Get ready for GAAD

Global Accessibility Awareness Day Logo

Can you help us on Global Accessibility Awareness Day? This is a day to raise awareness of how we can all help support digital accessibility and this year it’s on 19th May. It’s an opportunity to take a small amount time to focus on the digital accessibility of your courses or any content that you might want to improve. There are lots of events worldwide and you can find out more about the range of events on the dedicated website. Blackboard are running a Fix Your Content 24-hour global event– challenging institutions and Blackboard Ally users everywhere to look at how they can improve the accessibility of their content. To help with improving the digital accessibility, colleagues from QED, IT, the TEL Unit, the Library,… Read moreGet ready for GAAD

New Guidance – Teaching Large Groups Online

coffee cup and laptop displaying online meeting

Teaching large groups online always brings a range of considerations. Some new guidance has been produced to support colleagues who are reflecting on the different approaches they can employ with large groups, especially when delivering online or as part of a blended course or module. The guidance is a collection of suggested approaches and strategies to consider when planning to deliver learning and teaching to large cohorts online. The guidance briefly covers topics such planning, communicating and building presence with students, online delivery as well signposting additional resources. You access the guidance using the link or from the Resources Page Teaching Large Groups Online

Moving Online with Accessibility

Image of braille laptop

With the rapid transition that has been necessary due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of colleagues are looking for ideas, alternatives and suggestions for developing their learning and teaching approaches online. This series of blog posts are aimed at supporting staff looking for ways to incorporate more blended or online learning teaching whether for the short term or long term. What do we mean by accessibility? Over this last year, there’s been a focus on digital accessibility with the introduction of the new Public Sector web accessibility regulations. This requires all institutions to look at how they make their websites accessible for all users including staff and students with accessibility needs. This includes those with specific learning needs but also includes people who… Read moreMoving Online with Accessibility

Moving Online – connecting with students

light strings connection people

With the rapid transition that has been necessary recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of colleagues are looking for ideas, alternatives and suggestions for developing their learning and teaching approaches online. This series of blog posts are aimed at supporting staff looking for ways to incorporate more blended or online learning teaching whether for the short term or long term. What do we mean by connecting with students online? As teaching begins for some for the summer term or students are preparing for their online exams coming up in May, it’s important to think about how we’re keeping connected with our students and helping them to connect with each other. Students can gain much from the informal, social learning that accompanies the… Read moreMoving Online – connecting with students

Moving Online with a Menu of Digital Learning and Teaching

black and gray laptop beside teacup

With the rapid transition that has been necessary recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of colleagues are looking for ideas, alternatives and suggestions for developing their learning and teaching approaches online. This series of blog posts are aimed at supporting staff looking for ways to incorporate more blended or online learning teaching whether for the short term or long term. The Moving Online Series of blog post that I’m currently writing are related to a Menu of Digital Learning and Teaching Approaches that you can download and use within your own learning and teaching as you adapt it for online/remote teaching and learning. The menu was originally developed by Sheffield Hallam University under the Changing the Learning Landscape programme and has been… Read moreMoving Online with a Menu of Digital Learning and Teaching

Moving Online with Reflective Practice

woman sitting on couch while using laptop computer

With the rapid transition that has been necessary recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of colleagues are looking for ideas, alternatives and suggestions for developing their learning and teaching approaches online. This series of blog posts are aimed at supporting staff looking for ways to incorporate more blended or online learning teaching whether for the short term or long term. What do we mean by Reflective Practice? Reflection practice means the conscious reflection on personal practices, experiences and newly developed knowledge and skill. It is often part of students independent learning and allows students time to consider their development and can aid students in critically reflecting on their practice, identifying areas of personal challenge, strengths and areas for further development. Many professional… Read moreMoving Online with Reflective Practice

Hello World

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

7 quick ways to make your Word docs accessible

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

Spotlight on Digital Capabilities

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

Our Heads in The Cloud: Using Padlet to Enhance Learning & Professional Practice

Dave Hunt, PGCE Computer Science Course Tutor, Institute of Education As a teacher trainer from a secondary school setting, my arrival in the HE sector provided me with some immediate insights into how staff and students could potentially benefit from the use of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). Schools have historically benefitted from significant investment in this field and perhaps their smaller size makes them more agile in terms of institutional change. I felt the need to raise my trainees’ awareness of the range of learning technologies that were available to them whilst on their school based training placements.