Tel Tales

Adventures in Technology Enhanced Learning @ UoP

Tag: elearn

Jo and Sarah sitting on different sofas looking at each other

Introduction for Tel Tales

February 24, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hello!

My name is Jo Fairwood and at the start of January 2020 I joined the Technology Enhanced Learning team as an Online Course Developer, on a one year secondment. I previously worked for the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies (ICJS) as a Student and Academic Administrator. I started there a long time ago, back in 2006, so I felt it was time for a change.

My role as Student and Academic Administrator was not a traditional one. As technology developed so did my role and so did my passion for technology. I was responsible for harnessing new technologies to engage and enthuse our undergraduate distance learning students. When I first started working in ICJS everything was paper-based and posted out to our students. Over the years I developed new ways of bringing the courses fully online so that the students receive the best experience possible, wherever they were located in the world. This included broadcasting a day’s worth of live and pre-recorded sessions to them in what we called Virtual Study Days. They’re a bit like ‘This Morning’ but with our own ‘Holly’. Sadly we didn’t have time for a fashion tips session!

As you can probably tell I’m into filming, film editing and all that goes with film production. I like being creative when it comes to multimedia and I relish the opportunity to try new technologies that help with this. I think communication is important so I really like using social media for engaging with students and the wider community, and I also enjoy sharing best practice with colleagues and collaborating with colleagues around the University.

In my spare time I play tenor saxophone in two function bands and I like keeping active, so I play a lot of sports including squash, football, golf and netball. I’m also a huge football fan, in particular, a Watford FC fan (I’m originally from Watford) but I’ll watch any football match over anything else if it’s an option. I’m currently listening to a hilarious podcast called That Peter Crouch Podcast. I recommend it to all football and non-football fans!

Anyway, enough about me. All that’s left to say is that I’m thoroughly looking forward to getting stuck in with the TEL team and working on new, exciting projects over the coming year.

Twitter @jofairwood

Jo is based in Mercantile House with the eLearning Support (TEL) team .

Welcome to the team, Jo!

Exam Analytics Dashboard

Online Exams in Moodle

April 5, 2019 / / 0 Comments

We’ll start to see a lot of online Moodle exams from Monday 29th April.

At this time of year a lot of time is dedicated to preparing for the formal exam weeks to begin. Academics and Online Course Developers are creating questions and testing exam quizzes. The TEL team are testing the Moodle infrastructure and exam reporting, and working with IS to ensure we have enough server resources at key times during the exam period. This year the formal examination weeks will run from Monday 13th May 2019 through to Friday 7th June 2019. It’s worth making a note in your diary about these dates but as I’ll highlight in this blog post, you’ll probably want to set these dates to start from Monday 29th April.

What constitutes an online Moodle exam?

We encourage staff to tag Moodle-based exams with the ‘exam-official’ tag and set appropriate dates. This information, along with data provided by Online Courses Developers, helps us build a picture of the when exams are happening. It means we can spot ‘pinch points’, times where we expect a lot of concurrent exam attempts, which could represent a need for more server resources to be made available. In short if you don’t tag your assessments we’ll find it difficult to guarantee a seamless exam experience for your students.

Tagging also means you can run your online exams in one of our supported secure exam browser environments (Safe Exam Browser, FAQs available here or Chromebooks in secure exam mode). This means students can’t easily access other websites during their exam and makes invigilation a lot easier.

How many online exam attempts were there last year?

During the official exam period last year (13.05.2018–07.06.2018) there were 5426 exams attempts that we all helped support. However, this figure isn’t the full picture. In the two week preceding the exam period 2737 official online exam attempts took place. That’s quite a staggering number of exam attempts happening outside of the time-frame that staff are focussed on supporting and something we should all be mindful of this year. Monday April 29th is the start date for your diaries.

Exams change freeze

IS and TEL enforce a number of Moodle change freezes throughout the academic year. These are periods when no updates can be made to Moodle. We have one in place during the exam period to ensure changes don’t inadvertently interrupt exams. The exam change freeze this year will run from Monday 29th April through to Friday 7th June (inclusive).

How do we monitor exams are going well?

The TEL team gather data from a number of sources to help monitor what’s happening through the exam period. We combine it into a real-time dashboard of where exams are happening and how Moodle is performing. You can see a picture below from last year.

