Following on from last year’s inaugural series of Technology Enhanced Learning seminars hosted here at the University of Sussex, we’re delighted to kick-off the academic year with a new season of seminars featuring a fantastic line-up of speakers who are leading figures in the fields of:

• learning technology,
• social media,
• and innovative teaching practice.

In our last series of seminars attendees enjoyed talks around the themes of flipped learning, open education and gamification. The autumn programme has been developed in response to feedback and in line with emerging trends in the sector. Topics include learning analytics, social media in academia and assessment and feedback.

All seminars will be held in the Quiet Room, Meeting House and a light lunch will be provided. The format of the seminars will provide plenty of time for networking, discussion and interaction, providing a space to share experiences across disciplines.  Staff at the University of Sussex should book via the relevant links below or from our website.  External participants are welcome (though places are limited) – please email tel@sussex.ac.uk to reserve your place.

October
Learning Analytics: Gaining good actionable insight

Martin Hawksey – Chief Innovation, Community and Technology Officer for the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)

Martin Hawksey (@mhawksey) – Chief Innovation, Community and Technology Officer for the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)

Wednesday 21th October, 12:30-2pm, Quiet Room, Meeting House Book here

There is greater awareness of the use of data to make improvements in the world around us including learning and teaching. From improvements in business processes to recommendations to what to buy on Amazon all are driven by data. Data by itself does not make a better learner experience and only analytics, the process of making an actionable insight, can help identify gains. As an emerging area ‘Learning Analytics’ is abound with new opportunities but at the same time these opportunities also raise new ethical and operational concerns. In this presentation we introduce some basic learning analytics concepts, identifying tools and workflows staff may wish to consider. As part of this we also consider the dangers of analytics identifying areas which may lead to learner demotivation or misconception and the questions we should all be asking ourselves to make sure we are always gaining *good* actionable insight. (More>)

November
Shareology and Social Media in Academia

Sue Beckingham – Senior Lecturer in Computing and Educational Developer, Sheffield Hallam University

Sue Beckingham (@suebecks)- Senior Lecturer in Computing and Educational Developer, Sheffield Hallam University

Wednesday 25th November, 12:30-2pm, Quiet Room, Meeting House Book here

This talk will consider the role of social media for sharing and exchange of knowledge; and the importance today of having a scholarly professional online presence. Through considering our own digital footprint and the use of social media to connect, communicate, curate, collaborate and create (Nerantzi and Beckingham 2014), it is then possible to act as role models for our own students or indeed peers. I will share exemplars of my own experience and across the sector. (More>)

December
Flipping the technology-pedagogy equation: principles to improve assessment and feedback

Dr Tansy Jessop (@TansyJtweets) – Head of Learning and Teaching at the University of Winchester

Tuesday 15th December, 12:30-2pm, Quiet Room, Meeting House Book here

Dr Tansy Jessop – Head of Learning and Teaching at the University of Winchester

Many technology-driven approaches fail for precisely that reason. They start with all the fancy whiz-popping-gadgetry of the 21st century, without asking the question why. This session draws on the experience of two nationally funded projects about assessment and feedback, HEA funded ‘Transforming the Experience of Students through Assessment’ (TESTA) and JISC-funded ‘Feedback and Assessment for Students with Technology’ (FASTECH). It explores how putting pedagogy first, asking why, and developing staff-student partnerships have led to more evidence-led and generative uses of technology to improve assessment and feedback at the University of Winchester. Tansy will tell the story of embedding technology, through various case studies developed through the FASTECH project. These approaches have been sustained and strengthened through staff-student partnerships within university wide student engagement initiatives. (More>)

Warning: This session will be interactive.

Missed it? Catch up on video

Each seminar will be recorded both for those who cannot attend or who would like to recap afterwards. Why not get started by watching the recordings available from the previous seminars?

Simon Thomson – Oh Flipping Heck – Insights into “flipped” education

Sheila MacNeill – Agile and open – how open education can lead to rapid, responsive educational design

Derek Robertson – Hairdryers, glaciers and games based learning: lessons learned from the Scottish experience

If you have any questions, please email the team tel@sussex.ac.uk. We hope you can make it and we look forward to hopefully seeing you there!