In addition to his role as digital innovator at the Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT), Scott Hayden trains schools and colleges around the country as part of the government’s ‘EdTech Demonstrator’ programme. That means helping other teachers - and students - use meaningful and relevant digital teaching, learning, and assessment tools to enhance their practice.
Hayden is a big believer in the value of edtech, though never for its own sake, describing it as “a tool and never a panacea”.
He considers digital tools a great way to engage students, and that can take many forms, from answering questions posted on the Wooclap platform during a live lesson, to creating vlogs and websites that enable learners to promote themselves to future employers.
Why is this so important? Hayden gives four reasons why every teacher should work on optimising student engagement:
1. It’s good practice
Hayden believes it is “just good practice” for a teacher to include a starting activity or a check on learning in a lesson. Speaking to students for half an hour without interaction or interruption simply isn’t as effective as inviting them to participate. Unlike traditional teaching methods - the “sage on a stage”, as he calls it - Hayden sees lessons as a collaboration.
Yet with many courses in higher and further education currently taking place online, Hayden fears many students are logging in without actually engaging - or learning. According to him, having students passively listening and watching - whether in-class or online - is not good teaching. Hayden has found Wooclap useful in allowing students to show they are present. He said,
“At any time, you can throw in a poll or a “true-or-false” and get a snapshot of where the students are. That’s really powerful. When I’m explaining a difficult concept or idea, I can quickly check whether the students have got it. It’s fun, it’s interesting, and that’s engagement.”
2. It prepares students for the workplace
When he first started using the cloud and collaborative platforms to teach media production, sharing files with his students through dropbox and wetransfer, it hadn’t occurred to Hayden that he was doing something out of the ordinary.
"In real life, people use blended and flipped approaches,”
he reflects.
“You’re expected to be independent, to engage a client, to interact and show good communication skills, and to think critically. It’s my job to infuse that into the curriculum and ultimately prepare learners for jobs. Particularly in lockdown, we’ve noticed that interactivity has become crucial.”
Taylor Ellis, one of Hayden’s students, agrees, saying:
“Wooclap allows students to engage as a team and helps with using creative features in coursework”.
3. It’s how people learn
Hayden and his team are always looking for new tools and interactive methods of engaging, because:
“That’s the nature of the world, and that’s how young people learn. If lessons aren’t as interesting or engaging as a great podcast or YouTube video, then shame on us as teachers.”
To that end, he emphasises the need to listen to the students and learn from them, finding out what they are interested in and how they like to learn.
Once the pandemic ends, Hayden wants to focus on hands-on, activity-focused learning that benefits from being in a physical classroom – and he will complement these in-person sessions with independent, self-paced tasks.
Hayden says Wooclap can:
“Give teachers the evidence of engagement we need when facilitating groups through project-based learning tasks as well as in-class and outside of class learning”.
Ellis agrees:
“Wooclap helps to engage students and keep their minds focused.”
4. It gives teachers feedback on their own practice
Student engagement is not only beneficial to learners. Teachers can also improve their practice by interacting with their students, listening to their preferences, discovering what works and what doesn’t, and even learning from them.
Hayden observes:
“Every lesson has its objectives and milestones, and Wooclap allows teachers to stop and ask themselves if they are explaining things clearly. It gets the students to reflect and check whether they understand the lesson, and helps consolidate that learning.”
This gives Hayden confidence as a teacher.
“It helps me to be secure that what I’m teaching is being understood.”
Security staff at Jisc are proving their worth on a global stage, recently earning two top ten placings in international competitions.
Analytics giant, Splunk, whose services are available to Jisc members, runs contests at its conferences, allowing delegates to practice using its platform to solve real-world problems.
Up against around 400 other teams, the Jisc team was tenth overall and third for the European, Middle East and African region at Splunk’s main international virtual conference in October 2020.
Proving this success was not a fluke, the team was also fourth at Splunk’s online global partner summit in March 2021, competing against professional and managed services consultants from all over the world.
Senior cyber security specialist Neil Toyne, infrastructure engineer Jamie Lane and senior systems administrator Gary Ballentine are led by captain and senior security architect, Mike Longley.
