As the UK population becomes digitally-savvy from an increasingly younger age, it’s easy to assume tech take-up is evenly shared across every aspect of our lives. Ruth Bushi, an editor at Save the Student, explores the benefits of using technology to improve student's financial literacy. Read the accompanying blog.
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Can colleges and skills providers become efficient and financially stable, while also providing an excellent learning experience that produces a workforce with the skills required to help the UK economy thrive post-Brexit and beyond? In this podcast, Paul McKean, head of further education and skills, shares our vision for the next five years.
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Cyber criminals launch daily attacks on UK universities and colleges, so building defences is essential. But how do you know that security measures in place are good enough?
Is the staff well trained to spot phishing emails, protect passwords and challenge strangers? Will the firewall hold? Is the anti-virus software doing its job?
At present, the level of security capability varies across the sector and it’s our aim to support all our members to achieve a common, high standard. Firstly, it’s important to know the risks; the weak spots which malware, or criminal hackers can exploit to disrupt or bring down a network, steal data, or extort money.
By far the most comprehensive method of testing security resilience is to recruit people with the same skills as would-be criminals, but who choose to stay firmly the right side of the law. In other words – ethical hackers. And we have just recruited two of them.
Meet Matthew O’Donnell and Danny Moules, both self-taught specialists who’ve been honing their computer skills since they were children.
As adults, Matthew and Danny are paid to infiltrate security systems, both via the internet and physically. Danny, in particular, could be an excellent burglar. His last role involved attempting (with permission) hack and con his way into multi-nationals and banks, gathering intelligence, sweet talking his way past security guards, acquiring security passes and moving around the offices posing as an employee, breaking into drawers and sealed-off areas, including the server room. This method of assessment, known as Red Teaming (playing the bad guys) exposes all security risks that leave an organisation open to criminal intent, including industrial espionage.
But Danny became disillusioned with the money-spinning corporate world and is delighted to be working for a charitable organisation. He explains:
“The security industry has exploded across the world and not always for the better. At Jisc there are lots of people who work here because we are a charity and I like the fact that, because we are impartial, we are not trying to sell fear. Our objective is to improve standards, not to make a profit.
There’s no reason for us to lie about our capabilities or to provide less than we can achieve. That’s very attractive to me and one of things that drew me to Jisc.”
Danny has been part of the hacking community for years and will be using his experience to provide a security assessment service and working alongside Matthew on the penetration testing service (vulnerability testing and advice) that we’ve now brought in-house.
Danny also has an interest in research and development and the kinds of products and service we may offer in the future. Nothing is certain yet, but he’s full of ideas.
“We’ve always worked with institutions to provide information on threats that they might be facing and I’d like Jisc to build on this to provide even more detailed threat intelligence so members can make more informed choices. With Jisc as the trusted partner, there’s a good opportunity to share members’ experience.
Jisc is well thought of and, as such, is very well placed to solve security problems for the sector and provide tailored solutions.”
Matthew, who joins us from managing the penetration testing (or 'pen' testing) team at a commercial TV giant, is taking the lead with our pen testing service, which is proving popular.
“Pen testing is already very much in demand at Jisc. It’s just me right now, but we are going to be growing this service. Danny has a pen testing background too, and will be helping with that and we have other in-house talent interested in learning more, too.”
On the basis that prevention is better than cure, Matthew advises all organisations to conduct pen testing as a matter of routine, although the timing and frequency will differ. He explains:
“There are several triggers for pen testing: when something new is deployed, or developed, and some organisations then like to do it annually, to make sure that a system is OK, but anything relating to bank card payments needs to be done quarterly and there are regulations around that.
There are other triggers too, for example if a company gets hacked or a company they know is hacked, that makes people nervous. Further reasons may include migrating to a cloud-based solution, moving from one data centre to another, or any physical moving of systems, installing new software, or a new firewall, or adding new features to existing software, such as its ability to use mobile phones.”
The foundations of Matthew’s skillset were laid a long time ago, but the ever-changing technology landscape presents an irresistible challenge to someone who’s paid to circumnavigate security features.
“I taught myself to use pen testing tools as a teenager and I still use them today, although I’m always having to upskill. The aim is to use a mix of technical and creative tools to find ways of doing things with computers which would otherwise, at least to most software developers, appear to be huge endeavours.
I come up with cheeky little hacky methods and it’s a challenge that I relish. Finding my way around new technology is the fun thing for me and there have been very few occasions when I’ve been asked to test something and I can’t find a way to get around it.
But it’s not just online systems we can check; one customer wants me to call people on the phone and see if I can get passwords out of them – that’s a very blunt example of the social engineering we sometimes end up doing.”
While Danny and Matthew have very particular skills, there’s a wealth of knowledge and experience, products and security services that members can take advantage of.
For more advice about penetration testing, contact our professional security services manager Charlotte King (charlotte.king@jisc.ac.uk).
Finally, remember to book your place at our security conference, which takes place in Manchester on 8-9 November 2017.
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The five things you need to know.
In this podcast Caroline Ingram shares advice on how to manage research data. Read the original blog.
