Spring/Summer Digital Learning Seminar Series
Following on from our Autumn and Winter Digital Learning Seminar Series, the Digital Learning Team are continuing to run sessions for everyone that support teaching and learning online throughout the spring and summer. The Spring and Summer Digital Learning Seminar Series will cover themes around student engagement and wellbeing, assessment and feedback, and readiness for semester one. For your convenience, we have also included details of Inclusive Essentials (Word and PowerPoint) sessions offered by Academic Development and Diversity.
Where possible, we will run the sessions in both Zoom and Collaborate. We strongly recommend that you use the Chrome browser to access the sessions that are running in Collaborate.
Below are the details and times for the sessions. For the majority of sessions there is no need to book; just click the relevant link at the appropriate time to take part. Links to add the session to your Outlook calendar are also provided for convenience.
Student engagement and wellbeing sessions
Measuring student engagement
This session will look at a range of tools and statistical reports to help you reflect on and measure how students engage with online learning.
This session was delivered on 29th April and 5th May 2021. Session recording.
Exploring digital capability: Introducing the Jisc Discovery Tool
Possessing the necessary Digital Skills for their studies and future employment is vital for students and graduates, but understanding the possible range of skills, identifying which are relevant and finding out how and where to develop them is a big challenge. In this session we’ll look at the Jisc Discovery Tool that can assist students in this process. We will also look at how staff can use it to better understand and develop their own digital skills.
This session was delivered on 6th and 11th May 2021. Session recording.
Digital wellbeing
Using insights from STEER (student engagement, evaluation and research) and staff HIVE surveys this session will focus on how you can promote your own and your students’ wellbeing while teaching and learning online.
This session will give you the opportunity to:
- Reflect on current teaching practices through a lens of inclusivity
- Identify some practices that you can implement to support wellbeing
We will be using this quote in the session and you may want to familiarise yourself with it in advance (although this is not essential):
- …when you go in to a teaching session and you’re confronted with a screen of black rectangles because no one will come on camera and they won’t even have profile pictures on and despite the fact that you might have emailed them beforehand to say please enter the room and have your webcam switched on, it makes for a much more interactive and engaging experience for everyone in the room and myself, you just have a wall of black rectangles and you ask them why don’t you come on camera? They won’t. Then what you’re doing, you’re talking to just a black screen and it’s really, really a hard experience to get – it’s a struggle to get engaged. You can ask a question and it’s just silence and you find yourself having to pick on a name and say, so what do you think?
- Quote audio clip
This session was delivered on 12th May and 23 July 2021. Session Recording.
Digital recognition: certificates and badges
A Digital Badge recognises student achievement, learning and skills, in a more fine-grained way than module grades, which can be shared externally e.g. with potential employers. In this session, we look at what a digital badge is, explaining potential benefits to users and course delivery teams. There are a demonstrations of a digital badging/certification solution which is free to use and a version which is embedded in Blackboard. The session is suitable for all colleagues and will be of special value to colleagues who have heard of digital badges and certificates but don’t know how to start with them or their value to the student experience.
This session was delivered on 13th and 18th May 2021. Session recording.
Using the PebblePad app: PebblePocket (part 1)
Pebble Pocket Part One is an opportunity to discuss the benefits of using the PebblePocket add-on to Pebblepad to allow students to quickly create posts, reflections and videos on the go. The session focuses on ways for students to engage with their personal, professional and academic development through placement experiences, field trips, remote locations with no WIFI and group work tasks. PebblePocket Part 2 covers the deployment of the app.
This session was delivered on 19th and 24th May 2021. Session recording.
Using the PebblePad app: PebblePocket (part 2)
In Pebble Pocket Part 2, we will look at the mechanics of the tool and is designed for those who want to see the features and functionality of the PebblePad companion App, PebblePocket. The session will cover what the App looks like to use and how it interacts with PebblePad and ATLAS.
This session was delivered on 21st and 26th May 2021. Session recording.
Assessment and feedback sessions
Approaches to accessible mathematics
This session will look at some possible ways that materials with equations in them can be made more accessible. It will look at the equation editor in Word and PowerPoint, tools to generate equations that work with screen readers, creating accessible maths in Blackboard, and tools that students can use for themselves. There will also be opportunities to share your own practice and discuss other approaches.
This session was delivered on 27th May and 9th June 2021. Session recording.
Online assessment: accessing, grading and providing feedback to students
This session will explore the grading workflow in Blackboard from accessing, marking and providing feedback on student work submitted online through to releasing feedback and marks to students.
This session was delivered on 27th May and 7th June 2021. Session recording.
Understanding Turnitin
This session will focus on using Turnitin as a formative learning tool to assist students in developing their academic and writing skills. Tips on articulating the purpose of Turnitin to students will be provided, including help interpreting scores and when and why a ‘higher’ score might be expected.
This session was delivered on 28th May 2021. Session recording.
Contract cheating
This session will discuss contract cheating, not just in the sense of paying someone to produce a bespoke piece of work, but also where students post and share assessment briefs online and encourage others to contribute to the solution.
