Tel Tales

Adventures in Technology Enhanced Learning @ UoP

Tag: learning experience (Page 1 of 3)

A cartoon drawing of a person sitting at a desk with a screen in front of them. The screen has people in different small boxes and a teacher in a larger box with a screen with writing on behind her

Zoom vs Webex vs Google Meet: Important Features to Compare and Consider

November 23, 2020 / / 0 Comments

There is a growing need to deliver lectures online and capture online live lectures with the new Blended and Connected learning approach, which was recently introduced by our University to help our students in this challenging time. The Blended and Connected learning approach is driven by our Content Capture policy which emphasizes that “…all students should have access to learning from all formal teaching sessions regardless of whether they are able to physically attend.” Furthermore, with the regulatory requirement that our content needs to meet the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications)(No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, it is now more important than ever to ensure that our online taught content is captured and captioned. 

The University has a few online conferencing tools available to meet this need. They are all easy to use with some differences between them. This document compares and considers important teaching and learning features in each tool to hopefully help you find the best tool to use for your needs.

On top of that, the University has acquired Panopto which helps to pre-record lectures and has a built-in auto caption facility. It is advisable that all formal teaching sessions, including online live lectures, are captured, uploaded and stored in the Panopto server for caption, security and storage purposes.

But of course, it is almost impossible for any caption, generated by automated speech recognition tools, to achieve 100 per cent accuracy. So, please do check and edit your captions to ensure the accuracy, and add a disclaimer to the video or module site. 

The following text has been officially signed off by Harriet Dunbar-Morris, Dean of Teaching and Learning.

“Currently our video content, delivered via Panopto, uses closed captions generated using automated speech recognition. This is about 70–80% accurate depending on the topic, audio quality and lecturer. We advise you not to rely solely on the captions when reviewing your video content. Make sure you check the captions against the PowerPoint and readings to ensure you have a good understanding of the topic and the terminology used. If you are reliant on these captions due to a disability or additional learning need then please contact ASDAC for advice on additional support for your study.“

Below is the list of online conferencing tools available in the University and their important learning and teaching features to compare and consider.

Zoom

Zoom is the new online conferencing tool that the University has acquired to support our Blended and Connected learning environment.

Screen or application sharing

  • Zoom allows hosts to easily share their device screen with meeting participants. There’s an option to choose between sharing the complete screen or to share a specific app or document such as Powerpoint or MS word. 
  • Hosts can enable or disable the participant’s ability to share audio, video, and the screen in the meeting.

Mute/Unmute

  • Hosts have a distinct level of control during the meeting. As the host or co-host in a meeting, you can manage your participants, including muting and unmuting participants, to manage background noise and distractions.

Breakout rooms

Remote control

Storage and Caption

  • All Zoom sessions recorded with the ‘cloud recording’ option are automatically uploaded to Panopto and captioned. Please check your captions to ensure the accuracy and add a disclaimer to the video or module site. 

Webex

Webex is a web conferencing and video conferencing application by Cisco Systems.

Screen or application sharing

  • Hosts can easily share their device screen with meeting participants. There’s an option to choose between sharing the complete screen or to share a specific app or document such as Powerpoint or MS word. 

Webex Meeting Center

    • Participants can share the content in the meeting by simply selecting ‘Share’ on the Quick Start tab, Menu Bar and Floating Icon Tray. This feature is enabled by default to make it easier to change presenters in a meeting and improves the overall collaboration experience. If hosts want more control over sharing, they can disable this feature while the meeting is in progress by selecting ‘Participant’ -> uncheck ‘Anyone Can Share’.

Screenshot showing that anyone can share

Webex Training Center

    • By default, the host has to designate participants as the presenter before they can share contents or screen. Hosts can reclaim the presenter role or change the presenter at any time by right-clicking the name on the Participants panel, including the host themselves, then select Change Role To -> Presenter.

A screenshot of how to change the role to presenter

Mute/Unmute

Webex Meeting Center

    • For Webex Meetings, you can choose to prevent attendees from unmuting themselves until you grant them permission to. 

