This Isn’t About Learning Technology: A Learning Technologist Reflects

Posted on by Chris O-Reilly — No Comments ↓

by Chris O’Reilly, Learning Technologist

Sadly, my time working within Educational Enhancement (EE) as a Learning Technologist has come to an end, coinciding with the release of this blog post. And strangely enough this is the third time I am leaving Sussex. I first started here several years ago in the languages department, SCLS, and had four stimulating and rewarding years there. Then, after Covid I started working for the Student Experience team redeveloping the Skills Hub on a twenty-month contract which was very exciting as it called upon my creative design and video production skills. However, I now find myself reluctantly leaving having not completed a full year in my current role as a learning technologist.

So, what will I take away from this rather short Educational Enhancement experience? You may feel that I might reflect on the exploration of the technical support resources and the specialist advice we give to enhance the use of learning technologies, or our involvement of curriculum development or the delivery of our online distance learning courses. I could also talk about our ongoing Events workshops and Seminars, or our regular self-paced online training sessions for academic staff.

But alas no, I am instead going to highlight and give an insight to the way we as a team are motivated and encouraged as technical educationalists to deal with the new and higher levels of demand within our sector.

The week starts every Monday morning with a 9.30 Teams meeting…
Tired Monday morning eyes and yawns are quickly replaced by keen alert minds as we are taken through various aspects of new software, policies, live issues and forward-thinking concepts. An online game is generally thrown into the mix to help make our responses gather speed for the rest of the day. The team collective energises us individually, and after we absorb the motivation and rise to the challenges of the day knowing we have the support and backing of each other.

…and every week finishes with a 9.30 Friday morning Teams meeting, discussing the issues and successes of the week… highlights of the weekend approaching are shared, which also adds to EE family bond.

Each day the EE Teams channels, of which there are many, are activated constantly with ‘Status Updates’, ‘LTs Discussions’, ‘Inclusion and Accessibility’, ‘Panopto’, ‘Apps’ and ‘AI’ for example, but this is not exclusive, we also have ‘We are sport EE’ and a ‘Music Friday’ channel. Daily Tasks are given and signed off on a regular basis and occasionally balanced off with images of a burnt first attempt of baking a cake or an image of one of our fellow colleagues receiving a Sussex Education award. For me, the EE Teams communication platform was a lifeline where I could ask for support from my fellow LTs about how to find and locate a ‘Missing Assignment’ or how can I assist in advising on ‘Submission points’ and various aspects of Canvas… the list goes on, and always there comes a ‘ping’ followed by detailed instructions on how I can proceed followed a smiling emoji.  

Write a blog! Yes, each one of us on a regular basis writes a Blog post. Our specialist subjects and interests are encouraged as well as describing details about the recent conferences we have attended or outcomes from various institutional presentations or the emerging fields within education. Last month (June), ‘Bridging the Gaps: Insights from Digital Accessibility Conference 2024’ was posted by Mark Thomas (a fellow LT) which was an insightful post not just on the topic itself but on the process of delivery, a ‘distributed conference’. And there are of course the regular up to date posts on AI including Sam Hemsley’s (Academic Developer) ‘Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice’ blog which encompasses a whole range of AI information including ‘Courses’, ‘Publications’, ‘Webinars’ and various other AI software that we are piloting such as Jamworks.
Writing a blog also encourages us to delve more into our research interests, it enriches our knowledge and potentially adds to our CPD. An additional outcome comes after our blogs are published online, this knowledge is shared within our team and of course the wider university and in some instances investigated further. Many of these blogs are often instigated directly from the Schools in which we are associated with, this also allows us to integrate more with our school colleagues and aids the support we offer.

Actively Involved

This indeed conveniently takes me to my involvement in the USBS Festival of Sustainable Education held in May of this year. Setting up an introductory online short course ‘6 days of AI’. This initial concept has now been progressively developed and used for a variety of purposes within our department to support newcomers to AI and beyond.

We recently housed the Playful Learning Conference here at Sussex.

A close-up view of a poster at the Playful Learning Conference (2024), showing the logo and a stick of Brighton rock.
Fun interacting learning approaches during the Playful Learning Conference

The approach and inspiration behind this ever-growing conference is underpinned by robust research and working practices. The conference provided a space where teachers, researchers and students could play, learn and think together. If you missed this year’s conference, remember to look out for next years…

We have also recently held the Second Sussex Education Festival, which was an event for anyone involved in delivering education at Sussex.

