Category: Educational Technology

Technology and tools used to support learning and teaching

Learning harder, for longer

Opinion piece. Open online learning has a huge part to play in addressing the skills and education needs of a growing population, a workforce requiring re-skilling and economies shifting as a result of technological developments. It is no surprise then that one of the topics of discussion at the FutureLearn Partners’ Forum, kicked off by … Continue reading Learning harder, for longer

Guidance for processing data from FutureLearn

This document outlines the method for data processing learning participation data in the form of .csv files available to course developers and educators running MOOCs on the FutureLearn platform. Guidance for processing learner participation data from the FutureLearn MOOC platform [PDF] This method was used to create the data set for analysing learner engagement as presented … Continue reading Guidance for processing data from FutureLearn

Lecture capture study advice

While most use of lecture captures by students occurs during revision windows prior to summative assessment, institutions have an opportunity to encourage students to think about how lecture recordings can support learning during term time, as an integrated enhancement to their study practice. The study advice that follows aims to achieve that. Building into student … Continue reading Lecture capture study advice

Durbbu 2016 – Blackboard’s Journey

Comment on VLE provider Blackboard’s keynote at #durbbu 2016 presented by Alan Masson and ponderings over whether the ‘journey’ is about technology or about ourselves. Masson outlined Blackboard’s view of a journey shared by both institutions and the company to increase adoption and increase innovation. Whilst this is certainly a view that echoes with learning technologists, both objectives … Continue reading Durbbu 2016 – Blackboard’s Journey

Three insights into student use of lecture capture supporting independent learning

This post summarises three conclusions arising from a mixed methods study of students’ use of lecture capture, drawing upon the detailed experiences of 12 students from the Department of Biology and the Department of Psychology. Participants provided diaries of how lecture capture was used to support private study, records of their use of the system … Continue reading Three insights into student use of lecture capture supporting independent learning

Student Technology Survey Results – Desktops, laptops and tablets

This is the second of a series of posts which look at data collected from the surveys of Year 1 students who attend my induction sessions. In this post I look at the way students’ desktop, laptop and tablet ownership have changed over three years.

Student Technology Survey Results – Mobile Devices

This is the first of a series of posts which look at data collected from the surveys of Year 1 students who attend my induction sessions. In this post I look at the trends in mobile phone ownership and we discover which phones students actually use in 2013.

Creating rich resources with free tools: Customised Google Maps for Learning & Teaching

Workshop at the Durham Blackboard Users Conference, Durham University, 9 January 2013. See: Conference Website. Presentation This was my workshop at DurBbU with the general aim was to showcase the way that Google Maps has been used by academics in my Department and to invite workshop participants to try out the Google Maps interface on … Continue reading Creating rich resources with free tools: Customised Google Maps for Learning & Teaching

Reflections on panel session: Institutional minimum standards for VLE use (Durham Blackboard Conference 2012)

Part of a series of posts on the Durham Blackboard Users’ Conference 2012.

This post is a summary of the discussion that took place in the panel session on the topic ‘The Implications and Practicalities of Agreeing and Enforcing a Threshold Standard of use of a VLE in an Education Institution’ chaired by Mike Cameron of Newcastle University. The session took place at 4.30pm on 5 January 2012. Throughout I have added my own take on the issues raised.

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