JISC SIMSE Project Meeting

The JISC SIMSE project meeting took place on 22 May 2013, mainly focused on summarising the project progress and deciding the next course of action.

Project Progress

• The finding of the project was presented to a group of 20 academic staff and PhD students at a research seminar;
• The project team conducted a student focus group interview with 14 MSc students to understand their views about the project. Topics covered included: the benefit and challenges of using SES for the university and for students, trust of the university using the data collected, personal concerns, data transparency, SES and its impact on student behaviour;
• Two conference papers based on the project have been accepted and will be presented at two international conferences; and  
• JISC strategic toolkit has been used by Head of Corporate Information Systems to evaluate university Strategic ICT maturity.

Next Course of Action

• The case study of the project will be drafted by 19^th of June 2013; 
• The video transcript for the digital story of the project will be organised; 
• The steering group members of the project will be updated regarding the progress of the project; 
• Another student focus group will be conducted to further understand students’ views on SES applications; and 
• A questionnaire survey will be develop to investigate the impact of SES on student behaviour.

Student Focus Group on 16 May 2013

A focus group was conducted with 14 postgraduate students studying at the business school. The purpose of  the focus group was to collect students views on the use of the student engagement system in the univeristy. The discussion was focused on the benefits, challenges, and effective use of SES. Most participants showed very positive attitudes towards using SES as they believe that it shows that the university cares about their students and tries to help the students at risk.  They also made valuable feedback on the value of SES data and the possibility of sharing it with external stakeholders, such as: employers  They wonder if the engagement profile can be used as a references to support their job application.

Project dissemination presentation on 9 May 2013

JISC project team gave a presentation on "Challenges and Opportunities of Big Data in Higher Education:  A case study on enhancing a student engagement system with business intelligence"

Below is a link to the web news.

https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/departments/businessschool/radio-and-tv-coverage/news-archive/2013/may/big-data-in-retail-and-higher-education