Speaker and audience members at the Education Festival (2024) in a large lecture theatre.
The Education Festival drawing on open discussions after three lightning presentations

This Festival consisted of several different session types, including panel discussions and interactive workshops, we focused on themes such as alternative assessments, student engagement and wellbeing, Generative AI and environmental sustainability. Each year we plan to encourage more and more staff to participate in our yearly Educational Festival to help share expert knowledge and participate in open discussion.
Prior to this, in December, we launched our AI Community of Practice live event on campus. Professor Michael Luck, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at Sussex and founding Director of King’s College London’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence gave a whistle-stop tour of the recent history of Artificial Intelligence along with his own impressions of how Sussex was embracing the technology from his perspective as a new member of our community with particular interest and expertise in the field. For further information regarding this event please access Helen Morley’s (another LT) blog post The University of Sussex Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice Launch Event.

Team Vision

So, enough about our conference highlights and day to day work, an area that has created a huge impact on me personally is the awareness to focuss on our impact on the environment. From the power it takes to create an AI generated image to the power we consume in our own working spaces.

You may have seen ‘Sussex in Focus’ last month on the Internal Comms recently, our approach to creating a welcoming office environment, and the blog post by our amazing Simon Overton, Embracing Sustainability: The Journey to Our GrEEn Office.

From this we have created a welcoming environment for our area in which we work. This has spurned us on individually, and as a team, to be more aware of the impact we have in our home and working life situations. So much so that we were rewarded with the universities Gold ‘Green Impact Award’…

A "Gold" award for Educational Enhancement, made out of slate.
Our prized Gold Award

With this ethos guiding us, as well as the Green Impact toolkit, we embarked on a journey to transform our office into a shared workspace we could be proud of, each desk dawned with an exotic (well maybe not that exotic!) plant.

Team Fun

Karaoke nights, silent disco, games day, potluck picnic’s and of course Christmas and birthday celebrations are just a few of the events we have on a regular basis, with new events added appropriately, like the current Olympic sweepstake. Of course, these events are all organised using Excel spread sheets, Teams Calendars, Padlet and various other forms of technology. 

Members of EE sitting at a picnic table.
One of our Pot Luck Picnic days…
Some burnt food at the EE picnic.
The best thing on the menu – thanks Rachael…

So, what will I take away from this rather short Educational Enhancement Learning Technologist experience? Well, many things, firstly however, I feel that I have learnt more in the last 10 months than I have learnt in the last 10 years! But more importantly for me, personally, I have found the working environment, although very challenging at times, being rewarded with copious amounts of genuine support and encouragement. The self-satisfaction of achievement, if I can speak for everyone in my department, is an achievement shared by all, we celebrate in all that we do and all that we can give each other. The working camaraderie and the knowledge of having made new friends is what I shall take with me.    

Posted in Educational Enhancement, Learning Technologies, Sustainability

Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice: July 2024 Update

Posted on by Sam Hemsley — No Comments ↓

by Dr Sam Hemsley, Academic Developer

Click to listen to an audio version of this article

What’s new at Sussex?

In June, Microsoft CoPilot was made available to all staff and students. We also completed a trial of Jamworks, an AI notetaking and study aid application. Read Helen Morley’s blog of 6 June for an overview.

Reflections on AI the University of Sussex Education Festival

We in Educational Enhancement have spent the past few days reflecting on the many brilliant insights into approaches to teaching, assessing and supporting our students here at Sussex.

A key theme that came out of the sessions with an AI focus was the need to support students in developing their evaluative judgment: their ability to make independent judgements about the quality of their own work, and the work of others. Verona Ní Drisceoil (Reader in Legal Education) spoke about her approach to building explicitly students’ evaluative judgments skills. Verona drew on Bearman et al’s 2024 paper, ‘Developing evaluative judgement for a time of generative artificial intelligence’ to consider the intersection with critical AI literacies.

We heard a similar call from recent graduates Aaron Fowler and Max Bayliss who took a morning away from training University of Sussex Business School academics in how GPT4 can and is being used by students, to kick off day two of the conference. Max and Aaron challenged us to recognise that, while some students are automating their responses to assessment tasks using generative AI, some are also using AI to augment their work. When augmenting, AI becomes an extension of learning and a means to speed up knowledge acquisition, leaving more time for higher-level thinking like evaluative judgement and critical thinking. Aaron and Max then went on to suggest flipping Bloom’s Taxonomy on its head to embed such higher-level skills earlier in the curriculum. 

Another really interesting question which emerged over the conference was whether universities should focus on providing bespoke (and therefore constrained but ‘managed’) AI study support tools for students, such as Jamworks or Plato; or, whether they should go all-in on training students (and staff) how to create their own, e.g.: using GPT4 Enterprise. Also, how long should we wait to make a decision!? A question we will return to many times, I’m sure.

More conference highlights will follow in an EE blog post coming soon.