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Social media has the potential to shape and inform the sector – and we’re a real advocate for using it in teaching. Our competition celebrates the excellent work being done by sector professionals out there - we’re looking for the most innovative ways of social being used to add value to teaching. In this podcast Emma Dixon, from our digital communications team, chats through our social media superstars competition.
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Most of us are consumers of technology rather than producers. In this podcast our futurist, Martin Hamilton, asks what it would take to learn how to code, or get into hardware hacking. You can also read his accompanying blog.
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We’re on the look-out for the most social media-savvy folk in higher education (HE).
In this podcast our digital comms team chat about social media, its uses in higher education, and our new social media superstars competition. Get involved online by using the hashtag #JiscTop10.
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We’re on the look-out for the most social media-savvy folk in higher education (HE).
In this podcast our digital comms team chat about social media, its uses in higher education, and our new social media superstars competition. Get involved online by using the hashtag #JiscTop10.
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Emma Dixon, Georgie Myers and Richard Tatnall
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Most people take for granted the ability to pick up a book or a magazine and read. But spare a thought for the tens of thousands of students in the UK who can’t. They may be visually impaired, dyslexic, or have a physical problem that means they can’t actually hold a book.
For such disabled students, “accessible” books that meet their specific requirements in digital format are a necessity. Until recently, however, it hasn’t been possible to work out which text books meet individual needs prior to subscribing and downloading. It’s a matter of luck.
A partnership project between a group of universities, library and disability services and Jisc, seeks to change all that. The crowd-sourced e-book accessibility audit took place between August and November 2016 to introduce a benchmark for accessibility in e-books supplied to the UK education sector. It scores books depending on the features that make them accessible to groups of users.
The result is an interactive spreadsheet that provides useful data to publishers (to inform how they produce e-books in future), to lecturers and to users. It has been so successful, that the project was shortlisted for two awards in 2016 and has just been declared 2017 winner of the National Acquisitions Group award for excellence.
Spearheading the project for Jisc is one of the subject specialists for accessibility and inclusion, Alistair McNaught, who explains:
“With e-books, it should be possible to change colours or magnify text and have it re-flow to fit the page. The user should be able to navigate easily, even without a mouse, and use assistive technologies to have text read out loud, with or without being able to see the screen.
Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen, which is bad for disabled students and bad for education institutions, which are at risk of litigation under the Equality Act 2010. Depending on the aggregator (publishing platform), individual publishers, the format of e-books, and the hardware/software available to the learning provider, print-impaired students can have very different experiences when trying to read an e-book.
Until now, the focus has always been on providing extra support or equipment to overcome the students’ problem, but we are trying to minimise barriers at source.
A lecturer who knows they have lots of dyslexic students enrolled on their course ought to be able to determine before creating the reading list, which e-books are suitable. At the moment, there is no way of knowing other than our audit, which is the only objective source.”
The audit tested 44 publishing platforms, covering 65 publishers and nearly 280 e-books. It is believed to be the biggest audit of its kind, ever, and the information is regularly updated. A full rerun of the process is planned in 2018.
There has also been an unexpected spin-off benefit: a survey of the volunteer testers (mostly librarians) revealed that, for 70% of them, it was their first time dealing with e-book accessibility. Involvement in the audit not only raised their awareness of the problems facing disabled students, but also increased confidence in their ability to help.
Alistair McNaught is keen to point out the other work Jisc does to support accessibility, including a new advice service:
“Librarians are very excited about this work and the e-books accessibility project has been very successful, but it’s only one part of the work that we do.
Having worked in this area for many years, I have excellent links with many e-book producers and continue to work hard to positively influence them, not least through Jisc Collections – a procurement service for e-books in further education and higher education. Since the audit, we’ve also been approached by many publishers looking for our advice on accessibility, which is great news.”
The University of Kent was among the partners in the audit project and is under no doubt as to its positive effect. Accessible information adviser, Ben Watson, explained:
“Improving the accessibility of commercial e-book platforms is important as it improves the availability of born-digital information sources, reduces the requirement for alternative formats to be made in-house and supports the delivery of my university’s inclusive practice policy. This work continues to influence and catalyse improvements across the sector.”
Vicky Dobson is a member of the library disability support team at Leeds Beckett University, which also contributed to the audit. She said:
“I was keen to be involved as my role involves embedding accessibility into our systems and services and the audit offered an opportunity to help increase the accessibility of the e-books we subscribe to, making it easier for our disabled students to access the information they need to succeed at university.
The audit has been a highly valuable staff development experience for me. I can now more effectively support our disabled students in accessing information and I’ve been able to pass on this knowledge to my colleagues. Participating in the audit has also helped us to put together some e-book accessibility FAQs to support students.”
To help our members comply with legislation, we recently developed the Accessibility Snapshot, which involves an expert from Jisc visiting a university or college to assess accessibility compliance.
Our expert will take the role of a tech-savvy disabled student for a day to explore key student-facing resources and see how they stack up in terms of accessibility. Elements to look at include the website, prospectus, learning platform, library/e-book platform and the assistive technologies/productivity tools available to learners.
After the visit, a report will be produced summarising both the things that work well and the things that create barriers for disabled students, together with expert advice on what the organisation can do to make a positive change. For further details, contact your account manager.
