Past Events
Distance Learners share their experiences of decolonisation
17th April, 2024
The Bloomsbury Learning Exchange (BLE) joined forces again with the Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE) and the London International Development Centre (LIDC) to extend the conversation around the decolonisation of digital education, which started last year with our first joint webinar. On 17th April, our follow-up webinar, Decolonising Digital Education – Lessons from Distance Learners, focused on distance and online education, and specifically on the experiences of remote learners. We were delighted to convene a panel comprising three students who had recently completed or were currently pursuing online courses offered by the University of London. What followed was a lively and engaging panel discussion, chaired by CODE Fellow and vice-principal for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at the Royal Veterinary College, Dr Christine Thuranira-McKeever, with thought-provoking questions posed by the audience.
The Bloomsbury Learning Exchange (BLE) joined forces again with the Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE) and the London International Development Centre (LIDC) to extend the conversation around the decolonisation of digital education, which started last year with our first joint webinar. On 17th April, our follow-up webinar, Decolonising Digital Education – Lessons from Distance Learners, focused on distance and online education, and specifically on the experiences of remote learners. We were delighted to convene a panel comprising three students who had recently completed or were currently pursuing online courses offered by the University of London. What followed was a lively and engaging panel discussion, chaired by CODE Fellow and vice-principal for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at the Royal Veterinary College, Dr Christine Thuranira-McKeever, with thought-provoking questions posed by the audience.
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Our student panelists each introduced themselves and presented the ways in which they have experienced decolonisation in respect to technologies used to deliver online courses. Conrad Francis is an Australian Sri-Lankan dual Olympian (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004) who has coached across the world, working in schools and universities in countries including China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. Conrad completed a PGCE in International Sports Management at the University of London in 2022 and provided a truly international perspective. Conrad stated that student empowerment lies at the heart of decolonising education. He encouraged students to question what they already know and what they are learning.
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Dr Swati Aggarwal holds a doctorate in AI and has extensive experience in research and teaching in India. Moving to a teaching position in Norway in 2023, she completed the online Postgraduate Certificate Learning and Teaching in Higher Education provided by the University of London. As an educator herself, Swati drew on her experiences of decolonisation both in delivering and being a recipient of learning. She exposed the need to diversify the voices that shape education itself to reflect the multi-cultural world.
Finally, Sanjeeva Singh, an Olympian Archer, shared his experiences of working towards a Post Graduate Certificate in International Sports Management at the University of London whilst studying at a distance in India. Shaped by his distance learning experience, Sanjeeva argued that decolonisation in education comes down to three key components: inclusivity, diversity and innovativeness. He believes that learning material should be as diverse as the students accessing them.
audience posed many interesting questions regarding access to digital technology, differences in cultures, and how institutions can ensure inclusivity and promote diversity to prevent prejudice and bias towards Western approaches to learning and teaching.
Dr Linda Amrane-Cooper (Director of the University’s Postgraduate Certificate Learning and Teaching in Higher Education) responded to the need to acknowledge sensitivities and apply feedback from learners in order to ‘decolonise’ the professional framework in which educational providers must work. Taking on board these lived experiences can only improve the quality of the courses that are delivered. As Elizabeth Charles (Assistant Director of Library Services at Birkbeck) reported, the panelists’ “different perspectives were a wonderful cross-section of learning from theory and applying to their individual loci and how enriched they felt as a result of this. Linda’s contribution was also very welcome; that level of engagement of acknowledging where the programme or institution is located and starting from, given the validation requirements, yet not shying away from the need to turn that critical lens on the epistemological pillars that support the programme”.
You can watch a recording of the event here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af5w1eRGQFo
AI for the Overwhelmed: a webinar
16th April 2024
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Report on the BLE webinar
This session served as a supportive introduction to GenAI and what it can do in the context of higher education. It was purposefully not recorded in order to offer attendees a safe space to find out what GenAI is, to share experiences and to feely ask the questions they were too afraid to ask for fear of looking ignorant. Over 80 people registered for the webinar, which in itself spoke volumes. Attendees represented a broad range of staffing areas including teaching, research, course administration, HR, library, IT and digital education. So many colleagues wanting to gain a better understanding - and to discover what others know/are doing. We are, after all, human and not machine. So many of us are feeling overwhelmed by AI in different ways, from what it is to how to help others. |
CoPilot's response to the query 'What does GenAI mean?'