Updates from the sector

Here’s a summary of the things that caught our eye over the last few weeks.

GenAI continues to evolve

Towards the end of June, Anthropic launched Claude 3.5 Sonnet a new free generative AI tool which (deep breath):

 “sets new industry benchmarks for graduate-level reasoning (GPQA), undergraduate-level knowledge (MMLU), and coding proficiency (HumanEval). It shows marked improvement in grasping nuance, humor, and complex instructions and is exceptional at writing high-quality content with a natural, relatable tone.”

This followed hot on the heels of OpenAI’s release of a free version of ChatGPT 4 and ChatGPT4-o (no – I don’t really understand the version naming conventions either). In short, we all now have free access to much of the GPT4 functionality that had previously been behind a paywall.

Proof (if we needed it) that GenAI is hard to spot

At the end of June, various media reported on the Reading University researchers who “fooled” university markers with AI-generated exam papers” . You heard it here first though (the pre-print has been in circulation and on the AI CoP Padlet since October 2023).

Responding in the Guardian, Prof Elizabeth McCrum, Reading’s Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education, reported that Reading was moving away from online exams and developing alternatives that would include applying knowledge in “real-life, often workplace related” settings stating:

“Some assessments will support students in using AI. Teaching them to use it critically and ethically; developing their AI literacy and equipping them with necessary skills for the modern workplace. Other assessments will be completed without the use of AI.”

The ‘how’ implicit in McCrum’s final sentence remains elusive however.

Should we rethink cheating, and/or design it out?

Martin Compton’s Heducationalist blog happens to offer some views on this ‘how’ or, at the very least, some robust challenges to the sector and a very stretched Ghostbusters’ metaphor. Compton made the argument that:

 “Academic integrity as a goal is fine but too often connotes protected knowledge, archaic practices, inflexible standards and a resistance to evolution’ and that AI thus represents a catalyst, rather than a reason, for dramatic change”.

*Spoiler: he means change towards innovative approaches and assessment for learning – not back to in-person exams and tighter regulation of more traditional assessment approaches.

We’ll leave you to follow up independently on the Ghostbusters part of his argument.

Teach students to use AI to think with them, not for them

June also saw the publication of a HEPI blog which provided (we thought) a useful framing for curriculum innovation in an AI world, and one which chimes with the view of our graduate speakers at last week’s Education Festival. The post summarises the outcomes of a collaborative round table of four HE leaders who seek to shift the emphasis from detection of AI misuse to recognising the place AI will have in both education and the future working lives of today’s students.

The solutions shared provided more of the ‘how’ in relation to stress testing existing assessments, from the University of Greenwich and Imperial College London, which are being used to evaluate risk while also driving educator AI literacy. Glasgow have gone further and provided staff with a reflective survey and dashboard to map their practice against their institutional assessment framework, stating:

“We are trying to set a context where we think very carefully about assessment design from the outset and ask, are we over-assessing? Are we making sure that the assessment we design for students is connected to their learning and connected to skills? Are those skills really surfaced through the work that they’re doing?” (Professor Moira Fischbacher-Smith, Vice-Principal (Learning and Teaching, University of Glasgow)

So, in summary, the consensus in the sector remains one of critical engagement with AI, recognition there is no silver bullet for assessment assurance and, in general, a reluctance simply to revert to in-person exams.

Use AI to make learning fun, and impactful!

Lest we forget – generative AI is also a rather wonderful tool that we can all use as educators, as we found at this year’s Playful Learning Conference.

Using a game of ‘guess the prompt’ Daisy Abbott managed to get delegates thinking around how Generative AI works and where it can create huge inaccuracies, this led to a fantastic discussion of how we communicate the problems of AI to students and academics. See, for example, the image below. Can you guess what prompt created this image and what’s wrong with it?

Salmon fillets (not the living creatues) splashing about in water.
Provided by the author

Upcoming events

The most recent University of Kent ‘Digitally Enhanced Education webinars’ took place on 17 July, on the theme ‘How Best to Engage Our Students in 2024/2025’. It includes three 15 minute talks with an AI focus. Films of the presentations should be available soon on their YouTube channel.

You can sign up now to the Intro to Generative AI in teaching workshops running in September.

As ever if you need support for your teaching at Sussex, then get in touch with your Learning Technologist or Academic Developer for support.

