A delegation from Forth Valley College attended the recent Jisc Digifest 2017 Conference in Birmingham from 14-15 March.
Held at the International Conference Centre in the heart of the city, this year's Digifest celebrated the power of digital, its potential to transform and its capacity to revolutionise learning and teaching.
Principal Dr Ken Thomson, Creative Industries lecturer Fiona Milligan Rennie, Construction lecturer Laurence Ferguson, Assistive Technology Co-ordinator Laura Hutton and Development Support Officer Rob McDermott - attended the event and took the opportunity to explore the latest technology how it is being used to enhance the student experience in the further education setting.
Fiona, Laurence, Laura and Rob worked together to develop and deliver a showcase session for festival attendees entitled ‘Learner engagement - how can you overcome the challenges and develop opportunities to create a creative curriculum?’. The feedback they had was so positive that Fiona and Rob have since have been asked to consider delivering sessions at JISC’s ‘Connect More’ events across the UK.
Principal Dr Ken Thomson – who is a Trustee of Jisc – co-chaired a stakeholder debate at the Digifest conference and also attended a blended learning event in the evening.
Rob, said:
“Sharing the story of how Forth Valley College are developing their creative learning practice and demonstrating how Construction lecturer Laurence Ferguson is using augmented reality to support learning in his classroom, the session supported participants to engage with an augmented reality process making the session fully interactive and fun.”
Fiona added:
“The showcase session was exceptionally well received and feedback from our JISC Chair was that this is the way all workshop sessions should be. With exhibitions and a range of keynotes, seminars and workshops, Digifest provided the FVC team with great learning, sharing and networking experiences.”
Dr Ken Thomson, said:
“It is always great to attend the Jisc Digifest Conferences and this year was no different. The event was a great source of inspiration to us all and I am sure will generate new and exciting teaching methods and discussions throughout the college.”