Exam Analytics Dashboard

We rely on support from a number of sources to produce this dashboard. Lead Online Course Developers have their finger on the pulse of when exams will happen and any last minute amendments. In the very near future we’ll be asking again for your help to populate a spreadsheet with the exams you know about. We combine this information with data from student records, which is thorough but lacks local knowledge. We also use Google Analytics, Moodle database and server infrastructure reporting to keep an eye on how our systems our performing. This combined data is extremely useful at spotting pinch points and monitoring how things are running but it’s not as effective as people in faculties such as exam invigilators and online course developers ensuring all is running well and reporting to elearn@port.ac.uk any issues that are encountered.

A new exam theme for Moodle

It’s worth mentioning at this point that we’re close to final testing of an updated version of the Moodle exam theme. This is a stripped down version of our theme intended for use in exams. We’ll provide more information on this in the next few weeks. It will look very similar to the existing exam theme but will be a bit closer to our regular theme in terms of question layout and styles.

Thank You

We just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone involved in making sure the exam period goes well. It’s very much a big team effort and all the work we put in ensures students get as stress-free an experience as possible. I’m sure they appreciate it, I know that the team in TEL certainly do.

If you have any questions about online exams, please get in touch at elearn@port.ac.uk

 

Thank You Image

Image credits: Photo by Lip on Unsplash

People either side of a map, a camera, a laptop, some writing paper and pens

New Features of Moodle and Bespoke TEL Training Sessions

June 13, 2018 / / 0 Comments

During August TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning) will be offering New Features of Moodle 3.5 and bespoke training sessions only. The usual timetabled TEL training sessions will resume in September.

 

New Features of Moodle 3.5 sessions

Each year new features are added and old tools are upgraded to improve functionality. The New Features of Moodle sessions will look at the latest features of Moodle that have changed since the roll over. Any updates or new features of our latest Moodle will be included in the session to help you keep up to date with the workings of the system.

To view our training sessions, please see the TEL Training Calendar.

Bespoke Sessions

Informal 1-2-1 sessions can be held at your desk, or if there are several of you interested in a session we have a room available where you can request a more structured group session. Topics for bespoke sessions can be based around our traditional TEL programme, or we can tailor the session to answer any specific questions or needs that you require.

Please complete a Bespoke Training Request form (see below) and simply tick the box next to the session you would like training on. If you tick ‘Other’ please give a brief explanation of the topic you wished to be covered in the session. Complete with the date on which you would like your training session to take place, along with your preferred time and finish it by clicking ‘SUBMIT’.

Please click here for the Bespoke Training Request form:

Bespoke Training Request Form

Once we receive your form, a member of  the TEL team will contact you to confirm your training arrangements.

NB: Bespoke TEL training sessions can also be arranged throughout the year.

Background image credits: https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-book-business-cactus-297755/

A hand just about to open a reading book

Guest Bloggers Wanted!

April 23, 2018 / / 0 Comments

So here we are a whole year later and the Tel Tales blog is still going strong!  

Rather than just us rambling on, we’d like to invite colleagues from around the University to write a blog for us. We’d like your blog to be associated with technology in some shape or form, but that’s not always necessary.

It’s often difficult to get started, so we’ve detailed some types of content that we’re interested in publishing in the hope that it might prompt you to tell your story:

    • Have you’ve tried a piece of software that you found amazing? Or started using a new App that you want to shout about? It could help you with your studies, get you ready for the exams period or calm you down after a really stressful day.
    • Have you attended a conference where new technology was demonstrated and you’d like to share with colleagues across the University.
    • Have you produce a course introductory video with us, and want to encourage others to do the same? You could embed this video into your blog post.
    • Have you attended a TEL training session and then incorporated what you learnt into your teaching? Tell us how your audience responded, was it a success or a failure?
    • Have you taken a Lynda.com course and want to write your verdict on it? How did you feel using Lynda.com? Would you use it again? Have you been able to implement what you learnt on Lynda.com into your teaching?

