Reflecting on Yesterday, Understanding Today, Planning for Tomorrow

2. OBSERVATORY PROCESSES The JISC Observatory provides horizon-scanning of technological developments which may be of relevant for the UK’s higher and further education sectors. The JISC Observatory team has developed systematic processes for the scanning, sense-making and synthesis activities for the work. This paper summarises the JISC Observatory work and related activities carried out by the authors. The paper outlines how the processes can be applied in a local context to ensure that institutions are able to gather evidence in a systematic way and understand and address the limitations of evidence-gathering processes. The paper describes use of open processes for interpreting the evidence and suggests possible implications of the horizon-scanning activities for policy-making and informing operational practices. The paper concludes by encouraging take-up of open approaches in gathering and interpretation of evidence used to inform policy-making in an institutional context. 1. THE JISC OBSERVATORY The educational sector is facing a ‘perfect storm’. The rapidly changing technical environment is exacerbated by the economic downturn which affects the economy throughout the UK and beyond. The UK’s higher education sector is beginning to see the effects of significantly increased tuition fees. Students who are paying ~£9,000 per year have increased expectations of the student experience during their time at university. Technological developments often promise significant benefits. The ‘perfect storm’ is focusing attention on the identification of appropriate technological developments which can enhance working practices across a range of institutional activities. This background provides the context for the establishment of the JISC Observatory, which was set up to provide considered and prioritised information, analysis and recommendations with regard to emerging developments and their usage. The JISC Observatory has been provided by UKOLN and CETIS, the JISC Innovation Support Centres based at the Universities of Bath and Bolton. The JISC Observatory Web site 1 provides access to the team blog together with TechWatch reports which have been published by the