In June 2019 University of Leeds announced the launch of its trailblazing Centre for Immersive Technologies, based in the Leeds Institute for Data Analytics. Their new learning hub is “designed to harness the power of immersive technologies, to upskill the next generation and push the boundaries of possibilities in research and education.” Over 80 researchers from a range of University subjects use the centre's world class facilities to focus on five priority areas – health, transport, education, productivity and culture. We caught up with project manager, Gareth Frith, to find out more about how the School of Medicine is utilising the space and its technologies...
Personalisation is a much talked about topic in the student admissions sphere, with many universities taking a keen interest in how they can leverage the data they have to increase enrolment rates through personalised communications.
Technology has impacted various industries and markets on a global scale, and advancements are still being introduced, changing the way we live, work and study. Higher education has undergone significant upgrades since the expansion of the eLearning trend, and it seems like things are going in the right direction.
Alternative models for learning, online courses and economic strains are just a handful of things turning the higher education sector into a hyper competitive playing field. In some ways, post-graduate education is facing an even larger set of challenges. Rising costs mean many people can no longer justify the expense, especially if they can gain expertise elsewhere.
In her role as Head of Change: Student Experience at Jisc, Sarah Knight leads the teams supporting the Digital Experience Insights service, as well as a team developing the Jisc Building Digital Capability service to aid the development of staff and student digital capabilities. Sarah has worked for Jisc for 15 years; during that time she has been at the helm of a number of transformation projects on curriculum design, digital literacies and learners’ experiences of technology.
Immersive technologies - including virtual reality and augmented reality - have the potential to revolutionise the way universities deliver course content, enabling learners to access spaces and engage with experiences that might otherwise be unavailable to them. This article explores how two institutions are harnessing the power of immersive technologies to aid research and make a positive impact on the wider community.
Student and alumni engagement is critical for creating a sense of community, both on campus and in other spheres - like online platforms, for instance. It is also important for university promotion; as well as academic acumen, prospective students are looking to “buy in” to an institution's culture and ethos. So what can universities do to embed a meaningful culture - one that makes students and staff feel connected to the institution long term?
Andrew Smith has 20 years of teaching experience and still gets a buzz out of seeing a student grasp a new concept. He is a Senior Lecturer in Networking at The Open University, a leading university for flexible, innovative teaching and world-leading research in the UK and 157 countries worldwide. We caught up with Andrew to chat about online simulators for teaching, hybrid MOOCs ...and zombies!
In a hyper-competitive market attracting international students is vital--but it’s not always easy. In a bid to help we’ve pulled together some key strategies for international enrolment growth, alongside some working examples from universities who are acing it today.
