Jisc #digifest17 Top 5

The use of learning analytics and the technological impact on further and higher education was a central topic of investigation and discussion. Everything from practical implementations, to the technology solutions to support big data and the ethical issues were explored. It was refreshing to encounter such a thorough consideration of the subject, acknowledging both the merits of interventions guided by data that could help at-risk students, but also the pitfalls and the potential issues around consent and dissemination. The big data aspect was also reflected in the presentations of the keynote speakers, particularly the excellent closing plenary from Lauren Sager Weinstein, Chief data officer at Transport for London.

I am a bit of a late adopter when it comes to Virtual Reality (VR), probably because I wanted to give it a bit of time to mature as initially the hype reminded me of the educational reaction to second life in the 2000s. However, the use of 360 degree photography in conjunction with VR and the contemporary game graphics that stand-up to 360deg scrutiny, have finally started to win me over. A particular highlight for me was the Microsoft HoloLens, which I think could be a very interesting tool for individual study and synchronous small group study (although the expense may prohibit that initially). The one thing I would like to be sure of though is that in the long term accessible tools are developed in order to allow academic staff to develop their own content for these platforms. I am a huge fan of apps, as folks know I have run #appswaps for years, but an issue with them is that the technical threshold is too high, together with ongoing maintenance demands, for the majority of teaching staff to create their own apps. I am worried that aspects of VR might be the same, although there are encouraging developments in this area, such as Nearpod’s VR Field Trip function. One to watch.

Digital capabilities has been an area that I have been pretty passionate about for the past few years, particularly in terms of considering the skills that academic staff want and need. It was great to see all the solid work that Jisc have put in to exploring this area, both from the perspective of staff and students. I especially loved the work of University of Stirling in this area, where they have BYOD areas and a collection of other very solid strategies to help students in collaboration with the students union. I also thought that the work of Bexhill Sixth Form College was great and nice to hear what other folks from Sussex are up to. The session was entitled, “What are students’ expectations and experiences of technology?” and the students who worked on the projects were part of the session, which was fantastic.

There were several examples of tools which supported students to engage in virtual labs and these were particularly interesting as a way to help students prepare for and maximise the impact of the time spent in the real-world lab. Also the focus on video for the purpose of quick lecture capture and the place of 360 degree video as a teaching tool were explored quite a bit. I was very happy to see an accessibility angle explored with start-up companies looking to address some of the challenges of making sure that electronic learning resources are accessible. The recent changes to the Disabled Students Allowance have undoubtedly contributed to these developments. Furthermore, there were some rather exciting online classroom technologies demonstrated, which I am excited to try out in the near future.

It was great to see what Dundee and Angus College had done with their innovation space, The Learning Lab, and the session was so popular there was standing room only! What is clear is that in order for these spaces to thrive you need to have people attached to them and also have a willingness to play with the technology as a means of learning. I particularly liked their use of a portable 3D scanner with an iPad to scan visitors to the lab and then printout mini 3D versions of ‘said’ visitors before they left the lab! Furthermore, I was impressed at how they had then gone on to use some of the technologies as part of the curriculum, for example the use of a drone to support students’ working on building surveys. Apparently this is a lot cheaper than setting up scaffolding to inspect the roof of a building!