Tel Tales

Adventures in Technology Enhanced Learning @ UoP

Tag: moodle (Page 1 of 7)

laptop opened on table showing a zoom call with many facial images appearing. With a cup right next to the laptop

Are we being “captured” by our content – an opinion piece

January 9, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Where misconceptions remain, should we reframe our understanding to ensure we don’t fall into bad habits?

I had a very interesting conversation with a Learning Designer with regards to video content on Moodle. The impromptu office conversation is something I’ve treasured since we returned to Campus post-pandemic. One of the gems to come from this conversation was – what constitutes good online teaching and what relationship does that have to video content?

The office consensus, perhaps understandable given our teaching backgrounds, was that the context in which the video is used is vital. Whether used in a flipped learning manner to stimulate further in-person discussion or to progress learning beyond the glass ceiling of set learning outcomes.

Ale Armellini has promoted the message that context, rather than content is king. He has said this on various stages and I am fortunate enough to have been in the room where those discussions have taken place. For the unacquainted, he provides a brief outline here https://www.cla.co.uk/blog/higher-education/content-is-not-king.  One idea is that the job of a university is to enable successful learning through quality teaching, but I wonder if sometimes ‘content capture’ falls into traps based on the phrase itself. 

The use of the word ‘content’ is both understandable and important in its distinction from ‘lecture capture’, the process of merely recording on-campus taught sessions. The University’s Content Capture policy offers both a definition of the term and examples of the various forms it can take:

“For example, this could be a short recording (audio and slides), a written summary of the session or a clearly annotated copy of the presentation slides providing an overview of key points, threshold concepts, or discussing points that students find difficult to understand. Such summaries, which need only be a few minutes long, can be created quickly and easily using available technology” (University of Portsmouth Content Capture Policy for Staff 2022, 3.2 p.6) 

While video tends to be the most popular medium, in terms of creation by academics and what is demanded by students, are we led to this by convenience and ease of access rather than what is the best for learning?

There is a danger that content capture can fall into the same trap that lecture capture falls into – the recording of an event. A means of cataloguing, or proving “teaching woz ere” at a particular place or time. The meaning of capture (hopefully ignoring the alternative meaning to take into one’s possession or control by force!) is below…

screenshot of the google page with the definition of capture written on it

The question is what are we recording accurately here? Is it a glorified how-to video? Are there opportunities to use and apply the knowledge within for the student?  I wonder if video content has good learning intentions but would this automatically translate to successful learning outcomes? There are a lot more moving parts involved. Just because a module has videos, it does not mean that it is a good example of an online learning resource.

VLEs at one period were rather like the Wild West. Modules would vary from town to town based on their sheriff – some hospitable to visitors, and some, a lawless landscape. A pandemic and the creation of a Blended and Connected delivery have helped improve the student experience online and has given them a much-needed consistent approach. The University quite rightly received plaudits with a CATE award.  This rewarded the hard work and efforts of all involved but also recognised the drive to change the culture around online learning and content capture.

However, with the weekly format of Moodle modules, students expect staff to “deliver” videos about the relevant taught content on a regular basis. Do we lose the true meaning of content capture and fall into the trap of just capturing material week by week?

Rather atypical to an opinion blog piece, this is meant to pose more questions and stimulate conversation rather than drawing definitive conclusions (surely I can get another blog out of that!).  The next time you wish to add a video to your VLE, perhaps it is also worth considering the given circumstances of learning around that material. Hopefully, then it will capture your students’ attention, meaning they will fully engage in not just the content, but the learning around it.

Credit Image: Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash 

Joanna swimming in clear blue water surrounded by rocks
Snorkelling in Greece

Introduction for Tel Tales – Joanna Clarke

October 31, 2022 / / 1 Comment

Hi everyone 😁

I’m Joanna Clarke and I started in the Technology Enhanced Learning team as an eLearn Support Analyst this summer. I did my MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL here a few years ago, and my favourite module was on the use of technology and corpora in language teaching. Now I’m thrilled to be joining the team here, learning even more about technology and pedagogy, and applying what I already know.

I’ve taught EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and trained teachers for over 20 years (as well as having some pretty varied earlier work experience including a data assistant for clinical trials, a receptionist in France, and a thankfully short stint in a chicken factory). 

