In this podcast, Will Allen, head of Jisc north, gives an overview of Tuesday's Connect more event in Liverpool and Emily Jones, media relations manager, talks to speakers, staff and delegates about what the future holds for technology in education.
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In this podcast, Georgie Myers talks to our deputy chief innovation officer Andy McGregor, Glasgow Caledonian University's Lina Petrakieva, and head of Jisc Scotland Jason Miles-Campbell about today's Connect more event and what the future holds for education in Scotland.
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UK wide survey examines the attitudes of practitioners within higher education and cites the growing importance of online libraries to academics.
The 2015 survey of academics, jointly commissioned by Jisc and Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and conducted by research organisation Ithaka S+R, was launched today and has revealed a substantial increase in the way academics use and value online libraries.
88% of researchers now see their university library’s collections and subscription as a very important source of data and information. Furthermore, 18% use this resource as a starting point in their research - a trend which has seen a 28% increase between 2012 and 2015.
Nearly 7,000 academics responded to the survey, which examines the attitudes of researchers and practitioners working within higher education. The powerful evidence provided will help universities, policy makers, funders, and librarians to successfully plan for the future.
Other key findings of the report include:
Paul Feldman, chief executive of Jisc, commented:
“As online capabilities become an essential part of academic practice, these survey findings confirm that research practice is evolving and academics are embracing this change and using research tools differently.
It’s encouraging to see from the findings that researchers are embracing open access methods such as making versions of their research outputs available online for free, where institutions are giving them the digital support to do so. Jisc is a passionate advocate of open access and we will continue to provide the right guidance, direction and resources academics need to exploit the growth, opportunities and rewards that open access offers.
Ultimately, more access to research means that businesses, the public and fellow researchers can reap the economic and social benefits ensuing from research.”
David Prosser, executive director at RLUK, explained:
“The findings put the spotlight on how the behaviour, habits and expectations of researchers have continued to evolve. It’s clear from the report that researchers continue to see their institution’s libraries – both digital and physical - as a trusted resource that enables them to research, share and store their projects safely.
As representatives of the most significant research libraries in the UK, it’s now our role to adapt to these findings and explore how best we can help our members meet the needs of their key users.”
Roger Schonfeld, director of Ithaka S+R’s libraries and scholarly communication program, added:
“It’s a hugely valuable exercise to examine the research and teaching attitudes and practices of academics in the UK higher education sector. Doing so, we identify how their behaviours and practices are changing.
This in turn, provides the sector with meaningful and detailed insight to make informed decisions on its future.”
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‘Teachers hold the key to unlocking enhanced learning experiences through technology’; that is the overriding insight to emerge in our new survey, designed to help higher education (HE), further education (FE) and skills providers understand more about their students’ digital experiences.
The student digital experience tracker, a pilot scheme to provide first-hand insight into learners’ expectations and views on technology in an education setting, showed that 72% of HE and 70% of FE and skills learners believe that when technology is used effectively by teaching staff it enhances their learning experience – giving credence to the argument that practitioners need to develop their own digital skills to deliver learning and teaching.
This is an increasingly important theme within the sectors, with rising demand from employers for digitally-literate staff, and ambitious goals from government to develop the UK digital economy by 2018, setting a new need for greater technology skills. It comes in the week that the Science and Technology Committee released its report, digital skills crisis, which found that:
"Students using technology in the classroom is not enough in itself—they only translate this experience into key digital skills through good teaching and following good role models."
Key to reaching these targets is partnership working between tutors and students to co-develop digital learning environments and fully utilise technology.
Other key findings show how students use digital solutions to support their studies and the support they are receiving from their institutions:
Sarah Knight, our senior co-design manager, said:
“We know the power that technology has to transform learning for all students, and these results gives us a really rich source of data on the current situation which, crucially, show just how important teaching staff are in driving this process.
The good news is that we are on the right course – but in order to maintain this it is incredibly important that practitioners consistently work on their own digital skills, and support the development of their students’, while delivering the very best possible learning experience.
Our work around digital capabilities will allow teaching staff to identify where they have strengths in their digital skills, and what they need to develop further. They will then be provided with personalised ‘playlists’ of resources to help them enhance their digital literacy and build confidence. We think that this can be an important tool in helping individuals and institutions shape a strategic response to this issue.”
