Tag: awards

Athena Swan win -assessment and feedback

I am delighted that my team in LTW at University of Edinburgh have gained a Bronze Athena Swan Award. I bet we are the first learning technology department in a UK university to do so. We are certainly the first professional services department  at Edinburgh to achieve it.  We got great feedback from the assessment panel.

The panel is satisfied that the application adequately addresses the award criteria and is pleased to confer a Bronze Athena Swan award.

The panel commends the leadership and senior buy-in which is evident in several ways, including:

·       the strong letter of endorsement from the Director which communicates a solid organisational commitment to Athena Swan and demonstrates a clear understanding of the importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in improving service delivery and experience for all – the inclusion of Directorate initiatives in Institutional Athena Swan applications underscores the value of the work being undertaken (pp.5-6);

·       the Director’s personal leadership and active development of a range of EDI-related initiatives (pp.9-12);

·       resourcing a Data and Equality Officer (DEO) post which includes responsibilities to support EDI work, for example, reporting Directorate /user demographic data to the Senior Management Team (SMT) and maintaining the EDI newsletter (p.9);

·       senior management representation on the Directorate’s Self-Assessment Team (SAT), including the Director and the Head of Operations (pp.14-15);

·       recognition and reward of EDI work through both local (e.g., digital badges) and University recognition mechanisms (e.g., vouchers, annual review process, pp.10-11).

A clear governance structure for EDI is in place with accountability lying with senior colleagues (p.9). The panel commends the purposeful design of structures and processes to embed EDI in decision-making and in the culture of the Directorate, for example, the establishment of roles which explicitly involve EDI, the Dignity and Respect Advisor is a member of the SMT and Athena Swan will be a standing item at SMT meetings (pp.9-10, p.17, p.44). The links between the Directorate’s EDI work and University EDI governance structures appear strong, for example, the Director is a member of the University EDI Committee and the DEO sits on the University Equality and Diversity Monitoring and Reporting Committee (EDMARC) (p.9); these links ensure that the Directorate’s EDI/gender equality work is aligned with institutional strategy as well as providing opportunities for broader collaboration.

Similarly, processes for policy development and evaluation, including feedback routes, appear robust (p.13). The Directorate uses Equality Impact Assessments in respect of local policy/practice and staff perceptions of being informed about University policies relating to EDI are largely positive (although there is a disparity between male/female responses, p.13).

The SAT brings diversity of perspectives, including representatives from component teams and with different lived experience of members; the recruitment process, comprising expressions of interest combined with targeted invitations to ensure that the SAT reflects the diversity of the Directorate, is commended (pp.14-15).

A transparent account of the activities of the SAT from its inception until finalisation of the application, including a timeline (table 3), is provided (pp.16-17). Multiple data sources informed the self-assessment and a range of approaches have been utilised to capture the voices of the Directorate’s community (p.16). The Directorate’s plans to monitor and implement the action plan, which will be overseen by the SAT, appear robust and are commended (p.17).

As a result of a thorough analysis of the mandatory data and a critical evaluation of culture, a wide range of gender equality issues are identified (pp.18-26). The panel commends the:

·       range of activity to develop a positive and supportive culture, including Mandatory Training Day, Friday messages, events for Ada Lovelace Day, EDI reading groups and promoting the University’s Don’t Cross the Line campaign (pp.23-26). The impact of these activities is evident in positive feedback about the culture of the Directorate (e.g., 83% of respondents to the EDI survey ‘felt the workplace was inclusive’, p.23);

·       collection and analysis of data on contribution awards and pay;

·       evidence-based and thoughtful approach to the use of a variety of benchmarks to support a nuanced analysis of the gender equality issues facing the Directorate.

The panel congratulates the Directorate on achieving a Bronze award.

 Good practice examples highlighted

The panel considers the Directorate’s approach, led by the Wikimedian in Residence, to diversify Wikipedia writers and content, to be good practice. The Resident Wikimedian hosts regular events and workshops to train staff and students to edit Wikipedia entries and write articles to increase the diversity of subject and contributors (p.25). This work has been impactful in raising the profile of the limitations of Wikipedia (particularly to students), addressing the gender bias in whose stories are disseminated online and improving around 16,000 articles.

The panel also considers the PlayFair Steps initiative, including EDI recognition badges, to be good practice (pp.10-11).

More broadly, the panel commends the thoughtful consideration with which a variety of sector, discipline and regional benchmarks are used.

digital badgers

As previously teased, I am delighted to say we are launching a 3-year pilot of BadgEd, a new Open Digital Badge service, so that students and staff can earn their stripes and show off their achievements in black and white!

It’s taken me a while to get this in place. I am indebted to Pat Lockley for first introducing me to the idea at Mozfest in 2010.

Open Digital Badges have become a standard way of recognising skills and achievements outside of credit-bearing course work. Within the University of Edinburgh, some departments have already been issuing digital badges for several years, which has highlighted the need for a central service. Our aim is to create consistency, to share best practice among colleagues, to support local issuers, and to provide an opportunity for more colleagues to get involved.  Our graphic design teams have been working hard on figuring out how to make branded setts.

