Centre for Fusion Learning Innovation and Excellence
Embedding excellence through fusion of education, research and professional practice
Mentimeter have recently updated their slide library with some new slide types. When you next log into Mentimeter you’ll see them listed under ‘Type’ when you chose to add a new slide. Mentimeter works well when used synchronously with larger groups, either face-to-face in the classroom or in an online environment. The new question slides… Read more » about New Mentimeter slide types
Are you using Brightspace’s Discussions tool? Here are our Top 5 tips on getting the most out of your Discussion forums: To guide students on how to contribute to the discussion, and to encourage engagement, put clear directions within the Description area. Set clear expectations of what to post within each topic. This doesn’t have… Read more » about Top tips for successful Discussion forums
We’ve recently updated our online guidance on how to create groups in Brightspace to provide clearer instructions on the types of groups available, and the process of creating groups and allocating students to them. There are several options when setting up groups: manual allocation, random allocation, or allowing students to self-enrol. If you have a… Read more » about Updated Groups tool guidance
You’re probably aware that we have an institutional licence for Mentimeter at BU, the audience response system that helps add those interactive elements to teaching sessions. But did you know that all BU students also have access to the BU Mentimeter account, meaning they can utilise the full functionality of Mentimeter? How might students use… Read more » about Mentimeter for students
Say hello to hybrid! Wednesday 16 March 13:00-14:00 This webinar from LinkedIn Learning looks at how institutions across Europe, Middle East and Africa are leveraging LinkedIn Learning to adapt to new hybrid models of delivery or shift from remote back to in-person learning, for both students and staff. It will discuss strategy, promotion and best… Read more » about LinkedIn Learning academic webinar
Learning on Screen, the British Universities and Colleges Film and Video Council are adding to their digital television archive. From this January 2022 the resources on Box of Broadcasts (BOB), the on demand TV and Radio service for education, are being updated with television transmissions from the BBC going back to the post-war period. These… Read more » about Box of Broadcasts Television Archives
uGrade is BU’s name for our online peer and self-assessment system called WebPA, a product of Loughborough University and the University of Hull. uGrade is open source, locally hosted and integrated with Brightspace. It allows groups of students to mark each other’s (and their own) participation in group work against set criteria. uGrade uses an algorithm to… Read more » about Updated guidance for uGrade
Mentimeter presentations can be easily shared directly with participants via the browser, by simply sharing the Mentimeter screen as and when you want to run your interactive activity. There are also a few options for integrating Mentimeter presentations with your slides, for example by: creating your presentation entirely in Mentimeter by using the Content slides… Read more » about New Mentimeter Add-in for PowerPoint
This month saw the inaugural meeting of the Brightspace UKI LT Connect group. Thanks to D2L (suppliers of Brightspace) for organising this group which brings together Learning Technology teams from UK HE Institutions using Brightspace. In our first meeting we enjoyed presentations from some of the attendees around different aspects of their VLE activities and… Read more » about Brightspace UKI LT Connect meeting
Hybrid teaching describes the situation where some students attend the lecture or seminar face-to-face in the room, and other students join the same session remotely using a platform such as Zoom. As staff and students return to campus for semester 2, here is a reminder of some of the online resources we have to support… Read more » about Hybrid teaching guidance
