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Collaborative workshop

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R&D on behalf of our members

As a membership organisation, the purpose of our R&D is to develop new services for our members. So we understand the crucial role that our members should play in choosing which ideas we pursue and in steering the R&D projects we establish in order to develop them. 

Since we began using co-design in 2013 we have been constantly refining the approach to ensure it works for our members. The most recent refinement led to the development of the co-design visions.   

Visions

In 2015 we started to work with a selection of core Jisc stakeholders to develop a vision for 2020 and 2030 that focused on the use of digital technology in education and research. This approach has been designed to enable our R&D projects to move quicker and to involve a wider range of Jisc members and other experts. 

After their initial development, we released the draft visions for public comment to help us shape them further. The consultation led us to release three visions for further education and skills; higher education learning and teaching; and research.

Each vision has three sections, which explore:

1. A possible future for 2020 and 2030
2. Suggestions for work Jisc could do to help realise or cope with the visions
3. How the vision may affect a few key roles in education and research

We plan to refine and periodically release revised versions of our visions and welcome your feedback.  

Our priority project areas

The visions will be used to select and prioritise our R&D work. We are currently working in three core areas that could help realise the visions.

Analytics

We are exploring new services that will help universities and colleges improve student attainment and retention using learning analytics and that explore new uses of analytics to improve organisational planning.

For more information see our projects on learning analytics and business intelligence.

Research data

Universities need to ensure the data produced during research is managed in compliance with funder policies. We are developing a shared service that will make that task easier.

For more information see our research at risk project.

Digital capabilities

We're asking how can we ensure staff have the skills required to use digital technology to deliver a compelling student experience and to maximise the return on investment in expensive technology.

For more information see our digital capability project. 

Further projects of value to Jisc members

We will also explore a small number of new ideas (you can find these in the second section of the visions), which have the potential to offer significant value to our members. 

Ideas will be taken through a discovery stage to establish whether Jisc members want us to pursue the idea, whether it is technically feasible, whether there is a space in the market where we could help and whether it looks possible for Jisc to produce a sustainable service. If ideas pass these barriers then they will be added to our portfolio of projects. 

Once a project is in our portfolio, we will continue to work in partnership with our members using our co-design approach to scope, steer and test the new services we develop.

Stay up to date and get involved

As we explore new ideas prompted by the co-design visions, we will release details of how you can get involved.

In the meantime, we are always keen to be contacted by Jisc members who are interested in our R&D work. You can contact us directly via the details on the individual project pages or speak to your Jisc account manager.