When you start to think about writing a blog, even one on a topic you’re familiar with, does your mind go blank? If so, you’ll find some help and tips on what makes a successful blog in our first ever post Why Blog? Good question, why blog indeed?. If you want to gain more confidence and knowledge before tackling your first blog try taking a course on Lynda.com, there are a wealth of informative videos on blogging, and also some aimed at creating a blog, and finding images for blogging. Some of these are videos which are only a couple of minutes long, so go on, take a look, you know, you want to!

For a slightly longer course take a look at the Writing a Compelling Blog Post by Starshine Roshell. Starshine is an award-winning journalist and writing coach, her course covers area such as, content, structure, style policies, much the same as other courses, but she also demonstrates how to personalise your blog “by developing your own voice” and how to turn your knowledge into a brief, passionate, but sensitive blog that will make people want to read it. Starshine includes a Blog Checklist, which reminds you of things to keep in mind when writing your own content, and is certainly useful to look at once you’ve completed your writing.

If you’re interested in writing a blog for us, email elearn@port.ac.uk with your ideas on a subject.

So are you ready . . . . . . .

Image credits: Photo by Mona Eendra on Unsplash

Lynda online learning – user survey

March 26, 2018 / / 0 Comments

User survey

Since August 2017 all students and staff at University of Portsmouth have had access to Lynda.com, an online, on-demand learning resource designed to help users gain new technical, business and creative skills.

Lynda.com can be used in numerous ways. A student, for example, might use it as part of their course, or to learn additional skills such as Excel. A member of staff might use it for personal development, or to embed its resources into Moodle, create playlists and support students. We’d really like to learn about your experience of using Lynda since it was launched – so please take a couple of minutes to complete our user survey. Results from the survey will go towards improving and tailoring our provision of digital resources.

University of Portsmouth Lynda.com User Survey

Never heard of Lynda.com?

If you still haven’t used Lynda.com you’ve been missing out! Nearly 3,500 staff and students have used it since we launched, accumulating over 4,000 hours of instructional time. Lynda.com is available anytime, on any device, and as well as supporting your own learning it is possible to share courses, create playlists, and embed courses into Moodle – all helping to support the learning of students and staff.

With Lynda.com you get:

  • Unlimited access –  Choose from more than 5,000 video tutorials covering business, creative and technology topics.
  • Relevant recommendations –  Explore the most in-demand skills based on your interests.
  • Expert instructors –  Learn from industry leaders, all in one place.
  • Convenient learning –  Access courses on your schedule, from any desktop or mobile device.
  • Helpful resources –  Reinforce new knowledge with quizzes, exercise files and coding practice windows.
  • Relevant content – Map content to support the learning of your students and staff.

For further information:

www.port.ac.uk/lynda

Online Training for everyone – Lynda.com

adrian.sharkey@port.ac.uk

@adrianjsharkey

The image taken from Moodle login page. Four boxes for different areas

Top Five Moodle Questions asked by Staff

September 11, 2017 / / 0 Comments

At the beginning of each new academic year TEL receives many Moodle queries from staff – here are the top five that we’re asked:

Q1) I cannot see my unit(s) on my Moodle Homepage, why not?

A1) Are you a new member of staff or have you recently taken over the unit? Has the unit changed name/code and has it had a Moodle presence previously? These are some of the reasons you may not be able to see a unit on your homepage, to help us resolve the issue for you we will require some details about the unit(s) – the unit title and/or the unit code, the level of the access that you require for the unit(s), and your username. With this information we can add you to the unit or create a blank unit (or clone an existing one) for you to build.

Q2) My students are not attached to my unit, why not?

A2) Students are added to units in Moodle by mapping course codes and registration instances, or unit codes and attendance groups against Student Records. We do not manually add students as such access will not update should they change their units of study.  Let us know if you are missing students and we will try to see if we can resolve this problem for you or bring it to the attention of your course administrators if a change needs to be made in Student Records.

Q3) I can see my students are attached to my unit, but they are saying that they cannot see the unit, why not?

A3) It could be that your unit is still hidden from student view.  

To unhide your unit, go to the unit, click on the Administration tab, click on Edit settings, click on the drop down arrow in the Visible box, click on ‘Show’ scroll down and click on ‘Save and display’.  Once your students have refreshed their Moodle page, students should be able to see the unit.  If students still cannot see the unit, please supply the unit’s details and we will investigate to see if we can resolve this issue.  

