Yi-Shan Tsai, Research Associate
How long have you worked with the Centre?
I joined the team in 2016 to work on a cross-European project – SHEILA (Supporting Higher Education to Integrate Learning Analytics). Since 2018, I have started to work on two new projects: LALA (Building Capacity to Use Learning Analytics to Improve Higher Education in Latin America)and EMBED (Developing a European Maturity Model for Blended Education).
How do you see digital education and why do you think it's important?
Technology plays a key role in shaping our everyday life, and the advance of technology means digital knowledge and skills are essential to everyone in every social and economic aspects. Therefore, digital education is particularly important in equipping us with the desired skills and shaping or challenging the conceptualisation of education in a hybrid of digital and physical worlds.
What’s the most interesting piece of research you’ve worked on / course you’ve taught, and why?
The most important part of the research work that I have done so far since joining the team is the development of a policy and strategy framework for the use of learning analytics in higher education. It encompasses perspectives of different stakeholders in higher education institutions. The most interesting part is to learn about the varying interests and concerns about learning analytics among different stakeholders and identify ways for them to work together towards a systematic and sustainable adoption of learning analytics.
What piece of work are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the policy and strategy framework mentioned above because I led the development work, and this framework has generated wide interest among higher education institutions in Europe and beyond.
Where do you see digital education in 20 years time?
We will probably no longer need to specify education with ‘digital’, as it will become part of the core definition of ‘education’ in our society.
If you had a time machine for a day when would you visit and why?
I will visit 16 May 2036, which is 20 years from the day when I joined the team and started to research into digital education. I would like to see the extent to which the work that I have been doing contribute to the future development of the field.