Category Archives: Events

Are digital exams here to stay?

On Wednesday, October 6th, the Assessment and Feedback Special Interest Group welcomed José Luis Aznarte, associate professor at the Department of Artificial Intelligence of UNED University. In this session José talked about the experience of switching to online exams amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Distance Education University is the largest university in Spain that combines online with face-to-face learning through a hybrid methodology offered to more than 200,000 students. Exams at UNED were usually held in their local study centres or exam spots. Results were digitised and distributed to each course team using the software called ‘valija virtual’ (virtual pouch). However, the university had to consider alternatives to adjust the examination process and to guarantee fairness and rigour during the unprecedented circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic.  Continue reading →

Learning @ Scale SIG – 12th October 2021

Tuesday 12th October 11:00 – 12:30

Join us online for presentations from Anna De Liddo and Tracie Farrell plus facilitated discussion with Special Interest Group lead, Rebecca Ferguson.


Contested Collective Intelligence: Harnessing the power of coming together, even when we disagree. 
Anna De Liddo

Abstract:
Technology has brought the world closer together than ever before. However, today it is often blamed for sewing social division. We can’t overlook the internet’s role in fanning the flames of division. Fake news and social media bubbles filter our reality and have the power to entrench us on one side of the argument and prevent us from understanding others’ views. However, my research also finds that technology can be a powerful tool to help us find common ground, even in cases when it appears we couldn’t be farther apart.

In this talk I will present intuitive online technologies to help people think critically, make sense and build consensus, even when they disagree. I will then discuss research results from real-life applications of such tools to bridging divides in political communication, healing divisions in post-war situations, and crowdsourcing community capabilities toward learning at scale.

Mis(sing) Information: Investigating the Role of Values, Ideologies and Events on How We Become Misinformed
Tracie Farrell

Abstract:
Misinformation is everywhere on social media. It spreads faster and deeper than other forms of information because it surprises us, triggers our fears, and raises strong emotions within us. Computational research tends to focus on Continue reading →

José Luis Aznarte presents at the next Assessment & Feedback SIG

Assessment & Feedback SIG
Wednesday 6th October, 2021 (14:00 – 15:30 UK)

In this talk José Luis Aznarte will cover UNED’s experience in digitalizing the exam/assessment process during the pandemic lockdowns. Starting with a brief review of our standard assessment protocol, we will dive into the decision process during the emergency provoked by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including the rejection of invasive forms of vigilance. We will share the results of a social research into the expectations and satisfaction levels of the student community regarding the technical and social aspects of the solution finally adopted by the university.

Speaker Bio
José Luis Aznarte is an associate professor at the Department of Artificial Intelligence of the UNED university and deputy vice-chancellor for intelligent data and resources management. He graduated in Computer Science by the University of Granada (Spain) and there he obtained his PhD. He was a post-doc researcher with the Renewable Energy Research Group in the Center for Energy and Processes of the MINES ParisTech engineering school (France). He was awarded a Ramón y Cajal tenure-track grant. Nowadays he coordinates research about applications of data mining, machine learning and soft computing, especially in the framework of time series forecasting. He is involved in the development of operational solutions for personalized learning, air quality forecasting and public health. He coordinates the UNED-EMT Chair on Sustainable Mobility and Air Quality.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1636-244X

A recording of this session is available for OU staff here.

For an invite, or to be added to the Assessment & Feedback SIG mailing list, please contact openTEL. All are welcome!

Accessibility in the BBC – open & Inclusive SIG

Accessibility in the BBC, The open & Inclusive Special Interest Group
Wednesday 15th September 2021 (10:00 – 12:00)

Thank you to those who joined us for openTEL and SeGA’s open & Inclusive Special Interest Group meeting where we were joined by Jamie + Lion and Paul Bepey from the BBC, and Mathijs Lucassen from The Open University. The session was hosted by Kate Lister and Paco Iniesto.

Thank you, Kate!
Kicking off the meeting, Eileen Scanlon thanked Kate Lister for all her exceptional work within the Special Interest Group as this was Kate’s last meeting as co-host and SIG lead. Kate has been essential in growing the open & Inclusive SIG and providing interesting themes and excellent speakers. We hope she will stay in touch and attend future meetings when she can and openTEL looks forward to working with Kate in the future!

Presentations
Mathijs Lucassen gave a presentation from The Open University side: Getting BBC content into OU modules

Jamie + Lion gave a presentation on accessibility at the BBC relating to Audience Facing Digital Products and Paul Bepey gave a talk on accessibility relating to the Internal Facing side.

Jamie + Lion finished the meeting by presenting Charlie Turrell’s slides, who was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting, on the Champions Network.
More information here:
GDS/BBC Webinar: Accessibility Culture eats WCAG compliance for breakfast

Recording, Links and Slides
The Recording is available for OU Staff here: OU Staff Recording Link  

Slides: Getting BBC content into OU modules, Mathijs Lucassen.
Slides: Accessibility @ BBC, Audience Facing Digital Products Jamie + Lion
Slides: uploads to follow
GDS/BBC Webinar: Accessibility Culture eats WCAG compliance for breakfast

Podcast: Check out Jamie’s 1800 Seconds on Autism podcast.

To join the open & Inclusive mailing list please email openTEL

Accessibility in the BBC

 

For the most up to date information about this event, please see the updated blog post here:https://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/opentel/accessibility-in-the-bbc-open-inclusive-sig/

 

Join us for the next Open & Inclusive Special Interest Group meeting where external speakers from the BBC will be discussing accessibility. All are welcome!

 

Accessibility in the BBC: open & Inclusive SIG, Wednesday 15th September 10:00 – 12:00

Presenters will include Jamie + Lion (you can read more about Jamie + Lion here) and Charlie Turrell (bio below).

Charlie Turrell

Charlie Turrell is the manager of the BBC’s Accessibility Champions network, encouraging this group to put accessibility at the front of any product they are working on. Charlie is currently setting up an additional external champions network to provide support for all people in a similar role and those who are wanting to set up networks in their own companies.

Additionally Charlie is on the board for BBC Pride and is passionate about pushing the constant improvement of culture and diversity in her organisation

We hope you can join us.
Please email openTEL for an invite.