Tag: digital

Hello World

ElaineS
White letter say dont panic against a white background

So, it’s Monday and we are, as we keep hearing, in unprecedented times. It has been an extremely busy couple of weeks, to put it mildly and before I go any further I want to give credit to the amazing work of both the TEL unit and IT Services here at Worcester. But if this is your first full day of teaching, studying online or working from home (possibly while home schooling) then I have some suggestions below. Don’t panic if the audio doesn’t work on the first attempt at a Collaborate session/Skype/Teams meeting. Have a look at this troubleshooting guide on using Blackboard Collaborate. You can check your audio settings in Skype following these instructions and there are similar ones for Teams. Be kind… Read moreHello World

Your handy Office 365 Accessibility Checker- Good to go

ElaineS
Image of check list with passed stamped at bottom

Changing digital practice to accommodate accessibility within the range of documents and learning materials we produce can seem like a daunting task. Thankfully, there are some tools that can help you get the grips with the needs of disabled students when it comes to accessible content. In this brief post, we take a look at the Accessibility Checker in the Office 365 suite such as Word, PowerPoint etc. To note: this advice is based on the latest version of the MS Office. IT services have been rolling this out across the institution. If you don’t see the same as the images below, then contact IT who will be able to help. What is the Accessibility Checker? The Accessibility Checker is a tool that been included… Read moreYour handy Office 365 Accessibility Checker- Good to go

What is the Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework?

ElaineS

At a recent LTSEC meeting, the university agreed to adopt the Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework. But how much do you know about digital capabilities and how do digital capabilities differ from digital skills or digital literacy. What about digital fluency? All good questions and in this blog post I’ll try and help untangle some of those distinctions and explain how the Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework can help you as an individual, within your curriculum and help your students. You say potato, I say potahto Over the last decade there has been a range of terms used to describe those practices we engage with when we are using digital technologies, software and services. Jisc in its early explorations into this area used the term ‘digital literacy’,… Read moreWhat is the Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework?

A Month of Digital Accessibility

ElaineS
Page showing calendar with pen highlighting day

So, that was October. The start of term, welcoming our newest students and getting to grips with the new academic year.  We also started to raise awareness of the new Public Sector Website Accessibility Regulations. And, now, to support staff with developing accessible content we’re publishing a range of support, guidance and tips and tricks to help everyone with making their content as accessible as possible whether it’s content for a website, content for internal colleagues or learning content for our students. It can seem that creating or adapting existing content to make it accessible is quite challenging. But in reality there’s some really quick ways to achieve this. For this month there’s handy calendar of Office 365 tips and tricks which provide some ideas… Read moreA Month of Digital Accessibility

7 quick ways to make your Word docs accessible

ElaineS
Printed words blurred. The words 'expressing gratitude' are visible.

With the new Public Sector Web Accessibility Regulations now in place, here are seven tips and tricks to help you make your existing or new word documents more accessible whether you’re writing internal documents, learning content for students or would like to know how to make your essay or thesis more accessible. Use Heading Styles to make your document easy to navigate Using Headings makes your documents much easier to navigate for someone using a screen reader. You can create Headings Styles that match your needs and if you need to change them you only need to do it once and all the Headings in your document will be updated. Using Headings also makes it much easier to create a table of contents for any… Read more7 quick ways to make your Word docs accessible

Our Special Interest Group Needs You!

ElaineS
Hands raised in air with red background. The word community is blurred in background.

Are you interested in inclusive learning and teaching? Have you been thinking about how this relates to your digital practice? If so, read on….. The last Digital Learning and Teaching Update mentioned a new Special Interest Group which has recently started up. The Digital Accessibility Special Interest Group is an open learning community where anyone at the University who has an interest in digital accessibility can get involved. Whether you’re a student studying a subject that includes inclusive approaches and assistive technologies, a member of staff with an interest in digital accessibility, a researcher who has an active focus on this or you’re just generally curious, then please come and get involved in the community. While this is the first group to be set-up due… Read moreOur Special Interest Group Needs You!

Aligning Digital Accessibility and Digital Capabilities

ElaineS

You may have recently heard about the new Public Sector Web Accessibility Regulations which put a much stronger emphasis on ensuring all users of websites and intranets across the public sector can have as an inclusive web experience as much as possible. For most institutions there’s a lot of work underway both on their public facing websites and for those systems such as VLE’s where a significant numbers of individuals need to engage with a range of online content and activities. This blog post isn’t a dissection of the ins and outs of the new regulations. Jisc have been holding a number of accessibility clinics where specific queries can be discussed and the Further and Higher Education Working Group have pulled together a range of… Read moreAligning Digital Accessibility and Digital Capabilities

Digital Learning and Teaching Update

ElaineS
Photo of trees with gold and brown leaves depicting autumn

The leaves are tinged with the hints of reds, golds and browns of autumn, there’s the familiar chill in the early mornings . Yes, it’s the start of the new academic year for both schools, FE and HE institutions across the sector are gearing up to welcome thousands of new students to a new phase in their education or perhaps restarting their education. There’s a range of activities that have occurred over the summer months to help put digital learning and teaching on a stronger foothold and plenty of innovative practice to get engaged with over the next academic year. If you’d like to know more, then read on. What’s been happening over the summer? Here’s just a few of the things that have been… Read moreDigital Learning and Teaching Update

Spotlight on Digital Capabilities

ElaineS
Photo of York Minster

At the beginning of June I attended the latest UCISA Spotlight on Digital Capabilities in York. In its fifth year, this conference has been jointly organised by UCISA Digital Capabilities Group and Digital Education Group, so the conference has strong themes that tie in with the work around Digital Learning and Teaching here at University of Worcester. Kicking off the conference was Darrell Woodman on the the Art of Bring Brilliant, introducing ideas around positive psychology and challenging us all to be more grateful for the positives we have in our lives. This certainly resonated with me as I’m interested in how we adopt Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset and apply this and other positive psychology methods to developing staff and student’s digital capabilities. A clear… Read moreSpotlight on Digital Capabilities