Technology has had a significant impact on higher education institutions (HEIs) over the past number of years. Technology-enhanced learning uses learning and teaching systems that are technology based, allowing students to develop knowledge and skills with the help of lecturers, learning support tools and technological resources (Gros, 2016).The importance of TEL tools and digital teaching technologies, especially in the times of a pandemic, has been highlighted by many researchers, outlining their clear benefits to higher education lecturers. TEL tools and technologies have facilitated higher education lecturers to rethink and revise the learning design of their courses (Pappas & Giannakos, 2021).

In this blog post, I will discuss how higher level educators can continue to use technology to engage their students in the classroom, and also for after class activities.

Software: MSTEAMS – Use for Group Project work, Class discussion forum, Online meetings when required/ use in hybrid delivery.

MSTEAMS is a valuable tool for higher level educators, that can be used as a shared workspace for group projects. Teams folders, shared documents and discussion spaces are an ideal mechanism to monitor student group work and progress. MSTeams is a very useful online space for discussion forums for class groups outside of the classroom. MSTeams can also be used in hybrid delivery where the lecturer is in the classroom with the students but is also allowing a livestream where students isolating can also access the session live or have access to a recording.

Software: Screencast-o-matic – screen recording software is an excellent tool to provide reusable learning resources for your students e.g ‘how to create a pivot table in excel’ – the student can watch the recording over and over to ensure they are clear of the process.

Software: Camtasia – this is a useful video editing tool that can allow lecturers to reuse some pre-recorded material and share with students as an additional resource via a reusable learning object e.g.‘ a video on how to set up software to create an e-portfolio’ – adding titles, captions etc.

Software: MSForms /H5P – Update existing video recordings with MS FORMs / H5P to add interactivity (Quiz etc.) – this will enhance the student learning experience. Many lecturers have engaged in extensive use of H5P integration within videos for increased learning opportunities and enhanced engagement.

Outside the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) – Engagement with additional technologies within the classroom, and outside the classroom for additional learning opportunities (discussion, feedback, assessment etc.) can be very beneficial to the learning process.

Examples include :
Creation of Podcasts, Flipgrid for student engagement, Use of Digital badges to enhance engagement / and as an assessment element
Extensive use of OneNote for teaching Computing/Maths and weekly assessment
Use of Twitter for class engagement.
Use of TEL Tools e.g. Padlet, Socrative, Kahoot etc. for Class Engagement
Providing audio feedback to students via MOODLE
Use of MSOffice Lens App for additional workings for MCQ etc.
Padlet – Class Engagement/ Feedback/Assessment  

Mentimeter/Vevox: TEL tools for polls, Word Clouds, Engagement / feedback within the class session.

Flipped Classroom : Use of technology in your teaching practice can also enhance / complement additional learning methods e.g a flipped learning approach

Flipped learning is a pedagogical approach in which the conventional notion of classroom-based learning is inverted, so that students are introduced to the learning material before class. Classroom time then being used to deepen understanding through discussion with peers and problem-solving activities facilitated by teachers (Bergmann, J. & Sams, A., 2012). One of the core objectives of flipped learning is to move students away from passive learning and towards active learning where students engage in collaborative activity, peer learning and problem-based learning. Pre-recorded videos/screencasts can form the basis of a flipped classroom approach, where students view the material BEFORE the class session.

All tools and reviews of tools listed above can be found on www.digitaled.ie

References:

Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day (pp. 120-190). Washington DC: International Society for Technology in Education.

Gros, B. (2016). The design of smart educational environments. Smart Learning Environments, 3 (1).

Pappas l.O & Giannakos, M.N. (2021). Rethinking learning design in IT education during a pandemic, Frontiers in Education. Access at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.652856/full

The post Back in the CLASSROOM – continuing the use of technology to enhance students learning and engagement. appeared first on Digital Ed.

The webinar was chaired by Dr Aimee Byrne, Lecturer in the School of Civil and Structural Engineering at TU Dublin, who welcomed 137 delegates at its peak, from all over Ireland and from overseas countries such as Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Kenya and the USA. Úna Parsons, CEng, FIEI, Head of Faculty of Engineering & Design at IT Sligo and Chair of the Academic society subsequently introduced each speaker in turn.

The focus of the webinar was to showcase ideas from key practitioners on how to move forward in the context of remote assessment. The findings from a survey conducted at the end of August received responses across 19 higher educational institutions, representing 16 engineering disciplines in Ireland and reporting the impact lockdown had on assessment processes at NFQI Levels 6, 7, 8 and 9. Survey responses in the context of assessment were presented by Irene Hayden, CEng MIEI at the webinar.

Before COVID-19 restrictions, survey respondents reported a 50% use of mixed-mode methods of assessment, that is, a combination of continuous assessment (CA) and terminal exams. This was followed by 29% reporting the use of 100% CA only. The remainder reported the additional inclusion of Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs), project work and research projects. 

The modes of assessment reported pre-March 2020, illustrated in Figure 1 below, and during the first lockdown in 2020 varied, illustrated in Figure 2 below. Those who used online proctored examination solutions used platforms such as Menti and MyForms used with MS Teams. However, professional proctoring organisations such as Examate were reported as not being available due to the global pandemic.