Posted in Academic Development, AI, AI CoP, Educational Enhancement

Bridging the Gaps: Insights from Digital Accessibility Conference 2024

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by Mark Thomas, Learning Technologist

Click to listen to the audio version of this blog post

The Digital Accessibility Conference (DAC) 2024 hosted by Nottingham University last week was my first experience of a “distributed conference”. It brought together an international audience, with 20+ institutions taking part. The welcome session made it clear that the conference boasted over 800 individual online sign-ups (not including those watching in groups, like us). There was also a sizeable gathering of in-person attendees. Our idea at Sussex was to join the day’s events by hosting all three rooms, running in parallel, and their programme of talks and round tables. The three rooms reflected the main themes of the conference:

  • Leadership and Governance
  • Delivering Capability
  • Realising the Benefits

In this blog post, I would like to give you my top five takeaways from DAC 2024.

A brightly-coloured illustration of a laptop computer on a desk, showing participants in a meeting or, as in this case, an online conference.
Adobe Stock

Change does not happen in isolation

The three themes of the conference were billed as the key drivers of change. In the welcome speech, Julian Tenney, Learning Content Team Leader at Nottingham, spoke about how nothing would improve unless senior and school leadership – along with programme managers – invested in projects that identified and developed the capabilities to support accessibility as universal standard as part of how and who we design education for. Unless the benefits of these capabilities are realised and evidenced then lasting and embedded accessibility will continue to elude those who really need it.

Accessible STEM materials are tricky to create

There was a thread of Maths and STEM subjects woven throughout the programme. One academic showcasing some of the tools and techniques they have been using hammered home the point that STEM text is not natively accessible and Maths notation is tricky to format. Using LaTeX, HTML formats, Pandoc Mathpix, and Mathjax are a few examples that were shown, while quite rightly (yet still frustratingly) highlighting their shortcomings. One interesting process, which was news to me at least, was that saving a Word document as an HTML file will extract images from the doc and save them all in a sub folder. This was useful when Maths notation images had been used and would help for adding it to a Canvas module, perhaps (with alt text, of course).  

AI does not have all the answers

There was a lot of talk around the issue of alt text to support access to images and data. There were some damning numbers from the presenter where 5700 images they audited had no alt text at all. This highlights the issue that I feel is commonplace across institutions: a lack of awareness when designing materials and VLE/LMS modules. Can AI save the day and help rectify this problem? The answer from several talks was no, not really! It can help but is not the one-stop-shop to change. AI can help describe what can be seen in commonly known images from the internet but AI does not give context for the image, which is an integral part of the guidelines for alt text use. When images are less known to the generative bank of information, the descriptions are less accurate. This was based on a comparison between Microsoft’s Alt Text option, Dall-e (Open AI product) and the Alt-Text AI website.

Student voice matters

We all strive to provide user-friendly, inclusive materials to enhance student experience and learning outcomes. Even with the best intentions in the world this cannot match what can be understood from feedback and input from those for whom accessibility is most important. “Action not Reaction” was a phrase that came up once or twice throughout the day and it is most important in this case. It is imperative that student input is gathered appropriately and promptly to ensure that processes and procedures are proactive and not reactive.

Time, and time again

The most often quoted but least surprising reason for accessibility targets not being met is the reported lack of availability of staff time to make the changes to their materials. A staff-student co-creation project funded by a Students As Change Agents programme reported how staff in the faculty were being supported by students. Students were trained how to make existing materials more accessible (Word docs, PPT and PDF). The project is helping them understand the process of converting learning materials to improve accessibility and helping the faculty gain a greater understanding of the experience of students using assistive technology to support their learning. Students also reported the benefits of them being upskilled in digital technology as a positive knock-on effect.

What next?

One of the most inspiring elements of the entire conference was the amount of enthusiasm for delivering capabilities and demonstrating the benefits. As part of the plenary, the discussion moved toward the future and one key message was that a unified and standardised approach across institutions would have a big impact. If we could agree on the accessibility guidelines and non-negotiables for the creation of a Power Point slide deck, for example, then anyone working in an institution who then moves elsewhere will be held to the same standards. With conferences like this bringing people together it really makes me feel that that is a realistic next step.

Helpful Links

A Padlet board from a roundtable conversation about what is happening in other institutions regarding accessibility: ConversAction Padlet

The Ability Net website: AbilityNet

Making Things Accessible (A UCL, Westminster Uni and Brunel collaboration project)

Posted in Accessibility, Inclusive teaching, Learning Design, Learning Technologies

Adventures of an Online Distance Learning Librarian

Posted on by Sarah Ison — No Comments ↓

by Sarah Ison, Online Distance Learning Manager and Online Distance Learning Librarian

Time flies when you’re passionate about your work—or maybe it’s just a side effect of spending too much time on Zoom.

A cartoon image of a generic librarian.
Image generated by Adobe Firefly

This November, I’ll celebrate six years as the Online Distance Learning (ODL) Librarian at Sussex, a role that has been both challenging and rewarding. Over these years, I’ve had the joy of supporting over a thousand distance learning students, ensuring they have the resources and guidance they need to succeed.

