Gamifying language learning: Duolingo

Posted on by Nicholas Botfield

Duolingo (1)

Each month the TEL team will be introducing you to a useful resource. This time we are looking at an app that gamifies language learning.

Duolingo is a free app designed to supplement language learning by gamifying the learning experience and utilizing the competitive nature in all of us. To get you started and to keep you hooked, Duolingo separates language learning into stages and levels and offers experience points, currency (called Lingots), and the ability to play competitively against either, another user or a ‘Duobot’.

For English speakers, the app currently offers courses in French, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese (Russian, Dutch, Turkish, Hungarian, Polish and Romanian are all on their beta site though, suggesting more to come). Update – Welsh has just been added. Read more ›

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Posted in App review

Changing the learning landscape

Posted on by Anne Hole

Adam Bailey image

Digital Literacy in the disciplines

One of the reasons for increasing the use of technology in Higher Education is to develop students’ digital literacy. Anne Hole, a member of the Sussex Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team, recently attended a Higher Education Academy (HEA) event at the London School of Economics which featured reports from Jisc-funded projects that explored ways to embed digital literacy within disciplines. This is her report. Read more ›

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Posted in External events, Technology Enhanced Learning

Smart devices for learning

Posted on by Sally Burr
MELSIG_6

TEL ‘out and about’ at the Media-Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group

Sally Burr from the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team recently attended the Media-Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group (MELSIG).

The ‘Smart Devices for Learning’ event hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University explored the impact that Smart technology – mobile devices, tablets, apps and social media – are having upon teaching and learning.

Opportunities, ideas, and challenges were explored throughout the day by various learning technology professionals and academics who have been experimenting with new approaches to using technology in their courses.

Below are some brief highlights from what was a very engaging and digitally active event (tagged #MELSIGMMU), even ‘trending’ at number 77 in the UK for 35 minutes!

Read more ›

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Using Creative Commons images in presentations

Posted on by Anne Hole

Thankyou for reading this EE blog post this is representative at the time it was written.

Creative Commons image

Presentations and lectures are improved by having interesting and engaging images in them – they make ideas and concepts more memorable and easier to understand. Provocative or humorous images can create a reaction and lift a presentation.

The challenge is to find good quality images that can be used without breaching copyright. Just because an image is easily accessible on the internet does not mean that it is in the public domain as far as copyright is concerned.

Fortunately there are a lot of images, and videos, licensed under Creative Commons licences. With these licences, copyright owners allow others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of their work – within the terms of the three levels of CC licences.

Read more ›

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New! Introducing the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Team

Posted on by Sally Burr

Welcome to the University of Sussex Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) blog. We’re a new team and in our first post our aim is to introduce you to the services we offer and to give you an idea of how TEL can support you to enhance your teaching and research and your students’ learning through the effective use of technology.

photo (4)We’re based in Essex House and our support structure is built on a cluster basis with a dedicated liaison Learning Technologist working with Schools in the Arts, Social Sciences and Sciences. We aim to be highly visible so you will see us ‘out and about’ in schools working with staff, getting to know you and your students, and identifying your individual and disciplinary specific learning technology needs.

Read more ›

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About our blog

We are the Educational Enhancement team at the University of Sussex. We publish posts each fortnight about the use of 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/.