The method of assessment found most useful by 80% of survey respondents in assessing students remotely in the 2019-2020 academic year was exam-based assessments. However, in planning for the next academic year, 2020 – 2021, survey respondents reported a significant change in planned assessment practices, with 42% now reporting a 100% continuous assessment strategy, closely followed by 32% reporting the planned use of mixed-mode assessments. This reflects a noted change in engineering education pedagogy among survey respondents. The impact of this change will be interesting to see going forward, as it is arguable that this could alter the outlook of the next generation of engineers if the impact is significant.

The second speaker was Louise Lynch , an assistant lecturer in civil and structural engineering at TU Dublin and a member of the LEAF teaching fellowship (Further information on LEAF can be found by clicking HERE and HERE). Louise delivered an overview of remote assessment options she incorporates into her engineering teaching practice including MCQs and video assessments. 

In order to reduce collusion and plagiarism, Louise developed multiple versions of MCQs using Brightspace, with hand-written answers subsequently submitted to produce evidence of completed calculations. Louise reported using Numbas SCORM files incorporated into the VLE or Learning Management System (LMS), which facilitated complex mathematical questions online (Figure 3) and enabling different variations of the MCQs for each student. Numbas is an open source e-assessment system developed by Newcastle University.

When using video assessments, Louise reported that final year structural analysis students were set a task to agree calculations in a group and subsequently record themselves on video explaining how they solved an exam paper question. She said that it provided a deeper understanding of how to carry out the procedure while developing teamwork, communication and presentation skills.

The third speaker, Dr Stephen Burnley, a senior lecturer from the School of Engineering and Innovation in the Open University (OU) in the UK, spoke about “Industrial-scale” remote assessment for class groups of up to 1,100 students in first year engineering. Each student is guided by a tutor who will typically look after 20 students per module. Each 30-credit module (Representing 300 teaching and learning hours) is assessed with 2 to 3 summative coursework assignments, formative computer-based assessments, a summative end of module assessment such as a mini-project or another synoptic assessment or else an unseen examination. 

Even before COVID, the OU had seen a general move away from unseen examinations. Since spring 2020, all unseen exams have been replaced with time-limited assignments. All scripts are cross checked against Turnitin and Copycatch plagiarism checkers. Engineering students in the OU have transitioned to temporary arrangements this year as a result of the global Novel Coronavirus pandemic. The two-week residential schools were paused during 2020, with a plan to reintroduce them in 2022. In the meantime, in 2021, students will be sent a “Home Experiment Kit” with reports submitted through the assignment system. OU reports to also have useful resources within the Open STEM Laboratory, which can be accessed here. 

Stephens’ conclusion was to note that remote assessment can provide an efficient means of assessing learning and of providing teaching and can incorporate traceable audit trails and quality assurance processes, but that reliable information technology systems are essential. However, remote assessment It is not a cheap alternative to conventional assessment methodologies as there is a high set-up cost which could mean that it might be better suited to large student numbers and be set-up as a permanent system. To find out more information about the OU, click HERE.

The penultimate speaker for the afternoon was Dr Paul Young who gave a presentation on the Online Examination of Open Problems for Engineering Mechanics. Associate Professor Dr Paul Young is from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in DCU and uses Moodle extensively for assessments. For more information on Moodle, click HERE. 

Paul discussed the concept of a loop quiz on Moodle. A loop quiz has a container activity into which one can import a set of questions. The set-up of the quiz is completely independent of the questions. Questions can be of different types e.g. word-based, such as fill in the blanks, image-based using drag and drop, numerical, such as values with tolerance bands,  mathematical type questions and essays.

Using a loop quiz on Moodle can be set up to automatically allocate summative marks and formative feedback. This can also be used as an online tutorial set-up, depending on the intention behind the quiz design. Grading of the assessment is per question and can be weighted to reflect the overall quiz learning outcomes. An example is illustrated in Figure 4.

The final speaker of the afternoon was Brian Coll, a lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering & Design at IT Sligo, who spoke about How students cheat – designing your assessments to reduce plagiarism, collusion and copying. Brian won the National Teaching Expert award for his work in this area. Brian presented the results of a survey that found that as much as two thirds of students surveyed cheated on an assignment and half of the students surveyed reported that they would be willing to purchase an assignment (McCabe, 2016).

Technology is providing inadvertent routes for cheating. For example, CourseHero with 10 million members and $100M in annual revenue, provides access to course notes, exam questions and sample solutions uploaded by students (and professors). Academic writing services are available on the internet for $2 – $5 per page, with Kenya being a popular location to source this service. The PhotoMath app, with over 100 million downloads to data is another example, and claims to have over 1 billion monthly maths problems solved and explained for a fee. 

There are several strategies to minimise the occurrences of plagiarism both when assessing online or in the traditional exam setting environment.  These include:

• Online proctored exams, using organisations such as Proctor 360, (Figure 4), 
• Plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin, Urkund and Copycatch 
• Setting clear guidelines for written assignments, such as requesting a separate table in the assignment which identifies where the student sourced their references, (Figure 5)
• Setting individualised assignments and asking students to explain their choices
• Individualised quizzes on Moodle.

