Group Admins
Description
Session Description
The fourth industrial revolution is generating new opportunities and new jobs (World Economic Forum, 2018). Fusions of nascent technologies like big data, artificial intelligence, mixed reality, robotics, cloud technology and the internet of things are impacting on all areas of our lives.
Such speed of change presents challenges for colleges and universities as we endeavour to prepare the workforce of the future for jobs that perhaps don’t yet exist (Universities UK, 2018). Universities and colleges make a significant annual investment in technology so how can we make sure these investments deliver results?
In this session we will hear from two universities who have surveyed students and staff to explore how the data obtained is being analysed and used to inform investment, contribute to policy and practice and enhance the student experience. Both institutions are engaged in a national programme that enables them to collect and act upon data specific to their institution as well as to set this in perspective of sector benchmarking data. Each institution will give a short 10 minute overview focusing on how they are using data to:
• inform digital strategies and operational decisions
• support digital leaders to plan transformations
• understand and improve the digital experience they offer
• boost employability prospects for students and enhance staff professional practice
• secure return on investment, efficiency and productivity savings
Participants will then be invited to discuss and share effective practice on 2 out of 3 topics before coming together to share key reflections (Jisc, 2018):
• Data privacy: only about half of students in the UK say their university protects their data privacy and only about a quarter know how their personal data is used. How can this perceived low level of confidence be improved?
• Importance of digital skills for future careers: around seven in ten HE students think digital skills will be important in their chosen career yet only around four in ten feel their course is preparing them for this. What might be the reasons for this mismatch and what more could be done to address this?
• Preparing new students: only about a third of incoming students know what digital skills are required on their course and only about four in ten have regular opportunities to review and update them. How do you prepare your incoming students prior to arrival … and continue to support them throughout their course?
Participants will gain an understanding of how to make better use of analytics in institutional decision making while appreciating the challenges and sensitivities around data ownership.
Data security: Our insights surveys collect data from participants through the Jisc online surveys system which is owned and managed by Jisc. Data is jointly owned and managed by Jisc and participating institutions. We obtain consent from survey participants in accordance with Jisc’s standard privacy notice. The purpose of data collection is clearly specified – analysing responses overall to inform our research and development and for any technical support needed. It is not used for marketing purposes.
The information can also be used by participants’ institutions. We make it clear that this should be explained in an equivalent privacy notice produced by them to their staff and students. We use anonymised aggregated data for analysis, public reports and presentations. We keep any personal data for one year and anonymised data for a maximum of seven years. Any potential staff or student identifier data is taken out by the Jisc online surveys team before being passed for analysis to the Jisc insights team.
Session content
Workshop timings
• Introduction (5 min)
• Institutional overviews x 2 (10 min each = 20 min)
• Summary of national findings (5 min)
• Opportunity to take part in 2 out of 3 table activities (10 min each = 20 min)
• Feedback and plenary (5 min)
References
Newman, T., Beetham, H. and Knight, S. (2018). Digital experience insights survey 2018: findings from students in UK further and higher education. Jisc [online]. Available from: https://digitaliinsights.jisc.ac.uk/our-service/our-reports [Accessed 7 March 2019]
World Economic Forum (2018). The Future of Jobs Report 2018. WEF [online]. Available from: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf [Accessed 10 March 2018]
Universities UK (2018). Solving future skills challenges. Universities UK [online]. Available from: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2018/solving-future-skills-challenges.pdf [Accessed 10 March 2018]