The student digital experience tracker pilot – authored by Helen Beetham and Tabetha Newman - surveyed 10,755 students from 12 HE and 12 FE and skills institutions. We are currently working with all 24 pilot institutions to help them analyse and respond to their findings, providing advice and guidance on how to use the data to target resources and have an ongoing dialogue with their learners about embracing new technology. We will be exploring the possibility of rolling out the tracker as a full service.
Visit the report to view the full results.
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The 15 winners of our student ideas competition have been announced, and ideas are as varied as ever.
They range from augmented reality and unique studying tools, to apps that help students find tutors, test each-other, locate spaces to study across campus, and even to inform students when it comes to selecting the right course for them, along with many more new ideas.
The successful entrants have scooped £2,000 of expert support, and are now in the running to win an additional £3,000 along with collaboration and support for developing their ideas. They’ll also from get a real taste of life in the cutting-edge world of technology start-ups, helping to develop employability skills like planning and pitching. On 23 August the winning teams will pitch their designs, and we will select up to five ideas to develop further.
Part of our Summer of Student Innovation, the student ideas competition called for technology ideas that could improve the student experience in higher education (HE), further education (FE) and skills and attracted dozens of entrants whose pitches accumulated 7613 votes in total on the Elevator website.
Paul Bailey, our senior co-design manager said:
“The Summer of Student Innovation competition is now in its fourth year, but the fantastic ideas just keep on coming, proving that students are a great source of invaluable on-the-ground knowledge and innovation when it comes to edtech.
As usual, we received many exciting and innovative ideas and choosing the winners was a difficult task. We chose these entrants because their ideas were innovative and exciting, whilst addressing new opportunities in educational technology. They also offer potential ideas we can develop into products, and have real potential to offer a genuine impact in learning, teaching or research”.
Previous winners include a platform for research participants, a student feedback tool, and apps to help apprentices and tools to support accessibility and inclusion. One winning team from 2015 who are currently benefiting from our support are team SALT (The Students' Academic Literary Tool), for students in FE and HE institutions to improve their academic writing style. Their website to support academic writing has been developed into an app and will be ready to be piloted by universities soon. The team were also runners up in a The Guardian University Awards 2016.
Holly Shaverdi of SALT said:
“I would even go as far as to say it (Summer of Student Innovation) has been life changing where our project is concerned.
Having the opportunity to network with professionals and gain support to develop your idea is such a great thing to be able to have access to (…) there is a lot of competition out there, so it is up to you to bring new ideas, and Jisc will help you with the rest!”
Keep an eye out for this year’s winners’ ideas in the future, and watch their pitches on the Elevator website.
The Summer of Student Innovation is managed by Jisc and is a co-design project with Research Libraries UK (RLUK), Russell Universities' Group of IT Directors (RUGIT), the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL), the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA) and the Association for Learning Technology (ALT).
You can watch a video playlist of all the winning ideas below or view full list of winners on the Summer of Student Innovation project page.
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Our new survey has revealed some surprising predictions for the classroom of the future for schools, universities and colleges alike.
The survey found that in five years’ time 20% of respondents believe that learning will be done through virtual reality, while a quarter think teaching will be delivered remotely by tutors who might be thousands of miles away.
Perhaps more surprisingly is the potential emergence of robots in the role of teacher or lecturer. When asked about whether they expect to see robots delivering lessons, 7% are confident that this will happen in the next five years, rising to 11% for ten years’ time. Almost a fifth (18%) think it will be reality in 20 years.
Other findings show the expectation of how tests will be delivered. 33% think that in five years, test will be taken in an app or virtual environment, with results immediately submitted, logged and ranked. 30% believe that technological advancements will mean that within five years new examination methods will be the norm, with students being allowed to take smart phones/devices into exams, to test their research skills.
With technology playing an increasing role in everyday lives, it follows that many respondents recognise the vital role of digital skills. 20% agree that knowing how to use technology will become just as important as traditional subjects like languages when it comes to getting a job in the next year. A further 34% believe this will happen within five years.
The survey canvassed the opinions of 1,000 people in the UK (aged 18 to over 65, and both in and out of education).
Martin Hamilton, futurist at Jisc, said:
“The power of technology undoubtedly opens up new benefits as it continues to develop and integrate into the classroom. We are already starting to see learners go on virtual field trips with technologies like Google Expeditions and the Open University’s Open Science Laboratory.