I opened the session with a personal explanation of why I had organised the event. And here it is again in a nutshell: Upon returning from parental leave at the start of February 2024, the emergence (or crash-landing) of GenAI was being discussed everywhere – e.g. the impact it was having on learning, teaching and particularly assessment. There was a constant stream of events being organised, courses to take, articles to read, policies to develop - I felt I was very far behind everyone else and I panicked that I had too much catching up to do. Being out of my depth in the world of technology was something I hadn’t experienced before – I was drowning in a sea of information and discourse, and I didn’t know where to start. I was overwhelmed. But the more I spoke to learned colleagues, the more I realised that everyone was feeling the same. I hadn’t really fallen behind – the development and pace of AI is so fast-changing, it is hard to keep up - and many people still haven’t had the chance fully engaged with it at all. I wanted to connect with others feeling the same as me and to start to investigate how the BLE could support them (us).
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Deborah Grange, Head of Student Learning Development at Birkbeck, has been running a regular workshop specifically for students since the start of this calendar year. Interestingly, staff have also been attending. I knew she was the person I needed to provide a gentle introduction to GenAI. Deborah ran through the most commonly-used GenAI tools (or Large Language Models, LLMs) that are available. She explained in simple terms how they work and why we need to use cautionary behaviour when using them. AI outputs are only as good as the data that is fed in; the tool doesn't 'think' and it can offer incorrect yet convincing-looking responses ('hallucinations'). Deborah demonstrated Microsoft's CoPilot (based on GPT-4, the same 'engine' that Chat GPT uses) and Google's Gemini by entering a query and comparing the results.
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From this 'basics of AI' presentation, I then invited Sultan Wadud, Learning Technology Manager at SOAS, to share how he uses AI in his every day work. Wadud's talk presented several advanced examples of AI usage from generating images to convey concepts for presentation slides to helping him make a start on writing policies and emails.
Throughout the session, attendees contributed to this Padlet board to share their motivations for attending the session, examples of their use of GenAI tools and then what the BLE can do next. The BLE Team will be using both this and the chat contributions made in the session to inform our planning. Suggestions for follow-ups so far include regular online 'show and tells with AI' to share what people are doing and a hands-on workshop to try out tools for those who are not experienced. Please contact us here if you would like to make a suggestion.
In conclusion, like the web browser, which changed the face of education forever, GenAI is already doing the same - and it is here to stay (well, evolve), We can’t avoid it – we have to embrace it, or at least acknowledge and work with it.
If you work for one of the BLE partner institutions*, join our mailing list here to be the first to find out about all our events and activities: https://bit.ly/JoinBLE
Throughout the session, attendees contributed to this Padlet board to share their motivations for attending the session, examples of their use of GenAI tools and then what the BLE can do next. The BLE Team will be using both this and the chat contributions made in the session to inform our planning. Suggestions for follow-ups so far include regular online 'show and tells with AI' to share what people are doing and a hands-on workshop to try out tools for those who are not experienced. Please contact us here if you would like to make a suggestion.
In conclusion, like the web browser, which changed the face of education forever, GenAI is already doing the same - and it is here to stay (well, evolve), We can’t avoid it – we have to embrace it, or at least acknowledge and work with it.
If you work for one of the BLE partner institutions*, join our mailing list here to be the first to find out about all our events and activities: https://bit.ly/JoinBLE
Academic Integrity: it’s everyone’s responsibility
A workshop to share practice around identifying and preventing plagiarism
27th June 2022
We all have a role to play in the assessment process. Whether you’re an academic setting an assignment, a PhD student marking scripts, a course administrator supporting the VLE, a learning technologist maintaining the Turnitin plugin, a student records manager or exams officer, etc, etc. The BLE’s Academic Study Skills for Student’s Group organised this workshop to allow colleagues to share examples from their own experiences, and to find out how other institutions are managing and supporting academic integrity by seeking to prevent plagiarism. Over 70 colleagues from the BLE partner institutions joined us for this lively, online event.