Back in 2000, photocopiers and OHPs were the extents of the technology available in my college – and laminators if we were lucky, but you had to fight for those! I loved experimenting with new tools and finding new ways to engage students with lesson content. This led me to take on an ILT training role at Chichester College to find ways of supporting my colleagues in the use of technology. Initially, I was focused on how Moodle and other online resources can support individual study. As technology has evolved, it’s been fascinating to see the emergence of a wealth of resources for highly motivating competitive and cooperative activities, as well as new ways to help students express themselves and become more comfortable with sharing their ideas.

The pandemic took me to a new role at Chatterbox, a social enterprise that provides employment opportunities for marginalised people such as refugees in corporate language teaching. I was responsible for online content development and it was here that I really started to be interested in the data available for measuring student engagement and progress. In a classroom, I could always adjust my lesson content in response to students’ needs and reactions, but it’s very different from online material. At Chatterbox, I loved exploring the data available and then conducting user testing to investigate my hypotheses about student experiences. Working within the TEL team at Portsmouth will hopefully give me plenty more opportunities to use user data to inform module development.

What else can I say? You can probably predict from my work experience that I love languages – I’ve variously had passions for French, German, Greek, Czech, Japanese, and Spanish, although French is the only one that really stuck. My love of languages has also extended to programming languages. If anyone else out there is interested in learning these, I’d thoroughly recommend W3schools as an amazing resource for things like HTML, CSS and Javascript.

In my free time, I love going to the beach – particularly snorkelling around looking at the weird and wonderful underwater world.  I’m lucky to have joined a very musical department. I used to play the piano and accordion, and the conversations around me now have given me a much-needed push to start playing again (and to take up the guitar – just have to toughen up my fingers first 😬). 

Anyway, that’s plenty for a first introduction. If you want some company diving into the data on your Moodle site, please get in touch – we can go snorkelling for stats together 🤿😊.

Joanna is based in Mercantile House within the TEL team.

Welcome to the team, Joanna!

 

learning design

TEL in 2021

January 10, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Twelve months ago I reviewed how TEL had navigated 2020, the strangest year I guess any of us have experienced. The TEL team, by implementing several new technologies and enhancing existing technologies, helped support the University’s pivot to what the literature now refers to as “emergency remote teaching” (ERT). Now, at the start of 2022, it is worth reflecting on what we learned during 2021 – a year in which Covid carried on posing problems.

The first point to make is that technology continued to be used heavily. As the University’s “blended and connected” approach to teaching and learning bedded in, and we experienced the welcome sight of students once again milling around on campus, I expected Moodle use to drop compared to last year. September 2021 did indeed see a drop in monthly users compared to September 2020. But almost the same number of users accessed Moodle in October 2021 as in October 2020. And 10% more users accessed in November 2021 compared to November 2020. In part this use pattern will have mirrored the waves of the epidemic, with online offering a safe environment for teaching and learning. But in part it shows, I believe, that technology has become embedded in teaching and learning, in a way that was not the case just two years ago.

The increasing use of Panopto provides another example. The last time I looked (which was six weeks ago; these figures will already be outdated!) staff had created 87,410 videos and recorded 35,442 hours of content. Students had racked up 2.23 million views and downloads. These are large numbers, and again they demonstrate that staff and students are engaging with technology in a way we could not have predicted two years ago.

Nevertheless, we need to ask: in 2021 did we fully embrace the opportunities offered by a blended and connected approach to teaching and learning?

I suspect the answer is “no”: to a large extent we were all still operating in ERT mode.

The reasons for this are understandable. It takes time to redesign a course or module so that students can get the most out of a blended and connected environment. Effective redesign takes the skills and experience of a mix of people. And the process requires support from professional services. That broad, team-based approach to the redesign of courses and modules has not been part of the culture at Portsmouth – so although it is possible to point to numerous individual examples of good, innovative practice, I believe the University as a whole has been unable to take full advantage of a blended and connected approach.

One of my hopes for 2022 is that we will see a much more considered use of technology in teaching and learning. In some cases that will mean more technology, in some cases different technology, and in some cases less technology. The key is to identify the best blend of activities to ensure students can learn and can demonstrate mastery of that learning. In other words, I hope in 2022 we will see much more emphasis on learning design.

