Decorate our Christmas Tree and read some useful tips on resources that will help you out with the educational technology.
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Christmas Decorations
How can I improve the accessibility of my emails?
I recently attended AbilityNet’s TechShare Pro 2020 conference. In this post, I’m going to share a top tip I learned from Microsoft. When creating an email in Outlook 365 you can check for any accessibility issues. Checking Email Accessibility Once
Read moreShould you use Significant Figures or Decimal Places when setting Answer Set options for Calculated Formula questions in Blackboard?
Blackboard tests are a hot topic at the moment. On the Digital Learning Connect Teams Area we recently received a question from Dr Gabriel Weymouth: I’m positive this is clearly documented somewhere, but I can’t find it. How do you
Read moreÎngage students and make them speak over Teams and ÎÎ Collaborate
Have you experienced the following scenario? You teach a class online and ask a question at the cohort, a few seconds have passed, and no answer. This awkwardness makes you continue with the answers. So what can you do not
Read moreUsing the Blackboard ‘Self and Peer Assessment’ tool with groups
On the CHEP Community Team Dr Poshak Gandhi asked some questions about peer assessment: “My module has 170 students, split into 4 groups of about 42 students each. I want to create an assignment for peer assessment, with each group
Read moreArtificial Intelligence Transforms The Learning Experience in Higher Education
âAs a technologist, I see how Artificial Intelligence [AI] and the fourth industrial revolution will impact every aspect of peopleâs lives.â â Fei-Fei Li , Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University AI ‘s main goal is to automate routine
Read moreWhy are online forums useful?
Forums are more essential than you would think and they can help your students to engage with the courses. Forums are very useful and play a key role in the online classroom, helping the students connect with each other, and
Read moreArticulate Rise 360
Earlier this month, I was given access to an Articulate 360 license which included a whole load of goodies developed by Articulate; Storyline 360, Studio 360, Replay 360 and Peek 360, Review 360 and Rise 360. From this bundle, I
Read moreFilming ‘for real’ in the new normal
Today, (14th of July) for the first time in over four months, my colleague Sofy Bazzini and I had a real video shoot, in a real location, with real people and real cameras… and it was… odd! This may sound
Read moreAttending the Immersive Learning Research Conference 2020
Captainâs Log: June 2020 I find myself in a strange world. The inhabitants are sentient yet look like cartoons. They appear to be talking to me in my own language, asking me questions about my latest work in innovation. No,
Read moreBlackboard European Teaching and Learning Conference
The Blackboard European Teaching and Learning Conference was online this year. 871 people attended from 276 educational institutions in 32 countries. Being online allowed attendees from further afield to attend such as the US, Singapore, and Lebanon. The conference ran across 3 weeks
Read moreIntroducing the new Digital Learning Team
The iSolutions restructure has led to a few changes for Digital Learning. On the 1st of June, the new structure took effect. Yes, we did keep the name this time (!) and we are very pleased about it. The team
Read moreUsing webcams and mobile phones for filming
As the saying goes âThe Show must go onâ âŚ. And throughout this COVID19 pandemic, this saying very much reflects on the work of our academic staff who are doing a sterling job in ensuring that teaching continues, albeit more
Read moreAttending the Kent Digital Accessibility Conference
Like all current gatherings, the University of Kent and Kent County Council hosted this yearâs Digital Accessibility Conference virtually. It ran from 9th to 11th June. In its second year, the conference aims to inform Public Sector organisations about digital
Read moreThe awards win an award!
This year, Blackboard’s Teaching and Learning Conference was held online, featuring a range of topical discussions. Further details of the programme can be found here: TLC Europe. Our colleague Matthew Deeprose contributed two well-received presentations, firstly explaining how custom changes
Read moreFilming from a different perspective
During this lockdown period, our learning designer colleagues from the Digital Learning team have been extremely busy delivering three webinars a week on using university supported tools for online learning. We, at the media team have also been looking at
Read moreWhat is Lesson Zero and why is it important?
The past couple of weeks have thrown up huge changes and challenges to the way we work, including the introduction of new technology and new ways of thinking about how we do things. New tech always comes with risks and
Read moreHow to Move from Classroom to Virtual Teaching?
The recent global health crisis has brought new ways of teaching to enable our students to progress with their studies. But how are you going to move from classroom to virtual teaching seamlessly? Here are six tips to help you
Read moreWhat do this year’s Blackboard & VLE Awards tell us about remote learning?
At the point we launched this yearâs search for examples of excellent use of virtual learning environments, we didnât know weâd all be moving in! With learning shifted to virtual spaces, itâs useful to reflect on what this yearâs nominations
Read moreChoosing the right Video platform for your content.
So, you have your video. What next? Chances are you probably want to add it to a course page or VLE. Currently, Blackboard isnât the best at hosting video directly. You might get away with adding a short video, but
Read moreSources of images to use in online learning
So, you’re moving your teaching online; have you thought about what images you will be using? You might be looking for a range of pictures to break up a lot of text in your Blackboard course, or you might need
Read moreVirtual Lab: an alternative way to support students
With the recent announcement of the temporary closure of the University due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Digital Learning team is now more focussed than ever on how we can support the delivery of effective online learning for both students
Read moreAlternative assessments: create a video to explain a key concept
This post outlines the changes made in a module at the University of Southampton, moving from an individual written assessment to a group video assessment. Below, we will describe how the students carry out this task, what support resources are
Read moreThe demise of Adobe Flash
Have you incorporated interactive materials in your courses? Do you know what format they were created in? In this blog post, we explain the implications of the end of Adobe Flash on your existing teaching materials. What is Adobe Flash?
Read moreConnect: Gamification
Our final Connect event of 2019 involved ECS Teaching Fellow Oli Bills and a practical demonstration of gamification in lectures. For several years Oli has been working on Enhancement techniques for student engagement in cybersecurity education and his efforts have
Read moreVC Awards 2019: Behind the scenes
At the start of October, we were invited to film the VC Awards 2019 at St Maryâs stadium. The VC awards are an event that members of staff at the University tend to look forward to and it is a
Read moreALT-C: The next big thing is…
Last week I (and my colleague Bobbi) attended the annual, national Association of Learning Technologists’ conference (ALT-C) in Edinburgh. The conference itself ran for 3 days and was attended by over 450 delegates, with others attending remotely via live streaming
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 moreWhy is an internship important for your future? My experience at the Digital Learning team
What is an Excel Internship? And why should I do one while being enrolled in a full time course at University? These were the questions I was asking myself when I first moved to Southampton to start my Master degree.
Read moreGetting ready for take off
PfCO, what is it and why do we need it? Here in the Digital Learning team, we have owned a ‘Phantom 4’ drone for many years but have never used it to its full capacity. We have, however, produced a
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