- Conference Catch-up
- Cass Showcase
- LEaD Launch
- Rises Programme
- Moodle Upgrade 2014
- Health’s Got Talent – LEaD colleague a winner
- THE article – valuable insights and practical advice
- A visit to the City Law School Learning & Teaching Conference Day – by Peter Kogan
- Meet the Educational Technology Team
Conference Catch-up
The sixth annual Learning at City Conference took place on Wednesday 4th June and focused on the theme of Students as partners in learning?
The abstract call this year was extended to external staff and students which meant a packed and diverse programme with 19 papers and workshops and 3 posters.
“The sessions were well organised… A broad range of speakers and topics ensured a wealth of choice for the delegates”
The event was held off site at the Hatton this year. There were 129 attendees including staff and students of City University London and external staff and students which enabled the profile of work across the University to be shared externally.
Click here to view a selection of slides, videos and blogs from the day
Dr Jenny Hill & Rhiannon Jenkins
The conference opened with a plenary titled “It’s goodnight from me and goodnight from him” from James Perkins Vice President Education Student Union and then there was a key note after lunch from Dr Jenny Hill, Associate professor of Teaching and Learning and Rhiannon Jenkins, undergraduate student, from the University of the West of England focused on unlocking best practice around students as partners.
The day ended with the poster display and drinks reception enabling the conversations and sharing that had been taking place all day to continue. Prizes were awarded for the best papers and poster:
It is hoped that many of those who presented will write an article for the next learning at city journal due out in October.
“Overall I felt that it was very worth my while taking a day out and concentrating on issues to do with teaching.
“A well organised and worthwhile event.
Cass Showcase
On 7th May 2014, the Cass Business School held its fourth annual Teaching and Learning Showcase. Themed on excellence in teaching and learning, it featured inspiring talks from Cass lecturers, as well as colleagues from other Schools at City University London.
Find out more about how the day went in Sian’s educational vignettes blog post here:
LEaD Launch
To celebrate the creation of the new Department for Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD) we held a launch event at City University London on the evening of Tuesday 3rd June 2014.
Staff from across the University joined us to find out about the sphere of activity of the new department and to meet our staff. The event also showcased some of the innovative projects that our teams are involved in and gave an insight into the exciting collaborations set for the future.
The event also celebrated the achievements of City University Staff. Professor Paul Curran presented a University Education Excellence award to one outstanding member of each School for their achievements in education. Staff receiving Postgraduate Certificates in Academic Practice were also celebrated.
RISES Programme
Recognising Individual Staff Education Status
Learning Development has gained accreditation for the above programme through the Higher Education Academy. This programme provides a continuing professional development opportunity for staff to gain Senior Fellowship with the HEA as well as Senior Learning Development Fellowship using a portfolio approach.
If you are an experienced member of staff who can demonstrate leading, managing, influencing and impact in the area of learning and teaching within your school and/or the University then consider being recognised through this programme.
If you would like more details or would like to book onto one of the workshops being provided in the Summer and then each term please e-mail Dr Pam Parker on P.M.Parker@city.ac.uk
| Tuesday 22nd July 11.00 – 12.30 |
| Wednesday 30th July 11.00 – 12.30 |
| Friday 8th August 10.30 – 12.00 |
| Wednesday 12th November 13.30 – 15.00 |
| Wednesday 11th February 2015 13.30 – 15.00 |
| Wednesday 20th May 2015 13.30 – 15.00 |
| Wednesday 22nd July 2015 13.30 – 15.00 |
Moodle update 2014
Moodle upgrade
2014
Information Services (IS) will be upgrading Moodle this July. The upgrade work is vital to address performance issues experienced with Moodle during 2013-14 and will also enhance staff and student user experience. Moodle’s theme is also being upgraded to make use on mobile and tablet devices easier, as well as a range of improvements around assignments, quizzes and display of resources.
The system will be upgraded on Saturday 12th July 2014. Moodle will be unavailable from midnight until midday (12 hours), followed by a 12 hour ‘at-risk’ period. For further details about the upgrade and improvements, please see the FAQs: http://tiny.cc/moodleupgradestaff
To help support staff, Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD) are producing guidance materials and step-by-step videos for specific aspects of the improvements. We will also run refresher sessions demonstrating improvements and explaining new opportunities these offer for teaching and learning. All guidance materials will be linked within our guidance site, which is worth bookmarking if you’ve not already done so: www.city.ac.uk/edtechhelp/staff
Module Rollover for 2014/15
After 12th July, staff will be able to rollover modules using a new rollover tool developed by IS for Moodle. For further details about the new tool, please see the FAQs: http://tiny.cc/moodleupgradestaff
Staff requiring modules to be rolled over before the 12th of July should request this through Service Now (www.city.ac.uk/itservicedesk).
For more information
If you have any concerns regarding the Moodle upgrade and Rollover tool or would like to find out further information about both please log a query on Service Now (www.city.ac.uk/itservicedesk). Your query will be assigned to the relevant team who will provide an answer and update the FAQs as required.