Our ODL journey began in 2018 with the launch of our first Master’s program in International Marketing. We started with just five students, and it was a celebratory moment when they graduated. Another milestone came in 2021 when we welcomed our 1000th student, ahead of schedule. Today, we offer nine diverse online courses, catering to an ever-growing community of learners.

We welcomed our 1000th student
ahead of schedule

I joined in 2019, just in time to get my bearings before the world turned upside down with the Covid-19 pandemic. Fortunately, my role was perfectly suited for the transition to remote work. Armed with a borrowed laptop, I continued teaching via Zoom and collaborating on Teams. The transition was smooth, even if working from home with two young children (then aged 5 and 2) added a bit of chaos to the mix.

About 40% of our ODL students are based in the UK, while the rest are spread across more than 150 countries. I meet with them regularly through live sessions at the start of each intake. Given their busy schedules, often balancing work and family commitments, I keep my sessions short and to the point. Topics include search skills, advanced search techniques, referencing advice, plagiarism avoidance, and academic tips like note-taking and reading long documents. I also highlight the many useful guides created by our on-campus library team.

The pandemic pushed many universities to make all required readings available online. For ODL, this was already our standard practice. Our reading lists draw on the vast online resources of the University of Sussex Library. Each module, spanning seven weeks, includes 2-3 essential readings and up to 12 optional ones, fitting within the 20 hours of study time recommended per week. With six different start points each year, I offer live orientation sessions for every intake. These sessions, recorded and shared later, introduce students to library resources and support services. All recordings are available on the Study Online Student Support site, which I’m currently updating to make it more user-friendly and comprehensive. Students can also arrange 1-2-1 meetings with me for bespoke support, and can email our dedicated support email address too for their specific questions, often around finding access to hard-to-find articles and resources, tricky referencing questions and lots of other enquiries! I love being able to support students and help them find what they need, with one student recently referring to this ‘superpower’ of finding resources- it’s what Librarians do best!

While many ODL students may never visit our campus, they’re always welcome to use the library facilities if they’re nearby. However, most will experience student life from afar, which is quite different from the traditional on-campus experience.

I’m fortunate to work with colleagues who help keep our ODL reading lists up-to-date and ensure we have the resources needed for nearly 100 modules, with about 20 running each intake, six times a year. As I reflect on these past six years, I’m proud of our achievements and excited about the future of online distance learning at Sussex. I was delighted to receive the ‘Inclusive Sussex’ award at this year’s Education Awards, after being nominated by ODL students and colleagues.  Here’s to many more milestones and the continued support of our fantastic students.

The adventure continues…

Posted in Educational Enhancement, Inclusive teaching, Online Distance Learning (ODL)

Academic Developers: June round up

Posted on by Simona Connelly — No Comments ↓
a picture of a megaphone, a mobile phone, a lightbulb, a magnifying glass and the YouTube logo on a pink background, to indicate announcing information

Second Sussex Education Festival 

Please join us for the second Sussex Education Festival, an event for anyone involved in delivering education at Sussex. The event will be held over two days. You can attend the Festival in-person (9.30-4pm on 10 July) in the Woodland Rooms at the Student Centre and/or online (10-3pm on 11 July) 

Upcoming scholarship event: Presenting your scholarship to different audiences: impact and outreach 

Dr James Williams (Senior Lecturer in Science Education) leads this face-to-face workshop on presenting your scholarship to different audiences. Whether speaking on BBC radio, writing for peer reviewed journals, his weekly column in the Argus, or a chapter in an academic book, James adapts both content and delivery for his specific audience. This hands-on workshop utilises James’ experience and provides you with the opportunity to present your scholarship to different audiences, helping you achieve recognition, impact and outreach. Location: Pevensey 1B2. University of Sussex. 

Open to all colleagues at the University. Book via Eventbrite. 

New blogs

Learning Matters have published new blogs on Guessing and Gender Bias in Multiple-Choice Quizzes with Negative Marking and Measuring educational gain through Assurance of Learning (AoL), and Learning Technologist Helen Morley has recently published a blog titled Preferred Platforms and Piloted Products 

Education and Innovation Fund 

The deadline for the next round of applications for the Education and Innovation Fund is Friday 26 July, and the winners will be announced shortly afterwards.   Please note, this is the last funding round in this cycle.  Congratulations to all the latest winning projects 

Other Educational Enhancement events and workshops

There is a full menu of events being held at the University.   One of the highlights is the Digitial Accessibility Conference, which is a distributed conference, organized by the University of Nottingham, which we are hosting on campus to bring together colleagues who are committed to improving digital accessibility for everyone in our university community.  Please register your interest in joining the event on campus by completing this form,  

Posted in Academic Development, Educational Enhancement, Monthly Round-ups

Think Better, Learn Better: Six Ways Reflection Can Transform Higher Education

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by Dr Laura Clarke, Academic Developer supporting Online Distance Learning

A person (perhaps a university student) looks in a mirror, which is reflecting them as a businessperson in a suit. It is an illustration.
Illustration by Adobe Stock.

