaches and digital solutions to improve and enhance the student experience and greater equity in access and participation in the UK and abroad.
If we think about insight, this is what is happening now, case studies, exemplars, commentary from sector, review, what good looks like now. So, for an insight into enhancing the student experience, university could explain how they are reviewing the student journey, so to enable them to use digital tools and services to enhance the student experience.
As for inspiration, this is what you could do in the near term, what you need to do to achieve the potential of digital and technology, what good could look like in the next 2-5 years. So, an overview of the near future student journey illustrated with specific examples from the sector of how digital solutions are enhancing and improving that experience.
As for the future, we can imagine through horizon scanning, visions for the future, what good would look like in the next 5-10 years, what could be different, why would it be different. An example of this could be the 2035 student experience? How can digital and data enhance that experience and what does this mean for universities?
What was important to me, was to provide some scope and ideas on what we could do, not necessarily what we will do. Across the strategic themes and the concepts of insight, inspire and imagine, there are lots of opportunities for developing inspirational transformative content. Of course this had to be all backed up with toolkits, frameworks, support, advice and guidance, and a range of products and services that enable all of this.
On Tuesday I had a planning meeting, which demonstrated the importance of underpinning foundations and a clear vision to enable functional and effective planning.
One of my reasons for being in London, apart from some meeting was to undertake some research and ideation in the Intelligent Campus space. This involved some conversations, desk research, and field work across various campuses (in this case) across London.
I had some more conversations about learning spaces, for further scoping and research.
I continued with the Senior Education and Student Experience Group logistics and preparation for our meeting in December and further meetings next year.
I also continued with my preparation and planning for events in Scotland and Germany in November.
I did a quick skim of the OfS Blended Learning Review, might spend some time on this next week.
This week saw record temperatures as a red warning heatwave hit the UK. I spent the week working from home, as trains were cancelled or delayed and there were problems on the roads.
I use to say things like “I can teach anywhere”. What I meant by this, wasn’t that the environment or space I was using wasn’t important, but I could overcome the disadvantages of the different spaces I had to play with, and still deliver an effective session.
So though I might be able to teach anywhere the reality is that all those challenges and issues I face in an inappropriate space, may well result in poor quality learning, despite the quality of my teaching.
Big news this week was that the QAA was to step away from designated role in England. Over on Wonkhe, David Kernohan tries to make sense of it all.
The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) will no longer consent to be the Designated Quality Body (DQB) in England, as of the end of the current year in office (March 2023). The reasoning is straightforward – the work that QAA does in England, on behalf of the OfS, is no longer compliant with recognised quality standards – namely the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) as monitored by the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR). For this reason, the QAA registration with EQAR was recently suspended – a decision that highlights international concerns about procedures in England but has an impact in the many other nations (including Scotland and Wales) where QAA needs that EQAR registration in order to fulfil a statutory quality assurance role.
Once more we are seeing more divergence across the UK for higher education.
Voice assistants have become widespread and are proving useful for a range of uses. The cost has fallen over the years and the services have expanded.
The use of voice assistants and smart hubs has certainly continued, and they have become embedded into many digital ecosystems. Their use in education though is still limited and I will be looking at that in a later blog post.
Attended a session on impact this week, which was interesting, but not necessarily that useful. How do you evidence impact of what you do? I wonder for example of the 1,828 blog posts published on this blog have had any impact on the way in which people work, support others or plan their work. For example one of the most popular blog posts on the blog, which though written in 2011, is still regularly viewed, is this one 100 ways to use a VLE – #89 Embedding a Comic Strip, which was one of a series of blog posts on improving or enhancing the use of the VLE.
One use of graphic that can enhance the look of a VLE course or as a mechanism to engage learners is to embed a comic strip into the VLE course.
What has been the impact of this? Has is changed practice? Has it improved the student experience? Has it improved student outcomes? How would I know?
I don’t think I can evidence the impact of this, but other work I have done I can sometimes see the evidence, however I don’t know if their has been actual impact.
I quite liked these tweets from August 2021 from people who had attended the digital leadership consultancy I had delivered for Leeds.
Me too! I’m crediting this partially to my participation in the Jisc Digital Leaders programme. @DigitalJisc
I had as part of the programme delivered a session on e-mail. It incorporates much of what is in this blog post on Inbox Zero and this follow up post. Always nice to see the impact that your training has had on the way that people work, they didn’t just attend the training, engage with the training, but are now acting on what they saw and learnt.
However what I don’t know is, has the change had a positive impact? And what was that impact?
I spent some of the week reviewing our new guide to the Intelligent Campus, and the revamped guide to the Intelligent Library. The library guide was never published but has been updated for 2022. I also reviewed our updated use cases, as well as drafting plans for some additional use cases. I am aiming for publication of these in the autumn.
