LAURA Project

LAURA (Learning Analytics in ULTRA)

This project will support improving the student experience by ensuring that students, teachers and student support staff are making best use of the data, information and dashboards that are currently available in Learn, and other centrally supported learning technology applications, to gain useful insights. It will tackle perceived gaps in reporting, activity data and tools and ensure that more people know where to look and how to use the information. This project will identify data, information and dashboards that are currently available in Learn, and other centrally supported learning technology applications, that may be useful for both staff and students to enhance the student learning experience.   The project will work as part of the VLE Excellence programme to improve staff and student digital experience and enhance engagement by enabling staff and students to access relevant data to support and advance their teaching and learning.   Where skills and knowledge gaps are identified, the project will develop digital skills training resources to help students and staff make best use of existing information in an informed and ethical manner.  

The project will include a key theme of digital and data Skills training and development to encourage data fluency and ethical data driven decision-making amongst colleagues who teach and support learning. Together with our Educational Technology Policy Officer and Learning Analytics governance group, the project team will review the institution’s Learning Analytics Policy, Principles and Practice and may propose updates, changes and amendments via Senate Education Committee. 

The Learning Analytics project will set out to achieve the below objectives:  

  • Identify useful learning analytics data currently available to staff and students.  The project will focus on Learn in the first instance before looking at applications that interface with Learn, with the potential to include other centrally supported learning technologies as time allows.  
  • Explore how courses can be structured to provide better information.  
  • Identify skills gaps and development required by staff and students to be able to access and benefit from existing data and dashboards.  
  • Develop digital skills training and resources for staff and students. 
  • Review and revise Learning Analytics policy, principles and practice.  
  • Review composition and remit of the Learning Analytics governance group established by Senate Learning and Teaching Committee (LTC) and Knowledge Strategy Committee (KSC) in 2018 to scrutinise plans for substantial new learning analytics activities.  
  • Share learning analytics practice with other institutions across the sector and learn from their experience.

Benefits and Success Criteria 

As a result of the Learning Analytics project, the below benefits are expected to be achieved:  

  • Raised awareness of existing learning analytics data and how it can be used to enhance teaching, learning and assessment.  
  • More consistent, accessible data in Learn.  
  • Improved student experience.  
  • Published support and guidance for Learn and platforms that integrate with Learn. 
  • Improved digital skills and data fluency for staff and students.  
  • Learning Analytics policy, principles & practice that are current and fit for purpose.  
  • Renewed engagement with learning analytics for teaching and learning across the institution.  
  • Network of colleagues sharing learning analytics experiences and practice.  

 Scope

  • Learn VLE; 
  • Applications that interface with Learn; 
  • Learning Analytics Policy; 
  • Learning Analytics Principles and Practice; 
  • Learning Analytics Governance Group. 

 

Laura Annie Willson – Wikipedia

PHOEBE Project

PHOEBE ( Portfolios for Online, Experiential, Blogging and Evidence)

we will be reviewing our e-portfolio and blogging tools.  

For Phoebe Byth, Edinburgh campaigner for women’s training and employment. One of the first Scottish women to be elected to public office Phoebe Blyth – Wikipedia

She had opinions on ‘Women’s work’ and gender stereotypes.

 

SADIE Project

Sadie L Adams
Sadie L Adams

SADIE (Scoping AI Developments in EdTech at Edinburgh)

we are currently scoping work to understand the current AI landscape within centrally supported learning technology.​ The scoping activity is being delivered via the VLE Excellence programme and is a precursor to the SADIE (Scoping AI Developments in EdTech at Edinburgh) project as part of the VLE Excellence Programme.​ Discussions around decisions, management and governance for AI in Learning Technology are the next required steps.

Why SADIE? 

SADIE (Scoping Ai Developments In Edtech at Edinburgh) 

Background 

SADIE will build on the existing knowledge gathered by Learning, Teaching and Web Services (LTW) to understand the current AI developments and opportunities available within EdTech at Edinburgh. These AI developments may take the form of new tools or functionality being offered by our existing vendor partners, or new products being offered to us by new vendors. With this knowledge and experience, the project team will look to create a set of recommendations. Local learning technologists will be engaged to discuss needs and impacts in Schools. As a result of the project to support with future proofing the management of AI in EdTech. 