History lessons of the future could involve students ‘visiting’ Egypt via augmented reality to see the pyramids being built. The possibilities really are endless”
Age appears to be a determining factor in how likely you are to believe technology will change teaching and learning practices, with younger generations more certain that technology’s role in education is set to grow. For example, when asked about when they expect all learning to be carried out online, 31% of 55 to 64-year-olds and 37% of those aged 65 and over, thought this would never happen.
Conversely, 67% of 18 year olds thought all learning will be carried out online within 20 years, and 40% of 19-20 year olds were certain that a shift to online learning will happen within the next five years.
Martin Hamilton added:
“Today’s primary school pupils have grown up around technology, often using it both at school and in the home. This could be why they are more accepting of technology being used to enhance education.
A key question for us now going forwards is how colleges and universities need to adapt to meet the needs of these Young Digital Makers, as a recent Nesta report described them.”
Representatives from Jisc and other sector experts will be discussing education technology and sharing tips at its series of free Connect more events, which will be taking place in cities across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales this summer.
Delegates will also be able to try out new technology at the Digi Lab, from robotics to virtual reality and mobile technologies.
Visit our Connect more web pages to find out more or book a place.
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Interested in what the future might look like for higher education, further education and skills? We have been sketching out ideas for what technology might hold for your sectors. Andy McGregor, our deputy chief innovation officer, introduces the visions and calls for comments.
Jisc's vision is to make the UK the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world. To help us to achieve that goal we decided to develop a set of shared targets for the sectors for 2020 to 2030 looking at where we could end up and the kind of technologies that might make a difference, based on current trends.
Of course, any prediction of the future is a mug’s game: take this illustration of the bus of the future, as seen in the 1920s. It's amazing. It’s got a bridle path for horses to ride around on it!
But it's a prediction of the future rooted completely in paradigms of that era – and any time you predict the future you risk failure because your vision can only be based on your current context. It's hard to think beyond that to all the as yet unknown things that are going to come and disrupt your world.
But, even allowing for that, predictions are still useful because they give us something to aim for, something to rebel against. They get people discussing, and they get people thinking. I imagine many people who saw that bus prediction at the time also thought it was absolutely ridiculous - and maybe that helped to think of something different. A vision, no matter how seemingly way-out, can inspire action.
Jisc is a membership organisation and involving everyone in our R&D, through our co-design process, is a core part of what we do. We knew from our co-design review that we needed to be more vision-led in our approach, involve more people and move faster.
So we came up with a series of ideas for the future, presented them to our senior stakeholders, had conversations and then worked up draft visions for all of higher education (HE), further education (FE) and skills to release as widely as possible, to get as much comment as possible over a short period of time.
We got more than 500 comments1 in two weeks, from across the full range of Jisc members, in all types of roles and all types of institutions. It really helped us to change and shape the visions into the versions we've released now, that we're hoping everyone at Connect more will look at and comment on too.
Picking out just a few headlines from the visions, 'the rise of the machines' is one of my favourites. We believe that across research, learning and teaching there is going to be much greater involvement of computers in jobs which were previously reserved for humans and we think that’s going to really transform education and research by allowing teachers and researchers to extend their reach and focus their time differently.
The increasing rise of student control is another very interesting trend. We've set out a vision of a future where students will have much more control over how they study, when they study and for how long, and they’re not limited to one university for one period of time and for one degree – they could work for a company, and have that contribute towards the degree, do some of their degree in a foreign country, do another one in the UK. Split up their education however they want at the speed the want. We think that’s going to have all sorts of challenges.
Staff remain paramount and staff skills remain paramount throughout all the visions. No matter how good technology gets, it all comes down to how effectively staff are able to use technology to augment their skills and expertise.
This was an area where we made some important shifts in our focus as a result of the consultation. The feedback helped us to realise that we needed to be clearer that we're looking at tools as a way to support the people doing the education rather than replacing them – we always have to think people first when exploring new technology. The role of teachers and researchers and what they do every day is fundamental to good education and research.
The visions have given us a treasure trove of ideas to explore. We're prioritising them based on those areas we're already working in and could scale up, and those in which we could potentially do new work.
It's very clear that we need to rationalise our portfolio and focus our effort on some hugely important areas, such as learning analytics, the research data shared service and digital capability.
