{"id":515,"date":"2014-08-12T09:30:54","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T08:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/?p=515"},"modified":"2015-08-11T11:02:44","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T10:02:44","slug":"future-fit-building-a-digital-institution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2014\/08\/12\/future-fit-building-a-digital-institution\/","title":{"rendered":"Future fit: building a digital institution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pete's<\/a><\/p>\n

How can recent innovations in educational technology be used to support university life?<\/p>\n

This was the essence of \u00a0the debate at\u00a0Building the Digital Institution<\/a>, a recent conference held by the Centre for Educational Technology, Interoperability and Standards (Cetis<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Pete Sparkes<\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0Technology Enhanced Learning team traveled to Bolton\u00a0to explore the issues of e-books and learning statistics.<\/p>\n

Meeting digital expectations<\/h3>\n

Paul Hollins (Cetis Director) put forward the case that both technology and standards have important roles to play in enabling universities to meet the new and growing expectations <\/a>of students. Phil Richards (JISC Chief Innovation Officer), emphasised the ongoing need to innovate and highlighted that in response to recent educational and economic changes, JISC\u00a0have altered\u00a0their\u00a0focus to ensure that institutions\u00a0receive value for money.<\/p>\n

You can view the full\u00a0presentation<\/a> on YouTube.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Learning analytics<\/h3>\n

\"analytics\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Adam Cooper (Co-Director of Cetis), led the \u2018Developing a Learning Analytics strategy for a Higher Education institution\u2019 breakout session to look further into\u00a0learning analytics.<\/p>\n

On the positive side good analysis and application were identified as having the potential to increase student retention and improve the student learning experience. \u00a0However alongside these benefits it was acknowledged there was scope for data to\u00a0be\u00a0abused, either through\u00a0misinterpretation or\u00a0misuse to suit a particular agenda.<\/p>\n

Reinforcing the need for care, Adam highlighted\u00a0that data misuse can occur for a number\u00a0of reasons; incorrect or incomplete collection, poor presentation, or insufficient support and training in place to enable\u00a0staff to make the data meaningful.<\/p>\n

Academic solution<\/h3>\n

A team effort by academics and analysts was a proposed strategy for harnessing the best of learning analytics. Academics have a wealth of\u00a0knowledge of the HE landscape and the student journey – contextual information that could prove invaluable in terms of understanding and interpreting collected data.<\/p>\n

Combining the expert knowledge from both academics and analysts in suitable roles within a learning analytics strategy would\u00a0ensure\u00a0that data is used accurately, fairly and with purpose. More information can be found on the Learning Analytics Community Exchange <\/a>(LACE) website.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

e-books: learning platform of the future?<\/h3>\n

\"ebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Wilobert Kraan’s session<\/a>\u00a0looked at the requirements and expectations of using an e-Textbook. There seemed to be a desire for e-books to provide features typically found\u00a0on the web, such as;<\/p>\n