Policies  

As part of the work being undertaken within the SADIE project, a recommendation on policy requirements will be provided. 

Scope  

SADIE is a 6-month project, undertaken in the 23/24 academic year focusing on: 

In Scope 

·         AI developments in EdTech at Edinburgh; 

·         Identification of training gaps in AI tools in Edtech 

Out of Scope 

·         Generative AI; 

·         Creation of training course(s) identified via the training gaps

·         Support and guidance on using AI developments in EdTech at Edinburgh

Benefits  

Upon the delivery of SADIE, the following benefits should be achieved:  

·         An understanding of the current ‘state of the nation’ for AI in EdTech at the University of Edinburgh; 

·         A consistent approach to the management of AI developments within EdTech at the University of Edinburgh; 

·         Transparency around the decision-making process for the management of AI developments within EdTech at the University of Edinburgh. 

Success Criteria  

Upon the delivery of the SADIE project, the following success criteria should be achieved:  

·         A process for the management of AI developments within EdTech at the University of Edinburgh; 

·         Creation of a public space that provides a transparent overview of the decisions made in the AI in EdTech space at the University of Edinburgh 

  •   A final report, providing recommendations;

improving accessibility

Every year we take a snapshot of accessibility in our VLE. Over the summer 3,508 documents across 1,441 courses from across the University were reviewed against a defined selection of accessibility criteria by our excellent team of interns. The results were encouraging:

87.6% of documents reviewed were named appropriately (i.e. so that users can anticipate the contents in advance of opening the files)
Within the documents checked, 74.4% used a more accessible font (sans serif)
80.7% of documents were justified/aligned in a way that supports more users (i.e. not centre or fully justified)
Italics text is harder for some people to read in blocks, and 89.4% of documents contained no blocks of italics. The same counts for blocks of capital letters, and a whopping 97.9% of documents contained no blocks of capital letters.

Well done to all at University of Edinburgh who are changing their practice to be more inclusive.

The promise of video

I’ll be speaking at

Kaltura Connect Education Track 2023 – EMEA | Kaltura 28th November, London

I will speak about ‘The Promise of Video’

What do we expect from our media platforms? What do our students and users expect? How can we ensure that the promise of a generation of video is realised?

During academic year 22/23, we saw the highest rate of lecture recording ever seen at the University of Edinburgh.  Between Media Hopper Replay (lecture recording) and Media Hopper Create (media streaming and management) we saw more than 2000 days of media created last academic year, that’s nearly 5 ½ years of media.

I will look back at the last 10 years of my experience championing  media asset management in very ancient higher education institutions. Reflecting on the things which didn’t work the way we expected; the things which did work and spread like wildfire, and the things which continue to delight and surprise me for the future.

I chose my title because I was thinking about an incident at the start of term this year. Every year I have my fingers crossed that the start of term will go well, without any major incidents or business continuity challenges.

But it never does. This year it was RAAC

Suddenly we lost 6 of our biggest lecture theatres and teaching had to be relocated, fast.

To get venues with large enough rooms for this kind of teaching we were going to have to go off campus into city theatres and conference centres.   And even though we didn’t own, manage or run those venues, they all had to have lecture recording in place, for all lectures, because the students had been promised video.

The promise of video at University of Edinburgh is a key part of our offer- of our student experience. More than 450 lecture theatres are kitted out and more than 98% of all undergraduate lectures are recorded, turned around within 24 hours and available for students in the VLE.

Video has gone from being a WOW factor to being  a hygiene factor in only a few years.

Ada Lovelace Day 2023

 

Thank you to everyone who came to our Ada Lovelace Day celebrations -to listen to talks, make badges, edit Wikipedia, and generally celebrate women in STEM. Thank you as well to those who walked the Women in STEM trail and took their pictures with the inspiring women featured.

