JISC News Web Feed

New head of policy at JISC

r.obrien@jisc.ac.uk (rebeccaobrien) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:52:39 GMT

Today JISC is announcing the appointment of Helen Rana as its new head of policy.

As head of policy Helen will oversee the management of JISC’s committees and liaison with key stakeholders, to ensure JISC activities meet the needs of UK colleges, universities and its funders.

Helen joins JISC this month, after three years as Sheffield’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry policy and representation manager; where she successfully raised the profile of the chamber by fostering close working relationships between regional universities, colleges and businesses.

She brings to her new role at JISC a wealth of knowledge gained from both the public and private sector having worked at the University of Sheffield, JP Morgan, the Embassy of Finland and for a non-governmental lobbying organisation in Zambia.

On her appointment Helen says: “I’m looking forward to working at JISC and see my role as understanding the needs of the community to inform JISC policy, telling people the benefits of JISC’s activities and showing colleges and universities how JISC is not only looking after their technology needs today but planning for the future too.”

Helen takes over the role of head of policy from Alice Colban, who was promoted to head of finance and corporate services last October, with responsibility for a range of areas including financial, information management and human resources.

Helen’s previous role also included public affairs activities at Westminster where she contributed to a number of national policies on UK business and training.

Helen has an M.Phil. in History, BA.(Hons) in Media and Communications, MA. in Film and Media Studies and a post-graduate diploma in Diplomatic Studies. She has two children aged five and six.

ICT initiative of the year shortlist announced

n.yeeles@jisc.ac.uk (nicolayeeles) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:41:46 GMT

The judges for the Times Higher Education leadership and management awards have announced their shortlist.

The awards aim to recognise the exceptional business and management skills of those running universities and JISC is sponsoring the category for outstanding ICT initiative.

The judges have chosen technology initiatives at six different universities that have had a great impact on their university’s administrative processes.

As the awards showcase the leadership, management, financial and business skills in universities, the judges were looking for projects with potential for that positive effect to be felt across the sector.

The shortlisted universities

Canterbury Christ Church University
Edge Hill University
University of Leeds
Northumbria University
The Open University
Queen Margaret University

The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony to be held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 17 June 2010.

Toolkit helps universities keep identity safe online

n.yeeles@jisc.ac.uk (nicolayeeles) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:26:21 GMT

Identity theft is up by almost a third among financial fraud cases, latest industry figures have revealed, as JISC launches a new resource to help universities safeguard staff and student identities.

Identities need to be protected even when staff and students are using a personal username and password to log onto social media site like Facebook. The reason is that through them they can access applications listing library books they have on loan, log on to Google docs stores of academic papers, or develop a twitter hashtag for course discussions.

Now JISC has launched a toolkit to allow information officers, IT directors, security managers and their staff to better understand the legal issues involved in managing identity issues.

The guidance takes managers through a self-evaluation procedure, while highlighting the issues raised by these new ways of working for staff and students.

Christopher Brown, programme manager at JISC, says, ““In the current climate of cost cutting it is imperative that universities and colleges make use of good identity management practices and policies, as identity management is key to many processes and services that universities and colleges provide for students, staff and other individuals.

“These institutions could spend thousands of pounds on consultant fees to get the same advice that is being offered for free in the Identity Management Toolkit.”

The toolkit was produced by a partnership between Bristol and Cardiff universities, Kidderminster College and the LSE, backed by UCISA and RUGIT and funded by JISC.

Projects at Kidderminster College and the University of Bristol have tested the resource already. Both of these institutions had already seen a need to review, improve and integrate their identity management policies, practices and systems.

The toolkit is available online or can be downloaded as a PDF for printing.

Dr Malcolm Read looks to technology to support research publication

n.yeeles@jisc.ac.uk (nicolayeeles) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:22:34 GMT

Dr Malcolm Read, JISC's executive secretary, has pointed to technology as a way to help universities disseminate their research and show their economic impact.

In a speech to university vice-chancellors, principals and senior managers at the JISC-sponsored Guardian Future of Higher Education Summit on Friday, Dr Read also welcomed the strength of support for the infrastructure research base, but called on delegates to recognise the potential of online content. As an example, 19th century newspapers online offer a huge resource to the community enabling research opportunities not previously available.