In using Moodle Quizzes it is advised to have a large question bank, to randomise the questions, to limit the use of MCQ’s as they are easily defeated, to set a time limit on quizzes e.g. 1 hour, to open on a fixed day and time and to use a sequential format to present the quiz questions. For numerical questions, use randomised variables, such as Wiris quizzes, which is an excellent quiz question generator. It is also recommended to use text-based questions to disguise the underlying equations required for numerical calculations online.

Further Resources:

• Using STACK to promote random questions in practice Moodle quizzes and other articles: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341131131_Using_STACK_to_promote_random_questions_in_Practice_Moodle_Quizzes
• Some case studies of STACK questions: https://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~csangwin/stack/2019-cate-casestudies.pdf

Book detailing background and philosophy on the Computer Aided Assessment of Mathematics, Chris Sangwin, OUP, 2013 http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199660353.do

Contact details:

Chairs:

• Aimee Byrne (aimee.byrne@tudublin.ie) 
• Úna Parsons (parsons.una@itsligo.ie) 

Speakers: 

• Irene Hayden (irene.hayden@gmit.ie) presented the Academic society survey findings which she prepared with Úna Parsons (parsons.una@itsligo.ie), Anne Morrissey (anne.morrissey@dcu.ie), and Michelle Looby (michelle.looby@tudublin.ie) of the Engineers Ireland Academic Society Committee
• Louise Lynch (louise.lynch@tudublin.ie) 
• Stephen Burnley (stephen.burnley@open.ac.uk) 
• Paul Young (paul.young@dcu.ie) 
• Brian Coll (coll.brian@itsligo.ie) 

The Engineers Ireland Academic society is a network of academic engineers and engineers in industry with an interest in teaching and learning. Our mission is to promote the professional development of academic engineers and the advancement of academic standards in engineering. Members share ideas and experiences on career development, the latest teaching and learning methods and the recognition of best practice.

Feedback on the webinar and suggestions for future Engineers Ireland Academic Society webinars can be sent to sectorsupport@engineersireland.ie (please enter Academic Society in the subject line). Upcoming webinars include:

• • 10:00am-11:30pm, 18th February 2020 – The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on our campuses: Practice in teaching, research and operations 

• Registration Link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3Or10AptRvyjjA1RH-ZRuA

• Call for graphical abstracts – A lot of activity is ongoing to introduce the SDGs into engineering programmes across Ireland. We encourage academics to showcase their work and submit a graphical abstract showing how the rollout of the SDGs is embedded in what they do. Accepted submissions will be distributed to webinar participants and made available on the Engineers Ireland web site. A template is available to guide your work. Prizes will be awarded to the best graphical abstracts submitted. Graphical abstracts must be submitted by Friday 29 January, 2021. Address all questions to: Kevin.Delaney@tudublin.ie

Members of Engineers Ireland can join the Academic society by logging into the Engineers Ireland Member Dashboard (here) and clicking My Preferences. You can also record your CPD and you can browse Engineers Ireland’s Events Calendar here.

Author Bios:

Irene Hayden, BSc (Arch), MCIAT, BE, MSc, CEng MIEI, PG Dip, Lecturer in the School of Engineering, Department of Building and Civil Engineering, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and PRO of the Engineers Ireland Academic society.

Úna Parsons, BSc, MSc, CEngFIEI, Head of Faculty of Engineering & Design, Institute of Technology, Sligo and Chairperson of Engineers Ireland Academic society.

Anne Morrissey, BE, MEngSc, PhD, Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Dublin City University and committee member of the Engineers Ireland Academic society.

The post Remote Assessment: Creating, Correcting and Preventing Collusion Academic Society Webinar appeared first on Digital Ed.

How to assess learning outcomes effectively with integrity during the current pandemic and going forward in the digital teaching space is one of the most topical challenges currently facing all higher education lecturers.

In this blog post, I will share some examples of alternative assessment methods that I have used successfully in an online teaching model.

1. Final end of term exam – this method of assessment can still work very well if the questions are reconsidered for the new method of deployment – a handwritten answer – uploaded using Microsoft office lens app  to scan exam paper and lecturer corrects like a normal exam. Concerns for integrity of this method can be reduced by ensuring questions require applying a case example / unique problems ( that can’t be copied easily), a  3 hour window for exam (40 mins minimum should be allowed for upload to Moodle), and an option for the student to email the answers to the Lecturer in the event of a technical issue. 
2. Replacement of the traditional exam (for example worth 50% -can be replaced with 2 Robust MCQ exams worth 25% each). A Few Tips:
   1. Create a bank of questions in Moodle, so questions in the MCQ can be randomized.
   2. Use Different Question types – Drag & Drop definitions/ Images / Text based question – all offer an enhanced opportunity for more accurate assessment of the subject matter.
   3. Use a suitably timed MCQ (not too short & not too long) to ensure a successful outcome.
   4. Deferred Feedback option – often allows for flexibility & accuracy to ensure answers and scores are corrected accurately. 
   5. Use Safe Exam Browser (Option in MOODLE Quiz setup) – ensuring students can’t switch between screens during session.
   6. Using different type questions ( essay type) may require more effort in the correction process ( manually correct some questions)-  however I believe it ensures integrity of the exam  and allows good students to excel and demonstrate their knowledge

