The purpose of education?

“Were all instructors to realize that the quality of mental process, not the production of correct answers, is the measure of educative growth something hardly less than a revolution in teaching would be worked.”
― John Dewey, Democracy and Education

Over the last few weeks I have attended a number of events, but they have all the same common thread.

They have left me asking two questions; firstly, what is the purpose of education and secondly, what do we mean by learning?

This has reminded me of comments made by Peter Goodyear in his keynote at the 2017 ALT Conference regarding learning spaces, ‘attributes and qualities of spaces do not determine the learning and outcomes and objectives’ and ‘it’s what students actually do that effects what they learn .. can not be designed’.

In the #IOEDebates event What if… we really wanted evidence-informed practice in the classroom? Gert Biesta (Professor of Education and Director of Research, Brunel University London) noted that ‘Teaching is: Open, semiotic and recursive’ and this makes teaching a messy business. We can remove the messiness but would this reduce teachers to technocrats and create an education environment of uniform conformity, evidence must not become another thing to tell you what to do.

Professor Biesta went on to ask ‘What do we want education to work for:’

• Qualification?
• Socialisation?
• Subjectification?

 This had parallels to discussions at the debate What is a university education and where is it going? where Lord Willetts discussed the wider benefits of Higher Education:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254101/bis-13-1268-benefits-of-higher-education-participation-the-quadrants.pdf

How do these benefits relate to the learning or the learning gain that takes place within our universities?

Many of the presentations at the HEFCE open event Using data to increase learning gains and teaching excellence hosted by the OU primarily focused on non-subject knowledge gains and employability.

HEFCE define learning gain as ‘an attempt to measure the improvement in knowledge, skills, work-readiness and personal development made by students during their time spent in higher education.’ (http://www.hefce.ac.uk/lt/lg/). They go on to state that measuring learning gain will ‘contribute to a broader international understanding about the value of higher education, and help governments shape their policies and investments accordingly.’.

So what is primary purpose of learning within our institutions? Can this learning be effectively measured?

I don’t know. All I do know is that I now have more questions than answers about the nature of learning and the purpose of a university education.

from Digital Education team blog https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/2018/01/25/the-purpose-of-education/
via IFTTT

source https://triplejumprunway.tumblr.com/post/170110937412

Developing Digital Scholarship at UCL

The next UCL Digital Literacy Special Interest Group (UCL DL SIG) will be taking place on Friday February 16th from 2pm – 5pm (ticket link at the end of this post).

Digital content is increasingly being used in learning, teaching and research across the Higher Education sector. This has led to a significant change in research practices across disciplines, which include knowledge creation and dissemination through social media and repositories. Complex software tools are being used for data analysis in Arts and Humanities as well as Sciences, and large data sets are being made available to the research community, leading to a blurring of the organisational and support responsibilities of academic stakeholders. This timely event takes a look at digital scholarship at large, and considers new initiatives and opportunities within UCL to address the challenges associated with this disruptive shift.

Event Programme

Developing Digital Scholarship: Emerging Practices in Academic Libraries – Alison MacKenzie, Dean of Learning Services at Edge Hill University and Lindsay Martin Assistant Head of Learning Services at Edge Hill University.

The impact of digital on libraries has extended far beyond its transformation of content, to the development of services, the extension and enhancement of access to research and to teaching and learning systems.As a result,the fluidity of the digital environment can often be at odds with the more systematic approaches to development traditionally taken by academic libraries, which has also led to a new generation of roles and shifting responsibilities with staff training and development often playing ‘catch-up’. One of the key challenges to emerge is how best to demonstrate expertise in digital scholarship which draws on the specialist technical knowledge of the profession and maintains and grows its relevance for staff, students and researchers.

---

Developing Digital Scholars: from the Ivory Tower to the Twittersphere  – Alison Hicks, Lecturer UCL Department of Information Studies.

Drawing on her experience working as an academic librarian in the United States, Alison’s presentation centres on the capacities that are needed to participate in practices of digital scholarship, as well as the inherent risks and challenges of engaging in open and networked spaces.

---

Introduction to Digital Scholarship and Open Research – Daniel van Strien, Research Data Support Officer UCL Library Services.

Daniel will be presenting on a session which aims to help participants make a practical start in practicing open science and digital scholarship he is a Research Data Support Officer within UCL Library Services with an interest in digital scholarship and new approaches to research.

