The workshop will explore how the use of technology can assist with increasing student preparation, participation and reflection.

For more information, please see this page http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2012/seminars/disciplines/DW019 .

In January we asked QMUL staff and students to submit names for our new online teaching and learning space which will replace Blackboard, the University’s current Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

This new online environment will be a lot more than Blackboard – it will be a place to:

• Learn – course information, lecture recordings, readings, learning materials…
• Share – new tools for group work, communicating, online CVs….
• Network – create your own profile, start your own groups, make new contacts

We received almost 400 entries and wish to thank everyone who suggested a name. We have shortlisted six names and now invite QMUL staff and students to help us to choose a name from our shortlist. Remember that we are looking for a name that reflects what we stand for at Queen Mary. The winning name will be awarded a £100 Amazon voucher.

Each QM staff or student is allowed only one vote, let your vote be counted.

Vote at: https://surveys.qmul.ac.uk/olename

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Image credit: alancleaver_2000 on flickr

The new online learning environment will be an integration of Moodle (for VLE) and Mahara (for student-led learning and group tools for informal learning).

The new platform will be available for previews and training from March, and people will be able to move and enhance (or start afresh) their course areas from April until September 2012).  It will then be available for teaching over the 2012-13 academic year.

Moodle (and Mahara) is a very different beast to Blackboard.  Though it also functions as a traditional VLE, it also offers the scope to think in new ways and encourage student learning within and beyond teaching and learning on modules.

The E-Learning Unit will be running a comprehensive training programme, both to support you in the practicalities of getting used to the new software, and to help you think about how you might use it to enhance student learning over the coming years.

We will also work closely with Faculties and Schools to ensure that we move at a pace that is right for you, and fit in with your strategies and educational priorities.

Some Schools (in Science and Engineering) do not currently use the centrally supported VLE, and they may want to use the new platform in the first year to explore and trial the possibilities to see what educational advantages it offers to support the ways they teach and support their students’ learning.  There may also be courses where the timescales run over the traditional academic year.  In these instances, we want to be flexible, so do get in touch (s.brenton@qmul.ac.uk) to arrange to meet.

Some of the more advanced functions of Moodle/Mahara will be phased in over time, and the platform will grow as it is integrated with other new technologies that QMUL is adopting.   But it will be available for the core business of effective learning and teaching ready for the next academic year, and offers significant improvements on the old platform.

Timescales

The project will run to a detailed project plan with the various technical and support elements, but academic colleagues the most pertinent timescales are:

January 2012: Implementation project starts.  Discussions with Faculty groups.

February:   Discussions with schools and heavy users of the current VLE about how they want to use it to support their teaching next year.

March:  Previews of the platform, access for staff to start playing/building.  Training and development sessions.

April: Small scale pioneer uses (if you’re interested in being a pioneer, please get in touch with Stella Ekebuisi (s.ekebuisi@qmul.ac.uk).  No new courses built in Blackboard.

April – September: Support for all module convenors to move from Blackboard to the new platform (see transition support, below).

August/September:  Live for all students and staff

Over 2012-13: Courses which start later in the year go live; pioneer uses of Mahara for e-portfolio tools, informal learning networks.  Forums for colleagues to share ideas and examples of effective use.  Projects to look at more advanced tools for complex e-admin uses.  Courses with non-standard timescales can ‘teach out’ in Blackboard.

2013-14: Mature use developing as a tool for teaching and learning and e-admin, student-led learning, learning profiles and informal learning networks.

Transition Support

The approach we take to the transition is key to realising the benefits of the new platform over the old.

Simply moving old content to the new system wholesale will in most cases not make best use of the new functionality or interface, though of course colleagues will want to use it for a basic provision of materials, information and course communications.  Rather like moving house, you would not move your furniture and arrange it exactly the same way in your new, better house.  You might choose to arrange your existing furniture in new ways, or get new furniture entirely.  We’ll support you in both these choices, to either get you up and running quickly with a sensibly arranged and useful course area (which you might then enhance over time as you learn more about the tools it offers), or to realise the potential from the outset for using it as part of the fabric of how you teach.

Colleagues moving from Blackboard to the new platform will therefore be offered two approaches:

1. ‘Move and Enhance’. Module convenors/lecturers can attend one three-hour session from April 2012.  Here, you will learn about the new platform, go into your course area, and rearrange your core learning materials in a sensible fashion, so that you can start using it in your teaching and perhaps develop your use over the year. 
2. ‘Start Afresh and Innovate’. This is a chance to re-examine your use of e-learning and use the new tools to create a rich ‘blended’ learning environment for your students.  You’ll work closely with e-learning professionals, and be given an e-learning assistant to help you develop and build your course area.

