Posts Tagged ‘elearning’
Video It
Posted on: January 8, 2016
Our LRC Manager has started using Jing to create a short video on how to set up Office 365 on your Moodle account. Drat and double drat! The video was great but because it relies on Flash it doesn’t work on iPads! As a result she went back to Phil Bradley’s recommendation for Ice Cream Apps in CILIP Update November 2015 and used the screen recorder to make a Windows friendly version. She asked our IT Technician for advice on getting the format of the file compatible with Office 365 so she could load the video onto Office 365’s Video area and so thanks to him she’s converted it to an MP4 file using Zamzar and then uploaded onto the video area. It’s a free piece of kit. Since then she has created two more videos showing:
- learners how to send in a OneDrive file for marking on an Assignment
- tutors how to attach a OneDrive file to a Moodle course block.
Having watched Alistair McNought’s two sessions on the CILIP blog post Supporting Library Users with Hidden Disabilities from the Conference of the same name at the University of Portsmouth she’s now created transcripts for the videos to help anyone with disabilities. The transcripts can be used with screen readers like Read&Write or NaturalReader.
E is for Extra
Posted on: November 13, 2015
‘Internet es aburrido‘ by Daniel Lobo is licensed under CC-BY-2.0.
Ebooks, ejournals, eresources…what is this ‘e’ all about? You may know ‘e’ stands for electronic. 99% of the time that means something available on the internet. But as I hope I can convince you, e also means extra. Getting your hands on the pages of a book is not the be all and end all of learning. For example, books often have recommended web links to access more information online. As they are coming from expert authors these extra resources are bound to be quite good.
You can view the Oxford University Press’ YouTube playlists to find inspiring topics and academics in many fields such as psychology, science and history. They also feature authors of their Very Short Introduction series to get you hooked on a new subject. Don’t worry about information overload they are usually only 5 minutes long and can satisfy your curiosity or send you in a new direction. Bear in mind they want you to read their book, but you don’t have to. The same goes with TED talks which are engaging summaries and snippets from academics and experts. They will often have written lots of information on their subjects but a TED talk will be a good overview and introduction. Also lots of advice for learning online. This one by Eli Pariser (2011) talks about online ‘filter bubbles’.
So keep an eye out next time you open a book for extra resources you can access online. Tell us about your favourites.
The internet is boring…*No it’s not.
Use eBooks with Screen Readers
Posted on: November 12, 2015
It’s 20 years since the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 which gave those with disabilities citizenship rights. The act improved access at work and in society at large. Employers and public buildings like libraries made adjustments to their buildings, resources and equipment and services. These rights are now enshrined in the Equality Act 2010. There’s an exhibition at the People’s History Museum in Manchester marking how these rights have been won up to 19 November.
Over the past two months we have been showing students how to use Read&Write 10 to read ebooks available on Dawsonera. We always recommend you use a free screen reader like Natural Reader when you are away from college. Using either of these helps you set the font colour, choose a background colour and get the reader to read the ebook out loud to you once you’ve downloaded the ebook. Otherwise you can use the toolbar to get it to read out loud as you view it online. There’s now a downloadable app for NaturalReader on the App Store and Google Play.
Our ebrary ebooks also give you the opportunity to use coloured highlighter pens on the ebooks when you read them online. You can download these in the same way.
Being Digital for Improvers
Posted on: September 14, 2015
Hello! We’re welcoming a new bunch of Hillcroftians this week as Access courses begin. Here’s a thought for when you’re new to a subject or want to build your knowledge base which I am sure everyone will be eager to do at this time of year 😉
Puzzled?
Testing your knowledge is fun if…you think you’re quite knowledgeable on a subject. It is not so fun when you feel intimated by a subject. A while ago I read an article about a national survey along the lines of ‘how musical is your brain’. They concluded that British people had a very high musical aptitude based on their high scores on many questions and activities. What I think was more likely was that people who volunteered to fill in the survey felt themselves to be musical. While those people who weren’t confident with music ignored the survey to avoid highlighting their lack of musical ability. Often methodologies can skew the data.
In an everyday scenario, when you really don’t want to check your bank balance (for fear that it is so low) is precisely the time when you should check your bank balance. i.e. don’t bury your head in the sand. If we apply my father’s advice to our knowledge in academic subjects or workplace, we should be checking our knowledge banks in order to gauge where we are and where we need to go, especially when we are starting out or falling behind.
I found this really good resource called Being Digital by the Open University. It’s for self-assessing study skills, particularly when using online tools. They are only 5-10 mins long and most importantly they have lots of tips and activities to get you on the right track. Go on and try the Assess your skills pathway especially if you are not confident with studying online. Let us know what you think.
This week we have our final weekend course Dyslexia/Dyspraxia and Creativity running and the last weekend for our level 3 course Diploma in Massage Therapy. Then our last course of the year will be the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Summer School near the end of July. College students usually think all staff at Hillcroft finish working and go straight off on holiday once they finish their courses. This is not the case!
We’re busy moving our eresources from OpenAthens to Shibboleth. Once Shibboleth is up and running we’ll be looking to use it as the gateway to integrating other college databases and software like Office 365 and BKSB (a learning and assessment tool) and our eILP (electronic Individual Learning Plan). The impact on students will be they only need one username and password to access any of the them instead of having multiple ones.
We’re also upgrading our Moodle Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) from 2.6.1 to 2.9. Once this is done we’ll be giving it a summer clean with new photos for a fresh feel for the autumn and running more staff training.