   The above pointers are especially important in an online environment, where MCQ type assessment allows the student to demonstrate competence in the subject area,

3. Project Work and presentations – Virtual live presentations via Microsoft Teams, where students demonstrate their websites and project work to their Lecturer, and there is also an opportunity for peer review. This worked very well in May 2020 for our final year project demonstrations – the student groups showcased their projects via Teams and received feedback from their class via Microsoft Forms feedback sheet. 
4. I also use detailed rubrics to clearly outline the assessment requirements and expectations for assignments and student performance.
5. Screencasting is a useful tool to allow students to create a recording of their project work and submit it as a submission via Moodle. This is very useful feature for our computing students who submitted a Screencast of Unity Game they had created and demonstrated gameplay) the Screencast was submitted, along with a project report via Moodle submission space. 
6. Flip grid is a useful video app for video submissions e.g. may be useful for hotel and catering where students upload videos of bakery outputs created at home. 
7. Podcast -another opportunity for students to submit an assessment via Moodle. An example would be a language module where students would read an excerpt aloud and assessment can be based on pronunciation etc. 
8. Traditional assessment tools e.g. Forums continue to be very useful in an online teaching environment -often for a small percentage assessment, these can be suitable for summarizing a case study, evaluating a piece of software.
9. Microsoft Class Notebook – a great alternative to in class worksheets where students may acquire 20% for weekly worksheet submission.
10. E-Portfolio submission – I currently use Weebly e portfolio software with our first-year students as part of their assessment methodology. This is an excellent tool to give students opportunity to gather evidence of learning in one space. 
11. Use of Digital Badges /MOOCs -online delivery gives us the opportunity to expand our course offering outside the virtual learning environment. I have incorporated some Microsoft digital badges in one of my courses and a short ‘Coursera’ course in another.

In an online teaching environment, it is imperative that we, as educators embrace more creative practice for assessing our students. The above, are but a few examples of varying methods of assessing our students learning outcomes effectively in an online environment. In my opinion, this is an area that will continue to evolve rapidly in the upcoming few years where we will see pivotal changes in digital learning and assessment. 

For more information on the topic of online assessment check out Dr Carina Ginty’s guide on Online Assessment at this link on DigitalEd.ie

The post Assessment Practice in Higher Education – Sharing Examples / Ideas for online assessment appeared first on Digital Ed.

The recording of the event is available here and a compilation of the slides can be downloaded here (3 MB).

Speakers contact details and further information:

• Úna Parsons, Irene Hayden and Anne Morrissey can be contacted by email. Anne has written an article for the Engineers Journal here.
• Luis de la Torre Cubillo (UNED) is a co-founder of Nebulous Systems (here).
• Michael Doherty‘s (NI) extended presentation can be viewed here.
• Brian Mulligan (IT Sligo) has created a YouTube playlist ‘Flexible Blended Teaching’ (here) and the LinkedIn group ‘Labs for Remote Learners’.

As engineering academics prepare for the new academic year, the Engineers Ireland Academic society hosted a free webinar on September 3rd, on the topic of Remote and virtual laboratories – equipping students for hands off learning.

This was the first seminar in a series that will be offered free of charge to member and non-members of Engineers Ireland, in the spirit of collegiality to share opportunity and innovation in the classroom and to inspire all academics and technical staff in the engineering education sector.

The webinar was chaired by Una Parsons, CEng, FIEI, Head of Faculty of Engineering and Design at IT Sligo and Chair of the Academic society who welcomed delegates to the webinar. With over 300 registered for the event, there were 174 unique viewers on the day. Anyone not available to listen live will be able to access the recording, with the link available below. The delegates came from all over the island of Ireland with other attendees some tuning in from the UK (12), Germany (3), Uganda (2) and one each from Switzerland, the US the Philippines and Spain. In her opening address, Una Parsons remarked that engineering academics responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by moving teaching and assessment online; however, the delivery of laboratories and other ‘hands on’ activities can represent challenges for both academics and technical staff. The focus of the seminar was to showcase some ideas from key practitioners to give the academics and technical staff some helpful guidelines on how to move forward. To give some context to the practitioner talks, the findings from a recent survey of over 19 higher educational institutions (Figure 1), representing 16 engineering disciplines across the island of Ireland were presented by Irene Hayden, CEng, MIEI at the webinar. The survey sought to investigate how each higher education institution will deliver and assess engineering programmes in the next academic year in light of COVID-19 constraints.

Focusing on the delivery of engineering laboratories at the webinar, the survey found that 57% of engineering laboratories were delivered differently post March 2020 and 43% stopped completely – mainly because the laboratories were completed for that semester and students were finalising their assignments. In some areas, assessment practices in relation to laboratories were revisited and simulation and improvisation were utilised. In addition to increased use of Technology Enhanced Learning, emerging solutions, such as utilising remote and virtual labs, students taking home lab kits and working remotely and collaborating with team-mates using Microsoft Teams, were also utilised. Although the survey highlighted numerous challenges, such as the uncertainty regarding COVID-19 and the need for high quality PCs among the student body, the feedback from engineering academics and technical staff from across Ireland also highlighted the vast opportunities to innovate and create even better learning experiences for students in higher education than previously conceived. The survey revealed that blended delivery using synchronous and asynchronous Technology Enhanced Learning online will be commonplace and novel solutions will come to the fore. Equally, the survey also highlighted that many institutions will still hold practical classes on campus with distancing and good practice in place. Critically, feedback received also highlighted that good leadership and management by module leaders, programme boards, middle and senior management will also help academics rise to the challenge posed to engineering education by the current pandemic.