A workshop to share practice around identifying and preventing plagiarism
27th June 2022
We all have a role to play in the assessment process. Whether you’re an academic setting an assignment, a PhD student marking scripts, a course administrator supporting the VLE, a learning technologist maintaining the Turnitin plugin, a student records manager or exams officer, etc, etc. The BLE’s Academic Study Skills for Student’s Group organised this workshop to allow colleagues to share examples from their own experiences, and to find out how other institutions are managing and supporting academic integrity by seeking to prevent plagiarism. Over 70 colleagues from the BLE partner institutions joined us for this lively, online event.
Presentations:
| Plagiarism: the student perspective, Katie Banks, Academic Skills Tutor · City, University of London |
| Case study: Plagiarism at departmental level: Germaine Symons, Learning Support Officer, Birkbeck |
BLESS meeting: Fair Dealing
24th February 2022
This special BLESS* Group meeting was a wonderfully informative and lively session focusing on what fair dealing means in practice in our context of Higher Education. Huge thanks to our fantastic speakers, Jane Secker (City) and Chris Morrison (Kent), who set the scene so perfectly for us; their slides are attached. This was followed by a lively panel discussion, chaired by Elizabeth Charles (Birkbeck) with Jane, Chris and additional panelists, Sam Ahern (UCL) and Stephen Penton (City). We also thank all the participants whose contributions resulted in a rich, valuable and energetic session.
24th February 2022
This special BLESS* Group meeting was a wonderfully informative and lively session focusing on what fair dealing means in practice in our context of Higher Education. Huge thanks to our fantastic speakers, Jane Secker (City) and Chris Morrison (Kent), who set the scene so perfectly for us; their slides are attached. This was followed by a lively panel discussion, chaired by Elizabeth Charles (Birkbeck) with Jane, Chris and additional panelists, Sam Ahern (UCL) and Stephen Penton (City). We also thank all the participants whose contributions resulted in a rich, valuable and energetic session.
| Introductory slides |
*BLESS Group
The Bloomsbury Library e-Systems & Services (BLESS) group brings together colleagues from the library and learning technology to collaborate on common areas of work. Members share their practice, helping to establish wider understanding of their respective areas of work.
If you are a based at one of the BLE Partner Institutions, you are invited to join the BLESS mailing list here to find out about our future meetings and to participate in discussion.
The Bloomsbury Library e-Systems & Services (BLESS) group brings together colleagues from the library and learning technology to collaborate on common areas of work. Members share their practice, helping to establish wider understanding of their respective areas of work.
If you are a based at one of the BLE Partner Institutions, you are invited to join the BLESS mailing list here to find out about our future meetings and to participate in discussion.
BLE online Accessibility Forum
9th June 2021
Aimed at anyone involved in supporting education (academic staff and support, learning technologists, learning support, librarians, etc), the informal session offered an opportunity for BLE colleagues to share good, accessible academic practice. We talked about what we have done since the accessibility regulations were introduced in 2019, how our practice and support has changed, and what we need to do next. The meeting provided a safe space for attendees share, but also to seek mutual advice and help.
The full event write-up, including the recording, slides and links to resources is available here
9th June 2021
Aimed at anyone involved in supporting education (academic staff and support, learning technologists, learning support, librarians, etc), the informal session offered an opportunity for BLE colleagues to share good, accessible academic practice. We talked about what we have done since the accessibility regulations were introduced in 2019, how our practice and support has changed, and what we need to do next. The meeting provided a safe space for attendees share, but also to seek mutual advice and help.
The full event write-up, including the recording, slides and links to resources is available here
Accessibility Regulations and Institutional Websites
4th July 2019
This term's meeting of the BLE/UoL User Experience Group focused on the the impact of the new accessibility regulations on the websites managed by our institutions. Huge thanks to our speakers and all who participated. Please find below the recording of the meeting, the slides that were presented, and links to some useful materials that were referred to during the meeting (thanks again for those who have contributed to the list!).
Meeting recording (2 hours)
4th July 2019
This term's meeting of the BLE/UoL User Experience Group focused on the the impact of the new accessibility regulations on the websites managed by our institutions. Huge thanks to our speakers and all who participated. Please find below the recording of the meeting, the slides that were presented, and links to some useful materials that were referred to during the meeting (thanks again for those who have contributed to the list!).
