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Learning Edge Gets Community Engagement
Following the recent acquisition (Oct 2013) of Blackboard Community Engagement, an add on to our current Blackboard Learn 9.1 platform, Learning Services will be working with staff across the university to improve the design and functionality of Learning Edge.This screencast showcases how the new features, which include personalised Tabs, Panels and Organisations, could be developed to enhance our Learning Edge facilities, for current and prospective students, staff, alumni and other guests.
Click the image above to watch a 5 minute YouTube video tour.Learning Technology Development will be holding face-to-face and live online web-conference demonstrations over the next few weeks. In addition discussions will take place at Faculty TEL Steering Groups and the team hope to attend team meetings and speak with interested individuals about the potential of Community.If you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss how your department could benefit from these new Community features, please speak with your faculty Learning Technologist directly or email [email protected].
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The Best of Learning Edge: Nominations for Excellent Modules (+Student Prize Draw)
Students, has your lecturer created a great Learning Edge module to help your studies. Was it easy to navigate? Did it use multimedia? Encourage collaboration? Include interactivity and support?
Learning Technology Development (LTD) would like to know more about how lecturers use Learning Edge in ways that you find interesting, innovative or helpful. By finding out, we aim to share this practice across the University and help improve Learning Edge courses for staff and students. Please take a few minutes to complete this very short survey to nominate a Learning Edge module that you have really enjoyed and to tell us why.
For every module you nominate you will be entered into our 5 prize draws to win an official Edge Hill University USB pen drive and mug. From Friday 11th October till Friday 8th November you can nominate up to 3 modules.
Feel free to post a comment on here if you have any questions. You can also get in touch with us at [email protected] or call 01695 650754 if you would simply like to know more about our the event.
Happy nominating and good luck!
Mark Wilcock
Learning Technology Development Officer
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Mobile Matters! Who’s using an app?
The way Edge Hill students and staff are choosing to access Learning Edge appears to be changing, and more than ever we’re seeing usage patterns that show how important mobile access is.
There is an increasing trend for users to access Learning Edge via tablets and smart phones rather than the traditional PC. VLE use in general has increased – up by 33% compared with last September, but it’s even more interesting to see how mobile access has rocketed – up by a whopping 175%!
Over the last 12 months almost 17,000 individuals used the Mobile Learn app to access Learning Edge – with an impressive 6,000 in the first few weeks of term. Use of the app itself is even more impressive. Visits via the app in September 2012 totaled 17,703 compared with 53,785 in the same period this year – an increase of 204%!
It is good to see that both staff and students are taking advantage of the flexibility and ease of access that the mobile app offers.
Raising Awareness
At the start of term, to help students #Getconnected to the mobile technology available to them, Learning Services and IT colleagues spoke to over 1600 students at the freshers fair. With improved awareness of the Mobile Learn app, and better than ever features, steadily more users are opting to use the app (66%), as opposed to their mobile browser.
Advice for Staff: Recommended Practices for Mobile-Friendly Courses
As more and more students choose to access Learning Edge on their mobile devices, making sure your course is optimised to work with the Mobile Learn app will improve your students’ experience and ability to engage with the course wherever they are. The Mobile Learn app doesn’t replace the need for students or staff to access Learning Edge via a PC, but it does offer new opportunities to access features that work well on the go. So any time you edit or develop your Learning Edge Course, ask yourself, “is this mobile friendly?”
The following guides from Blackboard offer useful guidance:
The Learning Services Learning Technology Development team are also here to help. If you’d like advice on developing your course to make best use of the Mobile Learn app contact your learning technologist, come to one of our Developing Digital Excellence staff development sessions and browse the Learning Edge: Blackboard Mobile Learn guide collection available on eShare.
Nina Unsworth
Learning Technology Development Operations Coordinator
