Introducing the TELHub

Last week we launched the TELHub - the TEL team's new web resource. This includes both user guides and information about all the services which TEL support, and a number of case studies from colleagues around the University of innovative and exciting ways they're using technology in their work.

These case studies highlight some of the brilliant work that's going on around campus, where technology is being used in a variety of ways. To just pick out a few, this includes Sam Marsh, on the successful way he has helped implement flipped classrooms in Maths & Statistics; Claire Beecroft, on the use of the free Go!Animate tool to create role plays in medical education; Jeremy Craven, on the use of tablet technology to capture hand-writing in science lectures; Gary Wood on the award-winning AllAboutLinguistics website, where students were tasked with creating a real-world website in replacement of a traditional website; and Andrea Fox on how MOLE has been used to deliver course materials to distance learners in Nursing & Midwifery.

We will be growing the TELHub, and welcome all suggestions for further Case Studies. If you, or colleagues, are doing interesting work with technology in learning and teaching, and would like to be interviewed (whether on camera or not), please get in touch at tel@sheffield.ac.uk.

Winter TELFest - Day Three

Sorry for the late report this time - I was busy at a PebblePad training day in Birmingham yesterday - but here are the highlights of the closing day of another successful TELFest.

The day began with an App Swap Breakfast, hosted by Andy Tattersall of ScHARR and Graham McElearney of CiCS. This saw colleagues sharing a wide range of mobile apps that they use in Learning & Teaching, fortified by a selection of Danish pastries. This revealed a host of apps that people are using, including organisation apps such as Wunderlist, Trello and Ideas Catylist, collaboration tools such as Skitch, and media creation tools such as YouTube Capture, Adobe Voice and Voice Recorder HD. The session ended with Andy giving 12 Apps we really should be using in 2015 (many of which also feature in this post from the ScHARR Library blog).

This was followed by a double-header of Turnitin Training by Zafer Ali, with the first session covering the basics of setting up assignments, and the second looking at marking on the iPad using the Turnitin app.

Next, the lunchtime session looked at different ways colleagues have used mobile technology to enhance learning and teaching. Bob Johnston and Graham McElearney began, telling of the development of mobile systems for field work in Archaeology. Beginning in 2006, developing for PDA technology, this work was rendered more or less obsolete with the launch of smartphones, with the same video material now delivered to students' own devices such as iPads via iTunesU for offline viewing, and same devices running GIS and other data collection software. One important tip was to consider the use of whatever system is used with students, to ensure the skills are relevant once they have graduated.

This was followed by a short talk by Nik Reeves-McLaren, of Material Science and Engineering, who told of his use of LectureTools. Inspired by theories of why traditional face-to-face lectures are often an inadequate teaching format, Nik used the system in two new modules, to allow students to interact with the lecture. This was done by allowing the lecturer to pose questions and polls, as well as providing a system for questions and flags of confusion to be asked electronically. Feedback from students was generally positive, with students giving indication they found it enhanced their enjoyment, and would like to see its use expanded. Nik was followed by the School of Law's Claire McGourlay, who was using LectureTools in a similar way, and reiterated the positive feedback from students.

The festival ended with Pete Mella and James Slack giving a talk on the uses for Lecture Recording and Personal Capture, using the University's MyEcho system. The talk gave a practical demonstration of how the software is used, discussion of different ways it can be used, and an exploration of some of the concerns of its use, such as lecture attendance.

And that's it for another festival! Thanks to all delegates and speakers, and we hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did. Keep your eyes on our newly-launched TELHub for announcements for what's coming up at the next TELFest, later in the year, as well as case studies, how-to guides and much more.

Winter TELFest - Day Two

Yesterday saw the second day of the three day Winter TELFest. The day started with some hands-on sessions, with introductions to the e-portfolio system PebblePad, led by Zafer Ali, and using Google Sites in learning and teaching, led by Graham McElearney ad Neil Everill.

The lunchtime session was on Making MOOCs Work for you. Dr Marie Kinsey, the University's Academic Lead on MOOCs, introduced the concept of Massive Open Online Courses, and a panel consisting of colleagues who have worked on recent projects, consisting of Dr Chris Stoke (Dentistry), Pamela Hafekost (Library), Dr Katherine Stevens (School of Health and Related Research), and Dr Adam Smith (English). All told of their experiences of devising, creating and delivering MOOCs for the University.

The panel talked through the very different MOOCs they've worked, on topics as diverse as Careers skills, Country House literature, Dentistry and measuring health. All panelists emphasised the enjoyment they had experienced as teachers, delivering their courses to thousands of users, with some interesting observations. Adam, who was a mentor on the Literature of the Country House MOOC, was surprised to see how students were as hungry for participation, and an insight into the University, as they were the content of the course. Pamela, who led the Careers Service mini-MOOCs giving interview and application skills, was impressed by how learners were both enthusiastic, and supportive and kind to other participants. Chris, leader of Discovering Dentistry, one of the University's first MOOCs, said he is now seeing UCAS applications from students who undertook the cause and were inspired to apply for a full degree.