As the summer assessment period brings the academic year to an end and the halls and schools empty out and the library falls… well, silent, so it is that many of us in Higher Education start to reflect on the year just past as we look towards the new year ahead.

But why do we “reflect” and not just “look”?

“Reflect” is a tricky word with two very close meanings. It means to look back (perhaps critically) on what has gone before: like listening to an echo that returns our own words to us. It also means to look at oneself, as in a mirror, and perhaps to see what other people see every day. In other words, to reflect is to investigate what we have done and who we are. This, by definition, makes reflection in pedagogy a much more powerful process than simply looking.

This makes reflection in pedagogy
a much more powerful process
than simply looking.

Reflection promotes critical thinking and metacognition (the process of thinking about one’s own thinking and learning). It enhances students’ comprehension of the subject matter whilst also cultivating adaptability, self-directed learning, and a proactive mindset. Asking students to describe and analyse their reflective accounts of the approaches and processes they used to inform or create their work, rather than assessing solely the assessment product, can also make assessments more AI resilient as they will need to be familiar with the process of creating a piece of work, not just the product.

Reflection is a skill that is often undervalued in higher education. Students are more likely to engage in reflection when they understand that it fosters critical thinking skills that are essential for making sense of their learning experiences. Given that most university assignments involve discursive writing, which requires presenting arguments with reasoning and evidence, it is essential to help students develop the skill of reflection. It is important to provide examples of reflective writing that employ a personal style, focusing on first-person experiences that are supported by references to literature and personal insights. Providing reflective models can also help students to understand the structure and process of reflection, guiding them toward analytical rather than descriptive expression.

Some popular reflective models are:

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (1998). This model consists of six stages: Description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan.

Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle (1984). This model uses a four-stage cycle: Concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation.

Schön’s Reflective Practice (1991). This model differentiates between “reflection-in-action” and “reflection-on-action,” emphasising the importance of learning in real-time.

Rolfe’s Framework for Reflexive Practice (2001). This model consists of three phases: The Descriptive Phase, the Interpretive Phase and the Outcome Phase.

Reflection can easily be cultivated using a variety of activities in the classroom. Below are some examples of how to do this.

Exit slips

Before students leave your class, ask them to write a quick response to a reflective question. If your students are online, they can share ideas on a digital collaborative space such as Padlet.

Think-Pair-Share

Incorporate think-pair-share activities where students have a few minutes to reflect individually on a question or prompt, discuss their thoughts with a partner, and then share their insights with the whole class.

Concept mapping

Use concept mapping as a visual tool for reflection. Students can create mind maps to connect concepts, ideas, and their own understanding, fostering a deeper level of thinking. For concept mapping tools available at Sussex, see: https://staff.sussex.ac.uk/teaching/enhancement/support/tools/apps

Diamond nine

Ask students to rank nine ideas, viewpoints, or pieces of information into what they consider highest to lowest importance into a diamond-shaped hierarchy. This can be done in person using cards or post-its or using an online collaborative tool.

Discuss learning from previous assessments or feedback

Lead a discussion of insights from previous assessments completed and/or feedback received, e.g.: asking students to identify what they will continue doing, need to do differently, and why. This will also help develop student assessment and feedback literacy.

Reflection is more than looking back – it’s a thoughtful process of examining our experiences and seeing ourselves more clearly. By fostering this practice in our classrooms, we empower students to enhance their critical thinking, adaptability, and self-directed learning. Let’s embrace the power of reflection to not only improve our teaching but also to inspire our students to reach new heights in their educational journeys. Find out more at https://staff.sussex.ac.uk/teaching/enhancement/

Posted in Academic Development, Educational Enhancement, Learning theory

Preferred Platforms and Piloted Products

Posted on by Helen Morley — 1 Comment ↓

by Helen Morley, Learning Technologist, University of Sussex

It’s me again, so you can be pretty certain this blog is AI-focused!

Disclaimer: Blogs capture a moment in time; the information and any guidance or insights in this blog is accurate on 6 June 2024. If you’re reading this and want to check if there has been an update, please visit our website here: https://staff.sussex.ac.uk/teaching/enhancement/

An AI-generated image of a man in a suit and glasses, using a laptop. Blobs of coloured light float about. He has no eyes, probably because this is an AI image.
Image generated using Adobe Firefly using HM’s prompt “an academic testing IT software”. 5th June 2024.

