SEIDOR and Open LMS, together with the University of Barcelona, present the latest in e-learning technology

The 3 entities have organized a two-day event to be held at the University of Barcelona Faculty of Medicine where experts and universities from across Spain have come together to discuss the latest in digital solutions to be used in higher education, including global trends such as ChatGPT and hybrid training, among others, and exciting success stories from leading national universities.

The world of EdTech is advancing at breakneck speed, not only because of  advancements in technology, but also because the success of projects with multiple use cases has become increasingly common.

To speak about this topic, SEIDOR Opentrends held a conference last week together with Open LMS and the University of Barcelona on the topic of e-learning, where experts and universities from across Spain came together to discuss the latest in digital solutions for use in higher education.

With the theme “E-learning and education of the future: tools for digital transformation” against the backdrop of the University of Barcelona Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, the event centered around discussions on how to promote flexible and innovative learning. In line with the topic and to add to the discussions, over the course of the two days, several use cases implemented by SEIDOR were presented by some of the leading universities in our country such as the University of Barcelona (UB), the National University of Distance Education (UNED) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF).

Germán Rojas, Director of Professional Services at Open LMS opened the event, showing participants the main trends in the education sector for 2023. Next, Xavier Triado, Deputy Rector of the University of Barcelona, provided a detailed overview of the cloud migration project that was then being carried out in Spanish universities, and which involved the creation of a cloud platform that currently serves more than 70,000 students and some 5,000 teachers. The Deputy Rector explained the strategies promoted by the University of Barcelona in order to achieve a wider adoption of the platform and further explained that this platform is a lever of change in the new learning models that the University wants to progressively implement.

During the event, Wiris explained the potential major impact that some of its resources can have on improving certain multidisciplinary skills, such as fostering critical thinking.

As a member of the "The Factory" teachers’ support department at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Aitor Canal provided a very creative explanation in his presentation "The Post Pandemic Winner" on how the “Questionnaire” as a resource continued to stand the test of time, and which, when combined with a proper support department for teachers, was an important axis to increasing the Open LMS platform adoption. Pompeu Fabra University has been using Open LMS since 2016, being the first Spanish University to implement it.

After lunch, following the discourse “Personalized Learning with Telemetry,” Catalina Rodriguez, an Open LMS project manager, presented the different resources with which the Open LMS virtual platform can support personalized learning, which when combined with an accurate data analysis of student behavior and progress on the platform, facilitates a continuous improvement of this personalization index. Next, Massimo Gentili, the Global Director of Business Development at Class Technologies, centered his presentation on the current trend of promoting hybrid learning, an approach lacking solutions that promote both a good student experience while also providing the teacher with a proper management tool, one that enables the user to generate productivity from the session preparation processes, and facilitates these same processes while simultaneously being able to analyze student behavior, both in real-time and afterwards.

On Friday the 21st, the second and final day began with the presentation “Open LMS as a transformation strategy, and the importance of change management and support” presented by María Rocío Muñoz, Deputy Rector of the National University of Distance Education (UNED).  In her presentation, the Deputy Rector of what is currently the largest university in Spain, with some 200,000 students, explained the importance and strategic nature of the project to change its virtual learning platform Alf, a customized platform developed in 2016, to a market standard platform such as Open LMS. Rocío shared with the audience the importance of taking into account both change management and teacher support in projects of this magnitude, which is compounded by a very demanding execution schedule.

Next, Alex Vea, Director of SMOWL provided a very interactive presentation of the theme “Myths and realities about proctoring: the future of virtual exams”  in which, despite the fact that the issue of proctoring entails some controversy in the university world, the vast majority of the audience agreed with the Myths shared by Alex in a very educational way. This led to some thoughts being shared on this topic and what was clear was that the SMOWL solution can in turn serve to mitigate the use of ChatGPT during an “online” evaluation and can be used to detect cheating during an exam.

Germán Rojas again presented a brilliant discourse entitled “Mass and personalized education: Students of the future, today”, a sector where the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, and more specifically Chat GPT is having a major impact, and potentially even more so in the future. The presentation was based around a common thread that kept us hooked until the very end and and which emphasized that, while this type of solution will have an impact on teaching and learning processes, the sector and the schools themselves will undergo a maturation process wherein they will progressively use these tools, although this entails changes in certain processes, such as testing.

The day concluded with a round table moderated by Baptista Borrell, SEIDOR’s Director of Education Division, with the participation of Roció Muñoz, UNED's Deputy Rector of Digital Transformation, Marga Bonmati, Deputy Manager at the University of Barcelona, and German Rojas, Open LMS’s Director of Professional Services. The round table consisted of an interactive panel discussion, in which the moderator, making use of the thoughts and comments shared by both the speakers and the audience over the course of the two days, framed the discussions within a strategic reflection on the challenges faced by higher education, taking the opportunity of this panel discussion to ask how Public Universities were addressing these transformation challenges, also taking into account the emergence and the progressive impact of Private Universities in Spain. There is no question that these contributions were very enriching, complemented by the participation of the attendees from other Universities. 

“The IT strategy implemented by higher education institutions is increasingly going to focus on capitalizing on the advantages offered by technology with the aim of focusing its efforts and resources on those activities that add value to the organization and enabling new improvement projects to be initiated,” explains Baptista Borrell, SEIDOR Opentrends’s Director of Edtech. “To that end, we believe that it makes sense to have companies with an integrative and reliable profile, with local capabilities that know the sector and are experts in the aforementioned solutions”. Borrell further adds “That is what we wanted to share alongside the organizations in which we have made these success stories a reality, and which we have had the opportunity to have here with all of you at this conference, such as UNED, the University of Barcelona and Pompeu Fabra University”.