In this post I discuss the ethical issues that are developing with the use of some AI image generation services.
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eCoffee in 2021-22
It’s been a while since the “@SGH” part of eCoffee has been strictly accurate, but we’ve had another year of valuable virtual meet-ups.
Read moreBlackboard and VLE Awards: 10th anniversary
Our 10th Blackboard & VLE Awards gave us plenty to celebrate! In this post we reveal the winning courses and share some highlights from this year’s event.
Read moreBlackboard and VLE Awards 2022
Rewarding excellence. The 2022 Blackboard and VLE award nominations are open. Nominate your module to be shortlisted today.
Read moreA year of eCoffees
In person, eCoffee@SGH provided opportunities not only for peer learning and support with TEL tools and techniques but also for forging connections. Since we’ve been meeting online, that opportunity has felt just as important – if not more so. Sharing
Read moreBlackboard & VLE Awards 2021
In a year of many challenges, one common story is that students feel short-changed by their online learning experience. It’s therefore been both heartening and humbling to receive 1235 nominations from students for our 9th annual Blackboard & Virtual Learning
Read moreBlackboard & VLE Awards 2020
The university’s Virtual Learning Environment Awards were particularly virtual this year, with winners announced via a Twitter event and a Special Edition Newsletter. Students’ insight throughout the process is key, with student representatives taking time to select a shortlist from
Read moreWhat do this year’s Blackboard & VLE Awards tell us about remote learning?
At the point we launched this year’s search for examples of excellent use of virtual learning environments, we didn’t know we’d all be moving in! With learning shifted to virtual spaces, it’s useful to reflect on what this year’s nominations
Read moreDeveloping a VR Experience: Major Trauma Resuscitation Simulation
Background We are working with colleagues in Medicine, Health Sciences, and staff at the Southampton General Hospital Emergency Department to capture a Major Trauma Resuscitation Simulation in 360 degree video. When viewed in a virtual reality headset, the audience is
Read moreBlackboard & VLE Awards 2020
Nominations for the university’s annual Blackboard & VLE Awards competition are now open, giving you the opportunity to feed back on what you find most helpful in a virtual learning environment, and to put forward examples of courses that do
Read moreeCoffee @ SGH: Video meetings and tutorials
December’s eCoffee involved an experimental live event: could we run a session about video meetings simultaneously as a face-to-face session and online for remote participants? While this sounds like something that potentially could involve specialist equipment and planning, we took
Read moreeCoffee @ SGH: Working more efficiently
Ahead of this month’s eCoffee we asked colleagues for recommendations for tools that support organisation, planning and efficiency, and took the opportunity during the session to try some of these out. Office 365 and Microsoft Teams Office 365 includes various
Read moreVirtual Reality for Education
What is Virtual Reality (VR)? Here in the Digital Learning team, we are constantly looking into new tools and technologies that will enhance education. This year was no exception as we invested time and effort into the world of Virtual
Read moreConnect: VLE Swap shop
Our guest contributors at July’s Digital Learning Connect event were well placed to offer insight into what makes a successful virtual learning environment, having both won university Blackboard & VLE Awards, as well as making it onto the shortlist each
Read moreeCoffee @ SGH: Blackboard – what works well?
Medicine has seen continuing success over the seven years of the university’s Blackboard & VLE Awards, so in July’s eCoffee we explored some features of winning courses, sharing some ideas and inspiration ahead of the next academic year. Blackboard upgrade
Read moreeCoffee @ SGH: OneWeb and social media
In May’s eCoffee session we welcomed back Ayala Gordon and Jonny Vaughan from the Digital Team, to discuss how we provide simple, accessible, relevant, useful information, not just via university websites but digital services as a whole. In keeping with
Read moreBlackboard & VLE Awards 2019
This year saw our seventh annual Blackboard & VLE Awards, with students putting forward an impressive array of modules that offer valuable online support for their learning. Students’ insightful comments about why a particular approach works, or the benefits of
Read moreecoffee @ SGH: Universal Design for Learning
What is Universal Design for Learning? Why does UDL matter? To understand what Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is, firstly, we need to look back at the origins of Universal Design. Architect Ron Mace coined the term “universal design” to
Read moreBVE 2019 – the unexpected trend towards AI
The end of February was the annual Media Team trip to the British Video Expo (BVE) at ExCel in London. In the past, we have used the event to investigate new equipment, chat to other industry experts and learn new
Read moreWhat’s next for edtech? BETT 2019
In January, Sarah Fielding and Chrissie Metcalf attended BETT – an education showcase event hosted by Microsoft. Bringing together 850 leading companies and 103 exciting new edtech start-ups, BETT gives its 34,700 attendees from the global education community an opportunity to
Read moreBlackboard & VLE Awards 2019
Nominations are open for our seventh annual Blackboard & VLE Awards. Students have the opportunity to feed back on what they’ve found particularly helpful to their learning and invite recognition of the staff who are supporting them in this way. A ‘virtual
Read moreecoffee @ SGH: Virtual Reality in education
February’s eCoffee saw attendees taken on a series of virtual adventures, using Oculus Go headsets. Recent university Virtual Reality (VR) projects include creating interactive 360 experiences from footage gathered on field trips. This supports students in getting the most out of the trip by preparing
Read moreeCoffee @ SGH: Panopto – not just lecture capture!
Panopto: not just lecture capture was our theme for December’s eCoffee, looking at the various ways Panopto can be used to support teaching, learning and assessment. The university help pages for Panopto at http://go.soton.ac.uk/panopto are a great source to help you get started, and
Read moreeCoffee @ SGH: Using Microsoft Teams
In October’s eCoffee we looked at ways Microsoft Teams can support collaborative working and learning. Teams is part of Office 365 (https://www.southampton.ac.uk/365) and works in conjunction with Office 365’s SharePoint, helping build communication and context around documents stored here. Setting up After creating
Read moreVirtual Reality for UoS Open Days
Why Open Days? At Open days we want to give prospective students and their parents a strong sense of the UOS experience and showcase our unique selling points when it comes to Programmes of Study. For courses which include a
Read moreCase Study: LEGO Serious Play
I learned of LEGO Serious Play in a Playful Learning Workshop organised by Digital Learning, and I immediately decided to give it a go. As a consequence, I borrowed three LEGO kits from the Digital Learning team. Then I tried
Read moreReady, Steady, Go!
Ready (Player One) The novel by Ernest Cline (and now a major 2018 feature film) sets out a future where most of humanity uses virtual reality software “to escape the desolation of the real world”. Sounds grim? Smartphones and tablets have become deeply
Read moreeCoffee @ SGH: Personal Professional Development module by Dr Siobhan Lynch
We finished a year of exciting eCoffees with an inspiring session from Dr Siobhan Lynch. Siobhan shared the story of the creation and development of the Personal Professional Development module for final year undergraduates, which is delivered predominantly online, while students are on
Read moreeCoffee @ SGH: Communications and Marketing at UoS by Jonny Vaughan
In June’s eCoffee, Jonny Vaughan, Ayala Gordon and Hayleigh Sidhu from the university’s Communications and Marketing team visited to share the work they’ve been doing shaping the university’s social media presence. New guidelines have been developed to support university users,
Read moreeCoffee @ SGH: Abreast of Health by Caspian Priest
Caspian Priest led May’s eCoffee, taking us on a fascinating journey through the development of an app for research and intervention. The Abreast of Health study delivers a brief electronic intervention to women attending breast clinics, taking the opportunity to highlight links
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