Information School News

We have reaffirmed our position as a world-leading School for research and teaching in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019. We are ranked second in the World, and first in Europe, for Library and Information Management, reflecting our outstanding research and teaching, and following our success in the 2018 World University Rankings. The Information School has been at the forefront of developments in the information field for more than 50 years and has an international reputation for its high quality teaching and research. It achieved the highest possible grade in every one of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) evaluations of research quality in UK universities since these began in 1989, and in 2014 it was the top-rated department for its research environment with a score of 100%. Research in the School fundamentally explores the power of information in the digital world, and examines how people, organisations and society use information to shape and influence our inc...

Dr Jonathan Foster, Lecturer in Information Management and Programme Coordinator for the MSc Information Management, recently received his Teaching and Excellence in the Social Sciences (TESS) award from the University's Faceulty of Social Sciences. 'It was wonderful experience to receive the TESS award, in recognition of the Deliberation Day that we hold annually during Induction Week', says Dr Foster. 'The aim of the event is provide an enabling context for new students - many of whom are international - to experience a setting where dialogue and the revision of views - rather than their dogmatic reception - becomes a distinct possibility.' Dr Foster received his award, along with other colleagues from across the Faculty, at a reception in the ICOSS building at the University. During his acceptance speech he elaborated more on the influences he drew from for the Deliberation Day event. 'I believe that a democratic approach to learning and teaching is ne...

Pamela McKinney, Sheila Webber and Peter Holdridge represented the iSchool at Sheffield University's annual celebration of Technology Enhanced Learning: TELfest .   McKinney and Webber gave a presentation Comparing use of TEL in an on campus class and a distance learning class , reporting on ways in which Technology Enhanced Learning is used in the on-campus and distance versions of the core Information Literacy module. The presentation is available here: https://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/comparing-use-of-technology-enhanced-learning-in-an-oncampus-class-and-a-distance-learning-class Sheila Webber (one of the educators on the University of Sheffield Exploring Play MOOC ) contributed to a panel on Learning Through Play . She talked about Dr Peter Stordy's innovative use of Lego in the Information Organisation module, and about learning playfully in the 3D virtual world, Second Life (including learning through virtual dance! ) Peter Holdridge was a panel membe...

Information School Lecturer Pam McKinney is one of only a small number of Faculty of Social Sciences staff to win a 'Teaching Excellence in Social Sciences (TESS) Award for Outstanding Practice in Learning and Teaching' this year. The award follows research-informed teaching methods she has employed, especially around group work. You can read some of her research on the topic in her paper 'The use of technology in group-work: a Situational Analysis of students' reflective writing.' Director of Learning and Teaching for the School, Dr Peter Stordy, has this to say: "Pam is an inspiring and reflective teacher who is highly respected by both staff and students. She consistently attracts glowing comments in student module evaluations and motivates students to produce a high standard of work. Her tenacious determination to provide genuine opportunities to develop students' employability and team work skills distinguishes her from other excellent teachers. ...

Professor Stephen Pinfield, Dr Briony Birdi, Dr Sheila Webber, Pam McKinney, Peter Holdridge and Paula Goodale have been awarded a Teaching Excellence in Social Sciences Award for Outstanding Practice in Learning and Teaching' by the Faculty of Social Sciences. The award recognises the team's delivery of our innovative distance learning programme, MA Library & Information Services Management. The award will be presented at the TESS End of Year Celebration event later this month.

Congratulations to Dr Barbara Sen and Dr Gianluca Demartini , both of the Information School, who have won Faculty Awards. Dr Sen has received a Faculty Learning and Teaching Award. Her nomination was based on her extensive and impressive contributions to learning and teaching throughout her time in the Information School, with a focus on bringing real world practice to the classroom and promoting students' professionalism and employability. She will be presented with her award at an Awards event in ICoSS on 7th October. Dr Demartini has received a Faculty Early Career Researcher Award at the recent Faculty Research Conference. The award is in recognition of his recent EPSRC First Grant (BetterCrowd: Human Computation for Big Data) .

The Information School is pleased to launch the new iTeach seminar series. The following sessions have been set in the series so far: Wednesday 13 May, 13.00 Information School, Regent Court, RC-204 "Being a Futurelearn MOOC educator" - Sheila Webber. Wed 20th May, 13.00 Information School, Regent Court, RC-324 "Doing an Engaged Curriculum Project (developing cultural awareness and community engagement)" - Briony Birdi. Thu 28th May, 13.00 Information School, Regent Court, RC-204 "Discussion on group work" - Peter Holdridge. Wed 3rd June, 13.00 Information School, Regent Court, RC-204 "Reinventing exams" - Peter Stordy The following sessions are planned for the future: "MOLE Wizard - improving the look of your MOLE pages" "Using iPads" "Recording lectures" "Teaching reflective practice" All are welcome to attend these sessions and there is no need to book a place. 

Today a number of iSchool academics are presenting at the the University of Sheffield Faculty of Social Sciences learning and teaching conference. The talks are: Pamela McKinney and Barbara Sen : Situational analysis of group work: student reflective assessment Paul Clough : Utilising MOLE for multiple choice assessments: a case study in the Information School Peter Stordy : Back to the future: reinventing exams Sheila Webber : Futurelearning! Reflections on teaching in the Future Learn Play MOOC Briony Birdi: Supporting isolated adults via the Six Books Challenge in Sheffield: developing student cultural awareness and community engagement

The Information School’s MSc Data Science programme aims to give students the chance to enhance their analysis skills by working on real data sets.  As part of a recent assignment, students have analysed data sets on crimes which have been reported to the UK police. One assignment, conducted by Rebecca Thorpe, investigated burglaries in the South Yorkshire region and specifically examined where burglaries occur in the Sheffield area, also looking for associations with other variables.  Using boxplots, time series, line charts and Holt-Winters forecasting, this assignment found that the mean number of monthly burglaries in South Yorkshire was higher in 2012 than in 2011 or 2013.  Using Holt-Winters forecasting, the assignment predicted that burglaries would decrease in South Yorkshire over the next three years.  Focusing upon burglaries in Sheffield, it was found that instances were highly concentrated in the eastern areas of the city and there was some correlation...

Dr Peter Stordy of the Information School will be presenting today (4 July 2014) at the Higher Education Academy STEM (Computing): Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Databases 2014 conference in Southampton. The presentation will focus on teaching approaches and will discuss how success rates have been improved in a database design module within the Information School.

Pam McKinney, Coordinator of the School's undergraduate Business Intelligence module, has secured arrangements with four local businesses to bring real-life issues to the lecture room for students to address. The Undergraduates will work in small groups to investigate the issues, and then present solutions which the businesses can put into practice. This year's partners are: Regather Airy Fairy Emmaus Aspire  As in previous years, these links have been forged in collaboration with the experts at University of Sheffield Enterprise .