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MicroLearn – short, social media style learning

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Following a pilot last year, the University has partnered with GoodCourse to develop and deliver a range of micro-learning courses for all students. These courses take around 5 minutes to complete are designed to mimic the feel of the social media apps.

What is micro-learning?

Micro-learning, as the name suggests, is learning delivered in tiny segments. Courses are highly-focused, distilling complex ideas into simple concepts. This allows them to be completed in minutes and makes  them very convenient.

In our pilot and other studies it’s proven to be an effective way to share knowledge and embed learning. Courses use a combination of different media, including:

  • Short accessible videos
  • Text and images
  • Audio
  • Pop-quizzes

Watch this video for a 2-minute overview:

How will it be delivered?

A text message is sent to students’ phones, it briefly explains the course and how long it will take then encourages them to tap a link. The link takes students to the GoodCourse platform, which has been optimised for mobile – but also works on tablets, laptops and PCs.

The platforms tracks completion rates and allows reminders to be sent if a course is not completed.  

What MicroLearn courses will run this year?

In 2023/24 we plan to run MicroLearn courses on the following topics:

  • Welcome to Worcester – planning for study
  • Sexual misconduct and consent
  • Planning for an A

We are working on courses for a range of other topics, which we hope will be available later in the academic year.

TEL Me More – Online Courses with Articulate Rise

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On Wednesday 16th December, the Technology Enhanced Learning Unit will be hosting our annual ‘TEL’ Me More Seminar. Over the coming days we will provide more information about the topics that will be covered.

The third presentation will cover Articulate Rise, a collaborative authoring tool for creating online courses. The University licence for Articulate is owned by the TEL Unit and, in this presentation, TEL\’s Gerry Beattie and Dr Peter Unwin from the Department of Social Work and the Community will discuss how they used the tool to adapt an in-person day-long course into a more comprehensive online course for social workers wishing to learn about disability.

Mutual Benefits: The Potential of Disabled Foster Carers as Foster Carers

Dr Peter Unwin and Gerry Beattie

Disabled people are largely absent from the fostering workforce and, in partnership with Shaping Our Lives Disability Network and Foster Care Co-operative agency, Dr Peter Unwin was awarded Big Lottery  funding wanting to find out why this is the case.

The research found that disabled people are resilient, have many skills and are well able to empathise and support young people in need. Yet their potential is largely ignored by fostering agencies, despite Fostering Network estimating that there is currently a shortfall of some 8000 foster carers in the UK.

We worked with four pilot sites and several disabled foster carers but still find it challenging to get the wider world interested in what is a cultural change. Making the video with Gerry Beattie is intended as a ‘marketing’ vehicle to help bring about this much-needed change.

If you are interested in finding out more, you can sign up to attend TEL Me More via the Staff Development Workshops pages.

Programme Update – \’TEL\’ Me More

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On the 7th March 2019 the TEL Unit, along with colleagues from across the university will showcase a series of innovative uses of technology in Learning and Teaching.

The presentations are as follows:

CHAT: Congenital Heart Assessment Tool, delivered through ‘Articulate Rise’
Dr Kerry Gaskin, Head of Department for Post-Qualifying Courses
Gerry Beattie, Academic Learning Technologist 

This online learning resource aims to equip health care professionals with the knowledge, skills and understanding required to teach parents about going home from hospital with their infant following the first stage of surgery for complex congenital heart disease.

Using PebblePad to record student achievement for Sports Coaching
Glyn Harding, Principal Lecturer in Sports Coaching Science
Nathan Caesar, Single Honours Sports Development and Coaching Student

This presentation will discuss how PebblePad has been used to record evidence of student achievement in Sports Coaching. The students have been encouraged to use the PebblePad App to record video and audio evidence using mobile devices while coaching. This evidence is subsequently linked into a Portfolio which is then submitted as their final assessment.

Engaging masters students through Blackboard Collaborate
Dr John Francis, Course Leader for MSc Applied Sports Performance Analysis

This presentation will provide a case study in to how Blackboard Collaborate has been used throughout a Masters in Applied Sports Performance Analysis course to deliver learning content to a broad range of students across all of modules. The benefits and challenges that the lecturers have faced regarding delivery style, learning the platform and engaging students will be addressed along with the solutions that have been used to enhance student learning.

Lunch will be provided and there will be opportunity for questions and discussion.

Book your place via the Staff Development Workshops page.

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\’TEL\’ Me More Seminar

Leave a Comment / Blackboard, Conferences, Other, Training, Turnitin /

The Technology Enhanced Learning Unit will be hosting a \’TEL\’ Me More Seminar on the 7th March 2019, showcasing a series of innovative uses of technology in Learning and Teaching.

Colleagues from across the university will share their experience and expertise in a range of topics. This will include using media-rich portfolios for documenting video evidence and audio reflections. Creating interactive learning resources using Articulate 360 for midwives across the UK, and engaging masters students through online course delivery.

Lunch will be provided and there will be opportunity for questions and discussion.

Book your place via the Staff Development Workshops page.

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Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas from the Technology Enhanced Learning Unit

\"christmas-3841937_1280\"What a busy but productive year we have had; we’ve moved offices to Woodbury 73 and re-branded the team, including a change of name from LTTU to TELU. We also have a new email address – so be sure to contact us at tel@worc.ac.uk as our old email address will be switched off in the new year. We have also put together a new website www.uwtel.co.uk which we hope you will find useful. We continued to support academic colleagues in a range of technologies and appointed a new member to the team who will begin in January.

We hope you have all had a good year too! We look forward to working with you again in 2019. We have a range of projects and events lined up, including our \’TEL\’ Me More conference on the 7th March. We\’ll also have a new programme of workshops which we\’ll release in the new year.

Don\’t forget to follow our blog to keep up to date with all of our news, events and updates to learning technologies at the University of Worcester.

We\’ll be closed from 12pm on Monday 24th December, returning on Wednesday 2nd January 2019.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year,

TEL Unit

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