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Articles by Cris Warren
Supporting student nurses through engagement analytics
With record numbers of new nursing students attending university, and an increased focus on a digital learning landscape due to the pandemic, we are seeing pressure that could potentially impact nursing course retention.According to a Health Education England survey, during the first Covid-19 wave, nursing students felt overwhelmed with their academic studies and stressed by the situation they found themselves in.
Enhancing the way we learn in a technology-driven world
Gone are the days when students would spend all day in the same four-walled classroom with their notebook and pen. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the shift to online learning being forced upon students and teachers alike overnight, further accelerating the digital transformation of the education sector. Educators had to adapt their plans and ways of teaching to navigate virtual classrooms, while ensuring students were able to remain engaged both with their studies and fellow students.
Donelan promoted to education secretary
Michelle Donelan has replaced the newly promoted Nadhim Zahawi as education secretary as Boris Johnson reshuffles his cabinet in the wake of several high-profile resignations. Zahawi, education secretary for a little over nine months, moved into number 11 Downing Street last night (5 July), taking up the position of chancellor of the Exchequer.
‘After all the upset and uncertainty, there’s a feeling of confidence, that it’s business as usual’
They’ve been a long time coming – two years, in fact – but old-school exams are back. For many teachers it’s a ‘ta-ra and good riddance’ to the U-turning, ersatz emergency assessment measures and a (cautious, in some quarters) welcome return to a familiar – largely dependable – format so terribly disrupted by Covid-19.
16 Millfield representatives prepare for Commonwealth Games action
Sixteen representatives from a single Somerset school are set to take part when the Commonwealth Games get underway in Birmingham at the end of next month. Six current Millfield School students and staff will be making the journey north, together with a further 10 Old Millfieldians. More names are expected to be added to the list in the coming weeks.
Equitable rents for disabled students 'won't break any banks', says Unipol chief exec
Student housing charity Unipol has relaunched the National Code of Non-Educational Establishments to reflect the rapidly changing landscape of private purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA). The new code is shot across the bows for providers that have failed to deliver buildings on time.
Let teachers teach & relieve the pressures of admin tasks
“As a teacher in a small rural primary school, I have responsibility for my class budget & the three subjects I lead. Much of my non-contact time is spent on stock-taking, researching purchases, ordering resources & managing invoices & receipts – rather than thorough book-marking, producing detailed plans for differentiated lessons or creating engaging resources for my pupils.” Does this sound familiar? This is frustrating at best & a barrier to providing the best education for pupils at worst.
Fixing a pain in the ass-essment
Chatty and buzzing with anecdotes and ideas, Andrew Cormac falls silent, brows furrowed, to consider the question: Can anything positive can be found among the debris after exams and assessments were hoist by the pandemic? A few seconds, then: “Open Book!” Jisc’s chief regulatory adviser is off again.
Is it time to reconfigure the classroom?
Over the past two years, students have spent more time at home than at school or university with many taking GCSEs and A Levels during this time. Every time we think we are close to returning to normal, a new Covid strain is identified and threatens to put us back into stricter measures and schools having to navigate with much fewer staff due to the infection rates and isolation rules.
SEND: The right message?
No matter the requirement or disability, classroom teaching in the SEND sector has always had its own challenges. But then came the pandemic, the lockdowns, and the emergency hybrid education, which threw the gaps between students’ home lives and their academic progress into sharp relief.
Minecraft world inspires kids to learn English
Cambridge Assessment English, a department of Cambridge University, has collaborated with Microsoft to create Adventures in English with Cambridge, a new game in the Minecraft Marketplace that helps children to learn English. Children can use the interactive world to learn new words, get creative, and solve problems. The game was designed to support young learners practice their English language skills in a fun, interactive, and immersive way.
AMCIS and GSA launch free inclusive admissions webinars
AMCIS and GSA have teamed up to create free online events providing tips for inclusive admissions processes.
Teachers and curriculum: polls apart?
A major new survey carried out by the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) lays bare the dysfunction in the relationship between schools and the national curriculum. Sarah Fletcher, high mistress of St Paul’s Girls’ School and chair of HMC’s already established assessment reform working group, authored the report, which was released in November 2021. “The world has changed since the curriculum was devised,” Fletcher says.
What I'm reading: January 2022
Jan Capper has been chief executive of CUBO (College and University Business Officers), the professional association for senior managers of university commercial and campus services, since 2017. Before this, she was executive director of the International Association of Languages Centres (IALC), and is a graduate of the University of Bradford. I first read this book a few years ago, but regularly dip in and out.