All team members work with Splunk as a core part of their job, but, as Longley explains, the competitions provide valuable experience.
“While we’re all familiar with Splunk’s capability, the contests are run in such a way that it pushes us to think quickly outside the box. Points are awarded for finding the root cause of a problem, but extra points are available if we answer questions within a certain timeframe.
“I like the combination of competition and training and that element of competitiveness and pressure really brings out the best in us. It’s fun, too. At the end of the day, what we learn means we are better able to support members who are using Splunk through our managed services.”
Further information
Splunk helps turn large amounts of machine data into useful insights, can highlight security issues, helps the efficient management of the IT estate and analyses machine data across a wide range of business platforms.
Registration is now open for Jisc’s annual security conference (9-11 November), focusing this year on nurturing a culture where cyber security is on the radar of every student and staff member, not just IT teams.
Cultivating an environment where cyber security is on the radar of every student and staff member, not just IT teams, is the theme of the 2021 Jisc security conference.
Registration for the event, which is free for Jisc members, opens today (28 April). Under the theme ‘building solid security practice and culture together’, the conference runs virtually, 9-11 November.
Jisc’s head of cyber defence, Dr John Chapman, says:
“Every user has a part to play and, at our security conference this year, we tackle this with a programme of talks and training designed to upskill all staff members. From network and security specialists, to teaching and learning practitioners, there’s information relevant to all.”
Underlining the close relationship between Jisc and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the latter’s CEO, Lindy Cameron, is a keynote speaker this year.
Other keynotes include Jisc trustee and vice-chancellor and chief executive at Staffordshire University, Liz Barnes, who will talk about the valuable insight she gained from an audit of Jisc against the security standard BS 31111.
Other speakers include:
Enterprise security architect at University of Plymouth, Richard Bartlett, (the benefits of sharing incident insights and threat intelligence)
Deputy chief information security officer at the University of Edinburgh, Gary Scobie (the evolving threat landscape)
Education engagement officer at the NCSC, Hannah H (what can the NCSC do for you?).
The conference will be staged after a sustained period of change and stress for IT and security teams, which had to rapidly respond and adapt to the challenges of COVID-19.
Dr Chapman continues:
“The pandemic accelerated digital transformation across the sector and cyber criminals jumped at the opportunity to strike, as thousands took to working and studying from home on unsecure networks.
“To keep staff and students safe online, no matter where they are, instilling a culture of solid security practice is essential.
“Security is not something to ‘fix’ - there are no silver bullets. Security teams need the right knowledge and skills to stay ahead of the curve and ensure they can mitigate the ever-evolving risks.
“To help, Jisc encourages the sharing of intelligence and insight for the benefit of the whole sector. We also help colleges and universities to harden their security posture, and our annual conference is part of that process.”
Further information
Jisc’s cyber impact report (2020) shows the effect of cyber attacks on staff and resources, and advice on how to improve defences and shorten recovery times.
For the fifth year running, Jisc is asking universities, colleges and research centres to help gauge the state of cyber security in the education and research sector.
This year’s survey is now live and should take less than15 minutes to complete online.
Results of the annual cyber security posture survey help steer Jisc’s future work in this area. Jisc’s head of cyber defence, Dr John Chapman, who writes the survey, explains why the data is important:
“Having collected information on cyber security across the sector for the last four years, we have been able to build up a decent picture of where the strengths and weaknesses lie.
“We know that security posture is generally improving, and the survey results give us insight into exactly where Jisc and its members need to focus effort so that, together, we can continue to build robust defences.
“Survey responses will also help us plan the advice and guidance we provide and the type of new services and products we develop to help members protect themselves from cyber threats.”
Survey data will be collated and anonymised and a summary report will be reviewed by sector experts before being published later this summer.
For information about ways in which Jisc helps members protect against cyber attacks, visit the cyber security pages.
The initiative – which has been welcomed by global technology companies including Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft – is led by Jisc and supported by innovation-focused universities and colleges throughout the UK. It will initially be staffed by a dedicated team of seven AI experts, plus consultants and partners from industry and education.
