Welcome to the June 2024 edition of the TELT monthly newsletter. It has been an action-packed month which included holding our annual Community of Practice event themed on ‘Empowering Minds: Student-Centered Approaches in Digital Education.’ We hope you enjoy reading the varied collection of articles included this month.
Community of Practice Event – 5 June 2024
On Wednesday 5th June, TELT hosted the annual Technology Enhanced Learning Community of Practice event. The event was attended by 110 staff and students in the Mile End Campus (and online). The focus was on the co-creation and development of using teaching and learning systems by academics and learning technologists, while also collaborating with students.
Six presentations were delivered highlighting enhanced practices, with the use of TELT-supported platforms, which have a successful impact on engagement and learner experience. The design and development of content, with the student voice embedded, were considered and discussed throughout. The event incorporated opportunities for networking and for attendees to meet with the TEL Team to further explore learning technologies and their respective impact. Read more in this article about the COP.
Reminder – Online Surveys v3 transition
A final reminder that Jisc will be decommissioning Version 2 of their Online Surveys platform on Wednesday 31 July. You must export any v2 surveys and response data ahead of the switch-off date, otherwise you will lose this data. Please refer to Jisc’s helpful guidance for more information and instructions on how to export your data.
You can already start using Online Surveys Version 3, which includes new features such as:
- Answer validation for single-choice grid questions
- A setting to prevent respondents from returning to a previous page in your survey
- The ability to hide questions from the individual response PDF export
Jisc are also offering Online Surveys essential training, which will cover the fundamentals of constructing, distributing, and analysing surveys using the new v3 platform.
QMplus Media updates on the horizon
John and Simon TELT leads for QMplus Media are happy to share further details about upcoming improvements . Learn about the change to version 7 of the media player and refresh of the QMplus media site theme. Also learn how to express your interest in a potential session for interactive video paths.
Q-Review – New look player
Q-Review (EchoVideo) will get a new look player interface over the Summer. The functionality will be the same but the layout and placement of the buttons will be changing. The date is yet to be confirmed but is likely to be after the QMplus upgrade in mid-July, and will be communicated via all the usual channels for both staff and students. Read on to see an example of the new player layout.
Complete Training on our Brickfields Accessibility Toolkit as well as General Accessibility!
The providers of Brickfield Accessibility Toolkit offer highly recommended training. Five online workshops include training for the Toolkit as well as four modules, one explores a general introduction to accessibility and the other three focus on media , document and web accessibility. You can find details on how to register and sign up to our QMplus site Brickfield Accessibility Guidance for Staff site which also contains further support guidance about the new toolkit and accessibility.
Brickfield have developed self-directed courses exploring the same topics in much greater detail. These self paced courses can be completed whenever convenient. You will have opportunities to complete hands on activities, test your understanding with Quizzes and explore new resources. To gain access to the self directed courses please raise a ticket by emailing the Helpdesk (IT Service Desk <servicedesk@qmul.ac.uk>).
Let’s Meet Ron!
This month we got to know Ron Anywar – QMUL’s new Teaching and Learning Systems Development Analyst. Find out what his role involves, what he’s excited to learn next and whether he prefers pizza or pasta. Read the article on our website – Let’s Meet Ron Anywar.
Congratulations to Vandy – our TEL student ambassador!
Congratulations to one of our TEL Student Ambassadors – Vathmie Vanditha Widyalankara, also known as Vandy. Vandy was awarded a QMUL Student Enhanced Engagement and Development (SEED) Award for 2023/24!
Vandy was a first year student heading into her second year in English and European Law (LLB) when she worked as part of the TEL team as the student leader for a group of TEL Student Ambassadors. Due to this experience, Vandy was able to apply for a SEED award and was successful.
I met up with Vandy to learn more about her achievement…
FAQS- Frequently asked
Q1: I cannot log into the Moodle CPD training site, who can help?
A: All requests and issues relating to the Moodle CPD training site should be directed to ITS HR Systems via an ivanti LANDesk ticket.
Q2: I have a submission coming up very soon. I need access to Turnitin to check the AI and Similarity Index of my thesis.
A: Turnitin is accessed through a QMPlus assignment only. Direct access to Turnitin is no longer given to staff due to previous misuse of the service.
Q3: Two external users have been assigned as non-editing teachers for a school at category level. However, when Course Administrators try to find the two non-editing teachers on a module, they are not visible.
A: In Moodle non-editing teachers are not enrolled on modules individually, however they do have access to all the modules under the category.
Qudos Corner
We would like to give a shout out to Annette Nembhard who delivered the excellent ‘An Introduction to using H5P in QMplus’ training session and received very positive feedback:
• “Really informative and well-run session. Thank you :)”
• “Great session. Love these shorter ones making them easy to attend.”
• “Thank you for “exposing” me to other QMplus related features; as they say, we’re always learning!”
Massive shout out also to Catherine Mclean who delivered the highly popular ‘An introduction to using AI to create H5P content in QMplus’ training session and received excellent feedback:
• “Thank you for delivering the course. It was very helpful.”
• “The event was really useful and the TELT staff were very good.”
• “Excellent session, professionally delivered.”
Farewell Danielle
We recently bid farewell to a popular member of the team, Danielle Mangal. Danielle was a Learning Technology Officer in the Training and Support strand for two years. During her time with us she worked on a wide number of projects and tasks. Throughout she maintained a positive attitude and was always a pleasure to work with. She will be missed and we wish her all the best on her new adventure.
Congratulations
TELT Learning Technologist, Simon Durrant, recently celebrated the wedding of his daughter Hannah and her partner Matt. The father of the bride shared lovely photos of the day we would like to say congratulations to the happy couple and well done Simon for ensuring the day was special for everyone involved.