Meeting recording (2 hours)
Presentation slides
Setting the scene: Fiona Strawbridge, UCL (Accessibility Regs overview)
Kings Online Accessibility Compliance: Danielle Johnstone, KCL
Useful links referred to during the session:
Online course from UCL
Twitter feed from the meeting:
Setting the scene: Fiona Strawbridge, UCL (Accessibility Regs overview)
Kings Online Accessibility Compliance: Danielle Johnstone, KCL
Useful links referred to during the session:
- Web based image description resource: https://poet.diagramcenter.org/
- Guidance on alt text:
- Recordings of each talk from the Kent Digital Accessibility Conference
- Slides from Kent Digital Accessibility Conference
- https://dlmf.nist.gov/
- https://jupyter.org/
- http://bit.ly/eaccess-workshop
- Resources from Oliver Emberton at Silktide:
- Plenary lecture at IWMW (video and slides)
- PDF guide on HE issues
- Birkbeck for All: www.bbk.ac.uk/birkbeck-for-all
- Talk on accessibility at the 2019 IWMW conference: https://iwmw.org/iwmw2019/talks/so-you-think-you-know-accessibility
- Sarah Richards' talk 'Accessibility is usability' at Confab 2019: https://vimeo.com/336394764
Online course from UCL
- UCL has a 2 hour hands-on course covering Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PDF creation (in Word and PowerPoint).
- The materials are available on the ISD Digital Skills Development Moodle course https://moodle-1819.ucl.ac.uk/enrol/index.php?id=10049
- You can get guest access using the code dsdguest if you don’t have UCL credentials.
- The materials are all in the ‘Creating accessible documents’ topic.
- They’ve created a quick guide with a checklist of things to do and a resources sheet and there are some files for people to play around with.
Anything with the word BEFORE in the title has accessibility issues that have deliberately been added for people to fix. - Contact Caroline directly if you have any queries: [email protected]
Twitter feed from the meeting:
BLE Webinar: Group Mentoring
25th June 2019
Purpose
The purpose of this webinar was to share the method employed at LSHTM to recruit and train alumni mentors in order to enhance students’ learning experience. This has transferability across different HE contexts.
Aims of the session
Webinar recording
25th June 2019
Purpose
The purpose of this webinar was to share the method employed at LSHTM to recruit and train alumni mentors in order to enhance students’ learning experience. This has transferability across different HE contexts.
Aims of the session
- To present key findings from the group mentorship scheme in which alumni support Public Health MSc students undertaking a research project via distance learning through LSHTM
- To discuss the relevance for other contexts of the transferable lessons learnt
- To outline and share resources (e.g. mentor training slides www.bit.ly/m150319, code of conduct and template emails) that may be adaptable to other contexts
- To gain insights from participants on whether these resources are useful / adaptable to different contexts, and whether this mentorship scheme is likely to be transferred elsewhere
Webinar recording
Resources
MOOC Delivery for Beginners
21st May 2019
This workshop was aimed at staff who are prospective MOOC developers; colleagues who are keen to design and develop a MOOC but were not sure quite how to start or where to go for help. The objective was to share experiences and top tips from own BLE group of MOOC developers.
Our agenda for the afternoon was as follows:
Welcome & Intro (Sarah Sherman, BLE)
Activity: why are you here?
Case Study 1: MOOCs at LSHTM (Josie Gallo, LSHTM)
Case Study 2: MOOCs for Global Eye Health (Sally Parsley, LSHTM)
Case Study 3: MOOCs – Some Perspectives (Tim Neumann, UCL Institute of Education)
Case Study 4: Collaborative MOOC Delivery for Beginners (Eileen Kennedy, UCL Institute of Education)
Activity: Getting started
Wrap-up
21st May 2019
This workshop was aimed at staff who are prospective MOOC developers; colleagues who are keen to design and develop a MOOC but were not sure quite how to start or where to go for help. The objective was to share experiences and top tips from own BLE group of MOOC developers.
Our agenda for the afternoon was as follows:
Welcome & Intro (Sarah Sherman, BLE)
Activity: why are you here?
Case Study 1: MOOCs at LSHTM (Josie Gallo, LSHTM)
Case Study 2: MOOCs for Global Eye Health (Sally Parsley, LSHTM)
Case Study 3: MOOCs – Some Perspectives (Tim Neumann, UCL Institute of Education)
Case Study 4: Collaborative MOOC Delivery for Beginners (Eileen Kennedy, UCL Institute of Education)
Activity: Getting started
Wrap-up
(Illustrations from the workshop, courtesy of Sam Martin from SOAS)
Addressing the Accessibility Regulations for the VLE
20th May 2019
This workshop focused specifically on addressing how to make our Moodle instances and content comply with the new accessibility regulations which come into force in Septmber 2019. It was aimed at colleagues who support, influence or lead on the design of online course materials.