What's in a (re)name?
Oxford University’s eagerness to rename Linacre College as ‘Thao College’, in honour of Vietnamese airline tycoon Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, might have raised eyebrows. But, her whopping £155m in pledged donations for the privilege aside (a shame they didn’t consider the counter bid from Gary Lineker), it’s by no means unprecedented. In 1996 Manchester College became Harris Manchester after carpet magnate Lord Harris gave them a (shag) pile of cash.
How can we get AI right?
The fourth and final BBC 2021 Reith Lecture will explore the control of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The lecture, recorded at the National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD), is set to be broadcast on the BBC on 22 December 2021.
Homework sparks parents' passion for STEM
Parents of school children in the UK are more likely than any other group to enjoy learning about science as adults, new research has revealed. The national survey, conducted by Opinium Research to mark the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s European Astro Pi Challenge, concluded that parents are re-discovering a passion for science, technology and coding thanks to their children’s homework, which over half of respondents reported regularly helping with.
Businesses and education providers must work together to bridge the digital skills gap
There is a dearth of skills in almost every niche of the technology market. In fact, one in six UK workers possess low or no digital skills according to research from Salesforce and IDC. The challenge is twofold: how do you provide digital skills training, and how do you get young people interested in working in tech in the first place? Whatever the route, it’s clear that more needs to be done to attract talent towards a career in tech.
Why technological innovation needs to be a part of every classroom
Innovation matters – and in the classroom maybe even more than most other places. Far from just referring to shallow novelty or tech gadgets for the sake of technology, true innovation through cutting edge tech is a core value that needs to be deeply embedded within the education system as we know it. Looking for proof? Here are four reasons why technical innovation should be a part of every classroom in the world – and the tools like touchscreen smart boards that can help it be exactly that. #1.
Ancient caves mapped for first time thanks to SLAM technology
A university team has geospatially scanned the oldest public cave in the United States with the aid of simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) technology. Geology and environmental science assistant professor Angel A.
Digital footprints & the digital revolution
There’s a technological growth spurt in the classroom and, as a result, our kid’s digital footprints are getting bigger and bigger. That means a feast of data for the big tech providers. Hackneyed as the phrase is now beginning to sound, Generation Z and – snapping at their elder sibling’s ankles – Generation Alpha are ‘digital natives’.
Panic in the pantry?
Sponsored by: It’s the start of a new academic year; the refectory shutters are about to be hoisted, the hungry hordes are back and demanding their lunch (and dinner, and breakfast if you’re catering for boarders). That’s all par for the course, but this term you may well be frantically trying to fill staffing gaps thanks to the pandemic (and Brexit) and keeping a weather eye on your gas and electricity usage in anticipation of price leaps.
How eProcurement technology is helping schools to take greater control of purchasing
Schools thrive on continuity and consistency. From catering, staff resource, IT and equipment to heating, electricity and water, schools need the basics to operate reliably and efficiently to deliver a seamless education to their pupils. When it comes to the catering departments serving hundreds of children every day, or office staff ordering stationery or equipment, the same is true.
Nature Wall Art at RHS Chelsea Flower Show
We created nature Wall Art to support Putney High School’s biophilic design study. The study has continued over the past three years and the results have been fantastic. Putney High School have won Gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for their research and stand. Read on to find out how we supported them and learn more about biophilic design. What is biophilic design? Biophilic design is a principle used primarily in architecture and building construction.
Using Wall Art to Improve Parental Engagement
Improving parental engagement can help your school stand above the rest! Investing in your environment promotes parental confidence that you are also investing in your students. This all helps to increase and maintain student numbers, essential in today’s competitive environment. Successfully engaging parents is vital to student success. If your school building is welcoming, parents will want to return to your school. They’ll also be more likely to work with you to support their children’s learning.
Charting the rise of edtech from the humble BBC Microcomputer
The ancient inventors of the abacus might have something to say about it, but if you were asked to date the Year Zero of Education Technology, then 1981 is a pretty good shout. 1 December 1981 to be accurate. That was the day, 40 years ago, the BBC Microcomputer was launched. Almost entirely targeted for use in schools, by pupils using specially adapted code, the BBC Micro was a joint venture between the state broadcaster and Cambridgeshire-based computer manufacturers Acorn.