Webex Training Center

    • When you mute participants in Webex Training, only you can unmute them, they can’t unmute themselves.

Breakout rooms

Remote control

(To assign this privilege, while in the session -> select ‘Participant’ -> ‘Assign Privileges’ -> Control shared applications, Web browser, or desktop remotely).

A screenshot of the label showing where to assign privileges

To remote control another participant’s screen in the meeting, the host needs to assign them the presenter role then request them to grant remote access control to the host.

Storage and Caption

  • All recorded Webex sessions should be downloaded and uploaded to Panopto for storage and captioning. Please check your captions to ensure the accuracy and add a disclaimer to the video or module site. 

Webex Meeting Center 

Webex Meeting Center session is recorded in mp4 format. It can be easily uploaded to Panopto.

Webex Training Center

Webex Training Center session is recorded in a Cisco specific .arf format. It needs to be converted to mp4 before uploading to Panopto.

Google meet

Previously known as Hangout, is Google’s video conferencing solution.

Screen or application sharing

  • By default, all participants can share their whole screen or a specific window, or chrome tab during the meeting. Through screen sharing, one can share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. When you share a Chrome tab, it shares the tab’s audio by default. Hence, you can play an online video as well.
  • Hosts can prevent participants from sharing their screen but they need to update this setting for every new call, even if it is a recurring event. 

To prevent sharing:

  1. Join a Meet video call.
  2. At the bottom, click ‘Host controls’.
  3. Turn off ‘Share their screen’.

Mute/Unmute

  • Anyone in a Google Meet conference can mute anyone else.
  • If you mute someone, no one in the conference will be able to hear them.
  • When you mute someone, everyone will be notified that you have muted the person.
  • You cannot unmute someone once they have been muted. They have to unmute themselves. Google says this is for privacy reasons.

Breakout rooms

Remote control

  • Google Meet does not have a built-in option to give remote control over to another person. However, Google has provided a tool that can be used right alongside Google Meet to accomplish this. That tool is called Chrome Remote Desktop.

Storage and Caption

  • All recorded Google meet sessions should be downloaded from Google Drive and uploaded to Panopto for storage and caption. Please check your captions to ensure the accuracy and add a disclaimer to the video or module site. 

 

Credit Image: Image by Hatice EROL from Pixabay

Part of the edge of a table with a laptop opened with a hand placed on it as if using the laptop

Guest Bloggers: Emma Cripps and Rama Hilouneh – Content Capture: Supporting Learning Outside the Classroom

July 6, 2020 / / 0 Comments

By Emma Cripps, eLearning Coordinator in the Graduate School, and Rama Hilouneh, elected Learning Experience Officer at the Students’ Union.

Content capture, as defined by the University of Portsmouth Content Capture Policy, is “the digital production/capture of… content for the purposes of enhancing learning and teaching practices…”. 

Whilst to many, this may be in the form of a recording of some, or all, of their taught sessions, to others it could be the production of a written or audio summary, a how-to guide, or a summary of points made by students during the session. There are many options for capturing what takes place during the variety of taught sessions we offer our students, but what the Content Capture Policy ensures is that all students have access to learning from these sessions, whether they were physically able to attend or not. While the Content Capture Policy was developed before the coronavirus pandemic, it has become particularly relevant as we prepare for a blended and connected approach for Teaching Block 1 in the new academic year.

Through various consultation and feedback mechanisms with both staff and students across the University, the Content Capture Policy, which was recently considered and approved by the Academic Council and will now be implemented, is the result of over two years worth of discussion, revision and ultimately, an understanding that not all taught sessions in their entirety are suitable for recording. However, our diverse student population are asking for a mechanism that allows them to engage with taught sessions after they have taken place, whether that be to revisit, revise, or experience it for the first time. 

Rama Hilouneh, elected Learning Experience Officer at the Students’ Union (UPSU), and member of the Content Capture working group, has contributed to the Content Capture Policy, and long-term project, which originally arose from a UPSU elected officers manifesto point. “The working group, created by Dr Harriet Dunbar-Morris, has included the Students’ Union through each step, and actively listened to our input. This is particularly important, where the elected officers have changed over a number of years, yet are still included in this long- term project. From a student perspective, the world has become that much more technology-driven and information is just a click away. Yet, at times as an institution we have fallen behind in accommodating what this new generation of students expect from us, with inconsistencies in access to learning material within, and across, courses. 