Policy Connect
We were delighted to welcome Geena Vabulas Policy Manager for Assistive Technology at Policy Connect who opened the session with an overview of the regulations. You can access her presentation here.
Blackboard Ally
Following Geena, Richard Gibbons – a Solutions Engineer from Blackboard – demonstrated the Blackboard Ally, a tool which works within Moodle to help ensure content is accessible. You can find out more about Ally here.
Event recording
Both presentations have been recorded and the links are hyperlinked in the text below:
Accessible VLE Checklist Activity
During the workshop activity, delegates began to identify the key tasks required to action each of the six recommendations reported on p.7 of the Policy Connect guide regarding the accessible VLE. If you would like to add to this spreadsheet, you will find the link below. Each recommendation is separated into its own worksheet. The final version of the checklist is here.
Other resources
20th May 2019
This workshop focused specifically on addressing how to make our Moodle instances and content comply with the new accessibility regulations which come into force in Septmber 2019. It was aimed at colleagues who support, influence or lead on the design of online course materials.
Policy Connect
We were delighted to welcome Geena Vabulas Policy Manager for Assistive Technology at Policy Connect who opened the session with an overview of the regulations. You can access her presentation here.
Blackboard Ally
Following Geena, Richard Gibbons – a Solutions Engineer from Blackboard – demonstrated the Blackboard Ally, a tool which works within Moodle to help ensure content is accessible. You can find out more about Ally here.
Event recording
Both presentations have been recorded and the links are hyperlinked in the text below:
- Workshop introduction (Sarah Sherman) and regulations overview (Geena Vabulas)
- Blackboard Ally demonstration (Richard Gibbons)
Accessible VLE Checklist Activity
During the workshop activity, delegates began to identify the key tasks required to action each of the six recommendations reported on p.7 of the Policy Connect guide regarding the accessible VLE. If you would like to add to this spreadsheet, you will find the link below. Each recommendation is separated into its own worksheet. The final version of the checklist is here.
Other resources
- Accessible Virtual Learning Environments: Making the most of the new regulations:
- Linked here is the one-pager Accessibility Checklist from Blackboard, which might be useful
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Photographs taken on the day of Geena Vabulas (right) and some of the participants (above)
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Demonstration of online tutoring services
25th Feb 2019
A demonstration of two online tutoring solutions took place in Bloomsbury primarily for academic support staff.
Please find below links to the presentation slides and recordings for each product.
Studiosity
www.studiosity.com
Contact: Sami Eltom [email protected]
Slides: Studiosity @ BLE - February 2019.pptx
Recording link for Studiosity
Smarthinking
www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/products-services-institutions/smarthinking/for-students.html
Contact: Jo Corwood [email protected]
Slides: BLE 250219 presentation.pptx
Recording link for Smarthinking
25th Feb 2019
A demonstration of two online tutoring solutions took place in Bloomsbury primarily for academic support staff.
Please find below links to the presentation slides and recordings for each product.
Studiosity
www.studiosity.com
Contact: Sami Eltom [email protected]
Slides: Studiosity @ BLE - February 2019.pptx
Recording link for Studiosity
Smarthinking
www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/products-services-institutions/smarthinking/for-students.html
Contact: Jo Corwood [email protected]
Slides: BLE 250219 presentation.pptx
Recording link for Smarthinking
ABC Learning Design ‘Training the trainer’ session
Tuesday 30th October 2018
The ABC team at UCL ran a dedicated session for the BLE partners regarding their exciting ABC learning design approach. We joined the growing community of users to find out why ABC is an effective and engaging hands-on workshop, which is used extensively at UCL and now more than a dozen institutions across Europe. In just 90 minutes, course teams can work together to create a visual ‘storyboard’, which outlines the type and sequence of learning activities (both online and offline) required to meet the module’s learning outcomes. More information about ABC is available here.