The pilot will:

  • focus on the recognition of extra-curricular skills, achievements, or competencies through the awarding of a digital badge
  • support the growing interest in and recognition of digital badges
  • provide guidance on how to maintain the value of digital badges for both earners (students, staff, external learners) and issuers (Schools and Deaneries issuing a badge)
  • expand on stand alone badges to explore how badge pathways and skills frameworks could enhance the value of the badge to the earner. Find out more about our badger setts : BadgEd (Open Digital Badges) | The University of Edinburgh
#mozfest Barcelona 2010. Pat Lockley explains badges to me.

honourary membership

wikipedia logo
wikipedia logo

I am honoured that the Board of Trustees of Wikimedia UK offered me Honorary Membership of Wikimedia UK.

This is in recognition of the significant contribution that I have made to the charity over a number of years, as a long standing champion for Wikimedia’s role in higher education. In particular,  in establishing a Wikimedian in Residence role at the University of Edinburgh, and for the ongoing success and impact of this programme.

I was delighted to accept, of course, but a bit embarrassed as I am not a particularly good editor of Wikipedia and I often get a bit grumpy when my edits are  reverted.   I support Wikimedia UK because it is the right thing to do. Wikipedia is the largest open educational resource in the world and essential for staff and students in higher education.

But I edit as a pass time, hobby,  for my own distraction and amusement.

I also invented the category  for ‘muses‘  which I note now has 130 entries.   I started it for Stella Cartwright.

enduring fellowship

The Radcliffe Camera, Oxford

It has been noted that I have not blogged for a while. So I will give some updates here:

I am delighted to be continuing my visiting stint as a Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. I was a Fellow when I worked at Oxford and the college generously allow me to keep that affiliation in the hope that I will visit and be a useful member of the Fellowship.

I don’t visit very often it has to be said, and I feel that is partly because whenever I have vacation time at the beginning or end of term, the Oxford terms have already finished. They are very short. But that’s just an excuse.   I will try harder this year to get a time for an actual work visit.

dance like you are not being projected onto the side of a castle

I’m much chuffed to have won the Open Global Individual Leadership award

It’s an award presented to an individual who has demonstrated significant leadership and longstanding involvement with Open Education. A person who has made significant and clear contributions to the furtherance of the Open Education movement, whose contributions to Open Education have spanned regions and/or had a global impact.

I have also successfully renewed my Senior CMALT  to remain in good standing as a professional learning technologist. The assessor said it was

‘An impressive account of development activities and how they have influenced learning technology developments at Edinburgh.’  Which is very pleasing.

My CPD journey continues. I completed a microcredential Certificate in Decision Making from LSE before Christmas, and I’ve finally sent off my application for PFHEA.

Awards 2021

The LTW teams have been busy winning awards for excellence again this year.

We were finalists in Computing Magazine’s Digital Leadership Awards in 2 categories: ‘Best place to Work in Digital’ and ‘ best Project Team’. On the night we won ‘Project Team of the Year 2021‘ for our team of student interns who co-created online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We entered in a number of categories in the ‘Open Education Global Awards’, and we were winners of the  ‘OE Global Open Policy Award’ for adoption creation and implementation of an open policy mandate with a clear impact of public investment in the development of open knowledge through the efficient use and reuse of resources for the public good the ‘Open Curation / Repository Award’ for work with local schools dedication to openness, access, high quality and innovation and vision, and two individual leadership categoroes.

We are shortlisted as finalists in the Smarter Working awards for ‘Small-Scale Project: Online Learning for Frontline Workers During COVID-19′.

We are finalists in the 2021 Global Advancing Academic Development Good Practice Awards and the Staff Development Forum Developing Excellent Practice Award .

Our Digital Skills Festival won the Staff Development Forum Developing Excellent Practice Award. This was our first award for this team, and it was great to have external recognition for our work alongside other award-winning LTW teams. http://sdf.ac.uk/9537/university-of-edinburgh-digital-skills-festival

 

 

 

Best Place to Work in Digital

As you know I always like to celebrate successes and so I am much chuffed to hear that we are shortlisted for two more industry awards.  This time from Computing magazine.

https://event.computing.co.uk/digitaltechnologyleadersawards/en/page/2021-finalists

We are finalist in 2 categories: Best Place to Work in Digital – Large Organisations and   we are winners of Project Team of the Year. The awards are for the work we do in supporting student interns into our organisation and the work the interns do in Learn Foundations.

‘Our programme has created over 300 digital student internships. We work hard to attract the brightest students and take care to train and support them by creating an environment where they grow and thrive. The student workers in our organisation transform the culture, bring new viewpoints, ideas and diversity to our teams. They provide unique perspectives on our services.  Increasing the number of students who work in our organisation is our strategic ambition and a vital part of enabling the University effectively to meet future digital challenges’.

We have actually won awards for this work before, so to get more prizes reflects your sustained excellence.  The winners will be announced at a glamorous awards ceremony on Wednesday 13 October in fancy London.

catalysts for excellence

This year, more than ever, our new and returning students need to know we care about their learning. Edinburgh is in a strong position to respond to the challenges ahead whilst maintaining a quality learning experience.
We have recruited dozens of students to work with us over the summer, and did I mention that our VLE teams just won another award?