The National Centre supports the government's AI strategy, which the digital secretary, Oliver Dowden, announced in March, saying:
“Unleashing the power of AI is a top priority”.
Yet while AI is predicted to increase our national GDP by 10.3% by 2030, and despite Office for Artificial Intelligence estimates that AI could boost productivity in some industries by 30%, a lack of investment in AI for education is endangering the UK’s global competitiveness. Nationally, we are yet to meaningfully embed technology within higher and further education.
Jisc’s National Centre addresses this gap. Informed by our AI in tertiary education report into the current uses and impact of these technologies, the national centre aims to deliver AI solutions at 60 colleges and 30 universities within five years.
Jisc’s director of edtech, Andy McGregor, says:
“Universities and colleges are at a critical juncture. COVID showed the possibilities technology offers in delivering courses remotely. AI offers the chance to help every student reach their highest potential by offering highly personalised education. However, this will only work if AI is used to augment the important role teachers play in education, and if ethics are at the forefront of implementing AI tools.”
The National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education will identify effective AI solutions, measuring them against its ethical framework, and testing how they improve learner experiences. The centre will also develop new AI solutions, and build systems to both support teaching staff and reduce the burden of admin. Its main aim is to ensure AI is used in ways that augment teachers’ skills and supports human-led education by developing staff skills and confidence in using AI tools. To achieve this, a team of Jisc consultants will provide on-the-ground support, helping to install AI solutions in universities and colleges, and training staff to use these to bolster their teaching practice.
Rose Luckin, professor of learner-centred design at University College London, comments:
“AI is full of promise, but that promise will not be realised unless government, educators, experts and businesses work collaboratively to harness its potential. Now is the moment to accelerate AI adoption in tertiary education, and I’m very excited by the prospect of a National Centre in this field.”
The AI in tertiary education report highlights AI-driven services currently used at pioneering institutions – such as Bolton College’s digital assistant, Ada, which supports students by offering tailored responses to their questions. Keen to share this technology and develop its capabilities, Bolton’s information learning technology manager, Aftab Hussain, says:
“Jisc’s National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education will be essential, sharing information, advice and guidance, and establishing an ethical framework with the sector that could guide the design, management and use of AI products and services.
“Agility and flexibility are no longer optional in education,”
Hussain adds.
“Developing our use and understanding of AI will only aid our journey to a more inclusive experience.”
Jisc’s CEO, Dr Paul Feldman says:
“This unique and collaborative venture combines Jisc’s expertise in technology-enhanced education with insights from our college and university members, and support from the world’s leading technology solutions providers. The potential is huge, reimagining how future generations are taught, and preparing students to make the most of the advanced technologies around us.”
A new package of free cyber security training for teachers and staff at schools and colleges will help to shore up the first line of defence against cyber attacks – users.
It comes amid a wave of ransomware attacks that started late last summer and has devastated some colleges and universities. Last month, the NCSC, supported by Jisc, issued a ransomware alert to help to education organisations prevent these attacks.
The new staff training, available from the NCSC website, shines a light on the main threats education centres face and outlines the severe impact cyber incidents can have, with one case study showing how a school lost a substantial sum in school fees after reception staff fell victim to a phishing scam.
Another case study shows the importance of keeping passwords safe. A teacher had written their password on a note stuck to their laptop, which allowed a pupil to gain access to their computer, view more than 20,000 records and change their grades. The school was disciplined by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Jisc’s own research carried out with colleges, universities and research centres, indicates the scale of the impact of cyber attacks isn’t known. The report covers the effect on staff, resource, students, researchers, reputation and budget.
It cites several case studies, including one from a university, which shared that, in one year, around 200 student and staff members had fallen for voucher scams resulting in each of them losing hundreds of pounds (£50,000 - £100,000 collectively).
Another university suffered a phishing attack, which required a response team of 15 staff members for three weeks and a further five staff members for three more weeks, equating to £65,000 worth of staff effort, plus significant legal costs.