Tuesday 30th October 2018
The ABC team at UCL ran a dedicated session for the BLE partners regarding their exciting ABC learning design approach. We joined the growing community of users to find out why ABC is an effective and engaging hands-on workshop, which is used extensively at UCL and now more than a dozen institutions across Europe. In just 90 minutes, course teams can work together to create a visual ‘storyboard’, which outlines the type and sequence of learning activities (both online and offline) required to meet the module’s learning outcomes. More information about ABC is available here.
At this two-hour session arranged specifically for the BLE partners, Natasa Perovic and Clive Young demonstrated how you can deliver the ABC workshop at your own institution. This guide outlines how to facilitate the ABC workshop, which was covered during the session.
The session was really well attended and it is hoped that delegates will offer the workshop to colleagues in their own institutions.
The session was really well attended and it is hoped that delegates will offer the workshop to colleagues in their own institutions.
- Link to the recording
- Link to the slides, shown on the day
- Link to the BLE MOOC, which describes and contextualises the Learning Designer tool.
User Experience Conference 2018
28th and 29th June 2018
Following our successful conference Demystifying User Experience Design & Testing last year, the Bloomsbury Learning Environment (BLE) in partnership with the University of London (UoL) held a free, two-day event for staff based at UoL member institutions on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th June.
On these two days, we organised three distinct workshops, each focused on different applications of UX:
28th and 29th June 2018
Following our successful conference Demystifying User Experience Design & Testing last year, the Bloomsbury Learning Environment (BLE) in partnership with the University of London (UoL) held a free, two-day event for staff based at UoL member institutions on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th June.
On these two days, we organised three distinct workshops, each focused on different applications of UX:
- User Research: focus groups, user testing and user feedback
- User Centred Content
- Moodle and Accessibility
Ableism in Academia: The Break-Out Session
Friday 23rd March 2018
On Friday 23rd March, UCL Institution of Education hosted the event Ableism in Academia. Due to popular demand, the event was fully booked and since interest was so great, an alternative, break-out session was offered at Birkbeck where the live presentations were viewed on the big screen, enabling wider discussion and interaction.
Friday 23rd March 2018
On Friday 23rd March, UCL Institution of Education hosted the event Ableism in Academia. Due to popular demand, the event was fully booked and since interest was so great, an alternative, break-out session was offered at Birkbeck where the live presentations were viewed on the big screen, enabling wider discussion and interaction.
Moodle Showcase
Wednesday 29th November 2017
An internal showcase event for Birkbeck, at which a number of colleagues shared their institution's Moodle sites. The purpose of the event was to help Birkbeck academic staff see other examples of Moodle and consider what they can do to improve the look and feel of their own courses.
Agenda
Recording of the session:
https://birkbeck.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=aa5251cc-2617-4235-bb70-b36ba3f056cf
Wednesday 29th November 2017
An internal showcase event for Birkbeck, at which a number of colleagues shared their institution's Moodle sites. The purpose of the event was to help Birkbeck academic staff see other examples of Moodle and consider what they can do to improve the look and feel of their own courses.
Agenda
- Welcome (Sarah Sherman, BLE and James Smith, Birkbeck)
- Presentation 1: Sultan Wadud, SOAS
- Presentation 2: George Cristopher, LSHTM
- Presentation 3: Sue Harrison, Kings College London
- Presentation 4: Rhiannon Prescott, RVC
- Presentation 5: UCL’s MyFeedback Tool (video)
- Panel discussion (Chaired by Sarah Sherman)
Recording of the session:
https://birkbeck.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=aa5251cc-2617-4235-bb70-b36ba3f056cf
BLE Book launch
Thursday 26th October 2017
This momentous evening event launched the publication of the BLE's ebook, Assessment, Feedback and Technology. The event was opened by Keith Harrison, College Secretary at Birkbeck and guest speaker, Debra Garretson from Panopto shared how institutions are using media technologies to support assessment and feedback processes. After an introduction to the book by the co-editors Sarah Sherman and Leo Havemann, three case study authors described their work which features in the book (Tim Neumann, Deborah Grange and Steve Hirons).
View the video from the event here.
Further details about the book are here.
Thursday 26th October 2017
This momentous evening event launched the publication of the BLE's ebook, Assessment, Feedback and Technology. The event was opened by Keith Harrison, College Secretary at Birkbeck and guest speaker, Debra Garretson from Panopto shared how institutions are using media technologies to support assessment and feedback processes. After an introduction to the book by the co-editors Sarah Sherman and Leo Havemann, three case study authors described their work which features in the book (Tim Neumann, Deborah Grange and Steve Hirons).
