Welcome to the May 2021 edition of the FBMH eLearning team’s newsletter, a space where we keep you up to date with the latest digital learning news and essential activities within the faculty. It’s been a busy academic year and there’s been a lot going on behind the scenes in helping staff and students make the most out of online learning. As always, if you have questions or just need some advice on any teaching and learning activities, feel free to get in touch.
In this latest edition of the eLearning newsletter, we have information on:
- Exams and assessment – how we are supporting you and your students in the summer exam period
- Virtual drop-in sessions – accessing help from the eLearning team
- eLearning teams pick up PS and Cultural Institutions’s Distinguished Achievement Award
- FAO Programme Administrators – Course Roll-Over
- Enhancing Interaction in Online and Blended Learning
- FeedbackNow – collecting student feedback efficiently and effectively
- 1MedLearn – the medical school’s dedicated learning platform adds new and improved features
- Eduflow and Peergrade – integrating peer review activities into your course
- LimeSurvey and Select Survey – end of support and what to do
- Zoom Live Transcription – how to add automatic transcription to your Zoom meetings and lectures
Training Materials and Guides for Assessments
In the run-up to semester 2 exams, the team have put together the following page which collates our assessment-related training materials. Should you need a reminder on marking Turnitin assessments or how to set up and administer Blackboard tests, follow the link below for direct access to handy guides. We also have email templates available for you to use when communicating with students regarding examination procedures and preparation.
Preparing for Delivery of Semester 2 Assessments – Useful Materials
We also have a wealth of other training guides related to our supported applications (e.g. Blackboard, Softchalk, Zoom), as well as a short course on Creating Online Resources for Blending Learning – brought to you by our colleagues in the Faculty of Humanities. Some of our training includes:
BB Groups for Collaboration, Group Work and Administration
Creation of asynchronous narrated lectures in PowerPoint
Make a SoftChalk Lesson: Full Guide
Virtual Drop-In Sessions
We have scheduled a series of online drop-in sessions for staff to discuss any queries they may have relating to eLearning, particularly any queries relating to the 2021 summer exam season. Sessions run at 2pm every Thursday and can be accessed on the following page:
Virtual Drop-In
eLearning – University Distinguished Achievement Award
We are delighted to have been informed that all eLearning teams across the university have been jointly awarded a PS and Cultural Institutions’ Distinguished Achievement Award (Large Team 2021). The award has been given to recognise the efforts given in supporting teaching staff and students as we transitioned to online learning in March 2020, and for our continuing efforts throughout the last year. We look forward to celebrating the award in due course!
FAO Programme Admins
We will shortly be getting in touch with programme administrators regarding course rollover for the 2021/2022 academic year and how we can help you through this process. Keep an eye on your inbox for further communications over the next month.
Enhancing Interaction in Online and Blended Learning
Are you looking to enhance interaction in online, distance or blended learning? The following guide covers some of the ways in which certain tools (e.g. H5P or Mentimeter) can be used to increase engagement in teaching and learning activities.
Enhancing Interaction in Online and Blended Learning
Need a quick and easy way to get student feedback?
We currently have an open call for FeedbackNow set-up and deployment on Programmes or Course Units.
What is FeedbackNow?
FeedbackNow is an online evaluation system that allows for the efficient and systematic collection of feedback from students. It automatically processes the set-up, collection of responses, email alerts and report generation of surveys, saving administrative time and effort. The purpose of the system is to collect student feedback to improve instruction and the overall student experience.
Features of FeedbackNow:
Students:
- Allows students to submit feedback on teaching, courses, organisations, learning resources etc.
- Anonymous or identified/named submissions.
- Optional feedback responses from staff if desired.
Program Directors/Unit Leads:
- Instant/Valuable feedback from students.
- Higher quality feedback than the paper-based alternatives.
- Simple dashboards and data analysis for reporting.
- Program Directors can nominate specific staff to receive the feedback.
- Download feedback as simple CSV files.
The set-up process is quick and simple and will be handled by the FBMH eLearning team. Simply contact us here: fbmhcontact@manchester.ac.uk
1MedLearn Upgrades
On the 31st March an improved version of 1MedLearn was launched, featuring lots of new features for our medical students. Some were made available immediately, while others will be introduced incrementally. The changes are based on feedback received from the students and we hope you will find them helpful. The overall structure of the site will remain largely unchanged, so you will not have to re-learn how to use the site.
TELiM have created a brief video showcasing some of the new features that will be available immediately and that will hopefully make the site better and easier to use. The 1MedLearn team are really interested in your feedback on the new site, so please feel free to contact Alex Drury – Senior Project Manager, 1Med.
If you have any other questions in relation to 1Med Learn, you can contact Rob Cutforth or Rachel Heyes – the dedicated Learning Technologists for the medicine programme in FBMH.
Eduflow and Peergrade
Earlier in the year we began supporting Eduflow, a customisable peer review application which the team are now happy to be supporting. The application works by having students “flow” through the elements. After submitting their work, they then review a defined number of other submissions using a rubric presented in a question format and, finally, reflect on the feedback they have received. Follow the link below to learn about how it works, and importantly, how you can get started on using it.
Peer Review with Eduflow and Peergrade – *this link is now obsolete [July 2024]
Phasing out of Lime Survey and Select Survey – Contact Us
The university’s new recommended survey tool is Qualtrics. There are likely to be many surveys still using the old systems, Lime Survey and Select Survey. If any staff are aware of any surveys created in Lime Survey or Select Survey, please contact the eLearning team FBMHcontact@manchester.ac.uk to discuss options moving forward. Lime Survey and Select Survey will no longer be supported from July 2021.
Training on Qualtrics is available here.
Zoom – Live Transcription
Zoom has now introduced automatic live transcription for meetings. Visit our training page below for information on how to enable this in your account – please make sure you upgrade to the latest version of Zoom.
Teaching Using Zoom