“Yes, the presence of students in a lecture brings about a whole different learning experience with the opportunity to engage and ask questions as you receive the taught lesson. However, with the number of students entering higher education not only increasing, but also diversifying, the ‘type’ of student we attract has changed. University is no longer a place for academia alone, but an experience to advance a wide range of developmental skills and extracurricular activities. In addition, the majority of students work part time jobs, with some holding caring responsibilities, living a distance away from university or taking care of younger children and upholding a family. This begs the question as to what true engagement is in the age of technology. Regardless of the student’s circumstances, staff are able to provide resources and support through essential content online, and improve the overall student experience. This is why I view the Content Capture Policy as a step forward for us as an educational institution.”

For students, the ability to review material after a live session has taken place is extremely valuable. A survey carried out by the University, in partnership with the Students’ Union in 2018, found that over 85% of the students who responded use captured content, such as recordings, for revision, and recapping or revisiting complex concepts. There is also evidence within the research literature of the benefits students gain from revisiting taught sessions, including being able to review complex material, create detailed notes, and support the completion of assignments. 

There is of course diversity in how students use captured content, and staff within the University have raised concerns over the impact capture may have on attendance and engagement at taught sessions, something which is discussed at length within the research literature. Whilst there is evidence that the introduction of lecture capture can have a negative impact on attendance, there is also evidence that there is little impact, or that this impact is inconsistent, and other variables such as individual levels of motivation, and other academic pressures influence a student’s decision on whether to attend a lecture. 

The aim of content capture within the University is not to replace live-taught sessions, but to supplement them, something which will need to be communicated with students in order to help them understand that attendance and engagement at timetabled sessions is still important. The Content Capture Policy also acknowledges that “not all teaching styles nor all formal teaching sessions are suitable for recording”, giving staff a choice in how they capture and share the core content of a taught session. It is important to remember though that the core content of every formal teaching event that takes place needs to be captured, and some of the different ways staff have already been doing this will be shared in future blog posts and support materials. As our students try to overcome new and perhaps unexpected challenges, such as additional caring responsibilities, or inequalities in access to equipment or the internet, the capturing of content from formal teaching events is going to be key to ensure that no student is disadvantaged.

As a University, the ability to capture and record content has been available for many years, with staff already using creative ways to share material from taught sessions. Whilst there may be some additional work required to develop skills when choosing to use technology to capture content, many staff have already developed these skills, especially over the last few months in response to the challenges faced with teaching in lockdown. Training and continued support will be provided for staff as part of the Learning and Teaching Opening Campus Workstream, and we will be sharing some of the creative ways in which staff have been capturing content from their teaching sessions, including at the TEL Tales: Blended Learning Festival from the 13th to 17th July 2020.

  The Content Capture Working Group is aware, and understands the concerns raised by staff in relation to the new policy. Whilst this post can’t address all of these, it is hoped that the continued discussions, training and support around this policy will allow staff to make informed decisions, and allow all our students to benefit from taught sessions, even after they have taken place. Look out for future blog posts where we will be sharing more resources, guidance and support in relation to content capture.

Credit Image: Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay

A desk laid out with a laptop, tablet both on with what looks like a Zoom meeting going on as both have faces of various people on them. Also on the table a mobile phone and a lamp lite at the back.

Guest Blogger: Adrian Sharkey – Moving Classroom Training Sessions Online

June 15, 2020 / / 0 Comments

The ‘new normal’ has seen all of us adjust to working online amazingly quickly. The adaptability and resilience of those of us who deliver sessions and those of us that participate in them is one of the positive things we’ll be able to take from the lockdown. Most of us have taken to  this naturally, whilst others may have found the transition from teaching on-campus to online challenging, It’s worth looking at the techniques and tools we have used during this time and how we’ve moved our sessions from the classroom to online and been able to keep going. Mostly this is a trainer looking at transferring stand alone classroom sessions to online delivery, for teaching/lecturing there are other challenges to delivering a curriculum that will need a range of other tools to support a whole course of study, but hopefully, much of this will still be useful.

