A short exploration of the science of Typography.
Read moreFonts – An introduction to Typography
Digital Learning
Consult | Collaborate | Create
Structure: Blackboard & VLE Awards
Another 10-minute overview, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the University’s Blackboard & VLE Awards! In the video below we explore the Best Structure category, one of ten different awards on offer this year.
Read moreLearner support: Blackboard & VLE Awards
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the University’s Blackboard & VLE Awards, we are offering awards in ten different categories this year. In the 10-minute video below, we delve into the Best Learner Support category.
Read moreiSolutions Digital Accessibility Community of Practice: what did we do in 2021 and what was the impact?
The iSolutions Digital Accessibility Community of Practice began in December 2020. It aims to share practices, provide peer support, and raise awareness of digital accessibility within the department. Using results from a survey of community members, this post reviews the past year and looks forward to the year to come.
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 moreLearning Designer: 6 months in the post
I started at the University of Southampton in the role of Learning Designer. When I mentioned to friends and family that I was joining the University of Southampton. Curiously, they would respond with “Get ready for the big leagues!”
Read moreChanges to our Media Team
Due to some staffing changes, our always in-demand Media Team will be operating at a reduced capacity for the early part of next year. Team Lead From the 17th of December we say a temporary goodbye to Sofia Bazzini, Media
Read moreDr Jane Lavery: an immersive Day of the Dead experience using ThingLink
I’m a lecturer in Modern Languages and Linguistics at the University, conducting research on the Mexican Day of the Dead. I’m researching how this ritual is celebrated by Mexicans in the UK and Ireland, and the impact of Covid-19 on this
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 more360 camera review by Peter Morgan
Digital Learning Media team have some kit to loan out to encourage everyone to have a go at creating their own media. Recently, Peter Morgan from the School of Geography and Environmental Science requested the loan of the Nikon Keymission
Read moreGoodbye to our Accessibility Allies intern team
Since mid-July we have been working with a team of 5 interns. They have improved the accessibility scores of Blackboard Modules and contributed to various communications about the project. Emily, Stefan, Velina, and Sian are returning to their studies as
Read moreAn Accessibility Allies intern journey
Introduction Hi! My name is Sian, and I am a soon to be second-year student at the University of Southampton. During this summer I wanted to challenge myself – in the form of an internship (which I had never done
Read moreFrom online learning to an Accessibility Ally
Picture this, 5 months studying in Norway, exploring new places, feeling refreshed ready to start the second half of my third year of University back in Southampton. I managed to have all of January off as I didn’t have exams, so was
Read moreAccessibility does not impede agility! Six ways that Digital Accessibility maps to Agile Practices
A common misconception is that Digital Accessibility slows down and impedes IT development process, making them less agile. In this post we cover six aspects we learned in our Agile training course and how they relate to accessibility.
Read moreOverview: three ways PowerPoint’s “Design Ideas” excludes your audience, and how to fix it.
PowerPoint’s Design Ideas feature helps us create attractive slides quickly. Unfortunately, some of its suggestions do not follow accessibility best practice, creating barriers that may exclude members of your audience. In this blog post we explain three issues and how to fix them.
Read moreThree ways PowerPoint’s “Design Ideas” excludes your audience, and how to fix it: Part 1 – Setting text in “all caps”.
Text in all caps can present a barrier to readers with dyslexia. Moreover, it slows down reading speed for all. Design Ideas will often set short bullet points in all caps. Find out how to fix this and more.
Read moreThree ways PowerPoint’s “Design Ideas” excludes your audience, and how to fix it: Part 2 – Centre alignment of longer text.
Centre-aligned text can be difficult to read if it spans more than one line in length. This can be a particular barrier to readers with dyslexia
When presented in this way your presentation appears less professional. Design Ideas often centre aligns text. In this article we explain why it’s important to fix this and how.
Three ways PowerPoint’s “Design Ideas” excludes your audience, and how to fix it: Part 3 – Insufficient colour contrast.
Too little contrast between colours will not only make your presentation disagreeable, it also presents a barrier to many. Design ideas will sometimes suggest designs that do not have sufficient contrast between colours. In this article we explain this in more detail and how to fix it.
Read moreMedia’s interesting project for June
Amongst the various media assets we produce to support and enhance education, 360 virtual tours is one that is growing in popularity. Whether it’s to view on Youtube, Thinglink or upload onto a VR headset, 360 images and videos empower
Read moreSpring cleaning your Blackboard sites: are you environmentally-friendly and accessible?
A new norm- Yes, it’s a phrase that divides the audience. Some of us are weary of the over used phrases (unprecedented, anyone?). Others are excited at the prospect of real change. In education I don’t think we really want
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 more7 Lessons learned from lockdown home-schooling
My children went back to school seven weeks ago. This blog post sat in a corner of my brain, waiting for when I had caught up on workload. That is unlikely to actually happen, and the raw edges of the
Read moreDigital Learning Media team to launch film school Summer 2021
At the start of the pandemic, the Media Development team produced the Video Survival Guide to help staff get the basics right for producing videos from home. Continuing the University’s strategy to enhance the quality of our online offering, the Digital Learning team are now setting up a broader Film School for later in 2021.
Read moreHow can I use colour accessibly?
The University of Kent runs a successful series of Digitally Enhanced Education webinars. One of which was on the theme of Technology to Develop Inclusive Learning Experiences. I presented “Making it simple to ensure the use of colour is both
Read moreAn innovative new Blackboard structure for Arts and Humanities
The Digital Learning team worked on a major project last year with our Faculty of Humanities to implement new Blackboard course templates. This introduced new course menus, course menu colour schemes, and course redesign.
Read moreUDLHE Digicon 2021: Guiding this moment in HE
On February 4th and 5th, Matt Deeprose and I took part in UDLHE Digicon. This was an online conference about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in Higher Education. It was our first time attending this event. The conference was wholly
Read moreBiological Sciences practical videos and skull virtual lab
About the project With online education still very much a hot topic, the Media team have been busy producing several teaching resources for Biological Sciences in the run up to the Christmas holidays. To date, we have produced 6 practical
Read moreChristmas Decorations
Decorate our Christmas Tree and read some useful tips on resources that will help you out with the educational technology.
Read moreHow 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
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