Vitomir Kovanovic
Tue 02 Jun 2015, 11:00 - 12:00
IF 4.31/4.33

If you have a question about this talk, please contact: Mary-Clare Mackay (mmackay3)

Vitomir Kovanovic

Title: MOOCs & Social Learning: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract: Probably the most striking characteristics of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is their unprecedented
scale. Thousands of students from around the world engage in learning not only to gain a certain domain knowledge, but
also to connect with others and build community around a particular topic. And whole thousands of students are learning
simultaneously, for the most part, their learning experience is isolated. Current models of social and collaborative
learning are designed for Small groups of students and do not scale at the MOOC level. In this talk we will look at some
of the work in the area of Learning Analytics that tries to support socially learning by providing an insight into the
student learning processes. We will show how the use of text analytics and social network analysis could be applied to
understand learning processes at real time which can be then used to guide instructional interventions and learning
activities.   

 

Nigel Goddard

Title: The Sausage Machine View of the Economy
I will describe work with a small collaborative group on modelling the real economy, using the structure of national econometric and energy data to structure the model.  One output is a computational model which reproduces historical data over two decades (1990-2010) and projects stably forward over two more decades (2010-2030).  The model is intended for use by policy makers focussed on the real macroeconomy, and in particular on major national investment policies related to the low-carbon agenda (e.g., in energy infrastructure).  If time permits I will briefly discuss an example of policy exploration for the UK.