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A group set up to help steer colleges through digital transformation over the past three years is now turning its attention to the sort of technology that will benefit further education (FE) organisations in the future.
The FE and skills coalition was born in response to the government’s 2014 FELTAG (Further Education Learning Technology Action Group) report, which made several key recommendations to ensure that digital technology benefited learners, providers, employers and the UK economy.
Since then, the sector has evolved considerably and many FE providers have jumped on board the digital express. But there’s more work to be done – and new technology to embrace.
The focus of the present coalition, which is organised by Jisc, is to bring together sector leaders and digital decision-makers to share best practice and learn how the colleges of tomorrow could operate.
31 October is the date of the next meeting, when topics for discussion include learning and assessment in a digital age, digital skills in the vocational education and training sector and the use of augmented and virtual reality in teaching. Experts from colleges already spearheading work in these areas will be presenting. There will also be a Jisc update on our work in the FE and skills sector.
Jisc’s London office is the location for the next meeting, which is free to attend, although you must register. For more information, visit the event page or contact Rob Bristow, senior co-design manager at Jisc, on rob.bristow@jisc.ac.uk.
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Worried you aren’t prepared for new data protection laws coming into effect next May? Haven’t managed to catch one of our free online briefings on the subject? Don’t panic! We've made a recording on the subject.
Many of our members have requested support and training on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and we know it’s a high priority.
Indeed, judging by the results of a recent Jisc survey, most universities appear to be preparing well for the GDPR. Already, 12% have conducted training on this issue, with 71% planning training this year and a further 9% next year.
In terms of FE colleges, 10% have already undertaken training, 37% will up-skill staff this year and 33% in 2018.
Around 400 of you have so far taken advantage of our online briefings. The first 'moving toward GDPR' event ran on 1 August, 2017, and proved hugely popular, with 173 participants. The next one, on 4 September, attracted even more people – 230.
Our training manager Katharine Iles, said:
“We quickly realised there was considerable appetite for information and training on the implications for our members of GDPR, so we decided to make access to support as easy as possible.
One of the presentations, featuring our chief regulatory adviser, Andrew Cormack, has been filmed and is available to view now. We will be arranging more online briefings on other aspects of the GDPR in the future. Keep an eye on our training pages for further details.”
In the video, Andrew describes:
In addition, we organise more comprehensive GDPR training days. The next one-day course is in London on 23 November. At the end of the day, and for no extra charge, delegates take the EU GDPR Foundation exam. This 60-minute multiple-choice test is ISO 17024-accredited and set by the International Board for IT Governance Qualifications (IBITGQ) and registration is open now.
For more information on what the GDPR will mean for your institution, you might like to read Andrew Cormack’s blog on the subject.
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The Higher Education and Research Act, brought in to realise the government’s ambitions of a diverse and competitive higher education (HE) sector, will impact on choices for students. Will these changes give students the education they need to ensure the UK - in the words of Jo Johnson, minister of state for universities, science, research and innovation, - succeeds as a knowledge economy?
Today in Parliament, thinktank Policy Connect and the Higher Education Commission present the findings of their fifth inquiry; an examination of alternative provision in HE.
The report from Policy Connect, titled One Size Won’t Fit All: the Challenges Facing the Office for Students (pdf), calls on the newly-founded Office for Students (OfS) to recognise that the funding structures in higher education are fundamentally flawed.
They force alternative providers to move towards standard campus-based, three year degrees. Therefore, not providing better student choice or flexible courses. These factors reduce diversity in options for study and therefore limit opportunity for social mobility for those who most need flexible higher education.
Keynote speaker at today’s launch, Conservative peer, Lord Norton said:
“Over the process of this inquiry the commission heard from many providers delivering innovative and alternative models of higher education. With increasing global competition in the sector and changing social and business trends the question of how higher education is delivered will only become more poignant.
The government’s decision to task the OfS to promote choice for students and value for money showed great foresight in this regard but promoting innovation and balancing risk against the public interest will require careful handling.”
Paul Feldman, Jisc CEO and member of the commission, noted:
"There is an amazing vibrancy and diversity in UK higher education. This report highlights that there is more that can be done to make sure all students have access to learn anywhere, anytime and in a way that suits them. The Higher Education and Research Act also provides an opportunity for high quality alternatives to the traditional degree to prosper.
While I expect the typical three-year university experience will continue to dominate, students should have confidence that they can use reputable alternative provision if it’s the best way to meet their career choices, whether they are training to be an engineer, lawyer, musician, artist, cook or football management professional."
Jon Wakeford, director of strategy at UPP and member of the HE Commission said:
“In order to thrive, the HE sector must boost ways of learning to help respond to the different needs of students. Everyone with the potential and ambition to participate in HE should have the ability to do so, as well as benefit from the social capital and skills development integral to helping them become employable.
We’re pleased to support the report’s call for diversity in HE so that students from all backgrounds can excel and engage in both meaningful education and employment.”
Policy Connect’s chief executive, Jonathan Shaw, said that the commission’s findings highlighted the great potential laid out before the Office for Students:
“The new regulator should examine funding and evaluation structures in HE to ensure that potential students have the opportunity to study as they need - this is especially important for those wanting to study specialist subjects or in a flexible way due to their circumstances - so that the British economy can benefit from a highly educated, diverse workforce contributing to the economy.”