Katherine, one of the most recent academics to be involved in MOOCs, emphasised how much she has enjoyed the process, and that academics do not need technical skills to launch their own MOOCs, with a dedicated central team that works to bring ideas to fruition. All emphasised that the innovation is not through the technology itself, which is using systems that have been around for a while, but its way of enabling this kind of teaching on such a large scale. Katherine described this as "making us think differently about how we see teaching", with Adam seeing MOOCs not as a form that will replace traditional teaching, but a "entirely new genre of interactive broadcasting". There was talk of MOOCs improving how we create e-learning material for all students, with Chris mentioning materials created for the Dentistry MOOC are being repurposed for traditional students in the forthcoming AchieveMore faculty-wide challenge.

The flexibility of how MOOCs are being used around the world was also discussed, with one notable example being a school in Bangkok where all students are undertaking the University of Sheffield Careers Service MOOC. The benefits of undertaking MOOCs seemed clear, using it to disseminate research, increase the profile of the University among a diverse range of people, and change the way we look at online learning. The panel closed with a prediction of where MOOCs are going, with a general consensus that whether we still call them MOOCs or not, they will become a normal, everyday part of the educational landscape.

Tuesday's TELFest ended with a session on getting started on Twitter, led by Farzana Latif. In this session, delegates explored the use of Twitter in their own context, identifying ways they can make the most of this dynamic teaching tool both inside and outside the classroom.

Another great day at TELFest, today sees the final day with a packed schedule. See here for more details.

Winter TELFest - Day One

Yesterday saw the launch of 2015's Winter TELFest, an "mini" three day festival following from the success of the CiCS Technology Enhanced Learning Team's festival of technology in learning that took place in September 2014.

The day started with an Introduction to MOLE by Zafer Ali, giving the basics of the University's Virtual Learning Environment. This was followed by a packed session, delivered by Danny Monaghan and Pete Mella, exploring how to make Exemplary MOLE Courses. This included such topics as improving course structure, using assessment, and adding rich media. Danny introduced Blackboard's Exemplary Course Programme, giving future plans to create an institutional peer review system to share good practice in creating MOLE courses.

This was followed by the lunchtime launch event, introduced by Patrice Panella and officially launched by Pro-Vice Chancellor for Learning & Teachning, Prof Ann Peat. Prof Peat highlighted the importance of changing alongside students in a rapidly changing world, and talked of future strategic plans, including the University's Digital Learning Group, which includes MOOCs and iTunesU.

The theme of lunchtime's presentations was sharing practice. The first speaker was Prof Alistair Warren of the Faculty of Science, discussing the recent project his faculty undertook as part of the AchieveMore. Led by his colleague Luke Wilson, this saw the entire faculty's first year cohort - some 1,400 students - engaging in reflecting practice around a groupwork assignment. The assignment was geared around helping new students transition from school to University, building on a variety of learning skills.

The sheer number of students led to a significant challenge, and it was identified that the reflection had to be collected electronically. PebblePad was chosen as the ideal system, with its emphasis on reflection, accessibility and MOLE integration, and ease of managing and reporting on submissions. This proved to be a very effective tool which worked without any major problems, although useful feedback was given in ways the system could be improved for this kind of project.

Next up was Gary Wood, of University of Sheffield Enterprise, talking about the student-generated AllAboutLinguistics website he led as part of his former role in the Department of Linguistics. This was a student project identifying a real need - not only to introduce first year students to the varied topics surrounding Linguistics, but to create a real-world resource that would fulfil a knowledge gap in A Level students on what Linguistics actually entails.

Gary used Google Sites to create the website, which was intuitive and easy to use for students, without any coding skills necessary. Using page-level permissions, the site was set up students could see, and get inspiration from, other groups' pages, but only edit their own. Students were encouraged to incorporate a wide range of multimedia in the site, using a range of technologies including YouTube, Dipity, Hot Potatoes, Soundcloud and Screenr.

The project proved very successful and popular with students, who appreciated the authentic experience of creating a website for a real purpose. As one student told Gary, they found it more worthwhile than creating an essay that will "sit in a drawer gathering dust". It was great to see how engaged students were in this project, and the positive impact it had on the School's web presence. Gary left with an inspirational quote: "“Empower students with tools, opportunity & freedom, trust them, and they’ll show you how awesome they can be”.

Finally the Department of Hispanic Studies' Dr Rhian Davies gave a talk on the Adaptation & Transformation module she created with Claire Allam of LeTS, which was launched to help engage students studying Spanish literature. Quoting a student who described studying literature as "torture", the module sees students studying works by Galdos, Rivas and Lorca, using video as a creative medium to bring this works to life in a modern setting. This has seen students interpret the source material in surprising and innovative ways, with one work used to explore topics as diverse as same sex marriage and immigration.

The module allows students to collaborate on literature study, with feedback clearly showing this allows for greater understanding. Aside from that students find it fun, and are deeply proud of the work they create. One student invited all her family and neighbours round to watch her group's video - would anyone have shared a traditional essay in the same way?

The final session of the day was Danny Monaghan on Blackboard's new features, that came in with the 2014 upgrade of MOLE. This includes anonymous and delegated marking, a new group management tool, and lots and enhancements of existing features.

As well as this, TEL staff were on hand for drop-in sessions, and there were great networking opportunities throughout the day.

A great start to the festival, with two days to go! For more details see here.