In order to further this ambition TEL, AcDev, and Faculty colleagues, working under the leadership of Professor Ale Armellini, are developing enABLe – a framework based on well established and well researched principles, but one that is new to Portsmouth. The intention is to offer structured and collaborative workshops, at the course or module level, around learning design (and learning re-design). These collegiate, student-focused, needs-driven workshops are flexible: they can be used for new programme development, for programmes needing attention around learning and teaching as flagged in the EQUIP process, and for programmes simply requiring a refresh in a specific area such as feedback. In each case, the workshops are founded on the key principles of Active Blended Learning. If you would like to learn more, please contact Sarah Eaton.

At some point the pandemic will become endemic and, as politicians tell us, we will “learn to live with the virus”. But when that happens we should take care not to forget the lessons – both positive and negative – of 2020 and 2021. It would be foolish for us to try to return to our teaching practices of 2019. Amanda Gorman, the poet who read at President Biden’s inauguration, ends her latest poem, New Year’s Lyric, with the following lines:

“So let us not return to what was normal,

But reach toward what is next…”

I think that is a perfect sentiment for education in 2022.

 

Image shows back of laptop to the screen with a smiling man looking at the screenp

Online assessment in the time of Covid

May 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments

In pre-Covid times, exams delivered via Moodle were limited by the availability of suitable physical spaces. Exam rooms represented a bottleneck to the number of students taking exams concurrently.

For the last year, we’ve used Moodle (and integrated platforms) to deliver the majority of our teaching and assessment online.

A visualisation of the online assessment mix at the University of Portsmouth:

Diagram of how the Assignments and the Exams overlap during assessment period

In May 2020 many academics who had previously planned to deliver paper-based exams had to quickly adapt and deliver online assessments. In some cases, these required students to scan or take pictures of their work and upload these to assignments (Moodle or Turnitin) for marking. 

In recent months, newer platforms to handle this workflow and ease the marking burden for academics have been developed – platforms such as Turnitin Gradescope and CrowdMark. These platforms leverage the similarities in students’ answers so academics can mark many answers at once. When time allows, we hope to be able to evaluate these platforms in more detail.

In the diagram above you can see “Assignments under exam conditions” as the meeting point between traditional essays and restricted online exams. This year we have seen a big growth in this area as academics move from paper-based written exams to time-restricted assignments. An obvious caveat here is that these haven’t been conducted under true exam conditions and so are best described as open book exams. Many digital assessment platforms now include various types of proctoring and would be able to handle remote time-restricted essays (and other assessment types) securely. There are, however, a number of ethical issues to be considered with online proctoring, and we need to proceed cautiously here. 

As a University, I feel we should also be looking to expand our capacity for online assessment as over the next decade we will probably see the end of paper-based exams in favour of typed essay papers delivered online due in part to student expectations.

Academics have had a year to adapt to exams in lockdown and many have discovered the benefits of Moodle quizzes for exams that offer automatic marking. (And note that Moodle is excellent at delivering scientific and mathematical exam questions as well as longer coursework assignment submissions.) Generally speaking the Technology and Science and Health faculties deliver the majority of our Moodle quiz based exams and the number of exams has grown significantly during the lockdown. Many academics don’t want to go back to paper.

In Technology Enhanced Learning we oversee online exams and assessments in terms of supporting and evaluating the digital tools and making sure Moodle can handle the number of exams thrown at it. The number of online exams has increased substantially over the last year, all funnelled into two exam windows. As a team we work closely with colleagues in IS to provide more capacity in Moodle and with timetabling to ensure the exams are evenly distributed to avoid terminal peaks of concurrent users, providing a stable Moodle platform for all users.

Without the bottleneck of physical exam rooms, the January 2021 exams were initially weighed in the favour of academic requests around having exams earlier in the day and only using the first week of the exam window to maximise available marking time. Unfortunately, this translated into a scenario that would have presented a significant number of terminal peaks of concurrent users on Moodle. Members of TEL worked closely with the central timetabling unit to level out these peaks and with the exception of one or two slow points, we all delivered a successful exam window in January.

In advance of the May/June exams, we have gone further and set hard parameters around how many exams (quizzes) or timed assignments (Turnitin or Moodle assignments) can be timetabled in any given time slot. We’d like to thank CTU for their tireless effort to make this happen. It wasn’t an easy job to manage all the necessary requirements but it’s given us an exam timetable that looks like the image below. This really is invaluable work to the University when assessment represents so much effort by students, academics and support staff.