Choose your tool

There are lots of video conferencing tools that all do pretty much the same thing. You will have heard of Skype, Google Meet. Webex, a lot of organisations are using Microsoft Teams and for personal use Zoom has been pretty prominent. Preference in these will be down to personal choice but it is worth considering that your University account will give you easy access to Google Meet and Webex which have additional features  to help deliver a session (these will be covered later in the article). Webex may at first seem a more complicated platform than some of the others, but the Webex Training platform allows you to set up your session in advance, import a presentation and use integrated tools like a whiteboard and polls – it may be more difficult initially – but it is worth getting to grips with.

Design your session

Take some time to redesign your classroom session around the online tool and the online delivery techniques you feel comfortable with. Delivering online has a very different feel to being in the classroom, so ‘chunk’ the lesson plan, divide it into deliverable chunks. Take the opportunity to have another look at the learning objectives and make them more ‘efficient.’ For online delivery it may be more effective to take out the ‘nice to haves’ that work better for the classroom. If converting an all day session, this could work better as three 90 minute online sessions, consider also flipping the classroom by providing pre or post course activities/materials.

Lots of interaction

One thing to battle against when delivering online is participant drift and multi-tasking. It is really easy to be distracted, quickly check Facebook or look at emails while you’re supposed to be on a course, so consider the following:

Share Screen – All the conferencing tools will allow you to share the screen so you can demo or present. Many other tools may be integrated such as a presentation, whiteboard, polls or quizzes.

Lots of slides  – Most presentation skills courses will tell you that less is more, online the opposite is true. Keep the session moving by changing the screen quickly and often. There doesn’t need to be loads of information on each slide, just something key, but keep them moving quickly. Forty plus slides for an one hour online session wouldn’t be unreasonable. This would obviously be different if you are delivering application training, but the principle of keeping things moving still applies.

Online chat – Video conferencing tools will generally have a chat feature, use this and get participants to ask you questions through it. It is a great way to keep participants engaged by regularly stopping to check this and dealing with anything that has been raised.

Polls/questions/quizzes – Use these throughout the session to encourage interaction. The advantage of Webex Training is that these tools are inbuilt, there is a ‘show of hands’ option and a quiz can be set up in advance of the session. There are many online quiz or audience response tools that could be utlised, things like Nearpod, Mentimeter, Vevox. Kahoot etc.

Online whiteboard – This is a great way to encourage participation in a quick activity by getting participants to write on a whiteboard that you can all see, then discuss the comments made. Again there are many of these available, but a whiteboard feature is integrated with Webex Training. With Google Meet you can use the Jamboard app, even schedule a meeting from this.

Delivery options

Depending on whether you have a small session with a few participants, or a large session with hundreds of people, you’ll want to consider your delivery options.

Meet/invite – For a session that requires full interaction from your participants send them a joining link or meeting invitation. This can be generated from your chosen video conferencing tool.

Live streaming – If you are potentially delivering a more traditional lecture format online, this could go out to hundreds of people. Provide a live stream link and it will be possible to view the session without ‘participating.’

Record the session – Webex and Google Meet make it possible to record sessions as do most of the other tools. Links to the recording can be published or made available on an LMS if appropriate.

Mute – Having everyone’s microphone on at the same time might cause issues, especially with a large number of participants. Get everyone to mute their mic and just unmute it when they want to ask a question or get involved. In Webex Training the trainer controls the microphones, so by default everyone can be turned off and the trainer can turn a participant’s mic on when appropriate.

Webcam – As a trainer you don’t always need the webcam to be on. If you want to focus on a demo, presentation, quiz etc. it would be better to have your camera off. It could be turned on again for a question and answer session.

Next steps

Having adapted quickly and moved what we currently deliver from the classroom to online, if we now have a new normal, then we need to consider if what we did in the classroom is actually applicable to online. This article shows there are immediate adjustments that need to be made, but longer term is duplicating a classroom session online the best way to deliver online learning? Maybe authoring tools, videos and other forms of digital creation are needed?