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Students have stated their frustration at staff’s inconsistent use of technology, with 22,000 voicing their opinions on the use of digital at their institutions in our digital student tracker report (pdf).
Many reported that they were frustrated with the variety of systems used by staff, and that some refused to use digital tools altogether. Some mentioned they felt staff had not been trained to use systems effectively, or did not seem to be getting enough training or support.
However, when asked what their institution should do and not do, students requested a better use of digital systems, not more, fearing it could be used to replace face-to-face time with staff.
One student said:
“Don’t encourage or enforce online group work as it is better to meet. There has to be more group activities that require face to face contact with lecturers and learning practical skills”
Another asked:
“Don’t allow academic staff to pick their own ways of using digital resources. At the moment each academic uses the virtual learning environment (VLE) in a different way, making it very time consuming to keep switching approaches. It’s also obvious that academic staff have not received adequate training in using these systems”
However, learners do value the convenience of digital systems provided by their learning organisation. 80% of students surveyed reply on their institution’s VLE to do their coursework, 67% regularly access the VLE via a mobile device, and 80% found submitting assignments electronically more convenient.
Sarah Knight, our head of change - student experience, said:
“Our survey showed digital technology is most often used for accessing information and for the production of work in a digital format, and is valued for its convenience and is a great way to fit learning into the busy lives of students. It’s clear that students want the same convenience they get from using digital in their day to day lives, at university.
What they don’t want, is a deluge of different technologies and ways of using them. Institutions need to adopt a joined-up approach to digital, in order to meet the needs of students”
The survey also showed that students want institutions to use digital to connect them with other students, and to provide lecture-based quizzes and polls. The anonymity factor played a huge role here, one student said:
“…we voted on questions and got to see the results at the end. Closed answers made it more honest and were really useful to see what other people thought”
Personalised learning with digital tools came out positively, with 40% of HE learners surveyed using social media to discuss their work informally ‘weekly or more often’. 59% access learning on the move weekly or more, and 60% using digital tools to make notes.
The report is the largest of its kind, and aims to paint a national picture of the student digital experience, encouraging organisations to work with students in order to create learning environments that harness the power of technology.
Find out how HE and FE learning providers can sign up to get involved with the 2018 survey.
Download the full digital student tracker report (pdf) and the accompanying briefing booklet (pdf).
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Together with The National Archives, we're delighted to announce the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding covering the period 2017-2019.
We will work together to support collection discoverability, digital skills, and joint research.
The Memorandum of Understanding is the first formal agreement between our two organisations. It covers the period between 2017 and 2019, after which it will be reviewed.
This is an incredibly exciting time for the archive and information sectors as they collectively face the digital challenge, as outlined in The National Archives’ Digital Strategy, Digital Research Roadmap, and the strategic, co-created vision for the Archives Sector, Archives Unlocked. This Memorandum of Understanding reflects our collective commitment to working in collaboration with key sector partners to meet these ambitions.
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We launched our report, the evolution of FELTAG, last spring to celebrate effective digital practice in colleges and skills organisations, and to inspire others. Here, two colleges discuss how they're getting to grips with the FELTAG recommendations.
"The decision to ditch a plethora of software tools in favour of a single platform has brought about significant savings in cost, labour and time" says Ken Thomson, chief executive of Forth Valley College. Listen to our podcast to hear Sarah Knight share a fresh set of thought leader stories to guide and inspire. Read the accompanying blog.
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Cash-strapped post-16 education providers and students alike can now benefit from an expanded collection of free digital text books aimed at those retaking English language and maths GCSEs.
Another 15 e-books have been added to the initial 23 titles that were made available in September 2016. The collection, which we procured, covers all five of the main exam boards (AQA, SQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel, WJEA) and includes practice and revision books.
Signing up for the collection is free for members and we have calculated that each full book downloaded represents a saving of £20. At a time when numbers of compulsory resits in these subjects after the age of 16 are predicted to rise considerably, the potential savings could be significant.We've calculated that the college which has downloaded the most e-books over the past year would have had to fork out £32,000 in buying the equivalent number of physical books.
From September 2013, it became mandatory for pupils failing to achieve a grade C or better in English language and maths (grade 4 in the new GCSE grading system) to continue studying until they do, or until they turn 18, whichever comes first.
The government introduced this controversial measure to better equip young people for the workplace, but it placed a huge burden on post-16 education providers, both in terms of employing extra teachers and buying curriculum-matched text books. Providing content and recruiting suitable teachers was, and remains, a big problem.
Our head of digital content services for further education and skills, Karla Youngs, is adamant that “every college needs this service”.
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She explains:
“Four years ago, colleges faced a difficult choice: either pay for resources that are mapped to the relevant exam boards and the curriculum, which would result in savings having to be made elsewhere, or access free resources not designed for traditionally taught courses, and therefore not quite fit for purpose.
As of September 2016, a third, no-cost choice became available to Jisc members. A year later, and a complete collection of 38 books, which covers all five of the main exam boards, is available through our e-books for FE service, which teachers and learners from subscribing colleges can use for free.