The NCSC package complements a Jisc training course, developing effective security awareness campaigns, running next on 18 May, 2021. Course facilitator, cyber security service delivery manager, Jon Hunt, explains why security training is important:
“Our annual cyber security posture surveys shows that phishing and other forms of social engineering are top of the list of information security threats that members are most concerned about. These attacks target people, not technology.
“People are the largest, most accessible attack surface for criminals. But blaming end users as the ‘weakest link’ or single point of failure in organisational security doesn’t achieve anything. If you work in security, it is very easy to forget that security isn’t most people’s day job.
“If an incident occurs because a member of staff was not trained or supported effectively, is the incident their fault, or their employers?
“This course offers practical advice for developing a fresh approach to information security awareness and training, which is a key component of a strong security culture.”
In the NCSC training module, the four steps staff are being encouraged to follow are:
Defend against phishing attempts: Reduce the information available about you, check for anything that looks suspicious, don’t be embarrassed to ask for help.
Use strong passwords: Choose three random words for your passwords, have a separate password for your work account, switch on two-factor authentication where possible, keep passwords secure by saving them to your browser.
Secure your devices: Don’t ignore updates, only download software and apps from official app stores, put a screen lock on devices (password, PIN, etc), if necessary, only use school-issued USB sticks.
If in doubt, call it out: Report anything suspicious as soon as possible and do not be afraid to flag up IT security policies that make your job difficult.
Lincolnshire and North-East-based college group, TEC Partnership, is an award-winning pioneer for the sector in its use of technology, which it sees as essential to prepare learners for the workplace.
Now, it has considerable expertise and experience that others are learning from, but it wasn’t always a technological powerhouse.
TEC Partnership, which consists of Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education, Scarborough TEC, Skegness TEC and East Riding College, has been through a seven-year period of considerable digital cultural change and innovation, started and driven by Grimsby Institute principal, Debra Gray, MBE, and the wider senior team.
Success is largely down to a clear digital strategy, recruiting skilled edtech experts, creating a culture where technology is ubiquitous on and off campus for staff and learners, and doing it all with minimal spend.
Gray’s philosophy is very much ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’. And that’s nothing to do with money; those who assume TEC Partnership has cash to splash on tech are mistaken.
Passion and ambition
Having grown up with computer games and become a huge sci-fi fan, Gray, is unashamedly enthusiastic about technology. She said:
“I am technological in my bones.
“I know that students we are educating will be engaging with technology in their careers, that industry 4.0 advancements are transforming the world of work and that colleges must change and adapt to serve that new world.”
Gray is driven by ambition for her students - by a need to give them the best possible advantage, despite the economic deprivation in the parts of England the Partnership serves.
“We try to make sure that we're not just levelling the playing field, but tilting it in their direction so that, by the time they leave us they’re at the front of the pack - so that any student of ours who goes for a job is head and shoulders above any other candidate from anywhere else, including private schools.
“I really feel strongly about this, partly because I come from that background myself – from a single-parent family on a council estate – and partly because teachers made the difference to my life, and I wouldn't be sitting here now without them.”
Culture change
When Gray joined the college group, it was a solid performer, but she wanted it to be “spectacular”.
“That means providing excellent teaching, plus wraparound social capital, and employability and work skills second to none. It is a wholesale mission for students and technology is a chunky piece of that big picture.”
First on the wish list as part of Gray’s first digital strategy was investing in an innovation team, led by well-known sector figure, Deb Millar, who is group director for digital learning technology.
Some money was spent on technology for Millar’s team to experiment with and, once direction was certain, the next step was making digital technology a priority for everyone.
“All staff, not just teachers, knew that bringing technology into their work was on the radar, and that there would be no exceptions. We are one team, with one mission,”
explains Gray.
Key to the success of this cultural shift was a united senior leadership team, which led by example.
“We made using technology a collective responsibility and that's the strength in our culture. Colleges don't need a hero tech leader; they need a whole stable of leaders, who lead from the front. So, at the start I challenged all our senior team to become Microsoft Certified Educators, myself included.
