Digital lunches #1 and #2

This post is a quick summary of the first 2 Digital lunches a new series of staff development sessions. 

The first session covered making MyBeckett more mobile friendly, looking specifically at the Mobile Learn app.

There was a good turnout and I was well supported by member's of the Learning Systems Team.  However, the internet and MyBeckett were unavailable during the session due to a network issue outside the university's control. This meant the hands-on session I had planned could not take place and I had to improvise and talk through the features I wanted to demonstrate and take questions from the floor. Even with this set back I think all staff took at least one new piece of information away with them. 

The staff that attended the session were very understanding that the issues were beyond my control and that they were having the same issues with their MyBeckett sites. It was a little frustrating as it was my first solo training session  and it didn't go to plan at all but these things cannot be helped and it demonstrates that tech can fail even for those of us who are meant to be 'techy'.
The link to the resources created from the session can be found here.  

The second session focused on the wide range of online feedback methods that are available to staff. There are a wide range of tools and finding the right tool is dependent on what the students are submitting written, video, presentation etc ad whether is it formative or summative. In September 2015 a new policy was brought in that all written work for students in levels 4 and 7 should be submitted to Turnitin for text matching. This policy here does not stipulate how staff should mark or provide feedback to students. We talked about how you could use Panopto to provide voice overs and demonstrations for exercises such as critically assessing journal  articles. We also looked at using Google docs to work together with students on assessments such as dissertations to create an ongoing dialogue of feedback and reflection to support them. Members of the students union attended the session and commented how useful they had found Google docs and sheets for creating group work. They have also created a guide for students on feedback and these are available in hard copy from the Students Union or CLT. The resources from the session are available here.

A link to book on future sessions is available here.