DIVERSE Heads to Dev8D

Here at DIVERSE we’re always looking for new ways to spread the word and get people involved with the work we’ve been carrying out. When the opportunity to take part in Dev8D (a developer conference focused around developing for HE) came up we thought it would be a great opportunity to spread the word about DIVERSE.

Myself, Ben and John took the trip down to London for the 3 day conference at the University of London Union. Whilst there we were not only able to network and learn about other interesting HE projects but we were also able to pitch DIVERSE in one of the ‘lightning talk’ sessions. This allowed us to reach out to other developers from around the country and give them an insight into the work we had been doing. The response was positive and we hope to spread the word even further by attending more conferences in the near future.

As always keep tuned for our lastest updates!

Student as Producer

One of the initiatives heavily tied in with projects like DIVERSE is the Student as Producer agenda. The Student as Producer agenda is all about putting the focus back on research at university. In their own words Student as Producer:

“Student as Producer restates the meaning and purpose of higher education by reconnecting the core activities of universities, i.e., research and teaching, in a way that consolidates and substantiates the values of academic life. The core values of academic life are reflected in the quality of students that the University of Lincoln aims to produce. Student as Producer emphasises the role of the student as collaborators in the production of knowledge. The capacity for Student as Producer is grounded in the human attributes of creativity and desire, so that students can recognise themselves in a world of their own design.”

As part of the I’m a Producer day ran yesterday, we gave a demonstration of DIVERSE and also took part in a Q & A session regarding DIVERSE and Student as Producer. Overall this session went well, and provided us a good oppurtunity to further spread the word about DIVERSE. Furthermore the students who attended this session  showed a definite interest in DIVERSE and liked the idea. All of this will hopefully prove invaluable when DIVERSE is fully rolled out and in use properly next semester.

For more information about the Student as Producer click here

Meeting with Business and Law

Just a quick update about our recent meeting with Business and Law. Myself and Ben took part in two lectures (one with first year students, one with third year) to introduce them to the work we’ve been doing on DIVERSE. We went through the steps involved with using DIVERSE and highlighted how we think it can benefit them. The plan for the coming weeks is to get the two groups actively working with DIVERSE and using it as a research aid to the work they are currently undertaking. We’re hoping that through this not only will they benefit but they will also provide us with active feedback regarding DIVERSE.

It shouldn’t be long until DIVERSE is fully underway in both Business and Law and HLSS so keep posted for more updates!

Meeting with Health, Life and Social Sciences

Just a quick update of recent events regarding DIVERSE. The main news for today is that myself and Max took part in a meeting with lectures from the faculty of Health, Life and Social Sciences who are interested in using DIVERSE in their modules. The meeting proved there was a definite interest amongst the lecturers regarding DIVERSE. Furthermore we gathered yet more ideas and opinions on what can be added to DIVERSE in the future; for example one interesting area to consider is the idea of staff creating their own semi private clouds as part of their research, so DIVERSE becomes helpful not only for student research, but also for staff collaboration on research projects. This alongside the other demonstrations of the tool means we have a wealth of ideas to improve DIVERSE.

The current plan is to start integrate DIVERSE with students in HLSS in the coming weeks. More on this will be posted once the timetable for this roll out is finalised.

Finally just to keep you updated with other project goings on, myself and Max have 2 sessions with students from Business & Law tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for more news on that shortly.

DIVERSE Workshop

After successfully demonstrating DIVERSE to one the modules within the School of Computer Science we decided to let them get hands on with and see what they actually thought when put into use. We set them up with a cloud relevant to their topic and asked them to search the web to find relevant information to add. Whilst doing this we were also able to get them to carry out a questionnaire highlighting their views on DIVERSE. We found the results extremely useful and will be putting them into practice in the coming weeks to help make DIVERSE even better.

Below we’ve mocked up a word cloud of the most commonly used words to describe DIVERSE; the feedback was great and will be a great help when coming to develop/change our current features!

DIVERSE Word Cloud

DIVERSE Word Cloud

Keep posted for more updates!