Not engaging with open data is ‘a loser’s game’
Following Universities UK’s (UUK) recent open data mashup day in partnership with Jisc and the Open Data Institute, Ian Morton of UUK reflects on how smarter use of data by universities could play a significant part in answering the objectives of the government’s green paper on higher education – and also much more.
Using students to help stop students dropping out
Who better to ask about why students drop out than students themselves? Jamie Rawsthorne was in his first year at the University of West of England when he met with vice chancellor Steve West to see how he could help prevent students leaving before the end of their courses. The result was the start of his company Unique Insights. Jamie explains why and how he took on the retention challenge.
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.
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.
Why blockchain could be the future in knowledge procurement
More applications are emerging for blockchain - a formerly obscure technology that underpins the digital currency Bitcoin. Nick Petford, chair of the Procurement UK forum and vice chancellor of the University of Northampton, is excited about its potential for procurement.
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.
Road map published for the higher education information landscape
The New Landscape project seeks to create a design for the information landscape, something that has never previously existed in higher education. Rosie Niven rounds up the main points set out in the publication of a report setting out the roadmap for data in higher education.
Data capability toolkit
This toolkit outlines a process to guide higher education data collectors and providers through an assessment of data management maturity and the development of an improvement plan to achieve the benefits of operating at a higher maturity level and mitigate the risks of doing nothing.
Open Data Mashup Challenge – a participant’s view
A group of graduate interns and apprentices from Student Services in the at Sheffield Hallam University’s (SHU) Faculty of Development and Society were among the participants in November’s Open Data Mashup Challenge. Lucy Shanks explains how the challenge will benefit their work to improve the student journey.
Project launched to unlock open data potential in higher education
The ODI and Universities UK have launched a project involving a group of top UK universities, the National Union of Students and Jisc to explore the opportunities open data presents the higher education sector in the UK. The launch of Creating Value from Open Data is followed by an event on 18 November at Universities UK looking at other organisations' strategies for open data.