A screenshot of the exams for a week, days, dates, section, then slips into assignments and exams then the total of students expected to be in Moodle during that period

Our increasing reliance on online assessment means, I think, that we should investigate new technologies to support that function. Platforms such as Gradescope or CrowdMark could help relieve the marking burden; one of the many platforms such as Wiseflow or Mettl or Inspera could provide extra exam capacity (with the functionality to proctor exams if that was something the University wanted to do). Moodle, with its advanced quiz and assignment capabilities, would continue to play a key role.

I believe we will get through this coming assessment period well, but as our reliance on online assessment grows so must our technologies to support it. 

As a University the Covid-19 pandemic has been a driver for the uptake of online learning and assessment. As a University community, we need to harness this positive momentum and diversify our offering of assessment platforms to support students and staff.

Credit Image: Photo by MayoFi on Unsplash 

A laptop opened with what looks like a zoom meeting going on as lots of different faces. Sat next to the laptop is a cup with a chair pushed against the table

Lockdown Learning Fatigue – How can we re-engage drifting students

February 15, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Amy Barlow, National Teaching Fellow and Head of Academic Development reflects on how in TB2 ‘Connection and Belonging’ should be the priority curriculum activities 

Universities first went online in lockdown, March 2020; webcams were fired up, adrenaline was high and we were all navigating teaching from a place of unfamiliarity and novelty while the sun shone outside. Our pets and children became part of the daily Zoom on-screen family as tails hovered across the screen and toys were passed to Mum or Dad during calls. ‘You’re on Mute’ became the unspoken mantra of the working day. Restricted trousers and heels were replaced by comfortable joggers and leggings – it was academia Jim but not as we knew it.

Fast forward to February 2021 and the prolonged need to teach online, during another lockdown (in Winter this time) has resulted in a sense of fatigue for many staff and students. It’s been months since some of our students have been physically on campus and seen their peers and tutors. The ebb and flow of each semester starting and beginning haven’t been felt. They have not experienced the celebratory feel on campus when their assignments are finally all handed in and they have not revelled in the social buzz of navigating their new timetable as teaching resumes and new exciting subjects take centre stage. Lockdown learning fatigue has settled heavily on the shoulders of many and there is a growing concern for their progress when attendance is minimal and much of the well designed self-directed learning is missed, or engaged with, out of sequence. The blend of online tools and the skillset of colleagues, to deliver distance learning is at an all-time high – but how can we bridge the disconnect that seems so apparent for some lecturers staring at empty discussion boards and sitting patiently in silent Zoom rooms?

Studying has become a lonely activity and the multiple ways students orientated their studies previously have stopped. Although on the plus side lockdown has taken away many distractions and time pressures, it has also brought with it a learning environment that has many new barriers especially in terms of mental health and wellbeing. Staying on track week to week and navigating multiple module pages in the VLE is a new method of time management required from students.  In terms of community, the face-to-face interaction and ‘get to know you’ activity which scaffolds peer groups and support structures for students have been diminished. For example, the chats walking out of lectures, the informal opportunity to meet over coffee and a safe space to ask their friends questions are no longer a learning resource available to them. It’s this period of orientation to new modules which is so crucial to the curriculum gaining momentum and to students staying on track. 

Over time, withdrawal from study may escalate into missing a week, or weeks of teaching and then feeling that re-engaging, or attending the Zoom taught session is too much to face. A student, for example, may feel overwhelmed. Some may just feel uncomfortable studying in bedrooms and attending online classes in this private space. Ironically, they are disengaged from the one shared learning experience and readily available support structure which may help them. If they get out of sync with their peers and the module content, it is understandable that they may not want to join in,  feeling embarrassed for not completing the prep work they may have been set. Logging into Moodle may seem daunting when done sporadically – all of sudden there are new posts, everyone is chatting and answering questions and it’s a confusing picture.  This Learning Well resource is useful to help students understand why they may find it hard to concentrate when they are feeling anxious and overwhelmed. It’s on our course and department pages but is a good tool to bridge the subject with them.  Many courses saw at the end of TB1 that all of these factors had resulted in a last-minute assignment panic for many. This was seen when views of recorded sessions spiked in the days prior to deadlines and demand for one-to-one catch up sessions increased. 

Meeting the needs of this students group is new territory for teachers everywhere, who are also battling with their own lockdown fatigue and the challenges of home working. 

So, how can we re-engage students during a time of lockdown learning fatigue?

View our top tips to Re-Engage here.