While nothing can replace excellent English and maths teaching, opening up access to these digital resources will go a long way in plugging the gap. Teachers can use the e-books in the classroom or virtual learning environment and learners can access the content on their own devices, wherever and whenever they want. Being able to study at a time and place that’s convenient is particularly important for English and maths resit students, who often have to take these subjects alongside their chosen full-time courses.
This free resource also means that students will not have to reply on the right text books being available in the library at the right time – they can simply log in online, or download a page or a chapter at a time.
Colleges don’t even need to worry about updating with new versions since this happens automatically.”
Post-16 providers that want to find out more should speak to their account manager, or go to the e-books for FE service page for more information and to sign up.
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As libraries look to widen access to core texts, how can they make this affordable to both universities and students?
Social mobility of students is a topic that rarely leaves the education headlines, with tuition fees and accommodation costs at the top of the list. Less topical, but of real importance to students’ day-to-day learning, is whether or not they have access to digital resources.
Bibliotech, coined by its founders as ‘the Spotify of textbooks’, has been selected as a preferred e-textbook supplier in the UK. A shortlisted entrant in our edtech startup competition this year, Bibliotech negotiates with publishers on behalf of its users - be they students or academics - and via a web app, provide access to core textbooks for as little as £2.99 a month.
Bibliotech was named as one of the recommended suppliers for e-textbooks in the Joint Consortia Framework Agreement for Books, which launches today. UK higher education institutions may purchase their e-books, standing orders and related materials via this framework agreement which provides compliance under EU procurement directives.
David Sherwood, CEO at Bibliotech, commented,
“We’re very pleased to be appointed as a supplier on the Joint Consortia Framework Agreement not long after Bibliotech launched in September 2016.
We offer e-textbooks under a unique subscription business model and look forward to partnering with libraries in England and Wales to provide a sustainable library focused model for electronic textbook delivery.”
Caroline Mackay, licensing manager at Jisc Collections, said:
“It’s great to be launching this partnership with Bibliotech. It was set up by students who saw the potential of technology to provide online access to thousands of textbooks and learning materials, and gives a truly affordable option for many students, who would otherwise struggle to pay for these resources.
We are also able to offer the service to libraries, which should really help students studying electives get access to resources which they may only need for a short while, and could form part of a valued package of support from their university.”
The Bibliotech platform creates bespoke e-textbook packages which match institutions' reading lists and integrate into all library management systems, virtual learning environments and reading list software.
All students have unlimited access to the content purchased for their course - a library-focused alternative to the one-for-one model. Bibliotech already work with most of the major publishing houses and continue to sign new publishing partners with top titles from all the major courses.
Read more about the Bibliotech model and improving textbook access on the Jisc Collections website.
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Anyone who has to travel to different offices and buildings regularly as part of their job will understand what a pain it can be to swap on to different wifi networks at every new destination.
Identifying the correct network, sourcing the password, and actually logging on all takes time and effort.
In the public sector, where partner-working across different sites and organisations is increasing, “zero-touch” access to wifi has become a possibility with the launch of govroam.
It means that public sector employees across the UK can now travel between any participating public services’ building and connect to the network, without touching their laptop, smart phone or tablet. Once the profile is installed, the connection happens automatically.
The introduction of govroam will support the trend towards multi-disciplinary activities, such as the convergence of health and social care.
Imagine an elderly person is spending a long time in hospital after an assault and needs contact with social services, community health workers and the police. All of these workers can visit the hospital and use govroam to connect to the various online resource they need, while the service would also enable doctors to access patient records quickly during rounds.
Site-sharing with govroam enables multiple organisations to share a physical location and connect over a single standardised network. Parts of a council office could be repurposed for community-based police or health workers, or spare space in police stations made available for probation staff. This approach encourages collaborative working and has cost-saving benefits.
Such multi-tenanted sites are already being used in Leeds, where govroam is already in place as part of the Yorkshire and Humberside Public Services Network (YHPSN).
Another public service network (PSN) that was an “early adopter” of govroam is Kent, where every local authority in the county has rolled it out. Govroam is now available at more than 250 sites and rising and work is continuing to connect the whole of Kent’s PSN, which has more than 370,000 users across nearly 1,200 sites.
Govroam has also been deployed in parts of London, and there’s keen interest from PSNs in many other parts of the UK. The service is not, however, limited to PSNs: the fastest growing adopter of govroam to date is the NHS.
Govroam evolved from eduroam – the established wifi service used by the further and higher education and research sector and which runs on the UK’s national research and education network, the Janet network, and supporting the roaming of 1.6 million unique devices each month.
You can find out more by listening to our podcast on the benefits of govroam.
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TDS Student, leaders in providing student attendance and engagement solutions to higher education institutions across the UK and Ireland, today embarks on a new partnership with Jisc.
TDS Student welcome Jisc as the latest organisation to join their partner network and are looking forward to working in collaboration to build an integrated learning platform for the higher education sector.
The partnership between TDS and Jisc will enable universities and higher education institutions to gather a holistic view of student interactions across campus.
Ian Allen, business development manager for TDS Student UK, said,
"We are delighted to be working with Jisc.
