Wednesday 22 May 2013

In discussion with ... Rachel Heathershaw using Web Conferencing (GoTo Meeting)

The video (3 mins) is part of our In Discussion with Series. Which aims to share practice in how lecturers have been using appropriate technologies to enhance their teaching, assessment and the student learning experience.

This discussion is with Rachel Heathershaw (Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery), around how she has been using Web Conferencing, using GoTo Meeting in her teaching. Rachel outlines how it has been used on a distance learning module. Two key message I took from this was;

  • her students become comfortable with the technology so they could complete online synchronous learning activities and peer assessments

  • the Elevate Team need to work out how to devolve more responsibility to allow her to record sessions


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHfl_9AsWqg[/youtube]

For more information on how you might use Clickers in your teaching and learning, please email the Elevate Team (elevate@ucs.ac.uk)

Tuesday 21 May 2013

How have you been using your Tablet (ipad or android) in teaching, learning, assessment and/or administration?

We would love to know how Staff at UCS have been using their Tablet (iPad or Android) to enhance their teaching, learning, assessment and/or administration.

This will help inform all staff at UCS about the potential of Tablets as a learning technology.

To help us gather these stories we have released a short survey (see following link). The survey will be available until Friday June 7th, 2013. So, if you have used a tablet (ipad or android) during this academic year in a teaching and learning context, we'd love to hear about your experiences.

If you have any questions, please email Andy Ramsden (a.ramsden@ucs.ac.uk)

 

Monday 20 May 2013

In discussion with ... Jean Mullin on Clickers

The video (4 mins) is part of our In Discussion with Series. Which aims to share practice in how lecturers have been using appropriate technologies to enhance their teaching, assessment and the student learning experience.

This discussion is with Jean Mullin (Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery) around how she has been using clickers (audience response systems) in her teaching. Jean outlines a number of interesting applications. Two key message I took from this were;

  • her use will allow her to gauge value added from the teaching session

  • the benefits of using clickers is to give all students a voice and participate in their learning


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iohb1ma-2Hw[/youtube]

For more information on how you might use Clickers in your teaching and learning, please email the Elevate Team (elevate@ucs.ac.uk)

Friday 17 May 2013

Enabling you to be an effective resident in a digital world

UCS (via the Elevate Team) hosted the JISC RSC Eastern e-Learning Forum on Friday 17th May. This had representatives from all over the Eastern Region and across educational sectors. There were a number of presentations, one of particular interest was the new version of Xerte. This is important as it's one of the key technologies within the Elevate Team's Technology Landscape. The new version is mobile friendly, and offers lots of potential for designing and implementing small mobile learning activities to deliver to various CPD markets, and well as integrate within LearnUCS.

I presented on how UCS is planning to develop digital literacies within staff and students to ensure individuals become more effective residents in a digital world. If you'd like a glimpse of the new focus for staff and student support and development from September 2013 onwards, see

It was useful to expose our ideas to the group as they feedback on the types of staff and students, some motivational considerations and the relationship between the various components to make a meaningful learning pathway.

 

Thursday 16 May 2013

In discussion with ... Stuart Barton on Clickers

The video (5 mins) is part of our In Discussion with Series. Which aims to share practice in how lecturers have been using appropriate technologies to enhance their teaching, assessment and the student learning experience.

This discussion is with Stuart Barton (Lecturer in the School of Applied Science), around how he has been using clickers (audience response systems) in his teaching. He outlines a number of interesting applications. Two key message I took from this was;

  • his use of clickers was within a group learning context

  • wanting his students to author clicker questions as part of their learning process


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMuhOmsEoJM[/youtube]

For more information on how you might use Clickers in your teaching and learning, please email the Elevate Team (elevate@ucs.ac.uk)

Thursday 2 May 2013

Where do I start with my distance learning course?

The Elevate Team have been helping course teams and lecturers answer the question, where to start when thinking about a distance learning course? We address this in a number of ways, however, the starting point is the coffee conversation where we'll try to tease out some ideas around your vision, experience and the principles for an effective course. The image below summaries how we approach the first discussion. We also use this as the basis for the PGCHEP workshop we run on the topic.

If you are thinking of developing a distance learning course, module or CPD unit, we'd suggest you have a look at the questions and contact the Elevate Team (elevate@ucs.ac.uk) to start discussing your ideas. We'll hopefully hear from you soon :-)