The North West Regional College (NWRC) in Northern Ireland is on a mission to tackle unemployment in Derry, Limavady, and Strabane, where economic inactivity rates surpass national averages, leading to social and economic challenges. Their innovative solution? Hybrid micro-credentials. In this blog, we delve into the pedagogical framework, implementation strategies, quality assurance and challenges of […]
In recent years, there has been a shift towards more flexible and agile learning opportunities in education. Credentialling of those opportunities often takes the form of a micro-credential or digital badge. We undertook research into this area in relation to a partnership project with North-West Regional College (NWRC) in Northern Ireland. An adaptable work place […]
Starting university can be a challenging transition for some students. As part of the Jisc Pathfinders initiative we discussed this issue with staff from Keele University and undertook a preliminary investigation into what is happening elsewhere and whether there is technology that might assist. The problem as it was outlined was around universities struggling to […]
This is an example of a workshop we have been developing around imagined futures for universities and colleges. It is based around a set of challenge cards that are used to pose examples of things that could happen in the next 10-15 years. The purpose is to help participants imagine what the impact could be […]
This is the final part of a series about our “VLE Reimagined” project. For the background and more ideas, see parts 1 and 2. This time we share two ideas with the common theme that they both employ AI. It’s worth reiterating that in creating and exploring novel ideas in this project, our focus was […]
This is the second post about our “VLE Reimagined” project. For the background and more designs check out part 1. These ideas explore two key themes: social connectivity, and place. It’s not new to observe that social connectivity matters. But in digital products social connectivity is nuanced and ever changing. Myspace was different to […]
What if the VLE was multiplayer? What if the VLE encouraged live connection? What if I could track my progress on my own terms? Background A key part of our design process is ideation, the process of generating ideas. It requires a mix of creativity and objectivity. Creativity in seeking solutions to problems, and objectivity in […]
Jisc Pathfinders is an innovative programme designed to help Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) institutions tackle some of the most significant challenges in the education sector. The initiative, which launched in November 2022, invites institutions to partner with a small team at Jisc to develop and refine ideas using proven innovation pipeline […]
Release notes We released v0.1 of the Digital Assessment Maturity Model in March 2023, and spent the rest of the month talking to people from the sector and refining our initial work. This blog post lays out the 0.2 version of the model and outlines how it may be used. Current assessment landscape Assessment processes […]
At Jisc, we do a lot of ‘horizon scanning’ – research that explores emerging tech trends. In the last couple of months, the ‘fediverse’ (a web of interconnected, federated servers) has been on our radar. I had never heard of the fediverse until Mastodon began to gain popularity following the frenzy resulting from Elon Musk […]