We’re exploring tools, such as Pinipa and Slack, to help us to engage our membership in the debate around whether these ideas are good ideas, what aspects of the ideas are good, what aren’t and helping us to shape these very headline ideas that have come out of the vision into something that's practically actionable.
There are many ways you can have your say on the visions at Connect more. I'll be there so come and find me, ask questions and tell me what you think.
There's also a feedback form, or you can tweet me @andymcg.
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Learning analytics is big news at the moment, so, along with our M5 colleagues - the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) - and Universities UK, we recently held a successful ‘think tank’ exploring the hot topic of data-driven decision-making and the recommendations in our recent horizon scanning report.
In this podcast our resident futurist Martin Hamilton talks with delegates from Brunel University, Blackboard, Civitas Learning and from the University of Greenwich. Listen to get the lowdown on the latest thinking.
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Paul Bailey, manager of our Summer of Student Innovation competition, talks about why you should take a look at this year's entries and vote for your favourite ideas from both the student ideas and the supporting technology startup projects competitions.
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The UK education funding councils’ post-2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) open access policy came into effect in April. Mafalda Marques, project officer (PASTEUR4OA) for Jisc, talks through the key requirements and the support available to institutions to help them comply. Read the original blog.
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It saw world records being set for athletics, track cycling and swimming during London 2012 – and now Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is subject to high speeds of a different kind, with superfast internet connectivity.
Here East – Olympic Park’s former press and broadcast centre, and today the dedicated digital quarter for east London – is now directly connected to the core of the Janet network, the UK’s high-capacity education and research network, to receive resilient internet connectivity of up to 100 Gigabits (Gb) per second. The connection is provided by Jisc.
Loughborough University is the first to take advantage of the Janet network being made available at Olympic Park, taking a connection at its new London site.
Loughborough University London is dedicated to postgraduate study, executive courses and research, in areas including media and creative industries, sport business, design innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship and digital technologies. Focused on innovation, its students are exposed to the very latest in thinking and real-life industry challenges through IT-rich learning experiences, such as remote learning through online lectures and video conferencing.
This is the first step for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in its vision to become an important education and cultural hub. As well as Here East, UK government is supporting the development of Foundation for London’s 'Olympicopolis', which will bring together outstanding museums, start-ups and education organisations to showcase exceptional creativity and cutting-edge design. University of the Arts and University College London have both announced they will be building new campuses at this location.
Professor Mike Caine, dean of Loughborough University London, said:
“London is an important strategic location for us, allowing us to enhance our postgraduate offer. Having access to resilient, high-capacity internet connectivity at our London campus is essential, and the Janet network delivers this.
It also means that staff and students at our London site get the same excellent online experience as their Loughborough colleagues.”
The Janet network is one of the fastest computer networks in the world. It has more than 18 million users in the UK, at nearly a thousand universities, colleges and other eligible learning providers.
Jeremy Sharp, director strategic technologies, Jisc said:
“London is leading the UK’s thriving digital sector, with inner London alone accounting for more than a quarter of the nation’s digital companies. Colleges and universities rightly want to harness the opportunities that working closely with these organisations brings, supporting the development of talent, research and digital enterprise.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park looks set to be the beating heart of London’s digital future. Education organisations who establish operations here can be assured that they are at the forefront of digital innovation, all underpinned by the Janet network, which gives them reliable, secure internet connectivity.”
Find out more about the Janet network on our website or contact the Jisc service desk on 0300 300 2212.
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Further education (FE) and skills in the UK have come up against a lot of challenges in the last few years. Does FELTAG still have a place?
Absolutely, argues Sarah Knight, senior co-design manager at Jisc; whether they want to leverage new apprenticeship opportunities, improve their maths and English provision, offer more flexible courses or do more with less resources, FE and skills providers can unlock huge benefits by using technology effectively. Read the original blog post.
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The deadline for Summer of Student Innovation is Monday 23 May 2016, and you'll need 250 votes to get through to the next stage.
Justin Haylock, senior innovation developer at Jisc, talks about his role as part of this year's Summer of Student Innovation competition, shares some inspiration from previous winners, and explains why you should apply if you think you have a great idea.
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How do we move to a data-led culture in UK research and education? Our new report, the second in a series from our horizon scanning project, looks at this question.
Today, successful digital enterprises in every industry require a digital strategy that recognises the value of data, and digital institutions now need to embrace big data too. Martin Hamilton, futurist at Jisc, explains more in this podcast.