This session was delivered on 28th May 2021. Session recording.
Inclusive Essentials: Formative feedback
This session seeks to:
- Explore approaches to feedback and the implications, challenges and benefits of these (face to face, instant feedback, formative, peer feedback)
- Provide examples of how you can embed assessment literacy.
- Reflect upon the language we use in feedback to ensure it is inclusive.
This session was delivered on 14th June 2021.
Inclusive Essentials: Assessment
This session seeks to:
- Explore the practices and approaches you can adopt to ensure that all students are able to use assessment to successfully demonstrate learning.
- Discuss how we present and organise learning outcomes so that they are achievable by all students from a diverse range of backgrounds and impairments.
- Look at practical steps you can take to ensure assessments offer the opportunity for students to draw upon their own background and experiences.
This session was delivered on 25th June 2021.
Readiness for semester one sessions
Preparing your Blackboard sites for the upcoming academic year
This session will guide you through preparing your Blackboard sites for the upcoming academic year. It will include general housekeeping tips, a reminder of the Threshold Standards for Supporting Learning with Technology, and ensuring that content is accessible.
This session was delivered on 19th and 27th July, 2nd and 23rd August, and 9th September 2021. Session recording.
“Flipping L” – getting started with Flipped Learning
In this session we will look at how you can ‘Flip’ your teaching to make your time with your students more effective. We’ll cover topics including:
- what Flipped Learning is and where it is being used;
- the Flipped Learning spectrum;
- how to encourage engagement from students;
- setting expectations of students; and,
- the design (and re-use) of resources for Flipped Learning.
This will also provide an opportunity to participate in a Flipped Learning experience, with a short resource and activity being shared with participants in advance of the session.
This session was delivered on 11th and 15th June 2021. Session recording.
Advanced screencasting and learning design
This session focuses on learning design and screencasting and is an opportunity to explore different pedagogical approaches in conjunction with the tools and applications that we use for creating rich media or multimedia content. Hopefully the session expands our thinking around what makes a good online teaching resource and also the ways to design them.
This session was delivered on 18th and 21st June, and 22nd and 23rd July 2021.
Moving away from didactic lecturing
In this session we explore ways to make teaching and learning an active experience, whether on-line or not. This session has been designed in response to feedback from colleagues during the Covid pandemic, who felt that activities used in physical classrooms were impossible to replicate successfully in an online environment.
This session was delivered on 24th and 28th June, and 4th and 10th August 2021. Session recording.
Bringing digital back into the classroom
This session will look at activities that you may have used online during 2020/21 that can also be used effectively in face-to-face sessions. We will look at a range of different activities and tools, and also cover any important differences and considerations when using them in a face-to-face setting.
This session was delivered on 2nd and 6th July 2021, and 16th and 19th August. Session recording.
Choosing the right tool for you
In this session we will be looking at the tools that we have available and provide a comparison on which tool is best for different situations. If you are unsure about what is available, feel overwhelmed about the number of tools available and/or don’t know which tool is best for the situation then this session is for you. We will focus on video conferencing, quiz tools and collaborative group work.
This session was delivered on 9th and 12th July 2021. Session recording.
Using Office 365 in teaching and learning
Are you trying to facilitate group work which you would once have done with a flipchart pad, box of felt tips and some blu-tak? Do you want your students – on or off campus – to do something a bit different from a hand drawn grid on a sheet of paper which they all contribute to? Then this is for you! We will look at how Office 365 – which all staff and students have through SHU – can transform group work and facilitate pre- in- and post- session activity.
This session was delivered on 15th and 21st July 2021. Session recording.
Digital wellbeing
Using insights from STEER (student engagement, evaluation and research) and staff HIVE surveys this session will focus on how you can promote your own and your students’ wellbeing while teaching and learning online.
This session will give you the opportunity to:
- Reflect on current teaching practices through a lens of inclusivity
- Identify some practices that you can implement to support wellbeing
We will be using this quote in the session and you may want to familiarise yourself with it in advance (although this is not essential):
- …when you go in to a teaching session and you’re confronted with a screen of black rectangles because no one will come on camera and they won’t even have profile pictures on and despite the fact that you might have emailed them beforehand to say please enter the room and have your webcam switched on, it makes for a much more interactive and engaging experience for everyone in the room and myself, you just have a wall of black rectangles and you ask them why don’t you come on camera? They won’t. Then what you’re doing, you’re talking to just a black screen and it’s really, really a hard experience to get – it’s a struggle to get engaged. You can ask a question and it’s just silence and you find yourself having to pick on a name and say, so what do you think?
- Quote audio clip
This session was delivered on 12th May and 23 July 2021. Session Recording.
Inclusive Essentials
Hosted by Academic Development and Diversity, come along and explore the approaches and techniques you can employ to maximise the impact of your materials. These 40 minute sessions will:
- Highlight the features and practices that help you work in an inclusive way.
- Outline the steps you can take to ensure your content is accessible to all.
- Highlight the resources available to support your use of this tool.
- Equip you with resources you can use to support your students digital skill development.
- Signpost the resources and support available to help you develop these skills further.