As part of our Digital Essentials online course to support SHU staff in developing their digital capability, we’ve developed a ‘Jargon Buster’/glossary resource that helps explain some common, and not-so-common, technology terms that you might hear. The resource is designed to work on both mobile devices and desktop/laptop computers and you can browse through the list or search…
Digital Capability is often described as the skills, knowledge and attitude required to work and live in an increasingly digital world, but what does that actually mean? Although the ability to do things using digital tools is an important part of it, it’s equally important to focus on being prepared for the kinds of things you’ll…
Last year, in the run up to the Christmas break, Regent’s University London ran a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) focused on mobile apps that can help support teaching and learning on tablets and smartphones. On each day of the ’12 Apps of Christmas’ MOOC, an app was introduced, along with some ideas for how…
Jisc have recently revised their website and materials related to “student expectations of the digital environment” and how institutions are addressing the needs of an increasingly digitally-savvy student population. There is a lot of interesting material on the website, but of particular interest might be the new ‘Exemplars‘ section that features, among others, two case…
Screencasting refers to the process of recording a video of what is happening on a PC, often with narration, and making it available for students to watch whenever they want. It is commonly used for recording demonstrations of software and walkthroughs of computer-based processes, however growing numbers of staff from many disciplines are also using…
Each year the New Media Consortium (NMC) gathers opinions on Technology Enhanced Learning from stakeholders around the world and publishes the findings as the Horizon Report. The reports cover a 5 year period and aim to highlight some big technological trends that are likely to have an impact on education, as well as some of…
PebblePad is primarily an online, private space for reflecting on learning and development, though it can also be used for assessment, employability activities and more. It has been used for many years in the faculties of Development & Society and Health & Wellbeing at SHU, and has recently been made available to all staff and students…
Social media is a constantly evolving field that presents challenges and opportunities for those in higher education. For the less confident it can feel overwhelming – as though there’s too much to know, and it’s hard to know where to start. The more experienced may struggle to fine examples of practice that can relate or easily…
This is part of a regular series of articles exploring some of the terms used in e-learning (view other articles in the series). We’ll do our best to break down the jargon and explain what things are from a basic perspective. Google Docs is a word processor that forms part of the Google Drive suite of…
Lynda.com, recently made available to all staff and students at SHU, is a site containing high-quality video training on common and specialist software packages. There are videos on a wide range of software, from general tools, such as Microsoft Word and Google Drive, to specialist tools, such as Final Cut Pro and SPSS. In addition…