MOOCs and other animals in Wales: what do you think?

Interested in MOOCs and other forms of online learning as they affect Wales?  If so, read on …

In February 2013, Leighton Andrews AM, the Welsh Government Minister for Education and Skills , announced the establishment of the Online Digital Learning Resources Working Group. The Working Group is chaired by the former Chair of WHELF, Andrew Green, and has been asked to advise the Minister on how Wales and Welsh institutions should take advantage of the rapid growth of large-scale online higher education courses. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are the subject of much current debate, and the Group will be considering their significance and prospects, but it will also be looking at wider aspects of learning online, including open educational resources.

Members of the Working Group would like to hear from your institution and its members on this subject, to help inform their discussions.

For more information see Andrew’s blog at: http://gwallter.com/digital/moocs-and-other-animals-in-wales-what-do-you-think.html

Welsh Librarian of the Year award goes to Lori Havard of Swansea University!

Last night at the CILIP Cymru Wales conference in Cardiff, the winners of the inaugural Welsh librarian of the year award were announced.

The academic sector librarian winner was Lori Havard of Swansea University and the public librarian winner was Bethan Hughes from Denbighshire.

Lori was also awarded overall Welsh Librarian of the Year award.

Many congratulations to Lori! Well deserved!

Welsh Librarian of the Year Award – nominees announced

CILIP Cymru Wales is delighted to announce the long-list of 12 nominees for this, the inaugural Welsh Librarian of the Year Award.

The judging panel are diligently working on selecting a shortlist of nominees, and also the overall winner, who will be announced at the CILIP Cymru Wales Annual Conference Dinner, in Cardiff on 16^th May.  Sirsi-Dynix, the library technology specialists, are kindly sponsoring the Award, enabling a prize of £500 to be awarded to the winner

In the academic and research category, the following library and information professionals, who live and /or work in Wales have been nominated by their colleagues:

• Lori Havard, Swansea University, ISS
• Marie Lancaster, Cardiff Metropolitan University Library
• Rebecca Mogg, Cardiff University Libraries
• Helen Staffer, Cardiff University Libraries

Good luck to everyone!

Online Digital Learning Working Group

Leighton Andrews, Minister for Education and Skills, announced to the Higher Education Leadership Foundation in December last year that he intended to establish a working group to examine the potential for online digital learning and how the Welsh Government can support the higher education sector in this growing field.

From his recent Written Statement:

I am delighted that Andrew Green, [now retired] National Librarian of Wales, has agreed to chair the working group.

Welsh Universities are already engaged in a range of activities designed to maximise the benefits afforded by advances in learning technologies.  In seeking to respond to the cultural shift in the expectations of students, universities are eager to engage through the latest online teaching methods.  Globally, the advent of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) represents a new internet-based model for volume participation in higher education.

Such ventures are not new – the Open University has been offering open source material for some time.  More recently, however, a series of MOOC ventures has been launched by some of the most prestigious global academic institutions such as Stanford, MiT and Harvard.  Udacity and Coursera (which includes the University of Edinburgh) are among the pioneers for a new brand of for-profit online higher education providers.  In just one year these new ventures have attracted over $100m of private venture capital investment. Whilst the long-term sustainability of such ventures may be open to question, the reach and quality of such disruptive innovations may have profound implications for the delivery of higher education in Wales. At the end of 2012 the Open University announced the launch of Futurelearn, with partners including Cardiff University, to produce a UK-based platform for massive open online courses.

Our aim is to ensure that Wales is well placed to continue to prosper in the face of such developments.  The Working Group will be tasked with examining the potential for MOOCs and whether the Welsh higher education sector is sufficiently prepared to meet these challenges.  I intend that its remit should go wider, however, to consider also the opportunities and challenges presented by the development of open educational resources more broadly.

The terms of reference for the Working Group will be to advise the Welsh Government on:

• the potential competitive threat posed by global technology-based developments to the higher education sector in Wales;
• the potential opportunities afforded by technological development for the Welsh higher education sector at a time of constrained public expenditure;
• to what extent the Welsh higher education sector is working collectively to bring economies of scale to maximise the opportunities afforded; and
• to what extent technological development may provide a platform to increase participation in part-time and full-time higher education, again in a period of constrained public spending.

The Group will begin its work in March.  I have asked Andrew Green to report to me by the end of September this year.

To read the full statement and see members of the working group:

http://wales.gov.uk/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/2013/onlinedigitallearning/?lang=en

 

Welsh universities set for large funding increase

According to funding allocations for institutions released by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales today, the biggest winner will be Swansea University, which will see its funding increase by almost a quarter in 2013-14.

There should also be substantial increases at Glyndwr University (20.3 per cent); the newly merged institution, Swansea Metropolitan University of Wales Trinity Saint David (19.5 per cent); and Wales’ most research-intensive institution, Cardiff University (14.9 per cent).

Wales is introducing a similar undergraduate funding system to England: the government is phasing out central teaching grant and replacing it with student tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year.

Read more at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/welsh-universities-set-for-large-funding-increase/2003144.article

University of South Wales launches today

A new university – the largest higher education institution in Wales – has been officially launched.

The University of South Wales has been created by the merger of Glamorgan and Newport universities.

It is the sixth largest university in the UK, with about 33,500 students and includes campuses in Cardiff, as well as Newport and Treforest.

Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22102506

New university website: http://www.southwales.ac.uk/

IP App

Swansea University and Intellectual Property (IP) Wales, in partnership with IPO, have developed an IP App aimed at  Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to help them identify and understand  how they can make their IP work for them.

It also contains some great tips and topics for the use of IP in their business.

It  contains:

• An overview of patents, trade marks, designs,  copyright and Intangible Assets
• An introduction to IP as part of  their business planning with some quick tips
• Links to further IP  resources

The app also provides a great platform on  which to view the latest news and developments in the IP world, with access to news and Twitter  feeds as well as the IP Insight online magazine.

More information: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/whyuse/business/business-support/business-ipapp.htm

Swansea University’s new Science and Innovation Campus

Wales Online reported last month that planning permission for the first phase of Swansea University’s £250m new Science and Innovation Campus had been granted: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education-news/2012/12/05/planning-permission-granted-for-university-s-new-250m-campus-91466-32366722/

The Evening Post also reported the story: http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Swansea-University-s-science-innovation-campus/story-17512565-detail/story.html

Team appointed to lead a new “super” university

The team appointed to lead a new “super” university involving two institutions  in south-east Wales has been announced.

Professor Julie Lydon, currently vice-chancellor of the University of  Glamorgan, will take charge of the new institution once the merger process is  complete.

Andrew Wilkinson, chairman of governors at the University of Wales, Newport,  will also retain his position.

Read more: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education-news/2012/11/22/team-to-lead-super-uni-is-announced-91466-32282423/

Leighton Andrews scraps plans to dissolve Cardiff Metropolitan University

Education Minister Leighton Andrews has cancelled with “immediate effect” a  consultation on the planned dissolution of Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Despite reiterating his desire to see a single post-1992 university in  South-East Wales,  Mr Andrews said he did not want to hamper the “excellent progress” being made by  Glamorgan and Newport.

More at: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/11/06/leighton-andrews-scraps-plans-to-dissolve-cardiff-metropolitan-university-91466-32177788/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-20225572