Our graduates of tomorrow face an increasingly competitive job market. Competing for jobs will no longer be confined to the communication channels we have traditionally used for decades and there is a growing shift to digital alternatives. What is clear therefore is that there is a vital need to ensure that our students have the opportunity to develop the necessary digital skills they will need to prepare them for their future. The notion of the digital native /digital immigrant must be challenged as whilst many are visitors to online forums, this does not necessarily indicate that they have given consideration to the development of their own professional online presence or indeed have the skills to do this most effectively.

In this presentation we will explore some of the innovative ways students are already using social media and technology to give them the edge and the changing approach to the way employers are recruiting.

Although investment in education has steadily risen over the last decade, we have not seen a corresponding rise in student attainment levels.

Students still fall behind and drop out, yet officials lack the data to spot the at-risk cases. Paper processes, siloed systems and antiquated administrative functions waste precious resources and block access to the real-time information that could provide insight. By connecting academic, operational and financial data and coupling it with the right reporting and analysis capabilities, education organisations can:

• Track student performance across institutions, intake and courses.
• Monitor attendance, mobility and intervention patterns to take remedial action.
• Analyse lecturer development and curriculum effectiveness at any level.
• Measure effectiveness of spending against results to report to stakeholders.

Taking a proactive approach to deriving insight from data will enhance decision-making and means that we can target issues before they happen.

This provides students the support they need with tailored education and the college an improvement in success rates – while simultaneously getting the best returns from college resources and protecting revenue streams.

I will be exploring through this presentation how students have differing expectations and motivations of higher education and how they may change in light of an increase in fees. I will then explore how using technology effectively and purposely can enhance the student experience and encourage a positive effect on each students experience through their journey through higher education. I will then conclude by introducing the NUS technology charter which students and their respective student unions will be pushing to make sure the technology agenda is high on the agenda and will hopefully ensure institutions do deliver, so that experiences of students from starting in their first year to entering into employment as graduates are equipped and ready for the 21st century environment.

In many institutions the structures, processes and procedures we have in place are there for many reasons; these may be for security, safety, financial, prevention, health and safety.  Often change is blocked by these same reasons; reasons that exist because of politics, inertia and because we have always done it that way. It is easier not to change.

The result is that learners can often find that their learning experience is one of challenges, difficulties and frustration. Institutions that listen and act on the voice of their learners can find that students can be agents of change.

This session will discuss Microsoft Kinect within teaching, learning and research.

Since its release of Kinect, there has been tremendous enthusiasm and fascination. Kinect is not only a tool to help navigation and interaction, but a tool to help students to get even more engaged in learning. Kinect is already making a difference in getting students more excited about their learning environment, and helping students to get engaged…and actually get more excited about studying.

We are at an exciting time with the availability of the Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK). Kinect and NUI will bring more interactive classroom environments, the development of new learning styles that will help students with and without disabilities to get more engaged with learning, as well as the potential for much more interactive navigation tools, helping to get students involved in the teaching, learning and research.

The power of Kinect is here it’s now your turn for ideas and exploration.

The changes in higher education funding have re-written the rule book and the full consequences are yet to be understood.  From next year, as fees of £9,000 become the norm (at least for now), it is the student who will be paying for their higher education, not the government.  One thing is for certain – information technology needs to be very closely aligned with the market positioning and financial reality of each and every higher education institution – otherwise IT will be part of the problem for a new generation of “broke students”.  If that’s the harsh reality, what is the Future of Technology in Education?