About

The purpose behind EduLabs is to help build and sustain the global community of academics whose interests lie in Computer Engineering and Informatics, System On Chip, ASIC design and computing architecture. More than that, we want to help and encourage the community to rise to the challenges faced by our current education systems and the opportunities that new ways of providing education and learning can offer our students.

Our aim is to provide opportunities for improving learning outcomes by helping us all to share ways to better give our students stimulating and engaging materials and learning experiences. Even the best of us do not have the ability to develop these alone. We all benefit from collaboration.

We take some inspiration from talks given by Sir Ken Robinson, one of the most highly view TED presenters:

There is a desperate need for innovation and change in the way we provide opportunities for learning. Such innovation is not about standardising the educational offering but about encouraging diversity of education. Through diversity and sharing we hope to improve the quality of provision and the outcomes for all our students.

Computer Engineering and Informatics, System On Chip, ASIC design and computing architecture advancement, these require fundamental human creativity. Sir Ken reminds us that creativity is innate in all of us from birth and it is perhaps our education systems that impact most on that creativity. He reminds of the diversity of talent that exists and how we should find ways to nurture it rather than suppress it. This is our challenge then.

What we are hoping EduLabs can do:
More than a collection of materials: While having a shared collection of useful materials is a minimum, we hope to create an ability to connect with peers, improve and aid you in your own activities and through collaboration improve the learning outcomes for all our students.

What we think EduLabs should avoid:
Another on-line delivery platform: Innovation in education is about more than new technology. It is about creating many and varied opportunities to improve learning. Tailoring delivery to the students we are educating in ways that allow each and everyone to find the learning environment that best supports their ability to learn.
Setting educational standards: We will leave that to the systems of education we all have to work within.

Our hope is simple to unleash the power of the existing academic community to develop large scale innovation in the area of learning in Computer Engineering and Informatics, System On Chip, ASIC design and computing architecture.

In looking to establish an open global community of academic interest we need to establish a simple and effective governance model. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) seems a useful starting point. The W3C is an international community that does not have a typical organizational structure it is not incorporated but is administered via joint agreement among host academic institutions.

Finally if you need more certainty, then here is some provenance (although we would hope the imperatives above are more convincing of your involvement than the traditional view of feeling surety in collaborating).

About the initiators
Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton is one of the first dedicated departments for electronics in the world dating back to 1947. It is also one of the early supporters of the Open Access movement, helping to drive significant change in field of scholarly information and sharing of academic research. Such change is not the claim of any one person or institution. ECS is helping to establish this community by acting as an initial host. Like MIT's role in the W3C it is supporting the community, not directing it.

Arm Education’s involvement comes from its long-standing commitment to help develop the next generation of engineers, including through the creation of open communities of practice. By contributing its own material, Arm Education hopes to encourage others to add to the share repository – both academics and industry partners.

About the initial host
Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton is a leading academic department in the area of Computer Engineering and Informatics, System On Chip, ASIC design and computing architecture. It is one of the first dedicated departments for electronics in the world dating back to 1947 when Professor Eric Zepler founded the Department of Electronics. It developed the first undergraduate course in Electronics in UK and in 1961 formed a dedicated Microelectronics Research Group studying the new field of solid-state electronic transistor circuits. In the 1960s the department had the first professional standard clean room in any university in the UK and today it is home to one of the premium multidisciplinary cleanrooms in Europe. It is also home to the W3C UK & Ireland Office and the Web Science Trust, an international network of world-class Universities promoting the understanding of the Web, through education and research.