There is no quick fix. There are, however, some simple steps that can be taken to bring students back into the online learning space. To re-engage and help them all to feel on track – but most importantly relaxed about their studies so they can learn. They need to understand that everyone (including their lecturers)  are sharing the same struggles and anxieties as they are. It’s safe to speak up and share that they feel a bit lost – no one will judge them, they can catch up – it’s all there on Moodle if they feel able to work through the scaffolded learning activities that are set in small chunks. Importantly, they work together as a team to help each other succeed in a difficult time. 

A key recommendation is focusing on the first, three weeks of the module being fun, accessible and social-based around fascinating disciplinary content. This time is make or break in terms of engagement. Then bring in further social, low-pressure activities as the module progresses. Students may not want to keep their videos on during zoom sessions, that’s fine – perhaps a quick wave at the start and a commitment from everyone to communicate with the chat function would help the group to get to know each other. Informal drop-in sessions have been successful in our Faculty of Business and Law to create a social online space to ask the questions that may otherwise seem stupid. For example, setting clear expectations about participation is key, but don’t just tell the students what you expect, ask them to discuss what they think is fair:

Would they like to use their videos during calls? 

Would they expect to contribute to the VLE activities every week or every few days? Are they happy to be part of a group chat (e.g. Whatsapp) just for this group? 

Should all sessions be recorded and available for those who didn’t attend? 

What should they agree to do if they feel they are falling behind?

How will they hold each other to account?

What will the group do if they are confused or have missed content?

Icebreaking and ‘Get to Know You’ activities could feature at the start of each week not just at the start of the module. Many small steps early on can make a big difference – 

Read more at our Re-Engage resources 

Are you struggling with engagement on your module and could use some fresh eyes or advice? Contact your Academic Development Liaison for support :

Faculty of Science – amy.barlow@port.ac.uk

Faculty of Technology – catherine.murgatroyd@port.ac.uk

Faculty of Business and Law – andy.clegg@port.ac.uk

Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries – stuart.sims@port.ac.uk

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences – andre.van-der-westhuizen@port.ac.uk 

 

Credit Image: Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

Designers should always keep their users in mind

From compliance to culture

January 18, 2021 / / 1 Comment

The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (PSBAR) provides clear legal requirements for universities in terms of making learning accessible for all students. In turn, most universities have begun a journey towards compliance with PSBAR. This is a good thing, right? Well, not necessarily; at least, not by itself.

Alistair McNaught, a leading champion of accessibility and inclusion for the HE sector, argues that we need to move from an approach based on compliance to one of culture change, a culture in which we minimise barriers to learning and maximise the benefits of different learning technologies. As educators we need to ask: who is consuming our resources, what are their needs, and how can we most effectively meet those needs?

The need for us to shift from a compliance-based approach to one of developing a culture of accessibility maturity is clear when you compare a university virtual learning environment (VLE) with the other types of website covered by PSBAR.

A typical public sector body – a local council, for example – will often run a website that has content that rarely changes, is primarily text-based, and is under the control of a small team of web experts. A university VLE, on the other hand, typically has thousands of academics with a range of skill sets uploading a bewildering variety of content and pointing to third-party tools on a daily basis. A compliance-only approach for universities is thus extremely challenging. In the worst case, a compliance-only approach could lead to unintended consequences that are entirely counter-productive (and there are anecdotal accounts of this happening): an institution could choose to be “compliant” with PSBAR by dispensing with digital diversity and reverting to paper handouts. If they did this it wouldn’t matter if the handouts were poor-quality, smudged, third-generation photocopies – because the accessibility standards don’t apply to printouts. This “compliant” approach would be bad for all students but it would hugely disadvantage disabled students – which is, of course, the opposite of what PSBAR hopes to achieve.

McNaught visited UoP a few years ago when he worked for Jisc as their Accessibility Subject Matter Expert. He played the role of a “mystery shopper”, acting as a disabled student who was trying to access the University VLE, website, and other online systems. He is now an independent consultant and has recently posted some thought-provoking articles about accessibility maturity in an educational context. Throughout 2020 he worked with the charity AbilityNet to build on and update the old TechDis Accessibility Maturity Model. Together they have developed two versions of a maturity model: an institutional model and a course/module model. For anyone interested in issues of digital accessibility and inclusion, it is worth following McNaught’s upcoming series of blog posts.

At the close of 2020, McNaught also published a couple of related posts (part 1 and part 2) that provided an explicit example of how PSBAR can lead to unintended consequences. The example involves something with which UoP and many other universities have been grappling since we all increased the amount of video being produced: captioning.