The partnership will further complement the TDS Student attendance monitoring and retention platform, allowing existing and future customers to benefit from TDS Student and Jisc integration.”
Michael Webb, director of technology and analytics for Jisc, said,
“Working with TDS will enable us to extend the platform for our national learning analytics service.
Learning analytics helps support student success by allowing universities and colleges to make the most of their data to provide improved support and timely interventions to students, and to provide students with the data and information they need to improve their learning.
Ultimately this should create better results for all, improving student outcomes, while making universities more competitive and attractive to new students, so it’s exciting to start this next phase.”
Effective learning analytics allows universities to personalise interventions and uncover hidden patterns in their student data. In doing so they can reflect on how students are interacting, and make evidence-informed decisions about how best to support their students.
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Hacking is a growing problem globally and attacks on all organisations, UK universities included, continue to increase. So, what is the higher education sector doing to combat the problem?
A new survey by Jisc indicates that universities’ cybersecurity budgets are increasing rapidly, but investment alone is not enough to tackle the problem.
Raising awareness of threats, what they look like and what to do about them is a key defence in the fight to protect cyberspace, and the higher education sector is making good progress on this point. However, there are other difficulties to overcome, too.
The research shows that, although most universities have information security awareness training for staff, fewer than half train students. Meanwhile, some universities report difficulties in recruiting staff with the right skills and complain there is not enough support for cybersecurity from senior decision-makers.
To put the issue into context, latest Jisc figures show that, since October 2016, there were 770 Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against 176 different organisations connected to the Janet network. The unluckiest has been attacked on 59 separate occasions.
Working on the principle that preparation is the key to effective defence, 82% of respondents use outside expertise to test their systems for vulnerabilities, although fewer (51%) use third-party services to gain intelligence about current or emerging threats.
Jisc’s cybersecurity compliance manager, John Chapman, said:
“With the increasing threat landscape, it is becoming more important to identify where vulnerabilities are, keep technology up to date and to apply the latest security patches as they’re made available."?
Social engineering, especially phishing emails, (which may, for example, trick someone into a particular action, or into revealing confidential information), are the most common threats mentioned by survey respondents, all driven by a lack of awareness.
It’s hardly surprising, therefore, that the top cybersecurity priorities are protection and prevention – and end-user training. The Jisc research found that 83% of universities provide training for staff, which is compulsory in 46% of cases, but only 40% train students and only 8% insist that students take a course.
John Chapman added:
"Being more aware of specific threats and improving user awareness can benefit institutions by reducing their exposure to attacks that can have serious implications."
Respondents who felt their university was well protected against cyber-attacks said the issue was taken seriously by management, with the right investment, processes, technology and training in place. They felt able to react quickly to problems, undertook regular audits and, as a result, recorded a low number of incidents.
By contrast, those higher education institutions who felt they weren’t well protected said cybersecurity was low on management’s priority list, there was a lack of investment and they had trouble recruiting the right staff.
Using a real example, John Chapman explains how not investing in the cybersecurity area can be a false economy. He said:
“We recently came across a university that had invested in a Jisc automated approach to vulnerability assessment, which meant it was able to understand within a few minutes if any of the systems were at risk to the recent WannaCry attack.
“In turn, this allowed all the IT staff to be stood down from the alert on a Friday afternoon, saving the expense and disruption of working through the weekend to manually check that all systems across the estate had been correctly patched.”
The survey found that 72% of universities had staff dedicated to cybersecurity and 40% set aside money specifically for cybersecurity in 2015/2016, which is projected to rise to 58% in 2017/2018. Compared to the level of spending on cybersecurity during 2016/17, the mean amount is expected to rise by 132% in 2017/2018.
To help universities gauge where they are on the scale of protection, there are several recognised cybersecurity standards. Cyber Essentials is the most popular certification and 20% of universities have achieved this accreditation already, while 38% are working towards it and a further 29% are considering.
In response to 94% of respondents agreeing this would be useful, Jisc is exploring the possibility of producing a cybersecurity ranking system for its members (universities, colleges and research establishments). Jisc has already committed to helping members better assess their cybersecurity position by developing a security audit service.
The survey was conducted by Jisc between 30 March and 6 June 2017 and received 65 responses from 51 universities.
via Jisc news
In this podcast Mark O'Leary, our head of network access, and Emma Smith, our Govroam development manager, discuss the benefits of Govroam and the challenges that have been overcome.
via Jisc news
National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), Unite Students and Jisc announce partnership to create national register of student work experience opportunities.
In a move to help students find the right work experience, the NCUB, Unite Students and Jisc have joined forces. The partnership will work with universities to develop a unique matchmaking service aimed at bringing together businesses, charities and students to build a mutually beneficial connection.
Creation of a digital platform for the service will give students easy access to work experience opportunities across the country and NCUB has already integrated the working prototype with career service systems with partnering universities.
David Docherty, chief executive of the NCUB said:
“We are delighted to be working with Unite Students, and Jisc to level the playing field in giving university students equal access to opportunities, help universities provide a wider range of experience for their students and give business access to a more diverse talent pool.”
