Happy New Year from E T!

E@T Newsletter – January 2008 Happy New Year from E@T! Welcome to the first E@T Newsletter of 2008. We hope you had a relaxing Christmas and are looking forward to the year ahead!

In this issue we’ll be recapping on some of the events of last year and looking ahead to some of the things we have coming up for you this term.

Last term was an eventful one for E@T with VLE Manager Kate Boardman taking up the post of Head of E-learning. Chris Cooper of SCM has subsequently been appointed to the post of VLE Manager and will soon start work here in CLQE, so congratulations to both and welcome to Chris!

On the back of some interesting E@T Lunches last term we are lining up some more external speakers for you this term. Full details will appear here in the monthly newsletter but you can also find the latest information on forthcoming events on our blog. You can read the blog by clicking on the Staff Lounge tab in Blackboard, then clicking the E@T News icon. Keep an eye out too for our new Workshop Programme publication available via the Staff Lounge tab in Blackboard where you’ll find full details of our expanded schedule of drop-ins and healthy eating ideas. E@T Lunch Review: Student VLE Helpers

The final E@T Lunch of last term was presented by Brian Irwin of Sheffield Hallam’s Learning Technologies Team. Brian has been working on the Student Assistant project at Hallam where undergraduate students are employed to help with the creation of course materials for Blackboard modules and the session explored the benefits and drawbacks of the scheme from the staff and student perspectives as well as looking at how a Student Assistant programme could benefit other institutions. E@T Lunch Review: E-portfolios and PDP

November 8th saw the first E@T Lunch of the term when we welcomed Federica Oradini to Teesside to talk about e-portfolios. Federica is an Online Learning Officer at the University of Westminster and has overseen the successful implementation of an e- portfolio system for all students, and it was very beneficial for us to hear her share her experiences of the implementation process, as we went about launching our own e- portfolio tool. At Westminster a Blackboard authored e-portfolio tool was used initially, and although this was successful it required a very high level of support to staff and students. Since then Westminster have adopted use of the same blog and wiki tools for e-portfolios that we have at Teesside, and these have proved very popular and a lot easier to use. As well as talking about how she had supported staff with the implementation of the e-portfolio tool, Federica showed some videos of students expressing how beneficial they had found the whole PDP process, and how they felt it had enabled them to look at themselves and their skills and achievements and progress in a number of ways. Connect: Academic Social Networking

E@T Lunch on Nov 8th was a two for the price of one deal, with Federica going on to tell us about the University-wide Social Networking tool that has recently been implemented at Westminster. It’s called Connect and allows students and staff to form social networks and study groups in much the same way that anyone can use the hugely popular site Facebook. It’s early days, but take-up suggests students are keen to use it.

Expo E-portfolio Tool Update The e-portfolios E@T Lunch provided us with an excellent opportunity to launch our own e-portfolio system. You will note that an extra tab has appeared in Blackboard, named My Portfolio. When you click on it you will find information on how your portfolio is arranged by default, as well as links to a range of useful resources and websites for Personal Development Planning. You will also see a link here to My Portfolio. When you click on it you will be taken to your portfolio which you will see is divided into four default sections that you may wish to use as a framework. They are; My Learning Log, My Curriculum Vitae, My Action Plans and My Evidence Checklist. You will also see a link to My Directory that allows you to search for other user’s portfolios. By default your portfolio is not viewable by other people, so you will only be able to view other people’s portfolios if they have chosen to share theirs with you. The other section visible is What’s all this then? - this explains the portfolio layout, and suggests ways in which you may want to use it. E@T are actively working with colleagues around campus to create more detailed or specific templates - let us know if you’d like one too! you may also want to consider using the e- portfolio tool as a space for your personal blog.

E@T Lunch Review: Freshers 2012

On December 5th Nicole Cargill-Kipar joined us to E@T lunch and gave a thought- provoking presentation on ‘Freshers 2012’. Nicole is the Flexible Learning Co-ordinator at Heriot-Watt University and her presentation asked what our potential future students, who are just a few years away from starting university, will think of the current generation of VLEs. Nicole thinks VLEs need to evolve rapidly, and highlighted some of the issues that we as HE practitioners need to consider with regard to connecting with a whole generation of students who are accustomed to social networking and being completely immersed in technology as a matter of course. Nicole talked about some of the technology already used in Scotland at Secondary School level that allows students to engage and collaborate with any one of literally hundreds of thousands of students at other schools throughout the Scotland. In contrast university VLEs such as Blackboard only allow contact with students within the same course in an academic context, and their limitations could contribute to the students of tomorrow feeling disconnected, and as if they are taking a step backwards, at exactly the time when they are expecting to find new and innovative teaching and experiences. Durham UK Blackboard Users’ Conference Just before Christmas E@T attended the Durham Blackboard UK Users Conference. The theme of the conference was Connectivism (joined-up learning) and there were a number of interesting papers. Debra of E@T took part in a Question Time style debate on Second Life along with Mark Gamble and David Pike of the University of Bedfordshire. For the past couple of months E@T and Bedfordshire have been exploring the potential for effective use of the virtual reality world as an environment for education. The debate centered on exactly that; does Second Life present real opportunities to educators to develop students skills beyond the realms of the classroom, and provide a unique method of distributing learning through knowledge networks? Or is it just an over-hyped fad, distracting us from the real business of formal structured learning? Other highlights included Marios Stamoulos’ (of Newcastle College) range of development tools created using AJAX technology and some Blackboard modules that had received a thorough make over from staff and students in the Art and Design department at Kingston University. Blackboard had some staff in attendance as well, and it was interesting to see some screenshots of the latest version, which promises some exciting improvements. One feature we would love to see is drag and drop, which those of you who are already using ClassTop to build and edit your modules will be getting a taste for. ClassTop also allows you to work on your Blackboard modules offline. If you haven’t tried it yet, you can download it from the Staff Lounge tab. Central Workshop Programme DATE/TIME WORKSHOP Wednesday 30th January, 13:00-15:00 Course Genie Friday 1st February 10:00-12:00 Getting Started with Images Wednesday 6th February 13:00-15:00 Podcasting & RSS Friday 8th February 10:00-12:00 Blogs & RSS Wednesday 13th February 13:00-15:00 Wikis and Group Work Friday 15th February 10:00-12:00 Surveys, Tests & Assignments Wednesday 20th February 13:00-15:00 Developing Online Practice Friday 22nd February 10:00-12:00Using Video Online Wednesday 27th February 13:00-15:00 Using Turnitin Friday 29th February 10:00-12:00 Copyright Wednesday 5th March 13:00-15:00 Inclusive Design (Accessible Online Modules) Friday 7th March 10:00-12:00 Course Genie Wednesday 12th March 13:00-15:00 Getting Started with Images Online Friday 14th March 10:00-12:00 Podcasting & RSS Wednesday 19th March 13:00-15:00 Wikis & Group Work Friday 21st March 10:00-12:00 Blogs and RSS Wednesday 26th March 13:00-15:00 Using Turnitin Friday 28th March 10:00-12:00 Using Video Online

To book a place on any of these workshops please contact [email protected] You can find details of scheduled one-hour workshops and drop-ins out in the Schools on our Workshop Programme which is available via the Staff Lounge tab in Blackboard as a PDF and a Word document.

E@T Well!