At FOTE11 James Clay from Gloucestershire College discusses that 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.
We set aside 5 slots in total for people to get up on stage and share their views on the future of technology in education in 140 seconds in an elevator style pitch.
The participants who stepped up to share their views were –
Martin King – Flipping Naked
Doug Belshaw & Andy Stewart – Bleak
John Millner – Mobile & Social
Michelle A. Hoyle – Gaming
Paul Johnson – In the cloud
Dan Perry – With the users
Cailean Hargrave of IBM at FOTE11 discussed that, 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.
Nick Skelton is Assistant Director of IT Services (Infrastructure) at the University of Bristol and in his FOTE11 talk looked at:
What do students actually expect from University? One long party? To pass a few exams? Or something more than that? And why are those geeks from the IT department even thinking about this?
Technology is now pervasive. It has become so small, so light, and so cheap, that it disappears into the environment around us. Technology is no longer something unto itself. The computer is not a special box in the corner to be approached with reverence, it is mobile and personal, accompanying us in our daily life.
When technology surround us we need a whole new way to think about it. The most interesting answers come from looking outwards, and working across disciplines. As the technologists emerge into the daylight, they are working with educationalists, with theatre practitioners and with game makers to answer some big questions. How do we make university a transformative experience?
Jan-Martin Lowendahl, Ph.D (Chemistry) is a research director in Gartner Research and his FOTE11 talk takes the vantage point of the CIO who is expected to navigate the tsunami of technology and deliver learning capabilities. He takes a dive into some Gartner tools to tame the information flow. Using the Gartner Hype Cycle and Strategic Technology Map to literally connect the dots and find the eco-systems of technology capabilities that will deliver competitive advantage to your education institution.
Voted for by the FOTE community, this year’s panel will be discussed challenges associated with ‘Bring Your Own Device – BYOD’.
Just as colleges and universities do no provide students with paper, pens and stationery
items but expect them to be used, the time is coming when mobile devices will be another
expected part of a student’s toolkit.
Doug Belshaw – Mobile Learning infoKit / JISC infoNet
In February Forbes ran an article thanking Apple for the BYOD trend, in which Victoria Barret makes the point that the rise of “smart” devices, the blending of personal and professional tasks we perform on them and ease of use are liking it to a ‘bring your own bottle’ dinner:
“Your IT department will supply the meat and potatoes (think chunky, salty ERP systems), but if you want to have a really good time, you’re left to your own devices.”
Victoria Barret, Forbes Staff
A ComputerWorld article outlines Unisys’ beta-testing a BYOD policy and warns of remote wipes & legal holds, while BusinessInsider claims that the ‘smartphone invasion is changing the way we work’. Access to apps, management practice and mobile device management are identified as core issues in both and are the particular focus the Information Age article entitled ‘BYOD Requires Mobile Device Management’.
Surely the same concerns apply to students bringing their own devices? Can BYOD be extended to include staff of universities and colleges and which challenges would arise? These are some of the questions our panel of experts attempt to address.
Peter Tinson, Executive Secretary – UCISA (Chair)
Arthur Spirling, Director of ICT – Imperial College
Mandy Phillips, Head of BIS – Liverpool John Moores University
Nizam Uddin, International Programmes Liaison Manager – ULU
Rob Churm, Director of Information Services – St Georges University of London
We have partnered with Kulu Valley to provide all of those who’d like to follow FOTE remotely with a unique live streaming experience. You will be able follow the conference as it happens, even on your iOS mobile devices.
In order watch the live stream please register now on the FOTE11 Live Stream page. This will help us gauge interest and make sure we are all set and ready to go with plenty of bandwidth on the day.
Follow us on Twitter
As always you’ll be able to catch-up with most of the action by following the #fote11 hashtag on Twitter. In addition we will encourage people on the day to additional hashtags to make it even easier for you:
As things go with ‘firsts’ you never really know what to expect; this year’s 140Challenge being no exception to that rule. Initially we put 10 slots of 140 seconds aside for FOTE delegates to take centre stage and ‘pitch’ their views on the future of (technology in) education.
In the end we had 5 participants who stepped up – or got volunteered (the jury is still out on that) – to share their views:
I look forward to hear more about all of these topics and am very interested to see how the ‘elevator pitch’ format will work. Please use the hashtag combination #fote11 and #140 when tweeting & blogging about the 140Challenge.
A lot has been written about the use of QR codes for marketing in general and conferences in particular. If I’m honest until recently I didn’t really like them. Let’s be honest they are not very easy on the eye and as a passionate marketer & social media geek I do feel that looks are important. Having said that I’m slowly starting to see past their unattractive façade and realise their potential to connect the online and offline ‘world’ to deliver an integrated user experience (or marketing campaign for that matter).
Are QR codes a waste of time?
In a recent post for GigaOM Joe Gillespie shares his ’5 reasons you’re probably wasting time with QR codes’. The fact that he’s the “President and CEO of Zoove, a registry of self-chosen, short dialing codes, called star-star numbers, that brands can use as an alternative to QR codes” makes his arguments look less impartial.
I’d argue that although valid, his reasons are more likely to be barriers to entry and a reason for the lack of widespread adoption of QR codes, rather than proof that QR codes are waste of time.
Why QR codes at FOTE11?
Well, running a conference called Future of Technology in Education is all very well – and sometimes you have to walk the walk. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not feeling like we do something ground-breaking here by using QR codes throughout the conference - not having any printed delegate packs and delivering all relevant content via our FOTE11 conference app, is probably more cutting edge.
The FOTE community has always been a pretty tech-savvy crowd with a healthy proportion of ‘early adopters’ who are happy to try new things. Using QR codes on our stand (to sign-up for Echo360/ULCC hosting offer & download a press release about Bloomsbury College moving to Moodle) and on the conference signs to download the various app version – if you’ve been too busy to do it before the conference – tweet about the event and take a note of the WiFi password just seems to make sense.
Download the FOTE11 Android App
Recommended Apps
We have used Qrafter and Scan to test our QR codes and recommend you download either of those two app from the Apple App Store.
For Android users I have attached an example of a QR, which takes you the FOTE11 App on the Android Market.
You can scan it directly off the screen to make sure whatever QR code reader you are using works properly.
What are your thoughts?
What are your thoughts on the use of QR codes for conference, marketing and even teaching & learning? Have you used them or are planning to? Once FOTE11 is over, tell us what you thought of their usefulness during the conference and if you have any other ideas for their use in the future.
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