---

Where’s your digital at? – Moira Wright, Digital Literacy Officer, UCL Digital Education.

With an interest in student digital and information literacy skills for employability. Moira will be talking about the Jisc Digital Capability Discovery Tool and how to get involved in the UCL beta pilot.

---

Research IT Services – Tom Couch, UCL Research IT Services (RITS).

Whilst many of the existing users of Research IT Services are pushing for more of the same but better, the broadening base of digitally engaged researchers from different disciplines requires more experimentation with new technologies and services. Tom Couch reports on some recent projects that have helped RITS to engage and support new groups of researchers.

---

Please use this link to book your ticket via Eventbrite

We’re using the Jisc definition of digital literacy: ‘the capabilities which fit someone for living, learning and working in a digital society’.
The UCL DL SIG was created for UCL staff to promote the use of technology in learning, provide a platform to ask questions, exchange ideas and also to get support from colleagues beyond UCL Digital Education.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

from Digital Education team blog https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/2018/01/23/developing-digital-scholarship-at-ucl/
via IFTTT

source https://triplejumprunway.tumblr.com/post/170038419692

Where’s your digital at?! Digital capability discovery tool workshop.

Discover your digital capabilities! The Digital discovery tool helps you to reflect on your digital expertise and confidence. Find out how to make digital technologies work for you – and get noticed for the skills you have already.

How to get involved the beta pilot of the JISC digital capability discovery tool at UCL.

The tool is a self-administered quiz about professional digital practices in education. Workshop participants will receive a personalised report based on their responses with links to resources and guidance. The tool is designed to be reflective, informative and developmental – it’s not an objective measure of an individual’s digital performance. A student version is planned for the end of February 2018 and we’ll organise workshops for UCL students once it’s live – get in touch if you would like to do this with your students (contact details below).

UCL staff are invited to participate in one of three workshops with an opportunity to use the tool and provide your feedback to JISC.

Places are limited for these sessions and a sandwich lunch will be provided.

Workshop dates and sign up via Eventbrite use the links below:

Thursday 8^th February 2018 from 1 pm – 2pm

Tuesday 20^th February 2018 from 1pm – 2pm

Monday 26^th February 2018 from 1pm – 2pm

If you would like to discuss running departmental workshops (either staff or student) as part of the pilot at UCL please contact Moira Wright.

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

from Digital Education team blog https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/2018/01/22/wheres-your-digital-at/
via IFTTT

source https://triplejumprunway.tumblr.com/post/169999955602

New Digital Skills course dates for 2018

ISD Digital Skills Development has released new dates for the spring term.  As usual, we are offering a wide range of courses covering Excel, Matlab, LaTeX, Photoshop, R and more.  New dates are once again available for Unix courses which were absent from last term’s schedule.  Most of our courses take place in computer workrooms so there is no need to bring your own device.  However, please note that you should bring your own laptop for all of our R sessions.

If you want to develop your spreadsheet skills, our very popular Excel Essential Skills and Using Excel as a database courses are back again for staff and Excel workshops covering similar skills are available for students.  To find out more about our workshops, check out our previous Digital Skills Development blog post.  Nearly 80 students participated in these workshops when we introduced them last term and the feedback has been very positive.  Courses in Pivot Tables and Charts are also available for both staff and students.

For a full list of all the courses and workshops on offer visit the student course catalogue or the staff course catalogue.  Visit the student booking system or staff booking system to book.

If you can’t attend any of the dates we are currently offering or there is no date available for the course you want, enrol on our Moodle course to be the first to be notified about any new sessions.

Don’t forget….

IT for IOE offer training in a wide range of apps including Office 365 Teams, Sway and OneNote and tools for infographics, mind-mapping, screencasting, video editing, blogging and more.  Some sessions are specifically aimed at Mac users. Visit IT for IOE IT Course Booking for details and to book.

We have a vast range of high-quality video-based courses available at Lynda.com. These cover technical skills but also business, personal and creative skills as well.  Visit the UCL Lynda.com page to find out more.

Not sure what you need or have a more specific issue you would like help with?  Come along to one of the Digital Skills Development drop ins if you want more individual support.

from Digital Education team blog https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/2018/01/05/new-digital-skills-course-dates-for-2018/
via IFTTT

source https://triplejumprunway.tumblr.com/post/169343336027