Educators and businesses coming out of the national lockdown should use what they have learned from the experience to plan future strategies for their organisations.

The fourth in the series of EDUCATE Ventures webinars on AI-readiness examined what new data might be collected and could be used in AI to fill in gaps to existing knowledge and information.

Speaking with Professor Rose Luckin during the webinar for educators, Bob Harrison, chair of governors at Northern College for Adult Education in Barnsley and a former college principal, said that further education had been under-funded by successive government which had failed in invest in digital infrastructures.

And while the college system had been built out of the industrial era, it had not necessarily evolved with the times. The data being collected by FE colleges focussed on attendance, accountability and assessment, and lecturers were still working with interactive whiteboards.

Mr Harrison, who is a vocal advocate of the use of technology in learning, said that among the most pressing issues facing colleges, and on which it needs to collect data was the state of its building. “Our learning design is still predicated on the industrial revolution,” he said.

“We need to invest in learning design and identify what it is we want learners to learn, and what will facilitate that. Once you’ve identified what skills they need to know, then you can put together a programme of learning.

“You need to know the value of what you have to consider investing in what you need. I would realign the whole infrastructure to create a blend on what is best for learners and delivers value for money. We have to look at the culture and context of education, because trying to force new technology into old ways of working is doomed to fail.”

Mr Harrison added that until recently there had been some resistance to change and the use of technology, but the virus had changed that.

Meanwhile, Hannah Pickard, Head of Education at OSTC, described during the webinar for businesses, how working with EDUCATE Ventures helped the company to collect data and link it to different sources from which it was already gathering information.

“In a results-driven business we had to make it clear that we were using it to help augment individuals.”

“We had a raft of data - and some we had too much of, specifically our trading data,” she said during the discussion, hosted by Dr Carmel Kent, EDUCATE’S Head of Educational Data Science. “But there was not much about wellbeing, so working with EDUCATE helped us to find out what the data we had was telling us.”

Ms Pickard said that data was being collected from traders “with every click of the mouse”, but the company had to work out how it could use this best in its employee training. “Data is valuable and an asset, but we had to ask ourselves how we could use it to improve our business, as well as how to protect it. We had to reassure people and be open and honest about what we were trying to achieve, and that we were using it for ethical purposes. In a results-driven business we had to make it clear that we were using it to help augment individuals.

“Once you make that your basis point, everyone is willing to listen more.”

Among the challenges where AI could help a company, she said, was in staff turnover and improving mentoring. “When you ask questions you often get answers that open up new realms,” she said.

“Our work with EDUCATE led to new campaigns within the business. It has matured OSTC in the way we respond to the needs of our employees, with everyone best interests at heart.”

The next in our series of AI-readiness webinars series will cover AI techniques used to process the data you’ve cleaned and collected and will be held in a 2-part session on July 14th and 16th. For further information and to reserve a place, follow via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/educate-30084344526