The aim here is that people who want to start with basic use can do so with a minimum of disruption, while those who want to use it in more advanced ways are fully supported

Outside of these sessions, we will offer other opportunities (online and offline) about how you can use it in advanced ways, e.g. for student feedback, supporting group work, assessment, student-led learning, using open educational resources or adding more interactivity.  There will also be ways for you to share your ideas and experiences with other colleagues, and to see how others are using it.

There will be exceptions to the above: you may be running a programme which requires a more complex approach to ensure that complex processes are realized in the new environment, or a course which depends entirely on the platform (e.g. distance learning).  In these cases, please get in touch so we can plan your transition and the support you’ll need.

Those who already have mature, successful e-learning presences in Blackboard will be given close assistance to ensure their course functions successfully in Moodle without the need to rebuild it from scratch themselves.

Further details will appear on the E-Learning Unit’s website at www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning.

Overview of the environment

This document gives a brief overview of the main advantages and functionality of the new environment.

Further Information

This website will be used to post more information about the platform as the project progresses.  Over the next few weeks, we will be announcing the training and support provision, and providing details of how to get involved, see previews, give feedback about design and configuration.

Get in Touch

If you have any questions, please email elearning@qmul.ac.uk in the first instance.  We’ll respond directly, and also build a bank of frequently asked questions which we’ll post on this website.  And if you would like to be a pioneer to get in early, or be involved in feedback for the name, we’d love to hear from you.

What will it be called?

‘Moodle and Mahara’ is a bit of a mouthful, and this is more than just a ‘VLE’ replacement, offering as it does more flexible tools for learning outside taught courses, so it needs a catchy, descriptive name.  We’re running a naming competition for students and staff – do suggest something!

Thanks…

… to everyone involved in the project to select and procure the new platform.  It has been chosen because it is much the best fit with the requirements that colleagues and students across QM contributed, and I’m really grateful for all your work and help.  We’re confident that, while this is only software and software by itself does nothing, colleagues and students will be able to use it to help themselves – and QM – realise our educational ambitions.

Sam Brenton, Head of E-Learning

January 2012

Photo Credit

Matt Brown on Flickr.

• 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

The E-Learning Networking Event was an opportunity to hear from and share ideas with other colleagues around the University who use various technology tools as part of their teaching (including the VLE, Q-Review lecture capture, BOS surveys, Turnitin, Clickers, Camtasia screen recorder, Youtube, Twitter and others).

There were many interesting E-Learning conversations captured at this event, and we plan to take the networking to an online community very soon, where members can continue to discuss and share ideas with colleagues online. Do stay tuned.

In the meantime, we invite you to join our E-Learning Practitioners’ Mailing List. This list is used to publish information about e-learning developments, and for people who are doing e-learning to communicate, discuss, share ideas and experiences.

More information about the E-Learning Mailing List is on this blogpost: http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/news-and-events/join-the-e-learning-practitioners-email-list/

Here are some photos captured from the Networking Event:

You can cast your vote for your favourite name: http://www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/elearning/news-and-events/olenaming/

Voting will close on 27th February 2012.

——

Blackboard is being replaced with a new online environment.

We invite you to be a part of the change and help us to name this new online space.

Enter our naming competition and you could win £100 in Amazon vouchers.

This new online environment will be a lot more than Blackboard – it will be a place to:

• Learn - course information, lecture recordings, readings, learning materials…
• Share - new tools for group work, communicating, online CVs….
• Network – create your own profile, start your own groups, make new contacts

We’re looking for a name that sounds great and reflects what we stand for at Queen Mary. So if you have an idea for a name (or more than one) we would love to hear from you.

Competition Guidelines:
(See Terms and Conditions below)

1. Enter your idea in the form below by midnight of the 23rd of January 2012.
2. We will then create a shortlist of the best entries and post a poll for a vote in February.
3. The winner will receive £100 of Amazon vouchers.

Image Credit dubh on Flickr

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY WILL BE MIDNIGHT ON THE 23RD JANUARY 2012. ENTRIES RECEIVED AFTER THIS WILL NOT BE INCLUDED.