The second speaker was Luis de la Torre Cubillo from Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) who spoke about Online labs: new ways for providing lab practice experiences in distance and blended education contexts. UNED are one of the leading providers of online education in Europe and has vast experience in not only delivering teaching online, but also providing a means for online students to conduct experiments remotely. During his talk, he demonstrated the difference between online delivery (simulations) and remote delivery. (Figure 2)

The students can connect to the online laboratory using whatever device they have available, using a platform such as Moodle to link the students to the physical laboratory (Figure 3).

However, enabling a controlled and secure access to lab equipment is not easy or fast and teachers and laboratory technicians usually lack the knowledge required for Online Laboratories and do not always have the time to set this up.  To help teachers learn from each other, a collaborative network called ENLARGE (rEmote controlled Access to InteRnet of thinGs dEvices (irs.nebsyt.com)) has been set up, which provides tools to assist in the network management of connected devices and includes a variety of modules and components to make a teacher’s life easier when making things accessible while keeping them completely secure. Anyone can join and details on how to do this are available here.

The third speaker, Michael Doherty from NI (National Instruments) gave a very different perspective in how to find practical ways to offer laboratory practicals to remote students. In a talk entitled Transitioning practical laboratories to include remote laboratories, he spoke about the fact that educators are realizing that students must be taught using experimental, hands-on methods that emphasize teamwork, creativity, and project management. This approach reinforces the connection between fundamental concepts and system-level design that is needed to produce competent engineers. An example of this approach is Project Based Learning. So how can this happen online, particularly as the traditional view among teachers is that engineering is a “hands-on” subject and very difficult to teach the skills they need remotely. Michael gave three very practical approaches to addressing these challenges ranging from simulation only solutions, to connected laboratories that can be accessed remotely, to student owned pocked labs, each with their own advantages and cost implications. One example is to use an NI product called NI ELVIS III as an interface for remote labs (Figure 4), which enables one pod of students to do a lab on campus, while another pod could be doing the same lab remotely. Full details on how this works in practice is available in a longer presentation available here.

The final approach is to provide students with their own Personal Labs or Students-owned “pocket labs” (Figure 5). NI have an offer on currently for any third level college that would like to adapt this approach. Details are available from ni.com

The final speaker of the morning was Brian Mulligan Head of Online Learning Innovation at IT Sligo. With more than 20 years’ experience of teaching online, Brian Mulligan’s talk focused on how to build an international peer-support community for remote and virtual laboratories. With so many solutions available, how does a teacher entering the online teaching environment for the first time, begin to find out the best way one for a given situation? With a community of practice, members can share ideas and designs, share access to key support systems and share the workload in finding out what is there. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, but it is always a possibility through collaboration to find the best one for specific requirements.  An example of such a peer- support community is the “Labs for Remote Learners” (Figure 6) available through LinkedIn. The overall message is that we should not be afraid to share ideas with our peers, as the benefits outweigh the risks and the solutions are usually richer for the collaboration.

Other useful tools identified by participants at the webinar were:

• Tool to enable web access to LabVIEW programs: https://github.com/UNEDLabs/rip-labview-server
• Tool to enable web access to MATLAB programs: https://github.com/UNEDLabs/rip-python-server
• Tool to assist in the creation of HTML5 web apps and connect to LabVIEW/MATLAB when using one of the above: https://gitlab.com/ejsS/tool
• Useful microphone as a voice saver:  http://www.samsontech.com/samson/products/microphones/usb-microphones/c01upro/

For anyone interested in listening back to the webinar, a recording is available to members of Engineering Ireland on the EI YouTube channel.  

The Engineers Ireland Academic society is a network of academic engineers and engineers in industry with an interest in teaching and learning. Our mission is to promote the professional development of academic engineers and the advancement of academic standards in engineering. Members share ideas and experiences on career development, the latest teaching and learning methods and the recognition of best practice. Membership of the Society is open to anyone who has an interest in the teaching of Engineering and we would encourage you to join the Academic Society here. 

Check out the Slides: Remote & Virtual Labs (PDF)

The post Remote and virtual laboratories: Equipping students for hands-off learning – Academic Society Webinar appeared first on Digital Ed.

There are six areas in the guide to consider. The guide also includes a menu of learning activities that can be built into any online/blended course.

We recommend engagement with the Learning Design workshop with the Teaching and Learning Office to explore the learning activity categories further and how to design a course effectively.

Check out the Guide: What Does an Online Lecture Look Like (PDF)?

The post What does an online lecture look like? appeared first on Digital Ed.