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The University of Stirling has recently upgraded its internet connectivity, taking an additional connection to the Janet network and becoming a Janet 'point of presence'. This has increased the university’s capabilities and resilience, supporting its business strategy and improving teaching, learning and research.
Kathy McCabe, university librarian and director of information services, tells us about what they’ve done and how they’re benefitting.
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World Autism Awareness Week runs from 2 – 8 April this year. With one in every 100 people on the autism spectrum, and even the word ‘autism’ meaning different things to different people, it’s an issue educators must concern themselves with.
Julia Taylor, subject specialist (accessibility and inclusion), shares ten tips for supporting autistic learners more effectively. Read the original blog post.
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This week is Networkshop44, our annual technical event for network managers and technical staff, this year from the University of Manchester.
Today Tim Kidd, executive director, Jisc technologies, talks about an exciting deal that has been signed on site, as well about what makes Networkshop such a unique and fascinating event.
We also hear from Computer Weekly, the media partner for this year’s Networkshop, and Mark Adderley from Efficient IP talks about the importance of Networkshop and why they keep coming back.
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This week is Networkshop44, our annual technical event for network managers and technical staff, this year from the University of Manchester. The conference is in full swing, and delegates are enjoying informative sessions and exhibits aplenty.
Here, Andy Butcher, head of education in UK and Ireland for Extreme Networks, speaks about his Networkshop experience.
Jeremy Sharp, director of strategic technologies at Jisc, discusses the Janet network both at and away from Networkshop, and what will be needed from the network in the future.
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We are pleased to announce the availability of SHERPA REF.
SHERPA REF beta is a web service – funded and endorsed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) – that allows authors and institutions to quickly, accurately and easily check whether a journal they wish to publish in complies with open access (OA) policy for the Research Excellence Framework (REF).
The policy requires journal articles and conference proceedings accepted for publication after 1 April 2016, to be made OA to be eligible for submission to the next REF. Universities need to ensure their submissions are eligible and comply with current policy under the four UK higher education funding bodies: HEFCE, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland (DELNI).
Ben Johnson, higher education policy adviser (research), HEFCE says:
“We are delighted to be able to support Jisc in developing and launching this important tool to support authors in meeting the open access policy. As open access policies are implemented in the UK it is vital that authors have access to clear information that can support their publishing decisions. We see SHERPA REF becoming a key part of this and encourage users to provide feedback on this beta service.”
Jisc’s survey of 243 authors and 377 research support staff told us over 80% felt it would be important, very important or essential to have confidence that any publication they produce will be eligible for the REF, suggesting that the SHERPA REF service will be widely used.
Bill Hubbard, deputy head of scholarly communications support and director of the centre for research communications, Jisc comments:
“We’re pleased to release this service to extend the current information we give through SHERPA services. Through collaboration with HEFCE, we have been able to say not only whether a journal is compliant but also to recommend the most convenient route, whether that is using a repository or an open access publishing option.”
By enabling authors to easily check their compliance, SHERPA REF saves time and effort for universities in checking they meet the requirements – estimated to take on average between 30-60 minutes, according to the survey.
Valerie McCutcheon, research information manager, University of Glasgow explains:
“We are looking forward to being able to use SHERPA REF as a means of checking if specific publications will satisfy REF open access requirements. The fact that this tool has been endorsed by HEFCE provides us with reassurance.”
SHERPA REF builds on the current portfolio of SHERPA services which help authors and universities decide whether a journal allows them to comply with OA policy and on the options available to do so.
Key benefits of SHERPA include:
For more information, visit the SHERPA REF website.
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UK space industry and space science have received a boost as Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd - the communications hub currently supporting Tim Peake’s space mission - and Jisc sign a deal to transform connectivity.
From today Goonhilly Earth Station has been opened up to faster, more secure connectivity by taking a connection to the world-class Janet network through Jiscom, the commercial arm of Jisc, which provides digital solutions for colleges and universities.
Goonhilly’s improved infrastructure is a significant benefit for the site’s international collaborators from the space and TV industries, to individual businesses and universities. Goonhilly currently supports and manages satellites for a number of global satellite operators. It is a downlink station for earth observation networks and is planning to become the world’s first private Deep Space ground station. This rapidly growing business will need the extra capacity provided by the new connections to Janet, the UK’s national research and education network.