It’s also important to remember that units ending in JAN stay hidden from student view until January, so you’ll see the students on the unit, but the students won’t see the unit on their homepage.

Q4) My colleague needs access to my unit, can I add them myself?

A4) Yes you can – click on the Administration tab, click on Users, then click on Enrolled users.  On this page click on the Enrol users box, a small box will appear, first assign the role you wish your colleague to have from the drop-down menu, then type their name in the search box and click on search. Find the person and click on the Enrol button next to their names, then click ‘Finish enrolling users’.  When your colleague refreshes their page or logs into Moodle the unit will appear on their homepage.  With Lecturer access you can give a colleague a ‘Lecturer’, ‘non-editing Teacher’ or ‘Guest’ role, you cannot assign the ‘Student’ role.

Alternatively, complete the Moodle Request form on the Self Service portal and we’ll add new users for you. See our Using Service Desk for your TEL Queries blog for more information.

Q5) Some students can see my unit but other students cannot. I have more than one unit code attached to it, is this the reason?

A5) Yes, Moodle only attaches the first unit code automatically, other unit codes within the title will need to be cohort synced once each year. For this to happen, please email the unit details to elearn@port.ac.uk and we’ll cohort sync the code(s) to the unit.

An image of the Bespoke Training request form

Bespoke TEL Training Sessions

July 10, 2017 / / 0 Comments

During August and September, TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning) will only be offering bespoke training sessions as the normal training room will be out of action due to building works. The usual timetabled TEL training sessions will resume in October.

Bespoke sessions can be either 1-2-1 or group sessions.

Informal 1-2-1 sessions can be held at your desk, or if there are several of you interested in a session and you have a room available, you can request  a more structured group session. Topics for bespoke sessions can be based around our traditional TEL programme, or we can tailor the session to answer any specific questions or needs that you require.

Please complete a Bespoke Training Request form (see below) and simply tick the box next to the session you would like training on. If you tick ‘Other’ please give a brief explanation of the topic you wished to be covered in the session. Complete with the date on which you would like your training session to take place, along with your preferred time and finish it by clicking ‘SUBMIT’.

Please click here for the Bespoke Training Request form:

Bespoke Training Request Form

Once we receive your form, a member of  the TEL team will contact you to confirm your training arrangements.

To view the full description of our training sessions, please see the

TEL Training Calendar.

NB Bespoke TEL training sessions can also be arranged throughout the year.

A pair of sun glasses placed on a sandy beach with the blue sea in the back ground

New Units for Moodle 2017/18

June 12, 2017 / / 0 Comments

If you have already had approval for a new 2017/18 unit then you can start creating it now! All you have to do is complete the New Moodle Unit Request form on the Self Service portal (https://servicedesk.port.ac.uk/sw/selfservice/portal.php#home)

Sign in using your university login details, click on ‘Log a Service Request’.

From the ‘Log a Service Request’ page scroll down to the ‘Your Services’ block, where you’ll see the ‘Moodle Request’ icon.

Clicking on this icon will take you to the ‘Service Details [Moodle Request]’ page where you can select ‘Request a new unit to be created on Moodle’. Once selected click ‘Next’.

From the next page, please ensure you complete all the mandatory fields in the request form to proceed, once you’re happy with the information you have supplied, click ‘Submit’.

If you are unsure of the information required please see our MyPort article ‘New Moodle Unit Request guide.

Once the form has been submitted you will see your reference number appear on the screen – you will also receive an email confirming your request. Your request should also be visible on your Self Service Portal home page under ‘Recent Requests’.

Elearn (TEL) will be assigned your query by Service Desk, and will email you back confirming when your request has been actioned. You’ll then be able to start creating your new unit, along with assistance from your faculty Online Course Developers should you need it.

Please Note: This system has been superseded, IS now use a system called Service Manager.  The links on this blog no longer work.  Please see the blog ‘New Modules for 2018-19‘ for updated links.

Header image taken from Unsplash.com under a free to use license.

About This Site

We are a talented bunch of individuals that specialise in providing support, development and design to staff around the University. We help to support staff in using technology to enhance their students' learning. Follow our blog to see what the TEL team are doing!

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