Launch of CIEE
News of the May 3, 2012 University College Launch of the Center for Innovation and Excellence in eLearning (CIEE)
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Winston E. Langley & University College Dean Philip DiSalvo hosted the public launch of CIEE on May 3, 2012 in the Ryan Lounge (McCormack Hall, 3rd Floor). The morning event was streamed live to partners on sister campuses of the UMass system, with Twitter feed interaction. See the itinerary and details below:
Welcome
Winston E. Langley, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Introductory Remarks
Philip DiSalvio, University College Dean
Keynote Address
Variability and Learning Analytics: Why UMass Universities Must "Own" the Big Data
Todd Rose, Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) & Harvard Graduate School of Education
Todd Rose served as a post-doctoral fellow with the Laboratory for Visual Learning (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), where his work included NSF-funded research on the link between dyslexia and visual abilities in astrophysics. He has also served on U.S. and international panels evaluating the promise and future of neuroscience in education.
Todd applies his background in cognitive neuroscience, dynamic systems, and developmental psychology to his work at the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), where he researches the interaction of perception, attention, and working memory in shaping learning, and develops tools that support the recognition and strategic components of Universal Design for Learning. Rose also serves on faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he teaches a course on Educational Neuroscience, and he is co-chair of the summer institute for Mind, Brain, and Education sponsored by Harvard.
» Click here for more information about the keynote topic.
Panel Discussion
The Future of Learning Analytics at UMass
- Betzi Bateman, Instructional Design Program Director, University College, University of Massachusetts Boston (newly-appointed program director)
- Roger Blake, Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems, College of Management, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Matthew Harris, owner and operator of College Miner, Inc., Quincy, Massachusetts
- Neil Heffernan III, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- Dr. Nishikant (Nish) Sonwalkar, (ScD, MIT) Director of Research, United States Distance Learning Association. Former Director of Hypermedia Teaching Facility and Principal Educational Architect, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
» Click here for bios of the panelists.
Keynote topic: Variability and Learning Analytics: Why UMass Universities Must "Own" the Big Data
Keynote speaker Todd Rose asserted UMass Boston (and sister campuses of the UMass System) can become a dominant force in the new era of analytics-enabled cyberlearning. Rose contends that variability is a conceptual innovation; and asserts that dealing directly with variability can pay public dividends.
Noted panelists discussed the methods, challenges, and potential of Learning Analytics.
The argument: Variable is the rule. You can’t separate design from analytics. We’ve propagated myths to manage variability because we had no tools to address variability without making a log of assumptions. The future of education is about data; there is no way to develop the algorithms required to personalize learning without analyzing big data. Data on diverse learners is essential to the success of learning analytics. UMass universities serve the populations of diverse students. To lead and gain advantage from this diversity, UMass must own and operate upon its own data. University administrators and IRB staff must engage in the process; vendors must provide institutions access to their own data. As consumers, we should demand data that is truly individual.
Learning becomes empirical rather than a faith-based initiative. It’s time we close the loop between design and analytics. There are no shortcuts; it’s going to be challenging. But who better that UMass to accomplish this?
Panelist’s Bios
Betzi Bateman
Betzi Bateman is currently completing dissertation work to fulfill a PhD in Educational Psychology with a concentration in Instructional Technology at Kent State University where she has been teaching at the graduate level and has ten years experience working in higher education in both instructional design and technology integration roles. Bateman, who has worked and studied at Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, is conversant in several Learning Management Systems and has experience with the evaluation of online courses, having become a Quality Matters peer reviewer in 2007. She currently working on a research project focusing on instructor feedback in online discussion. Bateman believes Learning Analytics hold promise to inform the analysis phase in ID by providing more data from which to work, something impossible only now possible through the advent of new algorithms and collection systems.
Roger Blake
Roger Blake has expertise in object-oriented software development, databases, systems architecture, systems analysis and design and quantitative analysis. He is widely published in the area of Business Intelligence, the methods and techniques inform the new field of Learning Analytics. His research interests include data and text mining and data quality. He comes to UMass Boston with over twenty years of industry experience. Blake has recently co-published a study on assessing professionalism as a learning outcome through the analysis of the text of written responses titled "A semantic analysis approach for assessing professionalism using free-form text entered online" in Computers in Human Behavior [27 (2011) 2249–2262].
Matthew Harris
Mathew Harris is a young entrepreneur with his own startup company, Collegeminer.com. (Visit http://www.collegeminer.com/.) Harris developed his interest in learning analytics when enrolled in an Advanced Data Mining class at Boston University (BU), and began researching and analyzing the reasons professionals went back to graduate school, correlating this data with subjects’ intentions for work after graduation. After himself graduating in the Masters program in Business Intelligence and Data Mining at BU, Harris was hired to stay on and extend his student work by designing a performance-based tool commissioned by the Deans of various colleges. The Outcomes Solution he developed analyzes data on professor and course evaluations, student satisfaction surveys and student outcomes. Harris has partnered with higher education institutions to customize data mining and outcome prediction solutions. His flagship product, College Miner, provides tools for students, parents, education institutions and businesses.
Neil Heffernan III
Neil Heffernan co-directs the Learning Science and Technologies Graduate program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He has developed various educational data mining solutions and currently runs the ASSISTments system, a web service hosted at WPI designed to help teachers to assign nightly homework or daily class work in ways that lead to better teaching and learning. The system provides students with instant feedback and provides teachers with live reports of student input and outcomes. Neil Heffernan has been cited by colleagues for his exemplary work in the EDM/Learning Analytics space.
Nish Sonwalkar
Nish Sonwalkar is a leading thinker in areas including advanced scientific visualization and database management systems who has developed several educational technologies and learning management systems as Director of MIT’s Hypermedia Teaching Facility. Dr. Sonwalkar is a highly successful entrepreneur who has launched InteQ Corporation, IDL Systems, Sonwalkar Consulting Group (SCG) and Synaptic Global Learning (SGL), LLC. He has authored numerous articles, journal papers and books including "Changing the Interface of Education with Revolutionary Learning technology," iUniverse, 2004 and serves on the editorial board of the journal, "Hypermedia and Multimedia in Education."