Check out Myport for the Webex and Google Meet articles. LinkedIn Learning has a course on the Webex Training tool, there are also useful learning paths on working and teaching remotely, as well as on the different areas of digital capability.

Credit Image: Photo by Gabriel Benois on Unsplash

On a table a mobile phone showing a list of courses on LinkedIn Learning app, next to earphones and a mug filled with a dark beverage

Guest Blogger: Adrian Sharkey – LinkedIn Learning – Collection and Learning Paths

April 6, 2020 / / 0 Comments

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning contains over 40,000 courses on technical, business and creative skills and is free to all University of Portsmouth students and staff. Many of the courses will map directly to studies, others will be on tools such as Autocad, MatLab or SPSS which are essential for study. The courses on a wide range of business skills can be used by staff for CPD and students for employability skills.

Collections and Learning Paths

With that amount of courses in the library, searching for exactly what is relevant or required can sometimes seem daunting. LinkedIn Learning will offer recommendations based on the skills and interests you have setup as part of your profile. If you’ve connected a personal LinkedIn account to your University LinkedIn Learning, you will also get recommendations based on your professional network. One way to organise courses is to use personal collections and learning paths. Everyone can create these, collections work for a group of courses or videos related to one particular topic or skill, learning paths when you want to work through courses in a particular order, building skills and knowledge. If you create personal collections and learning paths you can share a link to them so others users can access them.

With Admin access however, it is possible to create ‘University of Portsmouth’ collections and learning paths centrally. You’ll see these in LinkedIn Learning in the main library, under the browse button. As well as being available here and shareable via a single sign on link they can be recommended directly to users.

Custom Content

Another advantage of Admin access is that you have the ability to upload custom content into the University of Portsmouth LinkedIn Learning platform. These can be videos, PDFs, PowerPoints, links, pretty much any type of file. It means you can then create collections and learning paths with a mixture of LinkedIn Learning content with bespoke University content alongside it. Great if you want some specific explanation or demonstration alongside the expert industry standard content provided by LinkedIn Learning.

LinkedIn Learning Mapping Service

LinkedIn Learning provides a mapping service where they map their content against a list of competencies or skills in a particular area. We have done this for a number of areas: the CCI Placements team created a learning path based on competencies students need for finding a placement, a similar exercise was done for the student sports club committees. LinkedIn also provide mapping against frameworks used in Higher Education, such as the Jisc Digital Capability Framework and the framework for Researcher Development and Doctoral Skills. As well as this LinkedIn have developed course mapping against the range of activities for a typical university, things like teaching skills, skills for student success, professional development, project management and many other areas.

Next Steps

Have a go at creating your own collections or learning paths or using some of the ones set up by Linkedin Learning. If you think you could benefit from the Admin access and you want to create collections and learning for groups of students or staff contact ittraining@port.ac.uk for further help. Let us know also if you’d like to take advantage of the mapping service and get LinkedIn Learning content mapped to specific skills and competencies for your areas. Lastly check out the Linkedin Learning landing page and the collections and learning paths created by University colleagues.

For further reading on Linkedin Learning, then check out these previous posts:

LinkedIn Learning – Change

Guest Blogger: Adrian Sharkey – University of Portsmouth LinkedIn Seminar

Guest Blogger: Adrian Sharkey – Goodbye Lynda, hello LinkedIn Learning

Guest Blogger: Adrian Sharkey – Digital Capability Discovery Tool

Adrian Sharkey: @adrianjsharkey

Amand standing behind a handheld video camera

Guest Blogger: Jonny Bell – Video content as learning objects – Capturing more than just the lecture

March 2, 2020 / / 0 Comments

We often advise lecturers to use more interesting content on their Moodle sites, rather than just lecture slides, PDFs and so on, but what does that mean in practice and how can lecturers facilitate this and manage their busy schedules?

Videos are an easy way to make sites more visually appealing and are more likely to engage students. We can use videos in two ways: either

(i) source already-created videos, via sites such as Youtube or Box of Broadcasts.

