flickr photo by Jason A. Howie http://flickr.com/photos/jasonahowie/7910370882 shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
Once upon a time research meant mountains of paper, tapes, card-index systems and hours spent trying to find just the right note or adding bibliographical references. Today, mobile devices and cloud-based apps make life as a researcher easier and less stressful. Here are a few apps that you can use to streamline your research life. Read more ›
Technology Enhanced Learning were thrilled recently to award the first TEL Champion badge. Open badges have been awarded for a range of TEL workshops over the last year and Lucia Guzman from the Sussex Centre for Language Studies (SCLS) is the first to collect the 5 badges necessary to earn TEL Champion recognition. Read more ›
Take 5 is a series of bitesize online courses that offer academic and professional services staff at the University of Sussex the opportunity to gain an insight into five interesting learning technology topics including;
These short self-study courses aim to provide an introduction to these topics, highlighting the ways in which each learning technology can be useful in a teaching and learning context, and in day-to-day life.
Take 5 will be hosted on the university’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Study Direct, making use of many of the resource and activity tools available. Read more ›
flickr photo by renaissancechambara shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
Academic.edu, Mendeley, Researchgate are among a growing range of online professional networking tools that support academic practice and are increasingly used by academics to further their professional learning networks (PLNs). These platforms typically offer members a social space within which to share ideas about teaching, highlight their latest research and showcase their work. If you use these platforms, you might also want to consider joining LinkedIn, the professional business networking service. Read more ›
flickr photo by ImagineCup shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
This post introduces a few simple yet effective techniques for designing slideshow presentations.
Make sure your slides are complementary and not a distraction
Simultaneous use of speech, images and text can increase the cognitive load on your audience. Make sure that your audience focus on listening to your presentation rather than reading it; slides are there to benefit your audience and not act as a script.
Minimise use of text, be concise and use images which complement and reinforce your points rather than distract from your speech. If you need to use a lot of text then consider moving it onto a hand-out sheet. Watch the following short (5 minute) video on Richard Mayer’s ‘Cognitive Theory of Multmedia Learning’ for more information. Read more ›
Livescribe pencasts
To celebrate TEL’s one year blogiversary in conjunction with the recent University’s Teaching and Learning conference, we would like to celebrate examples of innovative teaching practice at the University of Sussex. In this post we will look at the use of a Livescribe pen.
A Livescribe pen uses a camera and a microphone to record what is written (when used with digital paper) and synchronizes the notes with any audio. It creates a ‘pen cast’. The recordings are then stored on the pen and can be imported to Study Direct (Moodle) as a playable pdf file. This means that the students are then able to play the notes as if they were being written live. You can view an example of a Livescribe pencast or watch the short Livescribe video. Read more ›
flickr photo by Drew Avery shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
A major challenge facing the adoption of new ideas and innovative practices is that of overcoming existing socially created dispositions and values or, as Derek Robertson from the University of Dundee put it in his recent seminar on games-based learning here at Sussex, “…the inexorable glacial march of the habitus of formal established educational structures”.
The glacial like pace of (higher) educational change is particularly notable in the context of open education. Whilst technological innovation – most notably the development of the social web – and the politically driven reforms stemming from the recommendations of the Finch Report (2012) have in a relatively short space of time disrupted traditional patterns of academic publishing, the same cannot necessarily be said for open educational resources (OER) and in the broader sense open educational practices (OEP). Read more ›
Padlet wall
Earlier this year the first Sussex TEL Innovation Scheme funded six projects enabling staff to develop or experiment with new tools, resources or teaching approaches with the potential to inform practice in their School or disciplinary area.
Lucy Robinson and Chris Warne (History) received funding for DIY Digital: doing punk online which involved students in the 3rd year Spring term module Post-Punk Britain. Here is the story so far…
The idea Read more ›