Derek Thomas MP, said,
“Support for business big and small is a crucial part of the development of the south-west and so I strongly welcome this new join-up. Goonhilly Earth Station plays a key part in a concerted effort to increase the number of skilled jobs in Cornwall and on Scilly and I am delighted by the growth of this high-tech business.”
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Jisc will also be enabling eduroam on the site. This will allow visiting students and academics seamless wi-fi through their institutional log-ins, so that the next generation of satellite scientists can benefit from the same connectivity.
Goonhilly Earth Station CEO Ian Jones said,
“Goonhilly is a commercial satellite earth station – we need reliable, fast connectivity for our commercial clients. However, we also bridge a significant gap into academic research, teaching and data services. The Janet network’s wide range of interconnect options coupled with a highly available, uncluttered service provides excellent value for money.”
Tim Marshall, MD of Jiscom, said,
“We are delighted to be supporting the chancellor’s initiative for a more innovative digital economy through this agreement with Goonhilly - not only does it generate additional revenue for the research and education sector that Jisc supports, but it very much speaks to our mission of research collaboration and innovation. It will be exciting to track the progress of Goonhilly as it continues to support education and the knowledge economy.”
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In a landmark move for research, AWS is waiving data egress charges for qualified researchers and academics in moving data out of the cloud - making it easier for the sector to use cloud services by offering more predictability in costs. The agreement has been reached through ongoing discussions with Jisc in the UK, GÉANT in Europe, and DLT in the United States.
At Digifest 2016, we spoke with Brendan Bouffler, scientific computing manager at AWS, about how the agreement will benefit researchers.
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Brendan Walker, thrill engineer and Coast presenter, works with the latest technology on the thrill rides he creates for clients as diverse as Alton Towers and the Tate Modern, but he also draws on some of the oldest traditions of the fairground. He explains his theory of thrill and the technology he's currently working with.
You’ve been described by The Times as the world’s only thrill engineer. What does that involve?
"In terms of engineering thrill I'm interested in the design of something very subjective - emotional experience - but I'm also drawing on my engineering background to look at ways in which to build these experiences. So, in a sense, on a practical level, I am a designer of emotional experience but with heavy elements of artistry, objective analysis and construction - that’s where the engineering and thrill come together."
What was your path to such an incredibly cool job?
"I originally trained as an aeronautical engineer working on military aircraft in British Aerospace. Then I wanted to become an industrial designer so I studied an art and design foundation course to get into the Royal College of Art. I went there wanting to design white goods and came out making pirate radio stations. But while there I became very interested in the way technology could enable changes in social dynamics and so I joined the college's interaction design research group.
Watch Professor Brendan Walker's 2014 showreel
Meanwhile, I also started my own private practice making electro-mechanical installations for art galleries and science museums. It was in the making of those very large mechanical installations that I realised people were becoming excited by what I had made, so there was a sort of performance element to it.
I didn't know enough about that kind of highly charged emotional experience so I spent a year on the Chromo11 Engineering The Thrill research project, interviewing people about their thrilling experiences and creating a Taxonomy of Thrill. I coined what became known as the Walker Thrill Factor which links measurable physiological traits of arousal and pleasure to thrill. I realised that I could monitor people in a technological loop and create interactive artwork and, over the last ten years, that has become something of a trademark.
As a thrill engineer I have an understanding of what thrills people, how we can monitor it and can then design new experiences to elicit tightly choreographed thrilling experiences."
One way in which you have done that is with Neurosis - a virtual reality fairground ride that reads passengers’ minds. What happened to the people who went on that ride?
"Neurosis is a brain-controlled thrill ride. It was commissioned by FutureFest and their remit was: we’ve got 5,000 people coming to the Southbank over a weekend and we need a spectacle with the theme "the future of entertainment".
I took the things I was interested in - virtual reality, motion simulation, brain monitoring - and I created a ride where riders were taken up onto a three-metre high, six degree of motion platform facing an audience of about 200 people. There was a gate open in front of them so they could physically fall three metres - meaning that they not only had the anxiety of performing to a crowd but also the real physical jeopardy of falling from height.
They were strapped into the ride, an Oculous Rift headset was put over their eyes, and a brain monitoring cap was fitted. They then saw a tunnel emerging in front of them in virtual space which was generated by the 14 channels of brain data I was collecting. That brain data was interpreted using various algorithms to create the world they were experiencing and, as they went tumbling and falling through this world, the motion platform kicked in to give them a sense of falling through the tunnel.
