Partnership expands for Jisc’s open research data shared service
Jisc's research data shared service pilot now involves 17 partners after four more institutions joined in with the project. A blog by Jisc's Rachel Bruce says the service aims to serve a variety of needs, including providing repositories for deposit and access to research data and encouraging data reuse in the long term.
Universities join forces to design learning analytics architecture for the sector
Universities wishing to raise achievement of all students were urged to consider adopting learning analytics in the Higher Education Commission's recent report ‘From Bricks to Clicks’. In this blogpost, Phil Richards says the sector is now also recognising learning analytics as a priority area and Jisc is working with universities deliver a national open architecture for this work.
John Lacey: ‘my perception of value for money has definitely improved’
Some 20 universities have joined forces to create a more defined path for graduates interested in a career in higher education with the Ambitious Futures programme. John Lacey, who has had placements at two universities in the north west of England, describes how these experiences have offered him new perspectives on the student journey.
Student surveys are a waste of everyone’s time
"Students have to answer 25 questionnaires a year and they are sick of it", an academic complains. In a post for the Guardian's Academics Anonymous blog, the unnamed physiology lecturer asks why universities are so obsessed with pointless data.
HESA launches bid to remove barriers to the reuse of its datasets
A five year plan to open up higher education data was unveiled on Thursday by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Rosie Niven reports on the agency’s key recommendations.
The rise of the new academic advisor
Could the advent of the TEF see the emergence of a new breed of data-empowered academic advisors? Student experience consultant Brian Hipkin says the growth in student-generated ‘teaching excellence’ metrics could herald the introduction of this role.
Full house for data experts at the University of Southampton
Universities around the world are providing their students with open data to enable students to extend the digital ecosystem with their own software. In the UK, the most well known is the University of Southampton and this write-up of a visit from UCL's TechSoc nicely describes project leaders' bingo-inspired solution to overcome resistance to opening up data
Boosting wider participation by using business intelligence tools
The University of East London has been using data analysis to study widening participation trends and foster collaboration with boroughs in east London. Gary Tindell explains how UEL is applying these techniques at a national level as part of the Heidi Lab project sponsored by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and Jisc
Data footprints: three steps along the path to data innovation
A recent report by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) highlights how Jisc, HESA and Universities UK could advance data innovation through collaborative activities. The good news is they are already making strides in this area, says Ian Powling of Universities UK.
Open data in HE intro guide UUK
This introductory guide is intended for professionals working in universities who wish to gain a better understanding of the issues associated with using open data within their institutions. The guide is based on training workshops run by the Open Data Institute for the ‘Creating value from open data’ project.