View the video from the event here.
Further details about the book are here.
Demystifying User Experience Design and Testing
Thursday 23rd March 2017
This event, co-managed by the University of London and the Bloomsbury Learning Environment (BLE), aimed to introduce User Experience (UX) processes in an accessible way to a wide-ranging audience. We focused on the process and techniques rather than the design, so the event served as an introduction to UX. The main UX elements that we will cover are Research, Design, Testing and Evaluation. The event, which was opened by Professor Sir Paul Curran, President of City, University of London, consisted of two halves. In the morning, four keynote speakers presented their usage of UX processes from a variety of perspectives: HE marketing and communications, university-supported research, innovation workshops and Google's mobile web. Our speakers were joined by two other colleagues to make up a panel discussion about the challenges of UX in a Higher Education setting. In the afternoon, delegates broke-out into workshop sessions, led by experts in UX.
Read about the event and access the recording here
Thursday 23rd March 2017
This event, co-managed by the University of London and the Bloomsbury Learning Environment (BLE), aimed to introduce User Experience (UX) processes in an accessible way to a wide-ranging audience. We focused on the process and techniques rather than the design, so the event served as an introduction to UX. The main UX elements that we will cover are Research, Design, Testing and Evaluation. The event, which was opened by Professor Sir Paul Curran, President of City, University of London, consisted of two halves. In the morning, four keynote speakers presented their usage of UX processes from a variety of perspectives: HE marketing and communications, university-supported research, innovation workshops and Google's mobile web. Our speakers were joined by two other colleagues to make up a panel discussion about the challenges of UX in a Higher Education setting. In the afternoon, delegates broke-out into workshop sessions, led by experts in UX.
Read about the event and access the recording here
Bloomsbury Enhancing Assessment & Feedback Project Closure Event
16th November 2016
To mark the end of the whole Assessment & Feedback project, we ran a closure event, which acted as a celebration and thank you for all the tremendous amount of work that went in to it.
At the event, we presented the overall research findings regarding the way assessment is supported using technology in Bloomsbury. Invited speakers shared their respective contributions to the project, which had culminated in documentation available on the project website. Three Bloomsbury academics, who are also authors of case studies written for the project, described the various ways that they enhance student assessment by using innovative approaches.
Read about the event and access the recording here
16th November 2016
To mark the end of the whole Assessment & Feedback project, we ran a closure event, which acted as a celebration and thank you for all the tremendous amount of work that went in to it.
At the event, we presented the overall research findings regarding the way assessment is supported using technology in Bloomsbury. Invited speakers shared their respective contributions to the project, which had culminated in documentation available on the project website. Three Bloomsbury academics, who are also authors of case studies written for the project, described the various ways that they enhance student assessment by using innovative approaches.
Read about the event and access the recording here
BLE Inclusive Practice Forum
Wednesday 15th June, 2016, 1.30 - 5pm @ UCL IOE
The aim of this event was to bring together staff who support students’ learning to create a network of practitioners and foster a sense of sharing. The purpose of the afternoon was for attendees to
Agenda
Welcome & Introductions: Sarah Sherman, BLE Service Manager & David Walmsley, Head of UCL’s Student Disability Services
Discussion session: considerations for lecture recording
Panellists:
Wednesday 15th June, 2016, 1.30 - 5pm @ UCL IOE
The aim of this event was to bring together staff who support students’ learning to create a network of practitioners and foster a sense of sharing. The purpose of the afternoon was for attendees to
- share practice in the use of freely available technologies and apps that support learning for disabled students
- To discuss the considerations needed for introducing and managing lecture recording
- Disability teams
- Library
- Learning Support
- IT and Media Services
- Learning Technologists
- Any member of staff with an interest in supporting disabled students
Agenda
Welcome & Introductions: Sarah Sherman, BLE Service Manager & David Walmsley, Head of UCL’s Student Disability Services
Discussion session: considerations for lecture recording
Panellists:
- Elizabeth Charles, Assistant Director: E-Services & Systems (Birkbeck)
- Damien Darcy, Lecture Recording Coordinator (Birkbeck)
- Deborah Garretson, Head of Account Management (Panopto)
- Jeff Kofman/Hannah Skilton (Trint)
- Jason Norton, Digital Education Services Manager (UCL)
- Kate Solomon, Disability Adviser (RVC)
- Sultan Wadud, Learning Technologist (SOAS)
- Show & Tell: tools and technology that have changed the lives of users
- Hands-on practice
Introduction to CMALT (Chartered Membership of the Association for Learning Technology)
Thursday 12th May, 2016, 1400-1530 @ LIDC
CMALT is a professional accreditation scheme developed by ALT (the Association for Learning Technology) for anyone whose work involves using technology. Accreditation is achieved by successful submission of an online portfolio, which details examples of practice in the use of technology. Last year, a cohort of 19 staff members from across the BLE partners set off on their CMALT voyage - many have now achieved their CMALT status. The group comprised academics, librarians, learning technologists and professional support staff.
