• Notes
• E-Learning – An Introduction.   This expands on the themes and examples. Chapter in H.Fry, S.Ketteridge and S.Marshall (eds.) A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 3rd Ed. London, Kogan Page.
• E-Learning Services leaflet
• Some ideas for effective e-learning
• Join the email list

I will also post the materials from the other e-learning presentations here after the event.

- Sam

Launched in the summer of 2010, the E-Learning Production Service provides funding for members of Queen Mary staff embarking on e-learning activities that benefit students.  We appreciate that academic and other staff don’t always have the time or technical skills to bring good e-learning ideas to fruition and whilst we don’t have the resource to complete projects ourselves, we were keen to plug this apparent “production gap”.

The resource we provide is in the form of dedicated E-Learning Assistants.  These are Queen Mary students recruited for specific projects and given the necessary technical training.  Given that all students will graduate into an increasingly competitive employment market, we are delighted to provide an opportunity for them to develop their professional skills, work closely with academic staff and earn money.  We pay the students well, expect them to work to a high standard and support them throughout their work with a mentor from the E-Learning Unit.

Since its launch, the production service has funded seven projects in five departments – both academic and professional services – and there are more proposals due to start during 2011/12.  E-Learning Assistants were recruited from all three faculties and worked on a wide range of initiatives, including:

• supporting lecture capture on a distance learning programme in post-graduate medicine
• an online course to improve students’ awareness of what makes an effective job application
• a learning resource to support Medical students in their preparation for “Short-Answer-Question” (SAQ) exams
• audio recordings in the VLE to supplement teaching on a Czech History module

So far, staff and student response to the service has been overwhelmingly positive.  In 2010, Dr Hoda Wassif had been making significant enhancements to the way clinical skills are taught in Paediatric Dentistry.  We recruited PhD student Hanadi Lingawi as an e-learning assistant to work with her to develop electronic flash cards as part of this project.  Talking about the project, Dr Wassif says:

I had the idea to use a “Question Box” that included various points, questions and scenarios on index cards – students pick a card at random and we discuss its content.   With the e-learning assistant, we were able to have the resource available for students online. The format was the same; however, students were offered hints and key points at the end of each case… the aim is not to answer a simple question at the end of each case, rather think about the topic, the patient and the management in general…

Each project we fund enables a student to gain technical skills and enhance their employability as they are presented with the challenge of working with professionals in an area which is new to them.  Alice Middleton is a 4^th year dental student who worked as an e-learning assistant during the summer of 2011, developing a short online module on Clinical Governance.  She found the experience particularly rewarding, working with a subject she was due to study in her final year:

I’m really proud of the e learning tutorial we produced and learnt a lot whilst doing it.

I think the scheme is brilliant and I’m now going to try and convince another tutor at the dental school to apply for a project to help students understand oral pathology!

To find out more and to apply for resource for a project of your own, please see:

www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/service/production

Photo Credit

GrowWear on Flickr

In the evaluation survey for the pilot service, 95% of students said it was useful for their studies, and 100% of lecturers who had used it said they would recommend it to others. Students said that:

“<This service> is invaluable to my current high grades”

“Recordings allow students the opportunity to go over vital material and compare <the recordings> with notes to ensure all relevant <topics> are covered”.

“The viewpoint of a tutor or lecturer is essentially what a university student pays for, if we were able to review the thoughts and words of our lecturers we would not only feel more comfortable
but more satisfied”.

“This was really useful during my revision period where I was able to make sure I had written down important points from the… lectures.

I think it was one of the reasons why I obtained a first for that module”.

Q-Review offers staff the option to have their lectures recorded and distributed to their students with no additional work for the staff member. The room records automatically and the recordings are distributed to students via Blackboard or by email. You retain full control of your recordings and can edit or delete them as you wish.

It will record video, audio, and the presenters screen (e.g. PowerPoint, notations or webpages) and combine these into a user-friendly format. If you would prefer not to appear on video, it can also be set to record just audio or just audio plus screen.

Here is a sample image taken from a training session that one of the ELU recorded in the E-Learning Studio. (Click on image to enlarge).

The facility is now in the following rooms:

• The E-Learning Studio, Learning Institute, Francis Bancroft Building, Mile End
• David Sizer LT, Mile End
• Draper’s LT, Mile End
• Mason’s LT, Mile End
• Math’s LT, Mile End
• G O Jones LT, Mile End
• Arts 1 LT, Mile End
• Arts 2 LT, Mile End
• Laws 2.10, Mile End
• Geography 1.26, Mile End
• Skeel LT, Mile End
• Room 209, Mile End
• Perrin LT, Whitechapel
• Milton LT, Whitechapel
• Morris LT, Charterhouse Square
• Willoughby LT, Charterhouse Square
• Clark Kennedy, Innovation Centre

If you would like to use it this coming year, please let us know so that Room Bookings can try to schedule your lectures in Q-Review ready rooms.

If you cannot gain access to an equipped room or you would like to record off-site or at home we can also give you a mobile version on a laptop or install it on yours. Angie Raymond, from the School of Law, talks about her use of this version, called Personal Capture, here: http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/reviews/angie-raymond/

If you, or your colleagues, would like us to prioritise the new installations into rooms that you make frequent use of – please let us know.

You can find out what students said here and what staff thought of the system here. Also see our series of interviews with staff who have used the system in our Case Studies series here.

You can find out more about the service and see some examples here: http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/services/q-review-lecture-capture/

The project team are happy to talk to any member of QM about this service in any context. If you are interested email elearning@qmul.ac.uk

This post contains various presentations and materials from the event.  More will be added after it runs, and I’ll also add any useful links or bits of information that arise from the discussions.