To discuss improvements of your Moodle modules and use of educational technology please contact your LEaD school Relationship Lead or Educational Technologist, details of which can also be found on the guidance site.
Health’s Got Talent – LEaD colleague a winner
The School of Health Sciences held its second ‘Health Has Got Talent’ event last week to promote excellence in education within the School.
In an extremely high-quality field the winning project came from a collaboration between Peter Bentley (School of Health Sciences) and Neil Goldwasser a Dyslexia Support Tutor in the Learning Success Team, for their drug calculation tool for nurses and midwifes (see above picture), a large number of whom often have specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Another project: ‘Video making in Partnership: the story behind creating a personalised
resource for clinical skills students in Optometry’ by Sandra Partington and Stef Smith, two of our Educational Technologists from LEaD and Penny D’Ath from optometry received a highly commended at the event.
Staff were asked to submit a project or innovation that they thought was worthy of recognition. Presenting their idea to an audience of their peers from across the School at an event in the Northampton Suite, a panel of three judges chose the most innovative project with the winner receiving funding to further support its development.
You can read more about the event here:
http://www.city.ac.uk/news/2014/jun/school-of-health-sciences-rewards-educational-excellence
Times Higher Education Article – Valuable insights and practical advice
Dr Sian Lindsay from the academic team here at LEaD was featured in a recent THE article where she spoke about her research on doctoral completion. For this research Sian interviewed several students at City University London as they were writing up their theses, in a bid to understand the factors that facilitated or obstructed their progress.
Read the full article here including Sian’s TOP TIPS on finishing your thesis on time.
A visit to the City Law School Learning & Teaching Conference Day – by Peter Kogan
Peter has recently joined the Educational Technology team in Learning Development. Here he tells us about his recent visit to City Law School:
Last Tuesday, four LEaD staff – Pam Parker , Mo Pamplin, Connie Tse and I – attended City Law School’s (CLS) Learning and Teaching Conference Day.
It gave us an opportunity to visit the School and to meet the staff and for me in particular – to learn more about CLS (I began my new role as a Senior Educational Technologist / Law School Relationship Lead very recently). Mo and I gave a presentation on our newly formed department – LEaD and on the City lecture capture technology and system, which seemed to be well received.
View the presentation slides here
We stayed on and had the chance to see the kind of teaching activities that take place at CLS, and to learn about what is important to the School across a broad range of areas.
There were many highlights, but I found the presentation and session on the LLM International Business Law distance learning module and ‘How can we make best use of IT devices in classes?’ run by Steven Truxall and Marcus Soanes respectively particularly interesting.
Steven’s presentation illustrated the power of blended learning to deliver a high quality distance learning course, and how LEaD can work with academics to help achieve this. Marcus’s discussion group showed that there is a range of views towards technology in learning amongst academic and professional staff. These encompass both interest and apprehension. I took away the idea that combining staff exposure to showcase examples of technology such as Steven’s with appropriate support from LEaD can both help develop interest and reduce apprehension.
As a new member of LEaD, the day was a great opportunity to meet CLS colleagues and learn more about the School. It was very useful to hear discussion about the School’s priorities in relation to courses, curriculum and marketing.
Lecture Capture guidance – https://sleguidance.atlassian.net/wiki/display/LectureCapture/Lecture+Capture++-+Guidance+and+Inspiration
Meet the Educational Technology Team
The Educational Technology Team in LEaD has now recruited to all vacancies and from this summer has a full team working to support educational technology curriculum development, innovation and professional development at City. The team is organised into the three themes of Blended Learning, Multimedia and Learning Spaces. Our work is driven by a range of projects at the programme, school or institutional level. The team is a part of the wider Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD) department giving us the opportunity to provide joined up student and staff services to ensure the best possible education experience is realised.
Please use Service Now as your first point of contact for educational technology queries, professional development or equipment loan requests via www.city.ac.uk/itservicedesk. Use this online guidance to support your use of educational technology at www.city.ac.uk/edtechhelp/staff. The role of the Relationship Lead Senior Educational Technologist in conjunction with educational technologists physically based in schools will include acting as your liaison and consultant, co-ordinating professional development, attending committees and building school relationships. This work will feed into educational technology projects.
Find out more about the team and what we do at: http://blogs.city.ac.uk/educationalvignettes/2014/06/25/introducing-the-educational-technology-team and http://blogs.city.ac.uk/educationalvignettes/2014/06/25/educational-technology-team-themes-projects
Re Peter Kogan’s great write up on the CLS Learning and Teaching conference: he and I are working on aproject on student ownership of learning, which I started on with Rae. I would love to hear from anyone with an interest in this aspect of education. We see it as part of the wider concept of partnership in learning.
Minor correction – my surname is Soanes (not Soames); just in case any one wants to contact me.
Thanks
Marcus
Thanks for your feedback Marcus – it sounds like an interesting project.
Apologies for the incorrect spelling of your name. I have corrected it now.