Zoom Apps and Updates

 

 

 

 

There are 3 new apps available for all Zoom account holders at QMUL:

• Timer – a countdown and alarm for use during meetings
• Virtual Backgrounds – select your favourite virtual background from over 2 million high-resolution images
• Shared Backgrounds – find the right background for your meeting

Learn more about Zoom apps available specifically for education.

An update to the Zoom meeting ‘look’ is the introduction of Whiteboard on the meeting toolbar

Click on the tool to create a new whiteboard or select from whiteboards you’ve made during other meetings.

 

Blackboard Ally

Blackboard Ally is now live for all course creators and teachers on QMplus.  Blackboard Ally guides are available on the TELT site to help users get to grips with Blackboard Ally.  A Guide on accessibility captioning will be added shortly as will a link to using Talis Aspire after the library session has been delivered.

Training materials have been added to the LTG teams site and these can be downloaded and used in your school training sessions.  Please feel free to adapt the PowerPoint and Lesson plan to suit your purposes.  For any school without a learning technologist please contact d.buzzard@qmul.ac.uk to arrange school training with the TELT team.

The accessibility planning template is also now on the LTG teams site, this should be completed with the Head of School, or a School Curriculum Lead and be approved by the school teaching and learning committee before being returned to the TELT team.  Schools own the plans and should update them regularly.  TELT will collect in the plans annually unless an audit is called and then an update will be requested.

If you haven’t done so already please alert your school colleagues about the addition of Blackboard Ally and the need to make learning resources accessible.  All new courses need to be accessible by design.

If you need support or help with rolling out Blackboard Ally please do get in touch with the TELT teams.

 

Blackboard Collaborate Decommissioning Update

Blackboard Collaborate is now moving into the final stages of decommissioning. As stated in last month’s newsletter all recordings made after the 13th of June will not be transferred to QMPlus Media. Collaborate has now been removed from the activity picker in QMPlus and over the Summer the External tool will also be removed. During the next month, TELT will be transferring the recordings over to QMPLus Media and we will keep you posted on the progress and when they will be available in the course galleries.

 

Upcoming Staff Training – Summer Programme

As we approach the 16th August launch date for the new QMplus theme, we have a number of new theme awareness sessions that will walk you through the new QMplus environment. Join us at one of these sessions for a preview of what the new theme will look like.

We will also be delivering Zoom and MS Teams sessions in light of the decommissioning of Blackboard Collaborate for online teaching. Or if you are still unsure whether Zoom or MS Teams will suit your online teaching needs, join us at one of our Zoom and MS Teams comparison sessions.

Below are some of the upcoming sessions. For additional workshops, and to book on to sessions please use the QMUL course booking system and search for the course code ‘TELT’.

Code	Title	Date	Time	Venue
TELT111	QMplus new theme awareness	23/06/2022	1000 – 1100	MS Teams
TELT013	Getting started with Zoom	28/06/2022	1000 – 1100	Zoom
TELT013b	Zoom in teaching	28/06/2022	1115 – 1230	Zoom
TELT111	QMplus new theme awareness	30/06/2022	1400 – 1500	MS Teams
TELT111	QMplus new theme awareness	06/07/2022	1400 – 1500	MS Teams
TELT016	Introduction to Blackboard Ally	13/07/2022	1000 – 1130	Online
TELT013	Getting started with Zoom	13/07/2022	1000 – 1100	Zoom
TELT013a	Zoom in teaching	13/07/2022	1115 – 1230	Zoom
TELT111	QMplus new theme awareness	14/07/2022	1400 – 1500	MS Teams
TELT111	QMplus new theme awareness	19/07/2022	1200 – 1300	MS Teams
TELT013	Getting started with Zoom	20/07/2022	1000 – 1100	Zoom
TELT013a	Zoom in teaching	20/07/2022	1115 – 1230	Zoom
TELT016	Introduction to Blackboard Ally	20/07/2022	1400 – 1530	Online
TELT111	QMplus new theme awareness	27/07/2022	1000 – 1100	MS Teams

If you have a quick query about any of our technologies? Why not drop in online to speak to someone from the TEL team…

Drop-in sessions are still available online (in Zoom) every Tuesday and Thursday, from 1-2 pm. There’s no need to tell us you’re coming; just drop in via the Zoom link located on our Online Support area on QMplus.

 

What are you asking the Helpdesk?

The top queries in June were:

Question 1: How do I access QMplus Hub?

Answer 1: QMplus Hub has been updated and can now only be accessed via QMplus. To access QMplus Hub please log into QMplus and go to the dashboard where you will find the ‘QMplus Hub’ link. Click on the link and you will automatically be logged onto QMplus Hub.

Question 2: How do I access Jisc Online surveys ?

Answer 2: You will require an account to access https://www.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/. Please raise a ticket with the IT Helpdesk giving your full name and email address and this will be created for you.

Question 3: How do I access QMplus archives?

Answer 3: Staff and students can access a read-only archived version of a course area from a previous year. This can be done by clicking on the ‘archive’ quick link or footer links at the bottom of QMplus and then searching for the course. For more information please click here

Read more in our common support questions article.