Happy New Year!
A compilation of our Advent teaching and learning tips, in case you missed them.
Using Groups in Blackboard
You can create groups of students in your Blackboard course. This can be useful for facilitating group work, providing different materials to different students, or dividing your class up for administrative purposes.
Introducing Microsoft Whiteboard
If you’re missing a whiteboard, check out Microsoft Whiteboard, a collaborative digital canvas that is available to download from the UWE software centre (there is an online version but it…
Setting up a practice assignment in Blackboard
To avoid student panics on the day of assessment, consider setting up a practice assignment submission in Blackboard.
Mentimeter icebreaker activities
Mentimeter is easy to use, has some great features and has proven popular with staff and students alike. The aim of this post is to share some examples of how…
An introduction to hybrid teaching
A guide for teaching in situations where some of your students are in the physical classroom and others are online.
Using Mentimeter with Collaborate to facilitate questioning in hybrid teaching
Using Mentimeter in hybrid teaching so that questions and answers can be shared with both on-campus and remote audiences at the same time.
The Collaborate Assessment Tool
This is a series of short videos on how to use the new Blackboard Collaborate Assessment tool with your students.
Use of Guest links in Blackboard Collaborate
There have been a number of people causing disruption to webinars after accessing sessions using Guest links. Guest links allow users to enter sessions anonymously and should NOT be used…
Blackboard Announcement subject headings
Why does my Blackboard Announcement email not include my subject heading? Read on for the solution.
Setting up folders in Panopto for assessment purposes
Important information for staff recording student presentations using Panopto
UWE’s four principles of learning design
A resource to help you implement UWE’s four principles of learning design.
Laurillard’s learning types for online and blended learning
Learn which tools can help you implement Laurillard’s six learning types online.
Designing your teaching sessions using Laurillard’s learning types
Plan your lessons using a variety of activities to help your students learn.
Active learning using Bookmarks, Notes and Discussions in Panopto
Suggestions for active learning activities using Panopto tools.
FET Blackboard Module Template 2020/21
Find out about the changes to the 2020/21 FET Blackboard Module Template and other support to help you create an accessible module site.
FET Blackboard Module Template 2020/21: Copying Content to a New Module Run
IMPORTANT: Please read before setting up your new 2020/21 Blackboard module runs.
Audio and video feedback for students
How to make and send video and audio feedback for students
Blackboard Programme Sites – guiding principles
These guiding principles are here to support Programme Leaders in setting up new programme sites or reviewing their existing programme,
Podcasts as a tool for online learning
Authored by Tom Buckley, Lauren Philp Edited by: Michael Harris, Ghizzi Dunlop and Paul Redford ‘Podcast’ has become the shorthand for audio-only media. It originally was synonymous with audio-only files…
Replacing face-to-face lectures with recorded lectures – good practice
Delivering content outside the lecture theatre – tips for desktop recordings.
Interactive seminars, tutorials and drop-ins using Blackboard Collaborate
Whether you’re using a flipped learning model, facilitating group work or just wanting to give your students some individual support, online interaction can be done through Blackboard Collaborate Ultra. Here…
A guide to take-home exams
Advice for staff on setting take-home exams and advice for students on hand-written and hand-drawn answers
Setting up breakout groups in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
Breakout groups allow multiple linked Collaborate sessions to happen at the same time; the online equivalent of students splitting off to work in groups in a classroom. In a breakout…
Active Learning with Mentimeter
Mentimeter for Teaching Part 2. This series of articles explores how Mentimeter can be used to enrich the student experience and boost engagement.
Using Panopto to create desktop recordings – video guides
5 short videos from the LIU covering how to make, edit and publish a desktop recording.
Using Mentimeter to check progress
Mentimeter for Teaching Part 3. This series of articles explores how Mentimeter can be used to enrich the student experience and boost engagement.
Contingency assessments – a guide to resources
As there have been a number of communications about assessments, this guide is designed to pull together all the information you need, point you to the essential information and set…
Creating an Assessment Submission Point in Blackboard
These instructions cover setting up a submission point for an online exam (as part of the contingency plan).
Three ways to add quizzes and interactivity to Panopto recordings
Add interactivity to your videos using Panopto quizzes, Mentimeter or Xerte.
Contingency plan for move to online delivery
An article on using Panopto for desktop recording and running webinars using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.
Contingency plan: Delivering webinars
Guidance material from the LIU for using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra to deliver webinars (live lectures and lessons delivered virtually).
Desktop recording (using Panopto)
To find out more about creating resources for your students using desktop recordings, please read on.
Delivering effective feedback in higher education
Learn more about current feedback practices using our guide to effective feedback in HE.
Using Mentimeter in and out of the classroom
Mentimeter for Teaching Part 1. This series of articles explores how Mentimeter can be used to enrich the student experience and boost engagement.
Virtual Office Hours
If you are working from home due to University closure, it could be useful to set up virtual office hours. The key thing is to make it clear to your…
Delivering effective feedback in PebblePad
Our new resource introduces you to six effective HE feedback practices, their benefits and how you can implement them in PebblePad.
Recording students for assessment
A guide to recording live student presentations for assessment purposes.