Research shows that graduates with work experience are more likely to be employed, have increased confidence, attain better classifications of degree, and get a better job faster. The work experience platform will create a national pool of work experiences, particularly for students from disadvantages backgrounds.
The partnership will be working with business to provide a range of working experience opportunities for undergraduates across the UK.
Richard Smith, CEO of Unite Students said:
“We provide a home to over 50,000 students across the UK and our research has identified that employability is an increasingly important issue for students, so the timing of this project couldn’t be better.
We’re excited to be working with NCUB and Jisc to improve access to work experience opportunities for students, and know that it will benefit both students and the business community alike.”
Paul Feldman, chief executive of Jisc said:
“This is an exciting venture to be involved in and one that will help to support universities deliver a joined-up, enriched experience for their students.
We know from the recent results of our student digital experience tracker (pdf) of 22,000 students, just how valuable work experience will be in increasing their understanding of the digital skills they need for the workplace.”
via Jisc news
The University of Glasgow emerged the deserving winners of this year's Jisc-sponsored Innovation Technology Excellence category at The Herald's Higher Education Awards.
Through demonstrating how virtual reality can give medical students an insight into seizures from the patients' perspective, the ViRES project is clearly leading the way in engaging students with technology, but what is the picture across the sector?
An extensive survey has shed light on students’ digital experiences and expectations in detail, and at scale. With over 22,000 participants from 74 organisations in the UK and ten international universities, the 2017 student digital experience tracker (pdf) has collated some interesting results.
Recently released, the report gives some real insights into how students view the support offered through their universities, the skills they’re obtaining and whether this is equipping them for the world of work.
Scotland is not exempt from the ‘digital skills crisis’, and with millennials making up 50% of the workforce by 2020 – so says Price Waterhouse Cooper’s report into ‘reshaping the workplace’1 - there’s an expectation that the next generation of graduates will be the digitally capable workforce of the future.
The tracker found, that as a result of technology, 71.3% of students felt more independent in their learning, and a similar number felt they could fit learning into their lives more easily.
On the flip side of this endorsement of tech, and despite 82% of higher education (HE) learners agreeing that digital skills will be important in their chosen career, only 50% agree that their course prepares them well for the workplace. Should we be worried?
According to Sarah Knight, our head of student experience,
"Support, advice and guidance for developing students’ digital skills is often held across lots of different places in an organisation but many students are unsure about where to access it.”
What’s more concerning, in her opinion, is that a significant proportion said they weren’t sure what skills they’d need for their course or for their career afterwards.
It’s far from a negative picture across the sector though, and there are some great examples of good practice, including from Glasgow Caledonian University who feature, with ten other HE institutions in our guide to developing organisational approaches to digital capability.
We know from last year’s tracker survey that students were most likely to use new technologies if they’d seen these well-used by staff, so approaches such as the 2020 strategy to expand digital literacy at the Glasgow Caledonian University, offer real promise.
Within the tracker, several of the other areas explored were the digital environment and students’ access to digital services in the places where they usually learn.
We discovered that while 80% had reliable wifi within HE, it was clearly still a consideration for students with comments from learners including: “If everything is going digital we need better wifi”
Alongside eduroam, a wifi service designed with students in mind, we also run a number of services to boost institutions’ cybersecurity and safeguard learners.
With over a third of students who participated in the tracker unsure of how to access help if bullied online, the digital scope of universities reach beyond the teaching staff, illustrating the ongoing need for support of their students’ digital wellbeing.
If the future is bright, it’s most definitely digital, and in providing a well-rounded experience for students, we need to meet both their expectations and those of their future employers.
via Jisc news
Our young people are touted as a tech-savvy cohort who have grown up with the internet and smart devices, but is the UK higher education (HE) system equipping them for life in the modern workplace?
While 81.5% of university students feel that digital skills will be important in their chosen career, only half believe that their courses prepare them well for the digital workplace. These are sobering statistics considering the well-documented technical skills gap in the UK and that good digital skills are becoming increasingly vital in the workplace.
Our new student digital experience tracker survey (pdf) sheds light on the digital skills, habits and attitudes of today’s higher education learners.
The results show that the use of technology in teaching and assessment is not fully embedded into practice. Highlighting an apparent mismatch between the skills required by employers and those that students are familiar with, or believe are necessary, the report warns:
“We need to be concerned about the almost 20% of learners in HE and almost 40% in FE who do not feel digital skills to be relevant in their chosen careers.
Since we know that around 90% of all new jobs require good digital skills, there must be a question mark over the workplace awareness of these learners, and perhaps of their teachers.”
Our head change for student experience, Sarah Knight, says HE providers need to address this gap:
“Though colleges and universities are arming students with the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for their preferred careers, some are missing the opportunity to embed digital skills as part of the curriculum.
Incorporating opportunities to embed digital skills into the curriculum (as well as technology into the delivery), doesn’t only improve the experience for learners, it also enhances the professional development of staff.
The digital capabilities of staff are key in order to pass on the relevant digital skills to learners, to improve their employability.”
However, it appears that tutors are not the automatic go-to for support in digital upskilling, particularly for university students. Just 15.8% of HE learners said they would ask for help from a tutor. Online assistance was the most common choice for this group (36.5% said they would turn here for help), with a lesser number (20%) asking fellow students, friends and family.