• Programme for the day
• Guidance notes for distance learning (Word – Sam Brenton)
• Support contacts for distance learning (Pdf – Sam Brenton)
• Models and Techniques (PowerPoint – Sam Brenton)
• Helping with new course development (Powerpoint, Ben Fowler, Corporate Affairs)
• Dr Maralyn Druce Presentation (PowerPoint – intranet)
• Professor Trisha Greenhalgh Presentation (PowerPoint – intranet)
• Dr Virginia Hubbard Presenation (PowerPoint – intranet)

Post-Event Update

The group also agreed that, because there is a critical mass of interest, it would be useful to continue discussions and the sharing of ideas and experiences through an email list.  This has been set up as SMD-distancelearning@qmul.ac.uk.  Colleagues asked that the attendees of the event were automatically subscribed.  Others who may be interested can subscribe by:

• Going to http://www.lists.qmul.ac.uk
• Logging in with your QM username and password
• Browse for the list under Medicine and Dentistry (or search ‘distancelearning’)
• Click ‘Subscribe’

OR: Just send an email from your QMUL address to sympa@lists.qmul.ac.uk with the subject as:  subscribe SMD-distancelearning <your first name> <Your surname>

For example: Subject:           subscribe SMD-distancelearning Sam Brenton

Are you currently a student at Queen Mary? Are you interested in the use of technology in education? Are you confident with computers? Would you like to earn some money?

The E-Learning Unit is currently looking to employ students to fill two E-Learning Assistant vacancies. In each role, you would be helping staff to develop online learning materials for students in the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

For further details on these opportunities including details of what’s required, hours and pay, and how to apply, please see our pages on the E-Learning Production Scheme at:

http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/services/production/assistants/current-opportunities/

The deadline for applications for these vacancies are 5pm on Thursday 23 June 2011 and 5pm Friday 24 June 2011.

If this isn’t the right opportunity for you, keep an eye out for others during the year. If you’d like to register to be informed when opportunities arise, please go to http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/services/production/assistants/register/

Photo Credit

Eric Magnuson on Flickr

Firefox recently released a new version of it’s browser – Firefox 4. This browser has not yet been tested and certified by Blackboard and is unsupported by Blackboard and the E-Learning Unit. We are still investigating the details.

As of now, the HTML Creator is one feature that does not work in Firefox 4 on windows-based PC’s. If you use the HTML creator (to format and add images to your headers, discussions, assignments, mail, etc.) then we recommend that you do not upgrade to the new Firefox 4. There is no set date for when this feature may be available.

If you have already upgraded to Firefox 4 and experience browser issues, then please use another browser (as far as we know, the HTML creator will work on Internet Explorer and Safari).

Please see a list of Blackboard supported browsers here: http://kb.blackboard.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=25368512

and also follow the suggested solutions to common browser issues here: http://kb.blackboard.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=45581177

Regards,

VLE Admin

There are 3 main steps, and I have have created a short video (well, it’s 8 minutes long) describing these steps in more detail, as I thought it may be of interest to others.

Although the movie describes the steps to create only 2 assignments for only 2 sets of students, the same principle can be applied if you wanted to release several different assignments to several sets of students. You could also release other content in the same way, not only an assignment, but also a document or a quiz .

Here are the general steps to create 2 assignments to be released to 2 different sets of students:

1. First, you will need to identify in Blackboard your different sets of students.

   There are different ways to do this. For instance, you could set up different Groups via the Group Manager, and allocate your students to different groups. Or, you could create a column in the Grade Book, and identify your students that way. In my movie example, I’ve chosen to do the latter.

2. Then, create 2 different assignments (or other content) in Blackboard
3. Finally, set the Release Criteria so that one assignment will be released to one set of students, and the other assignment will be released to the other set.

Take a look at this short(ish) video of the steps to do this…if you have speakers or a headset, then you can listen to the audio, otherwise, I’ve also included some text so that you can follow along without the sound…

If the video above is too small, you can view an enlarged version here: http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/support/vle/selectivereleasemovie/

If you have any questions, please contact us via our online helpdesk and click on the Request button: https://helpdesk.its.qmul.ac.uk

Photo Credit

Michael Yat Kit Chung on Flickr

Here at the E-Learning Unit, we regularly talk to academic and support staff who are enthusiastic about the impact technology can have.  Sometimes it’s about introducing audience voting systems into large lectures… exploring the possibilities of shared notes and reading lists… designing online tests to improve academic writing.  All of these are great initial ideas that could have a real impact on teaching and learning here at Queen Mary.

However, not everyone has the time or the technical skills needed to turn bring these ideas to fruition.  As learning technologists, my colleagues and I are always happy to advise on technologies, or the direction a project might take, and can provide some training.  But to kick-start a new initiative takes time, and that’s where the E-Learning Production Service can help.

Through the scheme, we will recruit and train a Queen Mary student to work with you as an E-Learning Assistant.  All we ask is that on completion, you share your experiences of the project and its impact through either a case study or presentation.

To find out more and  to apply for funding, please see:
http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/services/production

Photo Credit

Russ Morris on Flickr

Several journals and books are available in PDF formats which can be read on a computer using PDF readers such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. However, there are some other free software available that allow underlining and highlighting the text within a PDF file and converting a Word document to a PDF. Furthermore, they allow making comment and adding text in the PDF file for future reference. By reading a PDF on a computer will have several benefits – including but not limited to

• You will be saving money on printing charges
• You will be saving environment by printing less
• You can store/keep all your file in a USB drive or on cloud computing
• You can carry all your files wherever you go

Please go to our tutorial site where you will find step by step process to download, install and use a free PDF software.

http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/support/student-support-various-tools/pdfreaders/