This semester (Spring 23/24) we have seen even more developments in the use of artificial intelligence at the University of Sussex. Topics covered in editions of this blog include:

And Dr Verona Ni Drisceoil shared fascinating insights on assessment using AI on EE’s other blog, Learning Matters.

As we come to the end of the academic year, we have some exciting news to share!

Preferred Platforms

We now have two preferred platforms at Sussex. Preferred platforms are supported by ITS and have been subject to scrutiny for GDPR and other concerns. Sussex staff and students will be able to access the platforms using their login details (abc123@sussex…) and doing so ensures that any content uploaded or created stays within our “walled garden” meaning it cannot be accessed by outside agencies.  Having preferred platforms also supports our commitment to equality of opportunity as all students will be able to access the resources.

Microsoft CoPilot

The Microsoft CoPilot logo
Fig 1. The Microsoft CoPilot logo
Screengrabs of sections of the Co-pilot app showing green "Protected" icons with a sheild and a tick. These icons indicate that the user is accessing Co-pilot with their Sussex account.
Fig 2. The two different ways CoPilot will show that you are using your protected Sussex account.

As an organisation that uses Microsoft Office, we have institutional access to CoPilot, which is Microsoft’s “AI companion” or “digital assistant”, depending on which part of their website you’re reading. You can read more about this in the news announcement from the Better Sussex team on their news article. Currently, we have the version which offers “chat” and composition options; there is a more advanced option which can engage with other Microsoft apps such as PowerPoint which we don’t have yet due to cost and other concerns. When you use CoPilot, please make sure you are logged in using your Sussex account (e.g. abc123@sussex…) to ensure you are working within the protections offered by our licence.

Adobe Firefly

The Adobe Firefly logo
The Adobe Firefly logo

We have had a licence with Adobe for many years and are pleased that they are including Firefly, which is an image generating platform, in their provision. Adobe Firefly can create images from text prompts and interact with images the user uploads. You can add specific details in your prompt, e.g. specifying a cartoon style, and there is also a menu of variables you can select from including tone, lighting and “camera” angle. As with most AI tools, please be aware of the biases Firefly has; for example the image at the top of this blog is supposed to be of “an academic” and I’m sure you all know many academics who look nothing like the output!

Support and Guidance

CoPilot and Firefly are supported by the ITS team.  If you are using them for teaching and would like some guidance, please contact your school’s learning technologist or the EE team.  Colleagues from Educational Enhancement have already started sharing tips and quick guides on the preferred platforms and there will be a self-study Canvas course available in the near future.

Piloted Products

One of (many) great things about being a learning technologist at Sussex is the opportunity to take part in pilots for tools and software. There are some pilots in progress at the moment and I’m going to write about the one I was fortunate to lead.

Jamworks

The Jamworks logo
The Jamworks logo

In January we successfully applied to be part of a pilot run by Jisc to test the notetaking tool Jamworks. Jamworks integrates with Panopto to create transcripts and uses AI to generate highlights and quizzes which are sourced entirely from recorded lecture content.

We had two cohorts of students, and their lecturers, take part in the pilot and one more group will run during vacation teaching. Responses from the academics were largely positive and we were all impressed by Jamworks’ scope as an assistive tool for students with diverse requirements.

Observations we made included:

  • It was easy to set Jamworks up and integrate it with Panopto; it was particularly useful that students could access past recordings and not just ones that were made after we had started trialling the tool.
  • The accuracy of the notes was impressive, including subject-specific terminology which other lecture capture transcripts can occasionally make errors with.
  • The highlights were useful but in some cases Jamworks could have been a lot more discerning as they could be quite long.
  • The options for students to adjust their settings, including using a focused reading pane, was great to see and a definite win for accessibility.
  • We missed having the option to run reports on student usage and engagement, but we recognise Jamworks is fundamentally a learning support tool and not a teaching or monitoring tool.

When I reviewed my notes on Jamworks in anticipation of creating my evaluation, I watched a recording of an early meeting when it was demonstrated to the different university teams taking part in the pilot. I have taken a screenshot of my face at one point, which I think illustrates that I was seeing something I liked:

Helen Morley looking very impressed, with raised eyebrows and a grin.
Me, looking like I’ve just been shown something in Jamworks I was impressed with.

Next Steps

It is our ongoing commitment to support the adoption of appropriate and exciting technologies to enhance education at Sussex. If you’d like to take part in future pilots like the Jamworks one please get in touch and register your interest. Also, do come along to events like the AI Community of Practice (next dates tbc) and the Sussex Education Festival 2024 (10 and 11 July).