Dr Read signalled that cloud computing could offer huge financial savings to universities. Although warning that the cloud is currently at the peak of its hype, he proposed that central services such as data storage could provide genuine cost benefits.

Maintaining research excellence, he said, means professional management of this data to ensure its proper curation and longer term preservation.

Dr Read was speaking as part of a panel session on world class research.

Read about the Future of Higher Education Summit online at the Guardian

Universities share international development thinking

n.yeeles@jisc.ac.uk (nicolayeeles) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:53:43 GMT

The latest thinking on international development from leading academics will be shared online via podcasts and videos as part of a new initiative.

Access to medicine, education, food and clean water are some of the areas to be showcased as part of the 15-month JISC project, called the Bloomsbury Media Cloud.

Interviews and lectures will be produced and made publicly available online to raise awareness of major challenges in developing countries, including animal health, climate change and education. The resources will be of particular interest to international development researchers and students worldwide.

The initiative is led by the Bloomsbury Colleges – a consortium of six internationally-renowned institutions within the University of London.

Alex Hawker, programme manager at JISC, said, “I am especially enthusiastic about this project and the opportunities it will bring for universities to learn from each other, particularly in the areas of negotiating licences for shared resources, and joint leadership. By making this important work openly accessible online, JISC is allowing researchers to benefit from academic thought outside the walls of their own universities and subject areas.”

Professor Quintin McKellar, principal of the Royal Veterinary College which is participating, said, “International development issues increasingly impact on all of our lives, from climate change to the threat of diseases like swine flu. Online resources are an effective and appealing way of engaging new audiences and informing them about these matters in a clear and concise way. We are delighted to have secured funding for this project from JISC.”

Innovative internet-based approaches are central to the Bloomsbury Media Cloud project including the storage of digital resources in 'the cloud' (a virtual space online).

The project is being undertaken in collaboration with the London International Development Centre, which promotes interdisciplinary research and training to tackle complex problems by bringing together different scientists from across the consortium.

The initiative is supported by JISC's new programme to help colleges and universities make efficiency savings by integrating and sharing their information systems effectively.

For more information visit the project page.

THE awards open for entries

r.obrien@jisc.ac.uk (rebeccaobrien) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:31:14 GMT

The 2010 Times Higher Education (THE) awards are now open for entries and JISC is sponsoring the Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year category.

THE Awards look to recognise the talent and achievement of universities and colleges in their pursuit of excellence in teaching and research.

Ann Mroz, THE editor, said: “THE awards represent a unique and high profile opportunity to celebrate the excellence and amazing achievements of UK higher education institutions, and reaffirm our commitment to the two core pursuits of higher education: teaching and research.

“There are eighteen categories for 2010. We're looking forward to a wealth of strong contenders again this year, displaying the talent and imagination that make UK higher education the best in the world.”

For the third year running, JISC is supporting the awards and looking for colleges and universities to enter the Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year category. This category looks to recognise how a scheme or project based on digital technologies has made a difference to learners, academics and researchers.

St George’s University of London won the JISC category in 2009 for their use of virtual learning environments. St George’s wanted to recreate paramedic work situations which are impossible to simulate realistically in the classroom and their solution allowed students to work together as a paramedic team on different emergency scenes.

David Baker, JISC deputy chair, said: “The project at St George’s is impressive for what you might call its ‘horizontal scalability’ – the possibility for this use of technology to have an impact on teaching and learning in other universities in the future. Testing out practical work in virtual research environments is an innovative way of approaching medical scenarios that could be replicated across the academic spectrum.”

If you think you are using digital technologies innovatively at your college or university to make a real difference to your teaching and research, you have until 7 June 2010 to enter the awards.

Enter the JISC Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year category

View the other 17 award categories

JISC announces blog competition shortlist and final delegate places for conference

h.peebles@jisc.ac.uk (hectorpeebles) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:46:31 GMT

Places for this year’s JISC 2010 conference are already nearly full with less than 100 spaces left.

The theme for this year’s conference is ‘technology at the heart of education and research’, so JISC asked you to share your experiences of technology in an open blog competition.

Today JISC is announcing the five shortlisted entries, which paint a picture of life in UK universities and colleges relying on everyday technology to do things quicker, better and differently.