At face value, the legislation requires us to provide 100% accurate captions for deaf people. A risk-averse institution that lacks the budget to create “compliant content” might remove videos from the VLE. This unintended consequence would have a negative impact on all students, including disabled students. McNaught argues that an approach rooted in accessibility maturity would take into account context, and would provide a roadmap for improving video accessibility.

For example, many courses provide most of their content as text. Alongside this, some tutors provide a video version of the content. If the video explanation provides no more information than a text alternative, then the video does not require captions. It’s only if a video introduces new information, not explicit in the text, that the issue of captioning arises. So that’s one lesson: depending upon the context, videos can be an alternative format.

Here is another example of where context is important, and where the guiding principle must be a pedagogic purpose. Imagine a video of a debate. The video might be used for different teaching purposes: to examine rhetorical devices, to study non-verbal communication, to illustrate legal arguments, to highlight technical recording considerations … there are many possible uses. And the best accessibility solution for each use case might well be different! Captioning might not be the best solution. Thus if you provide a caption and then tick the box marked “compliant video” you might nevertheless have created a barrier, not a solution, to learning needs.

Or consider a video of a long-winded, rambling, needlessly prolix interview: a summary consisting of a few bullet points might well be a better solution – for all students – than captions.

Context is important. As McNaught writes: “digital accessibility is about culture change … we need to steer a path between legalism and realism, a path that raises awareness without raising hackles and that encourages skills rather than excuses”. Steering that path won’t be easy – but the destination makes the effort worthwhile.

Credit image: Photo by fauxels from Pexels

Top 4 Moodle Questions - Part 2 - Students

Top 4 Moodle Questions – Part 2 Students

October 19, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Are you a new student at the University or a returning student? How has the start of Teaching Block 1 (TB1) gone so far for you? There’s just so much to think about and everything’s so different, this year more than ever. Don’t worry in a few short weeks time, things will start to fall into place and it’ll be like you’ve been here for ages. Welcome to the University of Portsmouth.

Last week’s blog post looked at the Four Top Moodle Questions for Staff, so this week we’re looking at the most frequently asked questions from students. As you’re aware many educational institutions use one form or another for their virtual learning environment (VLE) and here at Portsmouth, we use Moodle. So here are the top four students questions:

Q1) I’ve logged into Moodle and I can’t see any information, where are my modules?

This question normally starts being asked as soon as the students finish registering at the university, which can be even before Induction week!  Hopefully, by now all the students that have Teaching Block 1 (2020/21-SMSEP) and Year-long (2020/21-SMYEAR) modules can now see their sites on their dashboard. Modules are hidden from student view so that the sites can be updated and are usually released by the lecturer in their first taught session with students. This isn’t written in stone and the lecturer can unhide the site any time once the module is ready.

Q2) I’ve got some modules, but some are still missing, can you add them to my Moodle dashboard?  

Teaching Block 2 (TB2) modules are normally kept hidden until the beginning of Teaching Block 2, which this year starts on Monday 8th February 2021. Some lecturers release these modules before January but others prefer for students to view their material in chronological order.  If you’re still missing modules in February 2021, please contact us at the servicedesk@port.ac.uk so we can investigate the issue further.  

Q3) Where can I find my timetable in Moodle? 

The answer to this question is, you won’t be able to find your timetable in Moodle.  Your timetable can be found on MyPort. Once on MyPort scroll down the page until you come to the three main sections ‘Application’, ‘Manage my course’ and ‘Services and Support’. In the middle section ‘Manager my course’ you’ll see the title ‘My Timetable’, click on here. Once you’ve logged in using your student ID  you’ll see your calendar with your timetable on, you can look at it daily, weekly or monthly. The information shown is the length of the lecture, the building where your lecture is taking place, plus the room number, along with the title of the lecture.

Three sections taken from My Port they are ‘Application’, ‘Manage my course’ and ‘Services and Support’.

Q4) I’ve been given the wrong year modules. Why do my modules end with the date of the last year?  

This question normally appears in January and may not happen this year as the codes now include both years that the academic reflects. Most academic Undergraduate courses begin in September/October and end in July, so regardless of which Teaching Block it is, the module will include 2020/21. It is the year that August/September starts in, which indicates what year appears on the code and not the calendar year. So in January 2021, you’ll see that your modules will end with 2020/21-SMJAN.