Professor Brendan Walker introduces Neurosis at FutureFest 2015
I also worked on the brain data with another artist to create a neurogenerative sound track – some kicking bhangra-style music with parameters controlled by the brain data.
The ride lasted for three minutes and, in the middle, the riders were instructed to concentrate and to think about going forward. By doing this they were able to train the ride: if they were successful in concentrating then their trajectory through the tunnel would become more stable and the ride experience smoother."
I’m feeling ill just listening to that! What are the ethics around it? Are you worried about pushing the human mind too far in this kind of thrill seeking?
"It is interesting. With the University of Nottingham, I wrote a paper, Uncomfortable Interactions, that talked about the ethics of my work because it's very much about pushing the boundaries and putting people in awkward social situations.
I see it as being a bit like the kind of unwritten contract you have when you walk through the doors to a theme park. We go to those places for novelty, to be surprised. That is how and where we get our thrills and if we had too much control – if we knew we could stop the ride and get off - then that relationship breaks down. That’s how I think of my installations - it’s framed as entertainment, but we do internally assess what might actually be going on, and evaluate the possible consequences.
For example, the worst thing that might have happened on Neurosis was people having a bout of vertigo, so there were lots of safeguards in place, all built into the performance. I take great care of my riders, particularly when it’s something novel, but I never make them realise that there is such a large amount of care happening. That’s the trick."
Do you see this as the future of thrill rides? It seems we’ve gone as far physically as we can go - you can’t drop people any further or turn them any faster - so are virtual reality and brain monitoring now the way forward?
"One of the successes of Neurosis was that, like lots of rides that have appeared over the last 100 years, I was presenting the trends and intrigue in current scientific frontiers – in this case, neurological monitoring. That was part of the thrill for the audience. If, in two years’ time, we find that mind-expanding biochemicals are currently popular in the public’s mind, then I will probably be making rides based around that emerging technology. So that’s why I’m constantly looking at trends in engineering and technology.
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Taking a historical perspective, one of the first places that people experienced electricity was at fairgrounds - most people had never seen a light bulb before they went to a fairground. Historically, they have been places where the public have been allowed to experience emerging scientific and technological advancements before they get brought into popular everyday life. That’s the relationship I’m interested in.
With Neurosis I spotted that the most interesting thing for me was the moment of putting on the virtual reality mask and taking it off – that movement between being in a real world in the presence of an audience and then being immersed in a very insular solitary experience. Both of them have very different social dynamics and the movement between the two creates the thrill.
So the next ride I made was Oscillate, which was a very simple swing with a virtual reality experience attached to it but it played much more on that relationship between the individual experience and the spectator experience.
I’m driven by watching and observing and creating emotional experience and if technology can help me then great."
What new technology is exciting you at the moment?
"Most of my conversations at the moment are around virtual experiences and while we wait for companies like PlayStation or Red Bull to start creating channels of virtual reality (VR) content, no one is entirely sure what that piece of technology will facilitate or support, whether it’s art works, whether its entertainment experiences. I think VR will intrigue me for another couple of years."
Can you see a role for VR in education?
"Whether because of its novelty or because it’s a medium that kids will become familiar with and will happily adopt because it’s the language of computer gaming, of entertainment and of TV, it will become the preferred way to consume and interact with information.
So yes, I think if the technology becomes pervasive and deeply ingrained in other areas of a child’s life then I think VR will be exactly the right platform for education."
To what extent do you rely on the power of the Janet Network for your work?
"I made a piece of work last year called Storm In A Teacup, commissioned by Hastings Pier Charity. It relied on sensors to monitor waves in Hastings, sending data over the web to servers on the Janet network, which were used to analyse and visualise the data, to be viewed by the public in real time.
Creative Commons attribution information
Storm In A Teacup at FACT, Liverpool 2015All rights reserved
This kind of creative use of distributed sensors and servers is central to many pieces of my digital artwork. I choose to work with the university's servers on Janet for their power and dependability."
What are you hoping the Networkshop delegates are going to take away from your talk?
"I am going to showcase some of the thrilling experiences that I’ve made and some of the work that I’ve made that relies on large networks - some are local area networks and some are distributed networks. I really want to show how my knowledge of being able to use those networks creatively has enabled these innovative experiences to evolve.
