About me
Monica Ward is the Assistant Head for Teaching Excellence in the School of Computing. She has extensive experience in teaching and assessment a range of subjects from technical to transversal skills modules. She is a pioneer of the use of technology in education and she advocates a co-creation and culturally-responsive approach with academics and students. Her research interest include Computer Assisted Language Learning with a special focus on Less Commonly Taught Languages and Endangered Languages and Human Factors in Computing.
My challenges
Challenges of Monica
Innovative and leading technologies are constantly being researched and developed with a view to
enhancing the lives of people and society. New human-centric technologies are being advanced
across multiple disciplines and industry domains, designed to deliver innovations in areas such as
natural language processing, data analytics, and intelligent machine translation human-computer
interaction.
Geopolitical factors, including a rise in cost of living, gentrification and associated rent costs, time to travel to university; and more recent examples of health/climate/cyber disaster-mitigation, now mean that universities have become centres of excellence leading out research, policy, and practice in supporting resilient communities. With the concerning rise in both food, fuel (heat), and housing insecurity in our university students, how can we boost resiliency in the student community?
This Challenge will require students to explore an innovation being researched and advanced, as informed by the Challenge partners. They will do this in teams and through the lens of at least one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The team will assess how an innovative technology will impact a particular user group.
Innovative technologies have the potential to be disruptive and have a positive impact on almost all aspects of society. However, the use of technology can have unintended impacts and it is important to take ethical considerations into account when introducing a technology in a new context. This is particularly relevant in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).