Education and research news, views and commentary from the team at UCEM
In July 2023 the Learning Technologies team at UCEM managed a significant upgrade to the VLE. An earlier blog post covers the ways in which we involved staff and students in the testing and evaluation of the upgrade. Now that the dust has settled, the team has had an opportunity to evaluate the upgrade project, identifying potential risks, concerns, and best practice for future Learning Technology projects.
This post was co-authored by Paige Dao and Elisaveta Yancheva, Learning Designers. The problem Articulate Storyline is an eLearning authoring tool first released in 2012…
This blog post is the third in a series exploring BE Ready (Built Environment Ready), UCEM’s new orientation area which launched in Autumn 2023. The…
For the start of the 2023/2024 academic year a new orientation module needed to be developed on UCEM’s VLE to provide a stable foundation for…
It can be overwhelming to find the right information or right support when needed. Also, as students progress from semester to semester they face unique challenges. Our aim therefore was to build a self-directed yet skinny orientation experience for students before they start their semester journey.
The UCEM Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is built on a Learning Management System called Moodle. Every few years, Moodle implements what is known as a Major Release. In early 2022 we learned that the next major upgrade from Version 3.11 to Version 4.0 would be occurring later that year. Release notes and information from Moodle made it clear this was a significant overhaul of the platform, aiming to improve navigation, accessibility, and overall user experience. We realised this upgrade would require more planning from the Learning Technology team than a typical VLE upgrade would.
Programme pages and overview Programme pages, what are they? What’s their purpose? These were some of the questions many tutors, Programme Leaders, staff members and…
This post was co-authored by Sue Lowe, Quality Controller – Digital Education and Ian Elliott, Lead Learning Designer. Background As mature students with jobs and…
Key skills such as preparing and gathering information, organising and synthesising ideas into a final assessment are integral to success in students chosen programme of study. UCEM has set up various study support and assessment support resources and channels to help students thrive in their academic journey. This blog covers about the compact resource designed for assessment success.
Forum discussions are an integral part of online education. They are the medium through which students and tutors interact, share, learn and thrive. However, when it comes to assignment forums, student behaviour can differ. This is mostly because of the notion that the question being asked may be judged, thinking it silly or not sure whether to ask or not. This blog covers how Digital education team provided the solution to help students overcome their barrier.