The challenge of successfully transitioning the content of an onsite-delivered, discursive, exploratory discipline into modes of online delivery that will facilitate both the nature and integrity of the discipline and its appropriate pedagogies is substantial.

Information qua information is (relatively) pliable and manipulable, and thereby, in principle, deliverable in a variety of modes—without compromising the integrity of the information or its pedagogy.  But is the same true of exploratory discussion—and, moreover, exploratory discussion which often touches on existentially significant aspects of the self-perception/life/ worldview of the discussants?  What is being sought for the religious studies redevelopment, thus, is software that will both facilitate and enable complex and sensitive discussion of this nature.

Kialo (https://www.kialo-edu.com/) is described as “an easy to use, yet powerful tool [enabling students] to engage in thoughtful discussion [and] understand different points of view … [and which helps] with collaborative decision-making.”  I was optimistic.

The design is uncluttered and the introductory material clear and engaging and—not always the case with introductory material—detailed and easy to follow.  Via samples and videos, it was easy to see the debate structure and process which Kialo offers—fundamentally, a pro/con, interactive, click-through, nested tree structure.  The user interface is easy to grasp and appears straightforward to work with.  Kialo claims that it will enable educators to host classroom debates, facilitate thoughtful collaboration, assess learning, explore complex issues, and promote well-reasoned discussion online.  A considerable set of claims.  In principle, all this should have been music to my ears, but the longer I explored Kialo the more apparent its limitation—at least for my particular need—became clear.  Kialo is designed for dialectic debate and for the dialectical refinement of argument (both goods in themselves, where appropriate).  However, my own teaching experience (and, indeed, the history of religions!) indicates that an oppositionalist approach is not the most fruitful mode of engagement for this particular discipline.  Given the concerns outlined above about sensitivities regarding the self-perception/life/worldview of discussants, software that advocates “attack” as a mode of engagement (Kialo’s own characterisation for (at least some of) its argumentation dynamic) is not the software I’m seeking.

Kialo is certainly worth investigating. There is a lot to be said for what it offers, and I can see additional uses for it (other than what I sought it out for initially) in the religious studies programme redevelopment.  I will keep exploring it but, for the moment at least, I am still in search of my software holy grail.

The post A Review of Kialo – A Tool for Teaching Critical Thinking and Rational Debate appeared first on Digital Ed.

Here I will outline my experience based on the workshops I managed to attend.

EMPATHY

From the outset the emphasis was on inclusion and awareness of the learners. Never was this clearer than in the Universal Design for Learning workshop with Laura Hegarty. Laura very clearly outlined the factors that require considering when designing teaching materials. For instance, adding subtitles to video recordings simply requires the click of a button, and including alt text for images requires just a few more clicks! With these simple steps teaching resources are easily made more inclusive and accessible to a wider audience.

ENGAGEMENT

I signed up for a workshop called ‘Visual Pedagogies’ not really knowing what to expect but interested by the title – good advertising from workshop facilitator Irene Hayden. In this session Irene talked us through her research on the topic and the potential of visual media in enhancing learning. Especially interesting to me was the virtual reality experience used as a student assessment tool – for example, as architectural students ‘walked’ through a house who would spot the door opening in the wrong place? I could immediately see the potential for this in my own work though it is clear there will be a lot of time (perhaps sweat and tears too!) involved in creating the experiences.

PRACTICAL

The Microsoft morning sessions from Stephen Howell included some more tips on universal design as he outlined accessibility in Microsoft apps – some top tips included the use of styles in MS Word to ensure good functionality with immersive readers and the accessibility checker in MS Word and MS Powerpoint. He then gave a demonstration of Flipgrid (previously outlined by Lucia Cloonan here) which appeared a useful video noticeboard for sharing first year student introductions for instance, and in a colourful, engaging environment. MS Planner appeared a useful tool to help students get organised on projects or tasks, and MS Sway for online portfolios in a digital booklet style, live online or in pdf format. MS Powerpoint has a rehearse with coach option, whereby presentation feedback will be provided to help improve the quality of recordings (only available in the web version). Finally, MS PowerBI, as the name suggests, seems a powerful tool for data visualisation. A whistle stop tour of some of the MS apps!

MOTIVATION

Having heard previously about digital badges, and having gained one without knowing what to do with it, I embarked on a double session on digital badges with Wayne Gibbons (outlined in more detail by Aurora Dimache here). I now have an Open Badge Passport for storing my badges, which can be used to display various competences gained through achieving each badge. Furthermore, we were led through the full process of issuing a badge from the Open Badge Factory. The badge I created was for students who passed all assessment components related to aquaculture and who can then apply for the ‘Ace@Aquaculture’ badge. The value of badges for providing a visually attractive, detailed description of various skills gained during a student’s degree programme was clear. For instance, nowhere on a student’s transcripts would it state that they were competent at a range of skills such as setting up an aquarium system, animal husbandry, filter and air machine checks, and record keeping, though these skills may be of particular interest to a future employer. Having a passport of badges would enable a student to display the skills they have gained, with a clear description of how the badge was earned and who it was issued by.