2019 Ayrton Prize of the British Society for the History of Science

Signatures of the Edinburgh Seven in the University of Edinburgh Archives.

The BSHS Ayrton prize recognises outstanding web projects and digital engagement in the history of science, technology and medicine (HSTM). The prize name was chosen to recognize the major contributions of Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923) to numerous scientific fields, especially electrical engineering and mathematics, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The prize is awarded once every two years.

2019 Ayrton Prize of the British Society for the History of Science is awarded this week.

Given the remarkable strength of the field, they decided to supplement the main Prize with a Highly Commended category, to be awarded to two further projects.

I’m delighted to say that our University of Edinburgh Wikipedia project “Changing the ways the stories are told” is one of the two Highly Commended projects! The judging panel were particularly impressed with the initiative’s track record of contributions to the infrastructure of knowledge on which research and public engagement in the history of science depend.

 

Our submission:

‘Changing the ways the stories are told’: Engaging staff and students in improving the Wikipedia content about women in the history of science, technology and medicine in Scotland.

This project began 5 years ago and has been delivering more and more each year with wider reach, large engagement numbers and considerable impact in terms of public engagement and media coverage. This project is supported by University of Edinburgh and we work in partnership with science, engineering and heritage organisations in Edinburgh to run events to edit and improve Wikipedia content of topics specifically related to the history of women in science.

Our mission is to work with staff, students and members of the public to support them in developing the digital skills they need to engage in writing and publishing new articles on Wikipedia. We have a specific focus on the history of women in science and medicine. Our first ‘edit-a-thon’ in 2015 was based on ‘The Edinburgh Seven’- the first women to study medicine and our most recent was in conjunction with Young Academy Scotland at the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This work towards getting all students and staff in the university to be active contributors is unique in the sector.

The audience for our content includes any members of the public who look at HSTM articles on Wikipedia.  The audience for our skills development training are staff and students who learn about how historical information can be brought out of the university (and other) archives to illustrate, enhance and improve the stories of historic development of science, technology and medicine. We work closely with librarians, archivists and academic researchers to bring their hidden content into the most modern digital platforms and give it new relevance for the public today.

Edinburgh staff and students have created 476 new articles, in a variety of languages on a huge range of topics and significantly improved or translated 1950 more. These articles have been consumed by millions of readers. All editors are supported to understand the impact and reach of their work, to find the analytics and reports which show how their contribution is immediately useful to a wide range of audiences.

By working closely with HSTM scholars, digital librarians and archivists we ensure that our staff and students learn the best practice in using digital platforms for public engagement. We ensure that information is accessible and navigable and make best use of both the archives and the new technology.   Images released from our archive collections and added to Wikipedia as part of this project have now been viewed 28,755,106 times. 

As well as learning the skills of editing, referencing and science communication, we are ensuring that many more of our staff and students learn about how information is created, shared and contested online. We work specifically to address gaps in coverage and improve information where it is poor.

We address the gender gap amongst Wikipedia editors by training large numbers of female students and staff and empower them to edit on whatever topics they choose and thus engaging in the use of digital platforms for their own study and work.

The University of Edinburgh is the first UK university to engage a Wikimedian in Residence to focus entirely on developing student and staff skills.  The project fits with our missions for teaching, research and public engagement as well as the embedding of technology in our activities to engage in digital citizenship and crowd-sourced sharing.

The most innovative part of the project has been to work closely with academic colleagues to embed Wikimedia tasks in the curriculum so that students work on topics which have direct relevance to their studies. One example where we work with the students on the MSc Reproductive Biomedicine is now in its fourth year. The students are assessed and gain credit for the work they do in improving content of Wikipedia.

Five years on from our original work in changing the way the story of the Edinburgh Seven is told, the University gave posthumous degrees to the women who had struggled as pioneers in this area. The degree ceremony in 2019 marked 150 years since the Surgeons Hall riots and this new, updated history of women in science and medicine gained considerable media coverage and impact in Scotland and beyond.

We ensure the sustainability of this project by making it part of the ongoing digital skills and digital literacy training programme delivered to staff and students in the University of Edinburgh and we hold public engagement events alongside our partners in library, heritage and science organisations in the city.

The Wikipedia platform is maintained by the Wikimedia UK foundation and our contributions to improving the public facing content on that platform is part of ensuring that it is a sustainable, growing, open, relevant and useful resource for everyone. Working directly with the Wikipedia platform to add content ensures that we do not take on the long term costs of hosting such a platform for our selves, thus the work of training editors and contributing content can continue as long as the platform is an appropriate place to do it.

Last year this work won a Herald Higher Education Award for innovation in technology and we are expanding our skills training team in the coming year to ensure that we can meet the demand from academic colleagues and students to be trained as editors and as contributors to Wikidata and similar sister projects.

This project represents a clear statement by the University that we want to enable our staff and students to engage in becoming active citizens in the digital world.