The cheat is on - Education Technology
So, what of the actual essay writers? Are they as exploited as the students themselves? Are they really, as contract cheating companies claim, qualified to Master’s and even PhD levels? “I’ve actually got a Master’s – 18th Century lit, from the 1980s. I’m qualified as a journalist, I went to print school,” says S, a part-time freelance writer (“in-house and free magazine stuff, mainly, nowadays ”) with a sideline producing essay mill copy.
Sustainable architecture: build less, retrofit more, say experts
Ask Fionn Stevenson, professor of sustainable design at the University of Sheffield’s School of Architecture, what she thinks sustainable architecture is and she’s quick to respond with what it isn’t: “It’s not net-zero carbon architecture, that’s a myth I’d like to bust – it’s much wider than dealing with the climate emergency and zero carbon. It’s about regenerating places, physically, socially, economically.
The world’s first 'social science research park' nears completion
Billed as the world’s first “social science research park” the near-completion sbarc/spark building will be the £60m flagship of Cardiff University’s £300m Innovations Campus. Cardiff’s own research projects will coexist and collaborate alongside private and public institutions within the 12,000m² building to design, prototype and test solutions to society’s most pressing problems.
AI came, AI saw, but has AI conquered?
The Institute for Ethical AI in Education (IEAE) launched from the University of Buckingham in 2018 with a brief to encourage regulation of the prevalent, but little understood, technology that seems to have a mind of its own. At the helm were renowned educationalists Sir Anthony Seldon, UCL Professor Rose Luckin, and Priya Lakhani OBE, the founder and CEO of education software platform CENTURY.
Lewis Hamilton: Give Black students equal opportunities to STEM and motorsport careers
Universities can do more to help increase the number of Black students in STEM careers and UK motorsport, according to a new report from Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton’s Hamilton Commission.
How can upgrading 'back office' technology drive efficiencies in the education sector?
It hasn’t just been teachers who have been placed under pressure to deliver outcomes this past year – estate management and HR teams were both thrust into navigating the unknown, and at a rapid pace. ‘But schools were closed, weren’t they?’, is perhaps what many people may be thinking.
Are academic libraries being stamped out?
As physical libraries experiment with new ways of using their spaces and physical attributes, they’re also getting on with the job of becoming digital libraries in their own right. A digital catalogue was first started in the 1970s; the days of retrospective conversion and the laborious task of noting the bibliographic records, the basic stuff that’s on the spine or the inside cover of the book, and physically typing it into a database.
Nutritional psychiatry
We all know that coffee is a pick-me-up, with the caffeine it provides giving us a burst of energy and focus after drinking. Equally, most of us have experienced the desire to nod off after a huge celebration meal and have felt distracted or lightheaded if we go for too long without anything to eat and drink. Today, there is growing awareness of this fascinating link between food and mood, which experts call ‘nutritional psychiatry’.
Supporting transgender pupils in independent schools
“For want of a better phrase, we’ve been shopping around independent boarding schools, which is what every parent does, but for me, it was nerve wracking. I was, I hate to say it, a bit embarrassed – well, actually, not embarrassed, just I didn’t want us to be judged when the second thing you say is, my child was born male but identifies as female… you know when you can feel when people are like, ‘oh, here we go’ and rolling their eyes, even when they’re on the phone?
Degree apprenticeships offer an attractive route post-pandemic
One alternative to the traditional university degree course is degree apprenticeships and it’s an area that has steadily grown over the last few years since its introduction. Could degree apprenticeships boom post-pandemic? We’ve recently seen huge initiatives from the government having an impact on degree apprenticeships. They’ve launched national campaigns to recruit 20,000 additional police officers, all of which will need a degree under new entry requirements put in place in 2020.
Lectures are still pedagogically valuable to students, vice-chancellor argues
Traditional lectures are “pedagogically, as well as culturally, valuable to students”, a vice-chancellor has argued. Prof Sally Mapstone, the vice-chancellor of St Andrews University, told the Quality Assurance Agency annual conference that, in her opinion, the one-hour-style lecture would remain relevant to higher education, terming it an “evolutionary survivor”.
Socials insecurity?
In exchange for agreeing not to identify them, three UK teachers speak candidly about the year they learnt to love (and hate) tech.
Sustainability in HE: Greta expectations
For Dickens’ Pip, “suffering was stronger than all other teaching”. But then, he wasn’t paying ten grand a year for the privilege. On a suffering planet, today’s student cohort are climate-protest natives with the passion, voice and consumer clout to chose where they get their teaching. Some in the sector refer to it as the ‘Greta Effect’ – but it’s no fad.
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