42nd HeLF meeting : Learning Analytics

The 42^nd meeting of the Heads of eLearning Forum was hosted at Southampton Solent University on 31^st October 2017.

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BY ROGER EMERY, SOLENT UNIVERSITY

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JISC - Learning Analytics, 2015 | CC BY-NC-ND

T he morning kicked off inside “The Pod” with Solent’s Laraine D’Antin presenting the progress and challenges of the HEFCE Catalyst A funded RISE project. The project is developing and researching a “Rich Information Set for Educators” and evaluating which elements of learning analytics data has the biggest pedagogical impact for staff and students. This was followed by a group activity, which proved to be a challenge in a room with no tables!
Matt Lingard, Head of TEL at University of West London, then provided an insight into the policies surrounding learning analytics and the issues implementers face trying to balance the requirements for data with the restrictions and challenges of institutional policy. Further discussion followed. In a break from normal proceedings the next presenter, Dragan Gasevic, Professor and the Chair in Learning Analytics and Informatics in the Schools of Education and Informatics University of Edinburgh, joined the event via webinar. Dragan was unable to attend, but kindly gave up his time to present a summary of the SHEILA project and its key findings and actions.
To take us into lunch Professor Julie Hall, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), joined the meeting to welcome delegates to Solent with a short presentation. Julie remained to network over lunch which included a guided tour of the award winning “The Spark” teaching building by Learning Technologist, Edd Bolton.

Xavier Briche - "The Pod", 2017 | CC-BY-SA

The afternoon moved to a more traditional teaching room (with tables!) where Samantha Aherne from UCL discussed the mental health crisis in higher education and argued how Learning Analytics could be used to better support student wellbeing.

Brian Irwin, Chair of HeLF, then provided an update of HeLF business which he followed with a summary of findings from a recent HeLF report on the Learning Analytics landscape in UK Higher Education. The slides and report by Barbara Newland and Paul Truemam can be found on the HeLF website. The afternoon was rounded off with Martin Lynch providing an entertaining countdown of lessons learned at University of South Wales during their on-going implementation of Learning Analytics as part of the JISC initiative.

The  presentations are available to download here

Next HeLF event : Wednesday 28th February 2018 at University of Sheffield on the theme of TEL innovations

40th HeLF meeting: Learning spaces - Changing Perspectives

UCISA's Learning Spaces Toolkit 2016 | CC BY-NC-ND

O ur 40^th HeLF meeting was held at University of Birmingham on Thursday 16th March. The morning speakers introduced the Head of Media Services and Librarian's perspectives on Learning Spaces. Members of HeLF were also given a print copy of the UCISA, AUDE, SCHOMS' Learning Spaces Toolkit advocating a codesigned and pedagogy-led approach in the design process. Brian Irwin, new Chair of HeLF, spoke about the working priorities for the newly elected steering group in the coming months:

Learning Spaces Toolkit phase I & II - Caroline Pepper, SCHOMS vice-chair and Learning Environments manager,  University of Loughborough;

Academic Library as Learning Spaces: a librarian perspective - Pete Ryan, SCONUL and Director of Library and Learning Resources, Canterbury Christ Church University.

The afternoon was reserved for group discussions, Learning Spaces case studies at University of Birmingham and an update on the on-going work of UCL in developing better learning spaces, good practice and their A/V procurement framework:

Update on the Learning Spaces at UCL -  Paul Burt, Learning Spaces Manager, Digital Education, UCL;

Collaborative Teaching Laboratories - Joe Berry, TEL Hub Partnership and Development Manager, University of Birmingham;

Learning Space Development, Pedagogy and The Student Experience - Ollie Ireson, Learning Space Development Officer, University of Birmingham.

The  Presentations are available to download here

Wednesday 7th June at Newcastle University on the theme of VLE reviews