We hope you find this blog post useful and that maybe it’s preempted some questions, but either way, don’t forget to contact us for further assistance should you need it by emailing us at servicedesk@port.ac.uk.  

Good Luck with your studies!

Top 4 Moodle Questions

Top Four Moodle Questions – Part 1 Staff

October 12, 2020 / / 0 Comments

After the most unusual academic year ever, with everyone adapting their teaching style and working online. It was the TEL Team’s mission, along with help from the Online Course Developers to get this academic year 2020/21 modules redesigned and ready to go.  All their hard work has paid off, but would you believe it, the same top four questions appear again this year!

Q1) I cannot see my module(s) on my Moodle dashboard, why not?

Are you a new member of staff or have you recently taken over the module? Has the module 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 module on your dashboard, to help us resolve the issue we will require some details about the module(s) – the module title and/or the module code, the level of access that you require for the module(s), and your username. With this information, we can add you to the module or create a blank module (or clone an existing one) for you to build.

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

Students are added to modules in Moodle by mapping course codes and registration instances, or modules codes and attendance groups against Student Records. We do not manually add students as this access will not update should they change their modules 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 Admin Hub if a change needs to be made in Student Records.

Q3) I can see my students are attached to my module, but they are saying that they can’t see the module on their homepage, why not?

It could be that your module is still hidden from the student view.  

To unhide your module, go to the module, click on the ‘Actions Menu’ (top right-hand-side), click on ‘Edit settings’, click on the drop-down arrow in the box alongside the ‘Course visibility’ title, 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 module.  If students still cannot see the module, please supply the module’s details and we will investigate to see if we can resolve this issue. 

screenshot of the words Course Visibility next to a box with a drop down arrow showing the word Show

Here is a screenshot of the drop-down box, if it says Hide click on Show.

It is also important to remember that modules ending in JAN stay hidden from student view until Teaching Block 2 starts (or until the module is unhidden).  So you’ll see the students, but the students won’t see the module.

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

Yes you can – on the module page click on the ‘Actions Menu’ (top right-hand-side), click on ‘More’ at the bottom of the list. Click on the tab ‘Users’, then in the ‘Users’ section click on ‘Enrolled users’ (first title).  This will take you to the participants’ page, click on the box that says ‘Enrol users’ a box will appear, first assign the role you wish your colleague to have from the drop-down menu, then type their name in the top search box, where it says ‘Select users’. When the name you require appears click on it, so it appears above the box, then click on the ‘Enrol selected users and cohorts’ button.  

screenshot of the enrol users box showing details of where to click

Here is a sample of the Enrol users box.

When your colleague refreshes their page or logs into Moodle the module will appear on their dashboard.  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 My Services and we’ll add new users for you. 

Don’t forget the TEL Team are here to help with your queries and questions so please do get in touch with us at servicedesk@port.ac.uk

Credit Image: Photo by Raychel Espiritu on Unsplash

Icons around a speech bubble. The speech bubble says 'Let's Recap'

Recap of available support for teaching in a blended learning context

September 7, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Over the past few weeks TEL and the Academic Development Team have been super busy developing and collating lots of resources to support our colleagues across the University in preparation to teach in a blended learning context.

It is crazy to reflect on the amount of work that has gone on in the last few months – so I just wanted to highlight some key resources and communication channels that we have developed – new and old –  that can support and inform you in the coming weeks ahead as we plan for TB1.

Preparing for teaching in a blended learning context website

Banner for the homepage a lady at a desk looking at her laptop

Information on this site includes:

Learning Well resources to support student wellbeing and inclusion.

elearning tools website

The elearning tool banner which is a photo of part of a laptop, part of a pen and notebook and part of a cup and saucer

This website was set up in the immediate week after Covid-19 lockdown began but is pretty much updated daily with new resources. 

The site covers:

  • teaching remotely guidance on lectures, seminars, assessments etc.
  • elearning tools and how to use them in the correct context.
  • a huge resource bank of relevant articles and other media. 
  • links to upcoming internal and external events to support you in teaching in a blended learning context.

TEL Tales Blended Learning Festival

The TEL Tales Blended Learning Festival banner, which is a big wheel, some festival tents and shapes of people along the bottom

The TEL Tales Blended Learning Festival may well have finished but you can still visit this website and engage with the recorded sessions from this super successful week-long event. 