Further details about CMALT are here:
https://www.alt.ac.uk/sites/alt.ac.uk/files/ALT-CMALT-Prospectus-2014-web.pdf
A 90-minute introductory meeting will take place on Thursday 12th May at 2pm in LIDC (36 Gordon Square). Representatives from ALT and colleagues who have achieved CMALT status will explain what the accreditation means and what is involved in achieving it.
Thursday 12th May, 2016, 1400-1530 @ LIDC
CMALT is a professional accreditation scheme developed by ALT (the Association for Learning Technology) for anyone whose work involves using technology. Accreditation is achieved by successful submission of an online portfolio, which details examples of practice in the use of technology. Last year, a cohort of 19 staff members from across the BLE partners set off on their CMALT voyage - many have now achieved their CMALT status. The group comprised academics, librarians, learning technologists and professional support staff.
Further details about CMALT are here:
https://www.alt.ac.uk/sites/alt.ac.uk/files/ALT-CMALT-Prospectus-2014-web.pdf
A 90-minute introductory meeting will take place on Thursday 12th May at 2pm in LIDC (36 Gordon Square). Representatives from ALT and colleagues who have achieved CMALT status will explain what the accreditation means and what is involved in achieving it.
eAssessment & Feedback Tools Demonstration
Thursday 21st April, 2016, 1400-1600 @ Birkbeck
Revisely
http://revise.ly/en/
Cirrus Assessment
http://www.cirrusassessment.com/
Watch the video of these demos here
Thursday 21st April, 2016, 1400-1600 @ Birkbeck
Revisely
http://revise.ly/en/
- Revisely is an online application for the correction of texts, such as essays. The software supports the teacher during the entire process of writing assignments.
- Using the powerful correction tool, the teacher can add observations and feedback to the students’ texts.
- Revisely works online, no installation required, and can be used on desktops, laptops, tablets and iPads.
- Revisely makes use of the text matching software, URKUND
Cirrus Assessment
http://www.cirrusassessment.com/
- Cirrus is an end to end assessment platform which supports educators and learners throughout the assessment process. Designed with ease of use in mind, Cirrus operates across any browser enabled device and is cloud-based for increased availability and scalability.
- Cirrus' marking tools make this stage of the assessment cycle quick and efficient and reduce the chance of administrative errors. The data feeds directly into their reporting and analytics system giving the user speedy access to the information needed to finalise the grades.
Watch the video of these demos here
RefMe Demonstration
26th November 2015
RefME is a free tool that accurately, automates citations in over 7,000 referencing styles. Available on iOS, Android and RefME.com, you’re synced to the cloud, making research journeys efficient and accessible. Students can collaborate remotely and use their smartphones to scan book and journal barcodes creating a citation in an instant. A new generation of 1 million, and growing, student researchers are citing as easy as hitting the ‘like’ button.
The demonstration session that we held at Birkbeck provided the opportunity to see a short product demo, to find out how RefME can be tailored for students and staff, and the chance to ask the produce developers questions.
26th November 2015
RefME is a free tool that accurately, automates citations in over 7,000 referencing styles. Available on iOS, Android and RefME.com, you’re synced to the cloud, making research journeys efficient and accessible. Students can collaborate remotely and use their smartphones to scan book and journal barcodes creating a citation in an instant. A new generation of 1 million, and growing, student researchers are citing as easy as hitting the ‘like’ button.
The demonstration session that we held at Birkbeck provided the opportunity to see a short product demo, to find out how RefME can be tailored for students and staff, and the chance to ask the produce developers questions.