EXPERIENCE

Educational consultants at the University of Southern Denmark provided an excellent overview of blended and online teaching by outlining their experiences in supporting their teaching staff. Some of their advice included:

• Think first of the goals, process and then the tools required.
• For online activities prepare in advance and develop a clear pathway (GMIT T&L workshops can help).
• Refer to Gilly Salmon’s five-stage model.
• Use a consistent ‘style’ in your teaching materials.
• Post an introductory video of yourself at the start of your course.
• Understand your pedagogical model (e.g. student-led seminar model, video interactive model).
• Icebreaker exercises are important to get students active and engaged.
• Be clear to students on your expectations, and on the consequences should they fail to engage.
• Use peer feedback and peer instruction – and start this early in first year (Peergrade may be useful for this).

COLLABORATIVE

To wrap up the Digital Ed webinar series Caitríona Ní Shé and Orna Farrell, having recently completed online delivery of OpenTeach (soon to be available here), reflected on the experience and recreated some of the successful aspects of the course with those attending the session. Here, the capabilities of Zoom in supporting breakout sessions shone through. A collaborative environment was easily created by splitting the large group into smaller subsets wherein each sub-group discussed their assigned topic. Each teacher was able to ‘zoom’ seamlessly between breakout rooms to check in with the sub-groups. Once the time for the assigned task was complete each sub-group received a countdown, notifying them that they would soon be returned to the large group for a debrief. At present this can be done in MS Teams but only by creating channels for each breakout group, and by hanging up and joining another channel each time you wish to move between the large group or smaller breakout group. If you’re like me and a handful of teaching and learning apps is enough, then here’s hoping MS developers incorporate some of the ease of Zoom by September 1st!

Taken together, as is hopefully clear by now, these sessions reminded me of the importance of having EMPATHY with all of my students, focusing on delivering ENGAGING material in my teaching, with a sound PRACTICAL approach, along with built in rewards for MOTIVATION, by sharing the teaching and learning EXPERIENCE with others, resulting in an enriching COLLABORATIVE community between educators and students.

The post A Smorgasboard of Teaching & Learning Tips and Tricks from the DigitalEd Discovery Webinar Series appeared first on Digital Ed.

The Ipevo visualiser is a tool that allows you to capture documents, live or pre -recorded drawings of graphs or mathematical worked examples, textbooks, artwork and 3D objects. It also allows you to stream real-time images and recordings directly to your PC. This blog provides a short overview of my experience with the visualiser.

Getting started

The Ipevo visualiser is compatible with most monitors with an HDMI input and is very easy to use.

There are two steps:

1. Download the Ipevo software on to your PC. I have found that if you choose Windows 7 and above when downloading, it works best.

2. Plug in the visualiser to your PC. You are good to go!

Favourite features

As an Economics teacher, it is very useful for online tutorials and workshops. It allows you to:

• Pre-record a worked example with drawings and computations, upload the video to stream and add it to your Moodle page.
• Integrate a worked mathematical solution into a live or pre-recorded Microsoft Teams session.
• Annotate on the screen (this is especially useful if you have a regular laptop and do not have a touchscreen with a stylus pen to draw freehand on the screen)

What the students say

‘I loved the visualiser because I could clearly follow each step of the process and go back over it if I needed to’

‘I understand the calculation in class but when I go home, I can’t remember. Having a recorded example allows me to go over it again and again’.

Resources

Demo on how to install IPEVO software and simple tips to get you started – Visit YouTube

The post Using a Visualiser 101 appeared first on Digital Ed.

The tools listed below are those that I have used over the past number of years in my role as Lecturer in Computing and I also lecture on the GMIT Level 9 Certificate in Teaching & Learning and Technology Enhanced Learning Module:

1. Use of Screencasts, Webinars & Video Recordings (Towards a Flipped Classroom). Pre-recorded material provides an excellent digital learning resource for your students. A Flipped classroom approach can be used where students are asked to review material PRIOR to class, whether in a face-to-face environment or online. A follow up live Q&A session can also be a great learning/feedback opportunity for the student.
2. Use of Microsoft (MS) Teams for live delivery, and TEAMS is also a great tool to set up a learning community. Digital Badge link to share with students to ensure they are proficient with TEAMS learning environment.
3. The Socrative Quiz tool is a simple, easy to use Quiz that allows simple and quick feedback from a student group. Students log into lecturers room and the lecturer will have an activity set up in that room. This is like a POLL software e.g. Mentimeter. Very useful to gauge students understanding of a topic/opinion in a live/blended session.
4. An online collaborative board such as Padlet is a very useful TEL tool that allows all students to collaborate/share ideas/discuss a topic/upload images of work. This can be very effective for discussion in a  live online session or can be embedded in your VLE to encourage student feedback.
5. Microsoft White Board is an excellent tool for any lecturers teaching Maths/Science/Engineering. This is now fully integrated with MS Teams.
6. Use of a Blog for Reflective Learning using Blogger/Weebly/Wix /Wordpress can be a useful assessment tool for students/work placement records. A blog is a very useful tool for the lecturer to share important articles/information with their students.
7. An e-portfolio Tool such as Weebly and PebblePad can be a useful tool for assessment, where the student showcases work to date e.g. Digital Media Students showcase websites/Furniture Designer Students showcase work completed/Culinary Students showcase kitchen/baking. This can also be a useful tool for the lecturer to create an online professional profile.
8. Podcasts are a great opportunity to share feedback/discuss an assignment with students. Simple to create on any Smartphone and content can be edited with free editing software Audacity.
9. Effective Use of the VLE – the VLE is the most powerful learning tool that is available to all educators. Effective use for online engagement includes:
   • Use of Forums/Live Chat Facility/Blog Posts
   • Effective use of well-designed MCQ’s for robust assessment (randomised questions, time limits etc) 
   • Clear Instructions & links to TEAMS Learning Community
10. Use of Powerpoint New Features (Screen Recording, Publish to Stream etc) Obtain a Badge in PP Flipped Online Delivery
11. Tools for Groupwork 
    • MS Teams for Managing Group Work Effectively
    • Mindmapping Software (eg. MindMeister, can be embedded in TEAMS)
    • MS Planner – Students can allocate tasks – integrates with TEAMS
12. Social Software Tools
    • Twitter very useful for class engagement using # relevant to class/topic.  Ref @Acosgrove1 – useful for sharing links with colleagues
    • MS Yammer Social Software
    • Flipgrid Video App – a useful feature for including in the learning community – great tool for first year engagement 

