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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.
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UUK report: what do students want from their university?

To help inform the development of the OfS at this critical stage, Universities UK has carried out research with students to understand what they want, and most value, from their relationship with their university. This report sets out recommendations for how universities and the OfS can work together to address students' priorities in the new landscape.

From manual to automatic: developing learning analytics at Aston

After Aston University carried out a project to identify students at risk of withdrawal or non-progression, they realised they needed to move from manual analytics to a more comprehensive learning analytics system. Following a partnership with Jisc to develop such a system, they are already seeing the benefits, as James Moran explains.

Get interactive: practical teaching with technology

Online and blended learning can help make higher education teaching more interactive and efficient, but staff often lack confidence in using technology and have little or no time to learn. Sarah Sherman describes how a group of London institutions have launched online training to tackle this problem.

What we’ve learned from pedagogic podcasting

Academics at Birkbeck College have sought to take their teaching beyond the lecture room with a weekly podcast to support their British politics module. Dr Dermot Hodson, reader in political economy and Dr Ben Worthy, lecturer in politics outline the lessons from the initiative over the past two years.

“The Sticky Campus”; improving our students’ sense of belonging through active learning, coffee and...

2018 promises to be an exciting and challenging year for universities and the Higher Education sector. Among the many less than positive news, there are also successful practices that make our universities stand out in the way in which they support their students’ experience, widen access and participation, and support their mental health and wellbeing. The ‘Sticky Campus’ at Abertay University is one such example. As Robertson explains and describes, the concept is simple and yet complex in its operationalisation.
Sue Rigby

Sue Rigby: HE leaders need the capacity to simplify

High student satisfaction levels helped the University of Lincoln to secure a gold award in the 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework. Sue Rigby, Lincoln's deputy vice chancellor for student development, explains how encouraging staff to come up with their own solutions to problems is inspiring innovation.
Overall view of the Mission Control Center (MCC), Houston, Texas, during the Gemini 5 flight. Note the screen at the front of the MCC which is used to track the progress of the Gemini spacecraft.

What happens when the dial turns red?

When the data shows that a student is struggling, how should universities respond? Brian Hipkin issues a plea to academics and their professional services colleagues to work together more to understand the student lifestyle from the student's perspective.
picture credit: McCoy-Wynne

Teaching and learning technology: driving student efficiency

Technology can help professional and academic staff do their job more efficiently but it can also produce efficiency gains for students. Lucy Haire looks at what universities are doing to introduce technology to improve teaching and learning for students.

Analytics in higher education

Universities already collect vast amounts of data about their student populations, but often this is underutilised. This Universities UK report, written in partnership with Civitas Learning and Jisc, sets out the case for better use of analytics in higher education through effective implementation of appropriate technology and techniques.