Research Assistant/Associate for Mainstreaming Learning Analytics

This job has now expired please search on the home page to find live IT Jobs.

The Institute of Coding (IoC - www.instituteofcoding.org) is a new, exciting, national initiative, led by the University of Bath, supported by theme leaders Aston University, Coventry University, the Open University and Queen Mary University of London. The Institute brings together a range of universities, industry, training providers and professional bodies to address the UK’s digital skills gaps.

The Institute’s vision is to enhance the education and employability of every IoC learner and ensure that employers and individuals across the UK can access the skills they need to compete in the global digital economy. This unique and innovative collaboration has been made possible with £20m from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and match funding from universities and industry partners.

The Institute of Coding will develop and deliver innovative, industry-focused higher education across the UK. It will develop accredited degree schemes and short courses aimed at professionals in a wide range of sectors, as well as working to widen the participation of women, returners to work and hard to reach groups.

The Open University leads the IoC’s first theme on university learning, which aims to influence computer science teaching in universities nationally. Based in the OU STEM Faculty, the project teams from the Knowledge Media Institute and the School of Computing and Communications will use our extensive know-how in delivering high quality learning at scale to address the current skills gaps in new and emerging areas such as Data Science and Cyber Security. An important part of that theme will be collaboration with a number of IoC partners and industry representing employers and educators to create an IoC industrial accreditation standard, a modular curriculum, and mainstreaming data analytics to enhance teaching and improve educational outcomes.

We are looking to fill a number of posts in the Open University’s Institute of Coding team, comprising academics and technology specialists in cyber security, data science, learning analytics and distributed ledger technologies.

The Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) is a distinct research unit within the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at the Open University. KMi is looking for a Research Assistant or a Research Associate to work on the IoC project - how we can adapt, deploy and mainstream our learning analytics tool across a number of educational establishments nationally.

The IoC data analytics work will build on the experience of the OU ANALYSE project which aims to increase the retention rate at the Open University and at the same time to improve the quality of education. Internet technologies enable universities to offer their students educational resources online and, at the same time to collect information about the use of these resources. By analysing students’ interactions with the virtual learning environment, it is possible to identify those who might be at risk of failing the course and offer them well-targeted additional support.

Our predictive models use data from the virtual learning environment, student performance during the course, legacy information, and the rules of the course to predict at-risk students as early as possible during the presentation. The analysis aims at identifying students for whom the additional support may help. By applying machine learning algorithms we developed predictive models that identify patterns of behaviour typical for potential failure in the course.

Closing date: 12 noon on 29 March 2018

Interview date: to be advised

For detailed information and how to apply please click the APPLY button.

We promote diversity in employment and welcome applications from all sections of the community.