Blogwebs / cobwebs.

It’s been a while since I was here so out with the dust and on with some comments.

Things on my mind at the moment include;

Analytics and Business Intelligence
Summer of Student Innovation
Efficiency Exchange
Digital literacy

So if any of those float your boat, read on.

Analytics and Business Intelligence
We at Jisc have made some great progress in these areas, notably the Analytics Series and the Business Intelligence InfoKit. Watch this space for announcements about each, potentially bringing the two together through a new two year initiative.
Complimentary to this my InfoNet colleagues have put together a Data Visualisations InfoKit to compliment the Business Intelligence InfoKit. It’s up for review at the moment so do take a look.
Today I’m blogging from HESA where I’ve been invited to their 25th anniversary celebration. I’m looking forward to catching up on their HEDIIP programme and overlap with that new Jisc initiative I alluded to. More on that later.
On Learning Analytics I’ve been talking with Desire2Learn about the analytics capability in their flagship products and their interest in running a longitudinal study into their applicability in UK HE. Such capability in best of breed commercial offerings is something we’ve been expecting and I hope to write up a blog post about the functionality and efficacy soon.

Summer of Student Innovation
This has been a great programme whereby Jisc sought student generated ideas for projects to improve the student experience. We did this through the Jisc elevator where students posted videos and sector people voted for them. If enough institutions voted, we funded the ideas resulting in 21 projects at 5K. We added value by running a programme of support with experts helping students develop to wireframes and beta versions as well as how to gain funding, pitching and preparing professional videos. The projects are concluding and we’re holding a Trade Fair in November where 80 HEI customers will meet the projects with a view to determining appetite for uptake. I represented the projects at the sponsoring group of ‘CoDesigners’ (RUGIT, SCONUL et al) where we aired ideas for moving forward. More official news on this will follow soon.

Efficiency Exchange
This is a two year project funded by HEFCE through LFHE and being joint delivered by Jisc and UUK. It’s a direct result of the Diamond report recommendations. Year 1 is complete and we have a platform with content. Year 2 planning is underway and we’ll be announcing a new collaboration with a major media organisation in November. We’ll also be putting together offers to match the interests of some key staff roles. More on that to follow.

Digital Literacy
The project phase of this 1.5 million pound programme concluded at the end of July. We’re now synthesising across the portfolio and will be releasing materials to help the sector benefit from the work from November. These will include overview and detailed guides, briefings and toolkts for the wider HE workforce including teaching staff, heads of department, e-learning staff and managers, careers staff, staff and educational developers, HR, senior managers (L&T, student experience, facilities/services), library staff, IT services staff and those involved in aspects of administration. The association strand concludes in December and I’m looking forward to receiving those project final deliverables by 1 December.
On administration, I presented at the AUA Development Conference this week. Here’s the PPT. It was lively as we explored the attributes administrators in the widest sense of the role need in order to be effective and efficient in a digital environment. We went on to look at the enablers, what Jisc and AUA have made available to help. Next was a quick look at what people felt was missing in terms of needs from employers. Lastly we called for action and people were most interested in the AUA Digital Tool Box and the revised Jisc shortcuts for AUA members.