Posted in AI, Educational Enhancement, Learning Technologies

Five New Padlet Features for Higher Education To Try Today

Posted on by Rachael Thomas — No Comments ↓

by Rachael Thomas, Learning Technologist, University of Sussex

Since Padlet was launched in 2008, it has become one of the most popular educational tools used here at the University of Sussex. Unlike many online teaching aids, it allows for synchronous and asynchronous teaching opportunities. Padlet continues to evolve as an essential educational technology, unveiling innovative features like AI content generation, customisable collaboration tools, and an expansive template gallery to empower teachers and enhance student learning experiences. Here is an overview of some of the latest updates.

A laptop in front of a corkboard, with multi-coloured notes pinned to it. The image represents physically what Padlet does digitally.
Image generated using Firefly AI using the prompt “An exciting-looking online noticeboard showing off the features of wide posts, customised fields, pinned posts, Magic Padlet AI generated board”

Magic Padlet: Generate Padlets with AI

A screengrab of the Magic Padlet dialogue box, demonstrating the options available on Padlet for this.

Magic Padlet is an innovative tool that aims to make teachers’ lives easier by automatically generating classroom content in various formats. Here are some of the ways it can be used to support teaching:

  1. Lesson Plans: Magic Padlet can create lesson plans based on class information, saving teachers time and providing a starting point for further customisation.
  2. Map of Historical Events: Visualise historical events by entering the subject, event, and grade level. Magic Padlet places events on a map for easy reference.
  3. Timeline of Events: Generate straightforward timelines for history lessons or biographies.
  4. Reading Lists: Curate reading lists for historians and English teachers, tailored to specific grade levels.
  5. Classroom Activities: Create interactive activities, considering available resources like whiteboards, iPads, or traditional materials.
  6. Assessment Polls: Quickly generate multiple-choice questions for assessments.
  7. Custom Boards: Describe your vision, and Magic Padlet adapts to your needs, whether it’s a wall, map, or timeline format.

See here for more information about Magic Padlet. If you don’t see the Create with AI option in your University of Sussex Padlet account, contact ee@sussex.ac.uk to ask for your role to be changed to “Teacher”.

Template Gallery

Padlet’s Template Gallery is like a collection of blueprints for creating engaging learning experiences. Instead of starting from scratch, teachers can pick a template that suits their needs. The gallery offers over 250 templates, neatly organised by category. Need a template for note-taking, presentations, or research? No problem! Use the sidebar to filter by specific tasks or activities. Hover over a template to read a description of its purpose.

See here for more information about the Template Gallery

Freeze Padlets

When you freeze a Padlet, you prevent any further changes to its content, preserving your Padlet in a frozen state—no one can add, edit, or delete posts. Only admins have the power to freeze or unfreeze a Padlet. If you decide to unfreeze it later, it will function exactly as it did before

Click here to find out more about how to freeze a Padlet

Custom Text Fields

A screengrab of the custom text field dialogue box, demonstrating the options available on Padlet for this.

Padlet has introduced powerful features to enhance collaboration and communication among users:

Custom placeholders in Padlet allow you to convey clear instructions within the post composer. When creating a new post, you’ll find placeholder text in both the subject and body fields. Customise these placeholders to guide collaborators. For instance, prompt them to add specific information. As collaborators start typing, the placeholder text disappears, replaced by their content. Additionally, you can create custom text fields beyond placeholders. Unlike placeholders, custom fields retain the text you provide, allowing you to ask specific questions or provide additional context for collaborators. For example, ask collaborators to add their name in the subject field, then feedback on a posted video. Finally, customise attachment options are available in the post composer—show or hide specific attachment types based on your Padlet’s purpose.

With these enhancements, Padlet becomes an even more versatile tool for collaborative projects. Click here to find out more about how to customise text fields

Pinned & Wide Posts

A screengrab of the "Appearance" dialogue box, demonstrating the options available on Padlet for this. The "Wide" option is highlighted.

Pin a post to the top of your Padlet to keep important information (e.g. instructions) in view, or make your post wider, to accommodate longer posts. Click here to find out about Pinned and Wide Posts and more

Please click here to find out more about Padlet’s latest updates or contact educationalenhancement@sussex.ac.uk if you would like to be given access to the Sussex Padlet Backpack account, if you would like to update your role to gain access to the advanced features, or if you would like help or advice on how to use Padlet to support your teaching and learning.

Posted in digital skills, Educational Enhancement, Learning Technologies

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We are the Educational Enhancement team at the University of Sussex. We publish posts each week on using technology to support teaching and learning. Read more about us.

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Based on a work at https://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/tel/.