Month: May 2017

Moodle 3.2: Competency Based Education

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A student may apply for a job having gained a good academic qualification, but does this provide potential employers with enough information to assess what a prospective employee is really capable of? Could Competency Based Education (CBE) help address the workforce skills gap? Well according to an article in Harvard Business Review, online CBE is…Continue Reading Moodle 3.2: Competency Based Education

Realising Smartworking – presentation as part of Clerkenwell Design Week 2017

Realising Smartworking, by Nathan Hurley, from the Research and Insight department at Orangebox.   Nathan talked about the changes in our workplace, with a focus on activity-based working, looking at increased effectiveness. Rules have changed, it’s about creating connections between people, not furniture. Places should allow us to work collaboratively and privately,  Spaces need to promote productivity, as we have to…Continue Reading Realising Smartworking – presentation as part of Clerkenwell Design Week 2017

A Change in the Making – Future of furniture manufacturing and design in an environmental sense

On Tuesday I went to a talk entitled ‘A Change in the Making’ presented by Gareth Banks, Design Manager at Orangebox. http://www.orangebox.com/knowledge/intelligent_design Firstly, Gareth gave us some context. By 2050, there will be a 10 billion population in the world. We are witnessing an expansion of the middle class economy, with consumer demand becoming unsustainable….Continue Reading A Change in the Making – Future of furniture manufacturing and design in an environmental sense

Disabled Students’ Allowance Quality Assurance Training: more than compliance

Image of series of post-it notes capturing different barriers to learning for disabled student

For most of us, preparation for a quality audit is not the most exciting way to spend an afternoon, so last week my colleagues from Learning Success  and Student Counselling and Mental Health Services decided to use compulsory pre-audit training required by the newly established Disabled Students Allowances Quality Assurance Group (DSA-QAG) as a space…Continue Reading Disabled Students’ Allowance Quality Assurance Training: more than compliance

SEDA Spring Conference 2017 | Measuring Learning Gain

Measuring Learning Gain: Implications for development, enhancement and evaluation. Keynote speech from Camille Kandiko Howson of King’s College London Camille opened by citing research carried out in the US by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa and published in their book Academically Adrift, which found that many students don’t learn much in college, particularly in the…Continue Reading SEDA Spring Conference 2017 | Measuring Learning Gain

Moodle 3.2: Improvements to adding or removing sections

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There will be a few small changes that can make big impact for you in Moodle 3.2. These changes will help to improve your user experience when adding and removing content from your module pages on Moodle. From our Focus Groups this year, we found out it was too complicated for staff to locate “Add/…Continue Reading Moodle 3.2: Improvements to adding or removing sections

Moodle 3.2: Improvements to My Moodle page

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There are several improvements to the first page (known as the My Moodle page) that students and staff see when they login to Moodle. These changes are based on the usability testing which LEaD carried out with both students and staff. Select modules Our usability testing showed that often people didn’t notice when selection filters…Continue Reading Moodle 3.2: Improvements to My Moodle page

BILETA conference write-up: British and Irish Legal Education and Technology Association

Last week I attended the annual conference of BILETA, the British and Irish Legal Education and Technology Association, in the Portuguese city of Braga. The conference was hosted by the Law School at the University of Minho. The campus is full of students in traditional Portuguese academic dress, including tri-corner hat, gown, stockings and ribbons…Continue Reading BILETA conference write-up: British and Irish Legal Education and Technology Association

SASS Innovators Lunch Event: Poll Everywhere with Jayne Morgan

On the 3rd of May we ran our first SASS Innovators Lunch. Jayne Morgan, Senior Lecturer in Diagnostic Radiography, School of Health Sciences presented on the effective use of Poll Everywhere in face-to-face teaching and shared with us her top tips on how to use it to enhance student learning. SASS Innovators lunch it’s a…Continue Reading SASS Innovators Lunch Event: Poll Everywhere with Jayne Morgan

Considerations for a Law (CLS) specific future-proofed lecture theatre

In June 2015 the LEaD team ran a focus group with academic staff in the City Law school (CLS) who use the Atkin Lecture Theatre to deliver the schools professional programmes. This review took place as the lecture theatre was seen as not being fit for purpose at that time. The LEaD school relationship lead…Continue Reading Considerations for a Law (CLS) specific future-proofed lecture theatre