ENSEMBLE

The Ensemble project held a well-attended and successful ‘user event’ at St John’s College, Cambridge on 8th January.  This involved members of the project team and its advisory group, members of participating departments at both Cambridge University and City University London, and representatives of other groups and organisations interested in collaborating with the project as it explores the potential of semantic technologies to enhance learning in higher education.

This group heard about work of the the project from Patrick Carmichael (Cambridge University) and Uma Patel (City University London)  They then had an opportunity to see demonstrations of the web applications built during the first months of the project and talk to the project team members and student researchers who developed them.  A lively discussion of how the semantic technologies on display might be used in different teaching and learning environments.

David Good, member of the project advisory group, summed up the discussions, highlighting how technological issues raised were underpinned by fundamental questions about teaching and learning.  Of particular interest and importance, he suggested, was the development of deep understanding of the role of cases in learning which would be necessary to respond to new curricular challenges and make the best use of new technologies.