(ii) can create our own. 

As an amateur videographer outside of work this is an area I am very interested in. During my time working in the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies I had the chance to interview some extraordinary characters, including government advisers on how to deal with terrorist attacks and ex-convicts who have been successfully rehabilitated into society. 

These short interviews provided much better value to students than watching a rerun of a longer lecture. In fact, studies show that the length of the video directly links to how much of the content the student will watch. Whilst this study looks at MOOCs, I strongly believe we can translate this to a Higher Education environment also.

With the introduction of H5P functionality within Moodle we can make these videos interactive and make sure students answer questions to solidify the knowledge they’ve gained by watching them.

The generation of students coming through now have grown up on Youtube and Netflix, and academics are keen to tap into that mindset to provide videos of educational value. There’s various different styles of video to choose from, and I have personally been involved in 7 different ones. 

In my current job in the Science and Health Faculty there has been a lot of scope to provide instructional or demonstration videos for specific pieces of equipment in laboratories, for example. Students can watch these videos outside of class, and it saves valuable lab time: students can get on with their work straight away rather than having to get to grips with the equipment. 

I think videos also provide a vital link on Distance Learning courses: it’s often a great way for students to connect with the course, especially if the lecturer is happy to do bits to camera. It can humanise the experience if they can see who is teaching them. 

Students want to feel they get value for money and just providing Powerpoints and PDFs isn’t enough these days. By creating our own in-house videos the students get an almost personalised learning experience. When I started in the Faculty there was some basic camera equipment, but I was able to purchase a higher-spec camera, lapel mics and some small studio lights via senior management. This means that I’m mobile and can go to the lecturer or a location they wish, rather than have everyone go to a dedicated filming space. 

Projects currently in the pipeline are a “TV” style video with student presenters introducing pieces about their specific course, including how to present their poster assessment in front of a panel on a Pharmacy course; this will be invaluable for first-year students.

Looking to the future there have already been requests for my services on field trips for geography-type courses. This means we can increase the accessibility of these courses for students who, for various reasons, might be unable to get onto these trips. Having a short video on how to conduct experiments on soil, for example, means these students will have a similar experience to those who go on the trips. Ultimately, as an institution, we should be striving for all of our students to have consistent learning experiences and by creating short videos we can go some way to achieving that. 

Credit Image: Photo by Seth Doyle on Unsplash

University of Portsmouth LinkedIn Seminar

Guest Blogger: Adrian Sharkey – University of Portsmouth LinkedIn Seminar

November 11, 2019 / / 0 Comments

LinkedIn Services to Support University of Portsmouth Students and Staff

On Friday October 25th we had a visit from Ralph Blunden the Relationship Manager for LinkedIn. Since 2017 the University has been using Lynda, an online resource with thousands of courses on business, creative and technical skills. Lynda had been owned by LinkedIn for sometime and this summer, Lynda moved over to the LinkedIn Learning platform. Ralph offered to present on how LinkedIn Learning and LinkedIn could be used to support both students and staff and we had a great turnout from all around the University willing to listen.

People sitting in a room facing Ralph the person from LinkedIn Learning

There are now over 30,000 courses on LinkedIn with up to 40 new ones being added every week. The new platform personalises learning by making recommendations a lot more relevant, these are based on previous learning, on what is popular in the University and if a LinkedIn account is connected – recommendations are based on the skills shown on the user’s account. When courses are completed a badge can be added to a LinkedIn profile, which is particularly useful for students in order to show employability skills to potential employers.

LinkedIn have 23 million accounts in the UK, while only around 10% of these are active at any time it represents a significant section of the working population. Around 70% of employers recruit using social media showing a professional presence for employability and making connections is essential. With Industry 4.0 and changes about to happen because of emerging technologies like AI –  skills requirements are increasingly fluid – Linkedin data shows the average skill having a shelf life of 5 years. While hard skills are still important, the most in demand skills for employers is creativity along with other soft skills such as critical thinking, being able to learn, teamwork and adaptability.

