Last week I had the opportunity to present at the Education Technology Conference at University College Dublin (UCD). The day long conference was attended by some 120 academic staff and focused on aspects of technology enhanced learning. There were many presentations during the day including how to engage students in China, using the flipped classroom approach, blending the learning of law students, using virtual reality in nursing, capturing formative assessment using Google forms, applying Universal Design principles in unit design and offering certification to students. It was a fascinating day.
My presentation was on Achieving Student Success Using Brightspace. UCD have recently chosen to migrate from Blackboard to Brightspace and are currently where BU was a year ago. I spoke about our experiences and how we were trying to make the most of the many opportunities that Brightspace offers. I used the fried egg analogy where Brightspace is at the centre of our VLE implementation to emphasis how student success depends on a wide range of supporting and related factors including training and support, piloting, integration with existing systems, managerial support and the vital importance of making time for staff to make full use of Brightspace.
I would like to thank Marie and Jason of UCD for the opportunity to present at the conference and thank Trish, Leone and Eva for making my visit so enjoyable.
Great David! Sounds really interesting and I’m sure BU’s experiences were really helpful for attendees.