Learners are generally upbeat about engaging with digital technology to support their course learning, but its use doesn’t seem to be widespread. The survey finds that around six in ten feel that use of digital technology on their course results in better understanding and allows them to fit learning into their lives more easily. More than 95% of HE students say they have produced work in a digital format and around 78% have experience of working online with others.
However, 58% of HE learners have never used an educational game or simulation as part of their course and 48.4% have never used a poll or quiz to give answers in class.
The report notes that, considering the very high percentage of HE (95.7%) learners who access online information weekly or more, a decade and a half after the development of “the social web”, content-centred teaching practices continue to dominate.
It goes on:
“A similar observation could be made about the low use of interactive digital media such as games and simulations, which provide rapid intrinsic feedback, and polling, which provides in-situ feedback to make live learning more engaging and responsive. Neither appears on this evidence to be fully mainstream yet.”
The tracker is a tool that enables organisations to explore how students use and feel about the digital tools, environment and support they provide. It offers institutions valuable insight into how students are experiencing digitally enhanced learning, and provides an opportunity for them to engage with students with regards to issues such as the design of their curriculum and the digital environment.
HE learners are highly likely to use VLEs: 80% rely on it to do coursework and 67% regularly access it via a mobile device. However, only 40% say they enjoy using the collaborative features or want their tutors to use VLEs more.
Notably more HE learners agree that e-assessment was convenient (80%) in comparison with the number of learners who agree that e-assessment is more enjoyable (57.6%), provides them with better feedback (45.8%) or helps them avoid plagiarism (70%). This suggests that negative feelings about online assessment overall may be related to ‘delivery’ (and outcomes) rather than to ‘management’.
In both sectors, the report suggests that e-assessment perceived by students as being practically useful rather than pedagogically valuable.
Students were asked how often they used digital tools or apps to complete course tasks in their own time. Of those who used such tools weekly or more, 64.4% use digital tools to make notes or recordings; 68.8% look for extra resources; 60.7% manage links and references; and 81.6% access lecture notes or recorded lectures. A minority (40.2%) use social media to discuss learning.
via Jisc news
We are giving subscribing universities and research centres access to more than 20 collections from three major publishers, Adam Matthew Digital, Brill and ProQuest, as part of a brand new group-purchasing pilot.
The agreement is part of exploring new ways to help higher education libraries increase access to digital archival collections that facilitate research, teaching and learning in more efficient, joined-up ways.
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The offer is based on a community centred approach to lowering the cost of digital archival collections and the simple market principle: the more products are purchased, the lower the price. Institutions have until mid-July to take advantage of this opportunity through the publishers' pages on the Jisc Collections website (Adam Matthew Digital, Brill and ProQuest).
Paola Marchionni, head of digital resources for teaching, learning and research at Jisc, highlights:
“Researchers and librarians face a common concern: how can we ensure sustainable access to special collections to deliver better research and innovative teaching?
Libraries have said that digital archival collections of primary source material are an important complement to traditional resources such as journals and books, but budgets are stretched and they find it difficult to purchase these often expensive content resources.”
The parallel initiative is a collaboration between Jisc and US-based Reveal Digital, which uses a library crowdfunding model to support the digitisation and delivery of special collections (such as Independent Voices), which represents the largest digital collection of North American 20th century alternative press titles.
We have negotiated pledging fees for UK institutions to gain early access to this unique collection and at the same time support UK digitisation and open access. Half of the amount pledged by UK libraries will go towards the digitisation of UK alternative press content for future inclusion in Independent Voices and UK pledging libraries will provide strategic oversight on content selection and digitisation. Independent Voices will become open access in 2019.
Dr Douglas Field, senior lecturer in 20th century American literature, University of Manchester, one of the institutions that have pledged so far, said:
“For decades, scholars have been searching through different libraries in the US in order to find complete runs of little magazines and alternative press publications.
By digitising so many previously hard-to-find publications, Reveal Digital has made these vital publications accessible, transforming these alternative press publications from marginal areas of scholarship into exemplary digitised copies for a new generation of scholars and enthusiasts.”
To date, eight institutions have pledged their support and helped to crowdfund the digitisation of UK content:
Chris Ashton, head of content and collections, University of Sheffield, said:
“The University of Sheffield has been very happy to pledge its support for the Independent Voices project in order to receive early access to this important collection of US alternative press titles, and to have a voice in the forming of an equivalent UK collection.”
For UK institutions, pledging for Independent Voices (via Jisc Collections website) is open until 31 July 2017. Here, you'll also find more information on the collection and Reveal Digital’s crowdfunding model.
Register for a free webinar on 20 June to find out more about Independent Voices, and read more about the group purchasing pilot.
The flood-like appearance of an alternative press in the late 1960s expressed the upsurge of dissent and of aspiration of American youth. Feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals and the New Left, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinos, and members of the LGBT communities all began to publish newspapers and periodicals.
Drawing their inspiration from the successes and failures of the Civil Rights movement and the movement against the Vietnam War, an amorphous but broad movement for radical change splintered.
Read more about the Independent Voices collection.
via Jisc news