In addition we’re looking at integrating our Management Information System (MIS) into our Heritage online library catalogue so we can automatically transfer student address details into it. At the same time we’re aiming to get more of our students rating our material on the catalogue and writing reviews to build their confidence in using digital resources and writing. Plus there’s nothing better than getting a recommendation from someone who has read the book or watched the DVD…
There are many more things we’re doing over the summer. Next week’s post will tell you a bit more about what we’re planning for our Academic Integrity Workshops where we teach information literacy skills.
YouTube is not the only video star
Posted on: April 2, 2015
British Film Institute, BFI, South Bank London by Chris Beckett licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Most students in higher education are now watching videos both in the lectures and as additional learning. Often this means going to Google or Youtube but libraries also give students access to film and other media.
To prepare for university-level learning, Hillcroft long course students have subscription access to eresources like BFI InView. This is a website with videos about British history. It includes Panorama TV documentary footage and archived party political broadcasts.
Why search the library’s eresources when Google seems so easy? Let’s have a look at features of streaming BFI Inview videos:
Advantages of BFI inview over YouTube:
- Curated lists of videos under themes designed for students like documentaries with a range of perspectives (see different sides to history).
- Short introductory essays to topics written by academics who have authority in their fields (impress your tutor with your references).
- Rare footage not available on other video-sharing websites (information that you haven’t heard before).
- Tells you how long each video is (manage your time effectively).
- Less distraction from off-topic videos/no advertisements (manage your time effectively).
How to log in to OpenAthens:
Go though the Hillcroft VLE. Log in. Under the ‘Library and Learning Resources’ course page (enroll if this is your first time) go to ‘LRC eresources’ and there are links to all the resources we are subscribed to under ‘Eresources Using OpenAthens’.
or
You could go directly to http://www.bfi.org.uk/inview/ and follow the button ‘log in via your institution’.
You Are the Apple of My Eye
Posted on: October 24, 2014
This week our first iPad went out on loan to one of our Preaccess students. From the recommendations of our colleagues at Richmond Adult Community College we used Meraki to organise the apps onto the iPads.
A few weeks ago our LRC Manager went to an Albion Apple Regional Training Centre event at Surbiton High School where teachers recommended some apps that worked well in teaching using iPads in the classroom for pupils from primary to secondary school ages.
The teachers recommended using iMovie for primary school pupils to create a film outside of their science club discovering bugs. It enabled them to add music and do a narrative over the film. A physics teacher looked at how he could use a range of apps to run different experiments that would usually been done with equipment. Our LRC manager was particularly interested in the English teachers apps which could be used with GCSE English and literacy students doing creative writing on the Creative Reading, Writing and Speaking course.
We’ve loaded some of these recommended apps onto the iPads for our students and staff to use. They include InspireMe an app which gives you three words which you can help to generate ideas. This goes well with the Fig (Fiction Ideas Generator) app which acts as an ideas generator for those of you doing creative writing to assist you in creating a plot, characters, location etc. We particularly like ShowMe which is a free app that students and teachers can use like an interactive whiteboard.
Walk the Linoit
Posted on: August 1, 2014
L
ast week the Learning Resources team worked with tutors on the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Summer School. As well as signing up students to use the graded readers over their course the LRC Assistant used Linoit to get the students to research herbs and spices they might use in a recipe or as an alternative remedy as part of their course. As well as exploring words that described them they also discovered where and how they grew.
Linoit enables you to share photos and sticky notes for free. And you can download it onto a tablet, PC or smartphone.
Our LRC Assistant Debbie Green discovered Linoit at Martin Compton’s presentation Less Teaching and More Learning at Efactor 2014 It’s All About Learning and Teaching organised by RSC London. Having successfully used Blendspace with another one of courses Debbie decided to try out Linoit and linked it into the ESOL Summer School course page on the Virtual Learning Environment. Take a look at Debbie’s effort on her ESOL Natural Remedies 2 Linoit. You can see Debbie’s Blendspace one on our previous blogpost Through the Blender. The LRC team increasingly use etechnology and eresources to hone the Information Technology (IT) skills of students and staff.
For a taste of the graded readers the students borrowed during their Summer School view our catalogue search. You’ll find our graded readers begin at starter level and rise to level 6.
Can You Grid it?
Posted on: July 25, 2014
Last week we launched our new design for our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Moodle. Our designers at Overt created it using their Overt Quick Metro design.
The new look for the VLE was a collaboration between teaching and learning staff and students. Both the students and staff wanted a cleaner more modern feel that made it easy to navigate the site. Students wanted all the regular things they use to be easily accessible from one place.This includes their email, courses they are registered on, My Learning Space (MLS) their electronic Individual Learning Plan (eILP), BKSB and course feedback forms. These are now under the My Learning Room area.
We’ve incorporated a new accessibility toolbar as over 45% of our learners have a declared disability. The toolbar is a Moodle block which has readback features, allows them to change the font size, background colours and use overlays.
The LRC Manager has created a course template to make course creation easier and bring together essential course material that students wanted together eg aims and objectives, scheme of work, assessment and course handbook through consulting with colleagues Angela Rideau Elearning Coordinator from Barnet Southgate and Rod Kain LRC Manager at NewVic colleges via Kav Dev Senior Advisor at RSC London. She’s also created a guide to help students and staff understand the new design, get hints and tips on creating material eg sizing images to fit the new course grid blocks and a style guide.
This week the LRC team started revamping the LRC pages. It’s been a great chance to use the training we had from Dave Foord at A6 Training using Moodle Books and embedding videos.
Hillcroft LRC 