LinkedIn are aiming for their services to compliment learning for students and staff in HE. LinkedIn Learning can supplement in class learning, allow opportunities for flipped classrooms, support accreditation and professional development for staff. It can promote employability and placement skills for students and encourage engagement with alumni, allowing students to make important professional connections. 

There a number of ways we could leverage LinkedIn Learning to target certain areas by packaging courses and creating collections/playlists or utilising the existing learning paths. Teaching excellence could include blended learning, flipped classrooms, instructional design and VLE training. Digital capabilities can be packaged, staff development and employability for students also. LinkedIn offer a mapping service, where if we supply the competencies we’re looking to develop they will map the appropriate courses against them, allowing the creation of collections/playlists.

For further support/assistance with LinkedIn Learning contact:

adrian.sharkey@port.ac.uk

Twitter: @adrianjsharkey

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adrianjsharkey/

Image Credit: supplied by LinkedIn

Gentleman stand on a blue flooring with a VR headset on

AR/VR in Education

October 14, 2019 / / 1 Comment

In July 2019 I attended the TED Global Conference in Edinburgh. One of the most exciting talks at the conference included a live demonstration of volumetric video – a technological development that will surely change the nature of cinematic storytelling, sports viewing, and much else besides. The technology also has huge potential in education: one can imagine using it for field trips and virtual lectures. That educational potential, however, is unlikely to be realised in the short-to-medium term: most universities don’t have the skills, equipment or financial resources to build these immersive environments. But what universities can do – and increasingly are doing – is to investigate the educational potential of established augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology.

In early September 2019 the ALT mailing list was bombarded with “me too” responses to a post explaining how pockets of interest in AR/VR were spread across a particular institution and that it would be good to be able to somehow share that practice. UoP represents one of those “me too” responses. We know of people across the University who are exploring the potential of AR/VR for learning and for skills development. It would be great if we could bring those pockets of expertise together, in order to share tips and tricks and experience. In the first instance, a group of us from TEL and Sports Science have met to discuss this – and we hope to develop a definite proposal for how this might work over the next few weeks. Watch out for news of this. In the meantime, if you have an interest in the educational aspects of AR/VR (or volumetric video) – please drop us a line. 

Image Credit: Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash

Moodle 3.7 - New Features

Moodle 3.7 – New Features

September 23, 2019 / / 1 Comment

Each year, over the summer, the University upgrades Moodle to ensure staff and students have access to all the new features and fixes.

In this post I’ll give an outline of the new features in Moodle 3.7 that are most relevant to the University.

  • New Theme updates.

The new theme provides a new look to the dashboard. The courses are displayed by default in ‘card’ view. This can be changed in the drop down menu to either a list or summary view. Courses/Modules can be starred and filtered so that the most frequently used ones are easily accessible. The Timeline block on the dashboard page shows upcoming events from all your sites. This can be demonstrated by viewing the Moodle tour. Reset a tour by clicking the icon at the top of a page. Tour Icon

There is now an in-line reply box, making it quicker to respond to a post. Important discussions can be ‘starred’ at an individual level. This will sort your favourite posts to the top of your list (under any pinned posts). Discussions can also be sorted by reply, latest post or creation date.

There is a new personal messaging space, that allows conversation between users. Conversations can be ‘starred’ and filtered according to importance. The tool also allows for live chat to take place similar to GChat in Google.

When undertaking a quiz, the student is able to clear their choice and change their answer.

If a page has been hidden in a book, it will now display to an academic even with editing turned off. It will appear greyed out, showing that it is not visible to a student.

 

Seeking Guest Bloggers!!

Guest Blogger Wanted!

September 2, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Rather than just us rambling on, we’d like to invite colleagues from within the University community 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 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 produced 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 or an Academic Development (AcDev) workshop and then incorporated what you learnt into your teaching? How has our help and support prompted you to go on and put your learning into practice. Tell us how your audience responded, was it a success or a failure?
  • Have you taken a LinkedIn course and want to write your verdict on it? How did you feel using LinkedIn? Would you use it again? Will you/have you implemented what you learnt 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 LinkedIn, 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 areas 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, we are always happy to hear your suggestions and discuss with you.

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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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