Most of the above software applications also have a companion APP that all students (and educators) can download also. MSOfficeLens APP is also a useful tool to scan an exam paper and convert it to a PDF – useful format to upload to VLE. 

I hope you find some of the above tools useful in your online teaching journey!

The post What Technology Enhanced Tools can be used to enhance delivery of your online/blended module? appeared first on Digital Ed.

Flipgrid is an online video discussion platform used to create and share short video recordings.  The educator creates a “grid” which is like a discussion board and then invites students to upload short video responses to “topics” (i.e. questions and prompts) via a custom link.  Students can also reply to each other’s responses.  Flipgrid has a variety of features that make it a useful tool for teaching and learning online, including video downloads, feedback options, stickers, and drawings for videos.      

Functionality

Flipgrid is easy to set up and use.  From a universal design perspective, the tool promotes a diverse mix of representational forms e.g. audio, visual and textual.  It has an immersive reader which helps with reading and writing for students with learning differences such as dyslexia.  Videos can also be captioned which can help learning through comprehension, engagement, and retention.  These features help to ensure that all students have equal opportunity to learn by building in the flexibility they need to access information.  

The tool can be accessed either via app (Android and iOS) or any web browser.  Flipgrid can also be integrated as a tab within Microsoft Teams.  Anyone with the Flip Code and Grid password (if activated) generated by the educator can join and view the videos on the Grid.  Students can also record a video in Snapchat, Instagram or any other platform and then upload the video to the class Flipgrid.  To upload a video, students must log in with a Microsoft or Google account.  Students can also download their videos from the grid after creating their response.  

Teaching Presence

Flipgrid allows students to engage with topic content, their lecturers, and their peers.    It is a good tool to use for engaging students, particularly those who do not feel comfortable sharing their work in front of a face-to-face class.  It is easy to give students feedback on their videos through the grid.  This can be done to the class group or privately to each student.  Student uploads can be graded and then feedback can be given through text comments.  The default setting for uploaded videos is that they are only visible to the educator until they change the setting to active.  Allowing students to view videos that others have posted can help increase communication and collaboration among them, giving them a sense of ownership of their learning.  

Monitoring Usage

The number of views on each video, as well as total engagement time across the group, is tracked automatically. This makes it easy to monitor individual and group participation levels. Data can also be exported to Excel, which is useful if participation is to be assessed or added to other grading systems.   

Favourite Features

Two of my favourite features of the tool are the Disco Library and MixTapes option.  The Disco Library includes topics in any subject shared by educators around the world and is useful to get started with Flipgrid discussions.  At a basic level, it could be first year students introducing themselves.  Not all students may be comfortable with recording themselves on video at the beginning, so it is good to start with a simple task and allow them to get used to the technology and the sharing of content.  After students get to know each other, topics in relation to a particular discipline could be introduced.  For example, in the area of marketing, a topic could be asking students to discuss a website or mobile app that they are excited to talk about.  At a more advanced level it could be video created from a presentation at a TED (technology, entertainment, design) conference and students are asked to respond to 6 questions after they watch the presentation.  

The MixTapes option allows you to add several videos or all the videos which the students have uploaded from one topic to your MixTape.  This could be useful to students for revision of course material, student projects, or student portfolios.  

Limitations

For me, Flipgrid has provided another method of engaging students online.  It is a fun tool to use and many students like the social aspect of it.  However, it’s use is dependent on students having a suitable digital device (i.e. with camera and microphone) and a good internet connection.  Depending on their location, students may not have access to a stable internet connection.    

Resources

Flipgrid is freely available to educators worldwide as part of Office 365 for Education.  To get started with Flipgrid, visit digitaled.ie https://www.digitaled.ie/learning-pathways/ and follow the academic pathway to Microsoft Education Apps for Digital Learning and Teaching.  

Other resources include:

www.flipgrid.com

https://blog.flipgrid.com/

The post Using Video to Engage Students Online through Flipgrid appeared first on Digital Ed.