22 March, 12-1, presented by Anne Florence Dujardin Reflective blogging is becoming established as a form of academic writing which combines: reflective writing – a common feature of professionally oriented disciplines blogging – a social media with a popular profile and affordances that can support on-going reflection. The literature highlights tutors’ and students’ willingness to…
The call for innovation in mobile learning has yielded a set of exciting proposals from academic staff across the university. These proposals will provide a testing ground for ideas about how mobile technologies can improve the student experience of learning, whether in the classroom, during independent study, on placement or during collaborative activities. Some case studies focus on…
In this case study, undergraduate Real Estate students were required to plan, produce and submit a short video assignment to consolidate and capture key learning outcomes from their one-year placement experience. The module leader wanted to try the creation of video instead of written reflections, as many students had trouble achieving true reflection in the written…
This article is the last in a series of six articles about accessibility issues in e-learning. Media files such as video, audio and screencasts can be an interesting and engaging way to learn about things. They provide an alternative to text and allow people to understand things in a different way. However some disabled students have difficulties seeing and/or hearing media files,…
There was a discussion about using social media on 18/02/12 as part of the Realising our Potential programme, with Sue Beckingham (@suebecks) as guest expert. Participants round the table were interested in developing personal profiles as academic professionals and researchers, and in the impact of such profiles on student employability. Other possible uses for social media were…
This article is the fifth in a series of six articles about accessibility issues in e-learning. Students have different preferences around font size and colours which allow them to most easily read text. Many staff will have experience in printing out handouts on non-white paper to meet some students’ needs. Transferring that experience, they want to know…
A wiki is a group of web pages which can be edited quickly, and normally without needing to know any web language like HTML. It can be worked on by multiple people collaboratively. The wiki tool in Blackboard allows you to set up wikis which either all your Blackboard site users can access or that…
In this case study, International Business students used screencasting software to present initial findings from a study into emerging markets as a Digital Poster presentation. The presentations were structured around four images arranged on one PowerPoint slide. Each image represented one aspect of their emerging market. The Digital Posters method used a simple technology known…
This article is the fourth in a series of six articles about accessibility issues in e-learning. Sometimes staff have complained about the limitations of formatting text in HTML without the advanced skills that many website designers have. Using the text editor available in Blackboard, you do not have full control over the appearance of the text, though you…
The shuTech student blog was launched last February as a resource to provide support and information on the use of technology to improve the student experience. It is student-led, with the content written by two student e-learning assistants, Holly and Andy, and it is aimed directly at Hallam students. The blog has recently undergone a…