Following a consultation with all areas of the University, UEG have agreed that IS&T will carry out a business continuity test of IT services over the weekend of 3rd and 4th January 2015. While this test is in progress, all IT services in the University will be at risk of disruption and a number of…
The 2014 edition of the Open University’s annual Innovating Pedagogy report was recently released. In a slight, but very welcome, departure from previous editions, the 2014 report focuses more on the underlying pedagogies rather than the technologies that could be used to achieve them. This makes a lot of sense (and echoes our own Teaching Approaches…
Now that you have prepared your 2014/15 Blackboard sites so that they are ready to use with your students, don’t forget to make them available so that your students can access them. To check if a site is available, just log in to shuspace and look at the list of your Blackboard sites. If ‘(unavailable…
In addition to heavily discounted copies of the latest versions of Windows and Microsoft Office (including Mac Office) for staff, free copies of Microsoft’s software development tools are now available for both staff and students. The tools are provided as part of the DreamSpark programme and you can register for an account in the online store to…
Reflection is an approach that encourages deep thinking by an individual about their existing knowledge and capabilities, how it has been supported or challenged by new learning and experience, and the identification of strengths to promote and weaknesses/limitations to address. While most people have an instinctive reflective process that we use to learn from our actions, a…
All course and module leaders are now automatically enrolled on Blackboard module sites. This decision was planned following a wide consultation with staff members in spring 2013 about what things should be automated in Blackboard module sites. Having course leaders able to see all Blackboard sites has been brought up repeatedly in university learning and…
Work-Based Learning (WBL) refers to students applying their existing knowledge and skills in a real workplace, while at the same time gaining new knowledge and skills. In many disciplines, particularly those with a clear vocational focus, WBL takes the form of placements, where students work in an organisation for a defined period of time while undertaking tasks related to…
This case study outlines the way in which a tutor has used PebblePad and Blackboard to support students in developing their employability skills and reflective capability. When applying for graduate employment, nursing students are required to write personal statements outlining the skills and experience that makes them suitable for the position. The quality of these statements…
Self-directed Learning (SDL) is an approach where students select and investigate topics of their own choosing, often using methods, information sources and/or tools that they have also selected for themselves. The intention behind the approach is that students will be more engaged and motivated when they are able to focus on those topics where they have a personal…
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 Slides is a presentation tool that forms part of the Google Drive suite…