I can use the idea of networking in a very fluid way, so that they almost become a material in itself that we can configure, reconfigure, put things in, move data around, treat things in unusual ways - it’s having absolute flexibility, reliability, and access to that kind of network that enables the kind of work that I do. So, my message is, be flexible, be accessible and great things will happen."
Networkshop is our annual network and technology event. Networkshop44 takes place between 22-24 March 2016 at the University of Manchester.
Brendan will be speaking at the Networkshop44 conference dinner on Wednesday 23 March.
Find out more, including how you can join online, via the event web pages.
via Jisc news
Learning analytics specialist Niall Sclater has been working with a number of universities to help them with the legal and ethical issues they encounter when implementing learning analytics.
Here he talks about the institutional readiness for learning analytics. Read his blog for more information.
via Jisc news
Three of the UK’s leading higher education agencies have announced plans to explore increased collaboration and cost sharing through a new partnership to be known as the ‘M5 Group’.
The three agencies, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Jisc and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), have a long history of collaborating on projects, in particular with HESA and Jisc delivering a national business intelligence service. The agencies intend to work even more closely together to develop better solutions to some of the long-term issues that are being faced by the UK higher education sector.
The tri-partite approach will provide a greater pool of resources aiming to improve services.
Dr Paul Feldman, chief executive of Jisc, said:
“Talks between the parties have been progressing for some months. The time is now right to take this forward in a more meaningful way. Not only are we geographically close – all based around the M5 in the south west – we also serve many of the same institutions.”
Paul Clark, chief executive of HESA, said:
“The whole of the education sector is facing up to severe financial pressures so it is vitally important that we do what we can to help improve efficiency and value for money.”
Douglas Blackstock, QAA chief executive said:
“HESA, Jisc and QAA all have very distinct and different strengths and institutional offers. We will be working together for the benefit of institutions across the UK whilst continuing to operate as separate and independent organisations.”
Further details on how the M5 Group will be supporting the higher education sector will be made available in the coming weeks.
via Jisc news
Students aren’t concerned about cyber security despite 77% seeing it as a growing threat.
Our new survey has found that only 17% of students are genuinely concerned by cyber security despite it affecting many of them. Students are unsurprisingly more worried about grades (90%), but are also more often worried about money (79%) or friendships (53%).
The findings come as the government is set to address the growing threat of cyber-attacks by doubling investment in cyber security for 2016, spending £1.9 billion over the next five years. The national cyber plan includes the development of a National Offensive Cyber Programme to counter cyber-attacks, and perhaps most critically, the goal of increasing the nation’s cyber skills.
Tim Kidd, executive director of Jisc technologies, said:
“It’s no surprise that so many students view cyber security as a growing threat, recently there has been daily media coverage about new attacks on businesses, and over 15% of the students we asked have already had their personal email accounts hacked.
Students have many demands on their time and have grown up in a digital world, and have a low level of concern about cyber security. This may be as students feel they understand the security in place on their devices, 65% of the 406 students asked said they know how to protect themselves online from security threats, such as hacker’s phishing for their personal data.”
The survey also found that 35% of students see it as their own responsibility to learn about cyber security. Tim continues:
“In a world that is becoming more digital by the day it is undeniable that students and education professionals may need to learn more about cyber security. There is no clear responsibility for the education of students in this area, but universities may find this becomes a focus for them in the future.”
Further results showed that 35% of students don’t know what security is available on their university/college computer, compared to 76% who are aware of the security on their own devices. Steve Kennett, head of operational services for Jisc that includes the CSIRT (Computer Security and Incident Response Team) comments:
“We provide security services and access to the global Internet, through our private Janet network, to UK universities and colleges. We monitor and resolve security incidents to protect users and make sure students have 24/7 access to resources. We also work closely with IT teams in education, but all this all goes on behind the scenes so it is no surprise that students aren’t fully aware of how secure their university or college network is, often more secure than a home broadband connection.
Only 24% of students actually think their university network is more secure than their home network, but 16% had had their personal details hacked online, whereas only 4% had ever had their college or university emails hacked. This may demonstrate that more needs to be done to education students about the security of their network and on how they can help reduce cyber security threats at their institution.”
The subject of cyber security in education will be discussed and addressed by experts at Jisc’s network and technology conference, Networkshop44, on the 22-24 March 2016 at the University of Manchester. Find out how you can watch online coverage via the event web pages.
via Jisc news