Voted for by the FOTE community, this year’s panel will be discussed challenges associated with ‘Bring Your Own Device – BYOD’.

Just as colleges and universities do no provide students with paper, pens and stationery

items but expect them to be used, the time is coming when mobile devices will be another

expected part of a student’s toolkit.

Doug Belshaw – Mobile Learning infoKit / JISC infoNet

In February Forbes ran an article thanking Apple for the BYOD trend, in which Victoria Barret makes the point that the rise of “smart” devices, the blending of personal and professional tasks we perform on them and ease of use are liking it to a ‘bring your own bottle’ dinner:

“Your IT department will supply the meat and potatoes (think chunky, salty ERP systems), but if you want to have a really good time, you’re left to your own devices.”

Victoria Barret, Forbes Staff

A ComputerWorld article outlines Unisys’ beta-testing a BYOD policy and warns of remote wipes & legal holds, while BusinessInsider claims that the ‘smartphone invasion is changing the way we work’. Access to apps, management practice and mobile device management are identified as core issues in both and are the particular focus the Information Age article entitled ‘BYOD Requires Mobile Device Management’.

Surely the same concerns apply to students bringing their own devices? Can BYOD be extended to include staff of universities and colleges and which challenges would arise? These are some of the questions our panel of experts attempt to address.

Peter Tinson, Executive Secretary – UCISA (Chair)

Arthur Spirling, Director of ICT – Imperial College

Mandy Phillips, Head of BIS – Liverpool John Moores University

Nizam Uddin, International Programmes Liaison Manager – ULU

Rob Churm, Director of Information Services – St Georges University of London.

Sue Beckingham of Sheffield Hallam University discusses how our graduates of tomorrow face an increasingly competitive job market. Competing for jobs will no longer be confined to the communication channels we have traditionally used for decades and there is a growing shift to digital alternatives. What is clear therefore is that there is a vital need to ensure that our students have the opportunity to develop the necessary digital skills they will need to prepare them for their future. The notion of the digital native /digital immigrant must be challenged as whilst many are visitors to online forums, this does not necessarily indicate that they have given consideration to the development of their own professional online presence or indeed have the skills to do this most effectively.

This presentation explores some of the innovative ways students are already using social media and technology to give them the edge and the changing approach to the way employers are recruiting.

Andrew Bollington, Chief Operating Officer for the University of London International Programmes looks at the changes in higher education funding that have re-written the rule book , with the full consequences yet to be understood. From next year, as fees of £9,000 become the norm (at least for now), it is the student who will be paying for their higher education, not the government. One thing is for certain – information technology needs to be very closely aligned with the market positioning and financial reality of each and every higher education institution – otherwise IT will be part of the problem for a new generation of “broke students”. If that’s the harsh reality, what is the Future of Technology in Education?

At FOTE11 Dr Su White, University of Southampton looks at how the world is changing and universities must respond to students’ needs and expectations in agile and effective ways. Learners enter university with an inevitable diversity of technological familiarity and a mix of naïve and sophisticated approaches to using technology as a part of their learning.

The University of Southampton has designed and is implementing a holistic learning environment radically different from the VLEs which have gained widespread use since the late 1990s. Starting from the concept of rich learning environment it became “more than a system, it’s a mindset”. Social software, open data, co-creation and co-evolution are some of its hallmarks. Dr Su White proposes a framework for a digital cognitive apprenticeship to meet the combined challenges of ‘living and learning in a digital age’.

This presentation examines the roots of personal learning environments and considers the interplay of organisational ambitions and requirements needed to support personal learning in a university context.

At FOTE11 Emily-Ann Nash of the NUS Higher Education Committee explored how students have differing expectations and motivations of higher education and how they may change in light of an increase in fees. She then explores how using technology effectively and purposely can enhance the student experience and encourage a positive effect on each students experience through their journey through higher education. Concluding with the NUS technology charter which students and their respective student unions will be pushing to make sure the technology agenda is high on the agenda and will hopefully ensure institutions do deliver, so that experiences of students from starting in their first year to entering into employment as graduates are equipped and ready for the 21st century environment.

Lee Scott, an Academic Evangelist within the Developer and Platform Evangelism ‘DPE’ Group at Microsoft UK discussed the Microsoft Kinect within teaching, learning and research at FOTE11.

Since its release of Kinect, there has been tremendous enthusiasm and fascination. Kinect is not only a tool to help navigation and interaction, but a tool to help students to get even more engaged in learning. Kinect is already making a difference in getting students more excited about their learning environment, and helping students to get engaged…and actually get more excited about studying.

We are at an exciting time with the availability of the Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK). Kinect and NUI will bring more interactive classroom environments, the development of new learning styles that will help students with and without disabilities to get more engaged with learning, as well as the potential for much more interactive navigation tools, helping to get students involved in the teaching, learning and research.

The power of Kinect is here it’s now your turn for ideas and exploration.

At FOTE11 James Clay from Gloucestershire College discusses that in many institutions the structures, processes and procedures we have in place are there for many reasons; these may be for security, safety, financial, prevention, health and safety. Often change is blocked by these same reasons; reasons that exist because of politics, inertia and because we have always done it that way. It is easier not to change.

The result is that learners can often find that their learning experience is one of challenges, difficulties and frustration. Institutions that listen and act on the voice of their learners can find that students can be agents of change.

We set aside 5 slots in total for people to get up on stage and share their views on the future of technology in education in 140 seconds in an elevator style pitch.

The participants who stepped up to share their views were -

Martin King – Flipping Naked

Doug Belshaw & Andy Stewart – Bleak

John Millner – Mobile & Social

Michelle A. Hoyle – Gaming

Dan Perry – With the users

Nick Skelton is Assistant Director of IT Services (Infrastructure) at the University of Bristol and in his FOTE11 talk looked at:

What do students actually expect from University? One long party? To pass a few exams? Or something more than that? And why are those geeks from the IT department even thinking about this?

Technology is now pervasive. It has become so small, so light, and so cheap, that it disappears into the environment around us. Technology is no longer something unto itself. The computer is not a special box in the corner to be approached with reverence, it is mobile and personal, accompanying us in our daily life.

When technology surround us we need a whole new way to think about it. The most interesting answers come from looking outwards, and working across disciplines. As the technologists emerge into the daylight, they are working with educationalists, with theatre practitioners and with game makers to answer some big questions. How do we make university a transformative experience?

Jan-Martin Lowendahl, Ph.D (Chemistry) is a research director in Gartner Research and his FOTE11 talk takes the vantage point of the CIO who is expected to navigate the tsunami of technology and deliver learning capabilities. He takes a dive into some Gartner tools to tame the information flow. Using the Gartner Hype Cycle and Strategic Technology Map to literally connect the dots and find the eco-systems of technology capabilities that will deliver competitive advantage to your education institution.