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LTD’s Good Practice Guides
Over 30 years of combined experience working with academic and administrative staff have been distilled into the many Learning Technology guides and other resources that now reside in the Learning Services Wiki. These guides are aimed at saving you time and enhancing the student experience – ensuring a consistent quality and making your courses more engaging. The wiki uses calendars accessed via the Administration and Building & Teaching tabs that detail what you may be working on at the various parts of the course lifecycle.
Here are three that have had the most impact on the staff and student experience:
Learning Edge: Good Practice in Building and Teaching your CourseThis document contains some suggestions on how to enhance the educational value of your course, based on existing good practice and feedback from our Student eLearning Surveys.
Quick guide: Enrolling Staff from within a Course
Did you know that you can enroll colleagues as instructors into any course that you are an instructor on? This single sheet guide shows you how this is done.
Quick Guide: Diagnosing Student Access IssuesThis guide looks at some of the common problems that students may report when trying to access Learning Edge for the first time (or as a returning student).
The three documents above form part of a wealth of guides and resources accessed via calendars of activities. We invite you to spend a few minutes browsing these calendars (from the Administration and Building & Teaching tabs), perhaps looking at the entries for this time of year – all focusing on enhancing the student experience.
David Callaghan
Learning TechnologistKatherine Richardson
LTD Operations Co-ordinator
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Reminder: Emerging Technologies eBooks, eReaders and the Library
EBooks are becoming more common place in every day life. Every day we read documents, information and more on our PCs but what about when you want to study or relax with a digital book from the library, away from your monitor?
We have the answer! eBooks are now able to be downloaded from the library on a ‘digital loan’! You can loan the book for up to 2 weeks and after that time, you don’t have to return it – that’s all taken care of for you!
Come along on 22nd February to find out more about how to download eBooks to your portable device such as an iPad, tablet or smart device or even simply your laptop whilst also discussing how to advertise this useful tool to your students – especially when they are fast approaching one of the most reading intensive times of the academic year!
The session runs from 1pm to 2pm in the LiNC Development Room (top floor) on 22nd February
Book through the Staff Development wiki:
https://go.edgehill.ac.uk/wiki/display/hr/Emerging+Technologies+-+Downloading+eBooks+for+loan
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Top tips for Learning Edge Part 2
It’s been over two months since Carol’s ‘Top tips for Learning Edge’ post back in 2011, since then more and more support centred answers have been assembled from the user queries and feedback we’ve received. There’s something for everyone in this collection to enhance ‘your’ experience on Learning Edge – ranging from areas such as Course Management, Groups and Content.
Course Management Tips
1. I have a lot of files to upload into my module area, how much file space is acceptable within my module area?
No need to panic, the allocation of file space for each module will be monitored by LTD in the near future. In the meantime, to ensure an acceptable standard – it is best practice to utilise the tools and building blocks available to minimize any bulky file uploads. A good place to start is to embed any content through eShare or any of the multimedia (YouTube, Flickr) mash up tools within Learning Edge.2. I can‘t see my module(s) when I login?
To access a module in Learning Edge, you need to be enrolled with the required user rights from within the area. Ask your department administrator to enrol you.3. As module lead, can I enrol fellow tutors to my module?
Of course, tutors can enrol fellow tutors. Follow these instructions from your area:- In your ‘Control Panel’ for your course
- Click on ‘Users and Groups’
- Click on ‘Users’
- Place your cursor over ‘Enrol User’ and click ‘Find Users to Enrol’
- Click on ‘Browse’
- Now leave all fields as default and enter the desired username or surname in the blank field and click on ‘Go’
- Now select the check box on the desired row and click ‘Submit’
- From the drop down menu next to ‘Role’, now select which role you require
- Click ‘Submit’
4. Can I manage the display of courses listed on the ‘My Institution’ tab?
Yes, you can edit the display of courses and other information.
Just select the small ‘cog’ icon in the top right hand corner of the ‘My Courses’ module and select or deselect the options you wish to see/not see.
For further information, please refer to this LTD quick guide.
5. Why are my courses marked as ‘unavailable’?
This is because all new Blackboard courses are created as ‘unavailable’ by default. When a course is unavailable, instructors can access it, but students cannot. This is to prevent modules going live then they are still being built.Information on making your course available can be found in the previous ‘Top tips’ post.
6. It’s hard to find a course on the ‘My Institution’ tab as I have so many listed?
You can try searching for the course. Hold down the ‘Ctrl’ key and press ‘F’ on your keyboard and you will get a ‘Find’ box pop up within your browser. Type the module code or part of the course ID and select ‘Next’ to find that text on the current page. You could also try hiding the modules that you don’t often use, see tip 4 above.Groups Tip
1. Can I assign students into more than one group?
Yes, you can put students into as many different groups as you like, however you will need to create each group and then add students to each group individually. Information on setting up groups can be found in the previous ‘Top tips’ post.Content Tips
1. My students state that streamed audio files within Learning Edge won’t play on Macs?
Apple Mac users can install the Windows Media Components plugin for QuickTime, which will allow users to stream .wma and .wmv file formats within Learning Edge.2. Can I use large multimedia files in my Module area?
As mentioned earlier, instead of taking up large areas of disk space. Large multimedia files should be embedded and streamed online via YouTube, which can be incorporated into Learning Edge areas through the mash up building block. If you need to host media more securely, contact us for more information about the institutions streaming server ‘eStream’.Any further questions please email them to one of the team and we will endeavor to answer them for you. If you would like to arrange a meeting with one of the team, please ring 01695 650 754 (or internal 7754).
Mark Wilcock
Learning Technologist