 

Special thanks to our guest speakers Prof Ruth King, Prof Frauke Zeller, and Bhargavi Ganesh, who engaged the room with their fascinating stories of space elephants, hitchhiking robots, tree rings, and steam boats. We were all inspired by their unique career paths and the curiosity they showed about the world around us. Their research demonstrated the importance of combining humanities with technology and data to innovate, and how women are vital to this innovation, just as Ada was vital to the founding of computer programming.

Unfortunately the day was tinged with sadness at the tragic loss of a colleague, but that served to remind me how important it is to gather and be together.

menopause at work

I was delighted to be invited out to our beautiful Easter Bush Campus at Roslin this week to deliver a session on the hot topic of menopause. We talked about feeling the rage and laughed about losing your nouns. Thank you to everyone who came along.

If you would like to organise a session like this for your dept, here’s the blurb:

Please join us at this workshop to discuss why menopause is a workplace issue.  One in ten women in the UK who worked during the menopause say they have left a job due to their symptoms. Are we at risk of losing some of our best staff at a time when they have the most wisdom and organisational knowledge? How can we adapt to ensure that all our colleagues have the support they need? Is this another leak in the pipeline for women in STEM?  At this workshop we will look at best practice guidance from professional bodies and trade unions and think about how University of Edinburgh can respond.  Your input and ideas are invaluable. Melissa Highton is a senior manager in Information Services Group (ISG) , she works with her leadership teams to ensure that workplaces are inclusive, and together we can tackle this ‘last taboo’. She will join us to discuss well-being, plans, policies and implications of hybrid working. By the end of the workshop we hope to have some actionable suggestions to take forward.

Feedback from the organisers:

“thanks for taking the time to come out to Easter Bush and share this information directly with us, in such an informative and engaging way…I think the participant numbers we got were an early indication to us that the topic was of deep interest to the staff on campus – but more significantly the discussion in the groups, and the enthusiasm that there should be follow up activities, is a further indication of how important this topic is to so many people.”  

to see ourselves as others see us

Lilinaz Rouhani
Lilinaz Rouhani

Does everyone at the University experience our services and the workplace in similar ways?

(guest post by Lilinaz Rouhani, Data and Equality Officer)

“When I first started in this role, this was my guiding question. I read reports and papers, joined staff networks, and started drafting my own surveys to find an answer to this question. I was hoping to find that the answer is yes. People more or less experience the University in similar ways, and where this is not the case, it will be clear why. So there will be a straightforward action point for me to report back. As with most other things in life and research, the picture was more complicated than this.

As I was settling into this more complex image, the pandemic started.

In an unexpected way, the complex structure I was trying to understand became more simplified when I looked at the pandemic. Of course people don’t experience things in a similar way. I saw how people experienced the pandemic differently: some had caring responsibilities, some had to learn new skills quickly, some had a support network close by, while others lived on their own. So why would we expect people to experience their workplace in similar ways? Surely these different experiences are still there outside of a pandemic.

In the last three years, in my role as the Data and Equality Officer, I have been studying these differences. I have looked at how staff members have experienced home and hybrid working differently, how student workers experience their summer and term-time jobs, if certain groups of staff are more likely to get nominated for contribution awards, as well as looking at the attendance of Digital Skills courses.

The road has been long, sometimes with beautiful views, and sometimes quite hilly and difficult to follow. It was encouraging to see evidence for a historic gender bias in contribution awards disappearing, and it was nice to see increased participation in Digital Skills courses in certain departments and areas of the University. In contrast, it is discouraging to conclude that the ethnic and disability pay gaps are probably wider than the official reports due to the large non-response rates, and that inequality still remains a factor in many aspects of our workplace.

So the answer? Of course people experience things in different ways. Sometimes, unfortunately, the difference is down to inequality. But the fear of facing inequality should not keep us from looking for answers. We should keep asking questions and try and address the problems. The only way to clear the road of the clutter so we can move on smoothly, is to first face that clutter.”