Using video to flip the classroom
Earlier this year Senior Research Fellow, Juliet Jain, made her first desktop recording. Interested in using timetabled sessions for active learning, she talks to the LIU about the results.
Writing Multiple Choice Questions
Read on for tips on how to create well-written, reliable and valid multiple choice questions.
Setting up a Blackboard Test Course
A Blackboard Test Course can be useful. Read on for more information.
*New Aug 19: Kaltura submissions – what do I need to tell my students?
If your students need to record their presentations, please ensure they receive this guidance about the new Kaltura Capture recorder.
Grade Mapping in Blackboard
Easy-to-follow, step-by-step, visual guidance which will only take a few minutes of your time to follow.
Creating a PowerPoint Presentation with Narration
Read on to find out how to add a narrative to your PowerPoint presentation.
Using third party content in teaching materials and recordings
For information on the different licences available, exceptions and examples of using copyright content in your teaching material and recordings.
Accessing the Panopto Statistics
If you are using Panopto, you might be interested in viewing the statistics for your recordings.
Slime in the spotlight at CSCT Open Forum
Rather than focusing on traditional laboratory based experimentation the PhySense project enables the general public (Citizen Scientists) to conduct biological experiments and share their experimental results.
Using PowerPoint Presenter Mode
We show you how to use Presenter Mode to hide your PowerPoint notes from your audience.
Six staff describe how PebblePad has enhanced their module
In this video academics from FET tell us how they have used PebblePad to deliver authentic and innovative assessments to students from foundation to masters level.
Summative Blackboard MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) Exam
If you want to run an online multiple choice questions exam under controlled conditions in an exam room, here are step by step instructions. In good time before the exam…
Four examples of the FET Blackboard module template in action
Watch a short video tour of a module site from your department to see how the FET module template can improve student and staff experience.
Technical support in the classroom
Knowing who to contact if you experience any technical difficulties in the classroom can save you considerable time and minimise any disruption to teaching.
How Panopto can benefit our students – a personal story
Written by Danny Elvidge [Senior Lecturer in Building Physics and Services] I’ve fallen in love with Panopto since being trained up two years ago. I now record all of my…
Discussion Boards
When you first use discussion boards with your students, it is a good idea to give them some guidance around the etiquette of using these.
Tips for Distance Learning Delivery
The Learning Innovation Unit has pulled together some tips based on recent experience (2017) of supporting the delivery of postgraduate distance learning programmes
Annotate slides while presenting PowerPoint slideshow
We are often asked for advice about annotating slides and pointing out things on slides during a lecture. This is often in connection with recording the lecture with Panopto, where…
Copyright-free images for use in teaching activities
There are websites that offer copyright-free images, but you still need to check the terms of use on each site, and on each image.
Using Collaborate Ultra for one-to-one sessions
The term ‘webinar’ is perhaps mostly associated with meeting with a group of people, however the technology used for webinars can also be used very effectively as a way of…
Adding a Kaltura file to your Blackboard course
For students to be able to view your recording, you most likely want to add it to the relevant part of your Blackboard module or programme site.
How do I make a film for use in my teaching?
So you have an idea, process or concept that you want to get across to your students but it isn’t physically possible to demonstrate it in the classroom and just talking to them about it doesn’t do it justice…
Feedback Icons in Blackboard Collaborate webinars
Encouraging students to use the feedback icons not only keeps them engaged, it gives you feedback too
Using Polling in a Blackboard Collaborate Webinar
One way of making webinars more interactive, engaging and useful for learners is to use polling
Using Augmented Reality to teach Civil Engineering
Nick Simpson, part of the civil and environmental engineering cluster at UWE, has developed Augmented Reality (AR) models for use in the classroom
Flipped classroom approach used in Engineering, Design and Maths (EDM) department
Catherine Hobbs and Ben Drew have been using the flipped classroom approach in their teaching for several years now.
Using LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) in your module
LinkedIn Learning has dozens of courses covering the subjects taught in FET, so you’ll probably find material to supplement the modules you teach
Using Open Educational Resources (OERs)
OERs are freely available, normally digital assets for research, education and assessment – anything from whole lectures or even courses to images, pictures, software, techniques, sound or films
How students use lecture capture
This Slideshare highlights some of the ways students use lecture capture technology.
Infographic: blended learning
Image source: education infographics on e-Learning Infographics What is your definition of blended learning? Let us know in the comments.
Open Badges – informal learning accreditations
Informal micro credits to encourage and reward participation
Blogging in Social Geography
In the first semester of 2014/15 I worked with a FET lecturer in Geography and Environmental Management, Sara-Jayne Williams, who teaches on a module called Society, Youth & Ageing. Together we developed a plan whereby students would blog about the subject matter and share their blogs with each other in order to construct subject knowledge as a class.
Use images from Flickr – the legal way
Flickr.com has literally millions of images – and many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, which means you are free to use the…
‘Flipped’ learning – what is it?
What is flipping? ‘Flipped learning’ or ‘the flipped classroom’ are recent buzz words/phrases in education. Flipping is an approach that comes in two parts: the ‘transmission’ or ‘delivery’ part of…
What is gamification?
Gamification in education is the use of game thinking and game design elements in non-game contexts to engage learners in problem solving situations. In The Gamification of Higher Education Teaching…