Not the same as “Mental Health”. Can computers and data help us with wellbeing? Maybe, but they can also make it a lot worse. Posts here try to support the former outcome rather than the latter
Discussions of student wellbeing tend to focus on providing individual support for those who are struggling to cope. That’s great, but likely to demand a lot of skilled staff time. A few years ago Bangor University investigated whether the university might be contributing to stress through excessive or spiky workloads. Addressing causes of stress would, […]
I’m delighted to announce that the Journal of Learning Analytics has published our paper on why and how we developed the Jisc Wellbeing Analytics Code of Practice. If you want to know the context that prompted our interest in data-supported wellbeing, or how we mined the GDPR for all possible safeguards, then have a look […]
“Big Data” has – often rightly – had a bad press. Is there a better way to think about it? Starting from potential benefits and discussing how they might be achieved should help us choose the right outcomes to aim for when using data, make it more likely that those aims will be delivered, and […]
Since it has provided the foundation for most of the work I’ve been doing on data for the past couple of years, I’ve recorded a video explaining our standard model for “analytics”, in both practical and legal terms If you’d like to know more, a couple of papers set out the theory Downstream Consent: a […]
We’re delighted to have launched our Wellbeing Analytics Code of Practice, something we’ve been working on in the ICO’s Regulatory Sandbox for almost exactly a year. The resulting Code builds on Jisc’s widely-used Learning Analytics Code of Practice and includes tools for Data Protection Impact Assessment and Purpose Compatibility assessment. We hope it will give […]
[UPDATE 2nd June 2020: thanks for your feedback. Final text has now gone into the Jisc production process :)] Jisc has been providing expert, trusted advice on digital technology in the education sector for more than 30 years. We know that technology and data have the ability to transform the student experience. But, as a […]
The question mark in the title of my Digifest talk is the key point, because I wonder whether data is the wrong place to start. In our current digital landscape, we’re all too used to hearing ourselves described as “silkworms”, donating “new oil” to “surveillance capitalists”; even the term “data subject” has a dehumanising feel. […]
A few weeks ago I gave a presentation to an audience of university accommodation managers (thanks to Kinetic for the invitation), where I suggested that we should view Data Protection as an opportunity, rather than a challenge. That may seem strange, given that universities probably have the most complex data flows of any organisation. And […]
While colleagues are looking at whether data can be used to pick up early signs of mental health and wellbeing problems, I’m exploring possible legal frameworks for doing that safely. As the diagram shows, trying to deliver an early warning service to all students falls into a gap between three reasonably familiar areas of data […]
In a workshop at last week’s AMOSSHE conference, we discussed how wellbeing analytics might be able to assist existing Student Support services. Slides: jisc andrew cormack 4×3 v2 Student support is simplest when an individual themselves asks for help: a support service can immediately begin to discuss – using toolkits such as that developed by UHI […]