The entries will be showcased at the conference, with the opportunity to vote for the ‘people’s choice’ and the winner announced by one of the keynote speakers.

One of the judges, Professor John Traxler, director of the Learning Lab and professor of mobile learning at the University of Wolverhampton, said: “The shortlisted entries were chosen because they all make excellent use of the blog to deliver their message and fit our expectations of the genre. Each of them explores a different aspect of technology in education in a quirky and authentic way so we are now very much looking forward to announcing the winner at the JISC Conference.”

The chosen blogs

So much fuss about ICT in education!

Michael Vallance, professor at the Future University in Hakodate, Japan

A day in the life of a flip camera

Emily Bailey, e-study assistant at Oaklands College, Hertfordshire

IT and me

Mike Simmons, associate dean at the University of Wales, Newport

Could you live without IT?

Anna Holloway, learning technologist at Newman University College, Birmingham

Imagine a day without technology asks JISC: Computer says no!

Victoria Carolan, archives assistant at the library of the London School of Economics and Political Science

Conference tag jisc10

Take part in the conference on the day virtually through Twitter, blogs, social networking and live streaming

Podcast: JISC 2010 conference keynote speaker talks Green ICT

h.peebles@jisc.ac.uk (hectorpeebles) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:35:00 GMT

Bill St. Arnaud is the President of a Green-IT consulting firm St. Arnaud-Walker and Associates Inc. He was formerly the Chief Research Officer for CANARIE Inc.2 Canada's Advanced Internet Development Organisation and he is one of the keynote speakers for JISC’s 2010 Annual Conference which takes place on the 12th and 13th April in London.

In this podcast via Skype with JISC’s Rebecca O’Brien, Bill shares what he will be talking about in his speech and his thoughts on the importance of greening technology for colleges and universities.

Listen to the podcast (Duration 6:11)
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100th podcast released

h.peebles@jisc.ac.uk (hectorpeebles) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:15:08 GMT

Today JISC reaches its 100th podcast and looks back at its top ten downloads.

In 2007 as the Welsh Assembly went to election, JISC launched its first podcast, with an interview with Carwyn Jones who at the time was Minister for Education, Culture and the Welsh Language.

It is three years since JISC first started offering colleges and universities the opportunity to listen to interviews with education leaders, ministers and practitioners from across education and research. Over this time the popularity of its podcasts have steadily increased, with over 700 regular subscribers and each podcast on average receiving 1700 downloads.

The top ten downloaded JISC podcasts

Podcast		Total downloads
1	Why is Google showing us the way forward in digitisation? asks senior UK librarian	5,892
2	What is Web 2.0 and how is it impacting on education?	5,399
3	Steve Bailey of JISC infoNet talks about managing the business of education	5,397
4	JISC Digitisation programme - five centuries of unique resources	4,110
5	Librarians say Google can support international education and research	4,101
6	Mobile education is the way of the future	3,723
7	Find your way around e-Assessment	3,695
8	Reflections on Online Educa Berlin	3,331
9	The open access argument is won, says leading advocate	3,249
10	The e-Framework for international education and research	3,152

Hector Peebles JISC’s Multimedia & Community Editor says: “Although podcasts are common place today, in 2007 they were viewed as new and an emerging way of sharing information - and we weren’t sure if people would listen.

"The fact that we’ve reached our 100th podcast shows that people are listening and finding their content valuable. We champion the use of the latest digital technologies and trends, so we are constantly looking at how colleges and universities can use digital technologies for learning, teaching and research.

“Our podcasts are now well established and so the next step is to increase our multimedia content on our website and output via our Web 2.0 channels.”

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Podcast: The financing of higher education

h.peebles@jisc.ac.uk (hectorpeebles) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:29:23 GMT

At the recent Higher Education Policy Institute and JISC seminar, Nicola Dandridge Chief Executive of Universities UK and Nicholas Barr, Professor of Public Economics, London School of Economics gave their views on the topic of the financing of higher education as a starting point to generate discussion and debate with an invited audience.

JISC’s Rebecca O’Brien spoke with both Nicholas and Nicola about how higher education is currently funded, how the current system could be changed in response to the increasing pressure on universities to reduce costs and the value that universities contribute to the UK economy.