Training events calendar

We have a wide-range of virtual training sessions covering teaching in a blending learning context and the functionality of tools within Moodle and beyond.

A screen shot of the TEL Training programme with training information, dates, times etc.

Digital Learning Portsmouth

Visit our YouTube channel – dedicated to providing support for Moodle, Turnitin and other interesting technologies that can be used in teaching.

Screen Shot of the banner which is different coloured icons

The TEL Team

Of course, if any of the above doesn’t have the support that you require – please do not hesitate to contact us (elearn@port.ac.uk). We are a lovely bunch who will do our best to help at all times!

Cartoon images of the TEL Team standing in a row

Our Social Media

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter to keep up-to-date with our posts, sharing information about upcoming events and resources.

TEL's Instagram header including numbers of followers and us following

 

TEL's Twitter Image including number details of Followers and Following

Credit: https://fontawesome.com/icons

Reflecting on the TEL Tales Blended Learning Festival

Reflecting on the TEL Tales Blended Learning Festival

July 27, 2020 / / 0 Comments

As you are probably aware by now, the TEL Tales Blended Learning Festival was a week long festival looking at developments in educational technology with learning and teaching. How the sudden shift to online and blended learning has put a strain on many academics workloads and more often skill perceptions. I say this as what the current situation has shown is people are far more capable than they ever gave themselves credit for. 

Across the week the range of subjects was impressive and comprehensive. All the sessions were recorded and can be found on both the TEL Tales Blended Learning Festival website and YouTube on this playlist.

This post though, is just a brief look at how the week felt to me. The first point to note of every conference is that if you are presenting, you don’t really get to attend. Except with a fully digital conference, I am able to go back and revisit the sessions. This is a real pleasure as there were a few sessions that conflicted with mine that are of benefit to my training and personal interest (now just to find the time to watch them all back)!

The second area for me is the adrenaline rush, even just being sat at my desk. The first day saw a few technical issues that made it all the more exciting to diagnose and solve as part of a team. It got rectified very quickly, and by the 4th session of the day the hangover from the problem was gone. The team came together, set goals, allocated tasks and we did it. The reason I bring this up is not to talk in depth about the issue but to say how great it was to work with the whole team, we were able to overcome obstacles together and  provide a smooth experience to those that attended. 

My third point is that it was great to have another person to present with and to a large crowd (for most sessions) to bounce ideas around and get people involved with the process. It was a shame that my session with Andy Clegg wasn’t a little longer to be able to run the activity in full, which would have essentially been ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’. Throw some ingredients at us and let us help solve a problem on the fly. This did take place with Mike Wilson when we ran beginner and advanced Moodle demos and were able to just show people answers to questions they had. It was live, specific and not fitting a normal conference where you may not get what you actually hoped to see. It is something that I hope to be able to do more of going forward, working with colleagues on sessions that can be fun, engaging and promote creative discussions for those that may not normally see the benefit of what we do in the department.

My final reflection is that I am so proud of what the team and colleagues have done. Watching Stephen Webb and Shaun Searle demonstrate principles of content capture and talk about how quickly they have had to deal with the implementation of Panopto, it makes you proud to be part of something so proactive (maybe a little reactive in this case) and so professional. The whole conference was put together quickly with people quickly developing sessions and actually we all learned of ways to develop our specialisms into the wider field of what the department does. 

bunting

From the feedback I and others have received, it was a great success and I hope to do something similar in the future. It has opened my eyes to ideas that can run across the year and not just in one day. How my training online could be the way to go (don’t get me wrong I love face to face experiences) but actually online, I know people have a device and I can be more creative with what was once a demonstration type session. 

This festival was a pleasure to be a part of, and I was sad it finished. I was also glad at the end as it was intense, mildly hectic and not really a sustainable solution to training especially with trying to help manage a family in lockdown (I was lucky not to be attacked by children!). However, my feeling going forward, even after the worst of this current isolation is over, is that the conferences that we run and organise could and should have more online elements to really engage everyone that wants to attend. It opens up other possibilities that physical locations can’t. The best part of this whole experience though was this tweet from @Drstuartsims. Even in lockdown, conference food is questionable …

Credit Image: Photo by Stefan Spassov on Unsplash

Credit Image: Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

« Older posts

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!

University of Portsmouth

A grey background with the University of Portsmouth written in white capitals
Accessibility Statement

© 2024 Tel Tales

Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