Contents
- Cadmus 2023/24 - register your interest (now!)
- New principles from the Russell Group on the use of AI in education
- Blackboard course activation for 2023/24
- Replacement for Blackboard
- Library support for your Welcome activities
- Top Tip: Add a personalised message to your Blackboard course
- Staff Development and Training Summer update
- Video tutorial: Using Outlook "Bookings with Me" to schedule meetings (e.g. with students)
- Teaching and Learning Conference 2023
- Teaching Online Workshops 2022/23 catchup
- Call for Good Practice in Teaching podcasts and articles
- eLearning Zoom drop-in summer hours
Cadmus 2023/24 - register your interest now
During this last academic year, a few HUM units across piloted an eAssessment tool called Cadmus. Cadmus integrates with Blackboard and Turnitin (Tii).
It works well with essays, blogs and synchronous and asynchronous examinations.
It seems to work well in supporting effective assessment design, provides insights into students’ engagement with assessment and to support student academic integrity. Feedback from students is also very positive.
See this short video for an introduction:
To register your interest in trialling the tool and taking part in the extended pilot in 2023-24 complete the proforma here.
Deadline now extended to Monday 31st July (was 17th), so please act quickly!
More information on Cadmus visit the Cadmus Hub or contact Dan Rigby or the eLearning team.
New principles from the Russell Group on the use of AI in education
The Russell Group recently released a statement outlining their five principles on the use of AI in education. You can read this statement and download their principals in full via their website at: https://russellgroup.ac.uk/news/new-principles-on-use-of-ai-in-education/
Blackboard course activation for 2023/24
Please note that following the cyber incident, course activation is currently on hold.
Access to MyManchester is currently unavailable - more information on this is expected in the next few days.
Replacement for Blackboard
Our current CLE (Central Learning Environment), Blackboard Learn, has been in place for 14 years and is due for renewal in 2025. Procurement, implementation, and business change for a replacement will take a minimum of three years to achieve.
The tender process is now well underway. Our panel evaluated the submissions and selected three suppliers to move forwards based on our criteria.
This summer, the project team will undertake usability testing with staff and students across the University, with a broad range of differing needs and expectations – in order to fully test the accessibility of the systems, and their ease of use. Testing will be done by all University eLearning staff, 100 selected students, 111 academics (36 from Humanities) and 25 PS admin staff (4 from Humanities). Testing is expected to last until the end of August.
For full information about this important project, please refer to this page on StaffNet.
Library support for your Welcome activities
The Library Service has just announced its new Get Started campaign, launching September 2023. You can request a brief presentation or embed their online resource, via Blackboard, at School or programme level.
For more information on this campaign, please see this StaffNet article, or contact your Academic Engagement Librarian.
SoSS's Academic Engagement Librarians are:
- Economics
- Philosophy
- Politics
- Social Anthropology
- Sociology
- Social Statistics
- Law
- Criminology
Top Tip: Add a personalised message to your Blackboard course
You can welcome each student by name on your Blackboard course, by simply adding these pieces of code to a Bb item, in a regular sentence in the text editor...
- To display a student's name: @X@user.full_name@X@
- To display your course name: @X@course.course_name@X@
...like this:
And your welcome message will look like this:
You can also use it to address your students individually in emails sent through Blackboard's email tool...
Why not try it out in your playground?
Staff Training and Development Summer update
For information and dates for all upcoming online training sessions, self-paced courses and upcoming workshops please see the Humanities eLearning Staff Development and Training Summer Update.
Using Outlook "Bookings with Me" to schedule meetings (e.g. with students)
IT Services recently implemented "Bookings with Me" as part of Outlook, which is a scheduling tool that enables staff and students to book meeting by checking your availability against your calendar.
This may all sound familiar if you are already using the full Bookings App, but this lightweight version is IT Service's preferred option for individuals. You can, however, continue using Bookings if you are already doing so, or are using it to manage a team calendar with multiple users.
This short video shows you how to get started:
Teaching and Learning Conference 2023
On 6th July, the Institute of Teaching and Learning hosted the inaugural University of Manchester Teaching and Learning Conference. This one-day conference provided a free platform for academics to explore and showcase the various aspects of teaching and learning.
For those who missed it, you can view the full schedule at the Eventbrite website. Materials from the keynote speeches, poster presentations, and talks will also be made available on this website shortly: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uom-teaching-and-learning-conference-2023-streaming-tickets-tickets-666741189847?aff=oddtdtcreator
You can view the plenaries via YouTube:
Plenary 1 - morning session
Plenary 2 - afternoon session
Teaching Online Workshops 2022/23 catch-up
A reminder that you can view the recordings from workshops which were held this year with our SOSS colleagues.
#4. Facilitating Active Peer Learning By Crafting Strong Group Identities And Bonds. With Harriet Lipkin (SOSS).
This session explored how the dynamics of group work can enhance active learning before, during and after workshops in order to build stronger learning communities outside of the classroom; maximise the quality of student engagement within the classroom; improve collaborative working practice and increase confidence and communication skills.
#7. Unessays and Other Creative Assignments. With Chika Watanabe (SOSS) and Hannah Cobb (SALC)
In this session, Hannah and Chika described ungrading, the use of unessays and presented a variety of creative group assignments, which can easily be adapted to use in large classes. The task also included elements of self-reflection and peer evaluation.
#8. Assessment and Feedback: Reflections on a Student Co-creation Project. With Gillian Ulph & Eleanor Aspey (SOSS)
This session explored some of Gillian and Eleanor’s findings about assessment and feedback literacy and they shared suggestions for enhancing student assessment and feedback literacy, at a course unit or programme level. The session also provided opportunities for colleagues to share and reflect on their own practice across disciplines.
Don’t hesitate to also catch-up on some of the presentations from other schools, such as the innovative approach to community building using MS Teams from Reimi Sivalingam and Hamza Badenjiki (AMBS) and the ChatGPT panel from SEED, including Peter Kahn, Mandi Banks Gattenby, Mark Carrigan and Drew Whitworth. The Designing Educational Materials with AI interactive workshop with Adrien Querbes and Shukhrat Nasirov (AMBS) was also excellent.
We are already looking for new topics for Teaching Online Workshops for 2023/24...
Anyone interested in contributing to the Teaching Online Workshops should contact Karenne Sylvester.
Call for Good Practice in Teaching podcasts and articles
We're always looking for colleagues to share their teaching expertise via good practice articles and as interviewees for the Faculty's podcast series. Topics can be around any aspect of teaching and assessment and are not restricted to online/digital themes.
Anyone wishing to get involved in the podcasts should contact Kar Stanton.
You can submit articles to the Good Practice Library by completing this form.
eLearning Drop-in summer hours
Needs assistance? Visit our eLearning Zoom drop-in. 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm every weekday throughout summer. https://zoom.us/my/humelearning