“It really helps that the innovation team reports directly into the senior team, which means we can help drive and support that agenda.”
Inspiring staff
With any change, there are always challenges and these tend to be human, says Gray.
“We found that, once we explained how and why teaching needed to adapt and evolve - because teaching is the vehicle to business and industry and those sectors are changing and evolving - the vast majority understood because they had careers in those sectors before they became FE teachers. What’s great is that our staff now have passion for using technology. It's not just my passion anymore.
“The culture change piece is huge though, and through our role as an edtech demonstrator, we can share that experience and passion.”
Making good tech decisions
For so many decisions, Gray looks to industry for answers, including when choosing which tech to use on campus.
“We thought carefully about the technology that students and staff will be using when they move on from us and go to a different employer or when they start work for the first time.
“So, we've centralised around Microsoft, because it's ubiquitous technology in industry and business. Everyone here is now working on the same technology and there’s only one set of training required. The exception is the arts, where Apple is more common, so we deploy Apple in some of our arts provision.
“Slowly, we removed all the other technology systems and also invested in a Canvas learning management system. The one we had before was free, and to be frank it wasn’t up to the job.
“Because we thought so carefully about what we wanted from the technology and how we would implement it, we didn’t make any huge mistakes. That’s a learning point for others: do it right, rather than do it fast.”
Technology for free
No UK college has money to spare, but TEC Partnership is proof that it’s possible to implement technology on a large scale with a small pot.
Most of the initial spend went on a new innovation team, but now that team is bringing in as much income as it costs and the majority of technology in use at TEC Partnership is free or comes as part of a subscription to Microsoft.
There are a few exceptions, as Gray indicates:
“When we do buy something it’s usually experimental. For example, we think that haptics connected to virtual reality is worth evaluating, so we might spend a small amount exploring that in the innovation team before handing it over to a teaching department for the students to play with and give feedback.
“Keeping down costs is a question of thinking outside the box – and an experienced principal can usually find a way, perhaps through bid funding, sharing resources with a neighboring college or maximizing the use of free resources.”
Keeping up with industry 4.0
Practicing what she preaches, in September Gray begins a PhD on industry 4.0 and how that impacts education. She wants to stay ahead of the curve:
“No matter how good we are in the here and now, technology changes, and industry changes, so we can never stand still. We have a rolling digital strategy that’s refreshed regularly, and we are constantly innovating.
“We look at how we are preparing our students and our staff for industry 4.0 as it looks now and as it is predicted to look in 20 years’ time.”
To inform that thinking, teaching staff have three days each year to go out into industry to look at the latest working practices and R&D projects. What they learn helps shape the curriculum and the technology that supports it.
Using tech to inspire learners
In addition, TEC Partnership has a ‘curriculum 2030’ plan, which helped earn it the 2021 Jisc-sponsored Beacon Award for effective use of technology in FE.
Every student has a curriculum 2030 component in their course, which reflects what their chosen sector could look like in the future and what part technology plays in those roles.
For example, social care courses include tuition on digital reminiscence therapy in care homes, while tomorrow's chefs learn about the use of insect protein in the hospitality and catering industry.
Via video conferencing, experts at the cutting edge of industry regularly share their knowledge with learners, and that’s cost-free too, as part of Microsoft’s Skype in the Classroom program.
Through this program, learners have enjoyed virtual field trips to San Diego Zoo and Aquarium, listened to the head of the World Wildlife Fund’s polar region and the manager of the band Nirvana, watched celebrity chefs Brian Turner and Cherish Finden, and asked a question during a live stream to the international space station. Gray says:
“These sector experts help us develop our curriculum by showing us what the future could look like in their industry, and they also talk about the softer skills we all need, which are equally important.
“What’s brilliant is that they talk about their career journey and what made the difference for them, the challenges they found and how these were overcome – that's real as well as inspirational.
“I want all our young people to think ‘that could be me’. I want them to believe it because it’s true. I want them to think it doesn't matter where they come because the start of their journey doesn’t have to look like the end and it’s up to us to make the difference.”