Terms and Conditions:

1. This competition is open to all QMUL students and staff members only.
2. Entrants must be able to verify that they are a QMUL student or staff member in a timely manner.
3. Entrants cannot enter trademark or copyright names.
4. Entrants can enter as many times as they wish.
5. The Learning Institute staff are not eligible to win the prize, but can submit names.
6. Management reserve the right to disqualify entrants at their discretion.
7. Management reserve the right to modify an entry as they deem appropriate.
8. If a suggested name is submitted by more than one entrant, the first entrant will be considered the ‘owner’ of that suggested name.
9. Similar names will not be counted and will be considered the same – E.g. ‘yourname’, ‘YOURname’, ‘URname’, ‘your-name’ etc. are all considered the same.
10. Entrants agree to having their name included in publications should their entry win.

Professor Della Freeth from the Centre for Medical Education will be delivering a seminar entitled “Supporting accomplished facilitation: Using appreciative inquiry to underpin the development of web-based self-directed learning materials for faculty working in clinical simulation centres”.

For further details, including how to book a place, please see the seminar web page on the Learning Institute web site.

All staff are invited to join us at our E-Learning Networking and Social Event where you can talk to others engaged in e-learning over a glass of wine and light nibbles.

Details are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, 7th December 2011
Time: 4:00pm-6:00pm
Venue: The Senior Common Room, Queens Building, Mile End Campus
RSVP: To assist with catering, please register by completing the form below

This is an opportunity for you to hear from and share ideas with other colleagues around the University who use various technology tools as part of their teaching (including the VLE, Q-Review lecture capture, BOS surveys, Turnitin, Clickers, Camtasia screen recorder, Youtube, Twitter and others).

Find out how others are using e-learning to enhance the student experience and get some practical tips and best practice advice.

For more information, please email us at: elearning@qmul.ac.uk

You can also subscribe to our E-Learning Practitioners’ mailing list by entering your email address via this link: http://www.lists.qmul.ac.uk/sympa/subscribe/elearning-practitioners

Photo Credit:
oooh.oooh on Flickr

We have set up an email list for people engaged in or interested in e-learning.  Join in!

It is used to publish information about e-learning developments, and for people who are doing e-learning to communicate, discuss, share ideas and experiences.

We will send a termly bulletin of latest information to the list, as well as regular updates about new services, development and funding opportunities.  We will also use it to consult on new initiatives and ideas, and will organise a termly networking/social event, so that anyone interested in e-learning has the opportunity to meet and talk with others doing similar things.

The focus for this list is on sharing e-learning practice and ideas from an educational perspective (focusing on the ‘learning’ rather than the ‘e’).  Please don’t use this list for support requests or purely technical queries.

We are also always looking for short case studies of innovative uses of e-learning.  These might be an audio interview, or a single page overview of what you are doing.  These are published on our website and linked to in the bulletins we send to this list.  If you’d like to volunteer for a case study, please content Alysa Bramble on a.bramble@qmul.ac.uk.  The most valuable exchange is always when people learn from what other people are doing in practice, so do feel able to share your thoughts, ideas and experiences.

To join the email list (elearning-practitioners@qmul.ac.uk), either:

• go to http://www.lists.qmul.ac.uk/sympa, click on ‘Teaching and Learning’, then ‘elearning-practitioners@qmul.ac.uk’ and click ‘subscribe’ (there are many more QM lists you can join there, too), or
• send an email from your QMUL address to sympa@lists.qmul.ac.uk with the subject as:  subscribe elearning-practitioners <your first name> <your surname>  (e.g.:  ” subscribe elearning-practitioners Joanna Bloggs “).

Next year, we hope to move it fully online, to have a full set of online interest groups for different areas of e-learning.  For now, see you on email!

Image credit: AJC1 on Flickr

Overview: This is an online session which will introduce QMULs Virtual Learning Environment, Blackboard.

In this 60-minute webinar, participants will be given an online tour of Blackboard and will be able to observe a brief demonstration of the commonly used tools across QM. Participants will receive other tips to get started, as well as instructions of where to get further help.

The session is aimed at academic staff who are just starting out with the VLE or who are perhaps thinking about using it.

Requirements: You will need a computer with internet connection and Flash, along with speakers (or a headset).

To register, please go to our online course booking site at:
www.learninginstitute.qmul.ac.uk/booking or email us.

Instructions of how to participate will be sent closer to the date once you have registered for this event.