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As we start the new semester the TEL team have been thinking about how we can best support you with your learning and teaching in the coming year.

In the past we have offered a range of workshops which individuals can sigh up to via the staff development booking system – these have included topic such as Blackboard made simple, Collaborate virtual classroom, quizzes and surveys, and accessibility and Ally. We have found however that these workshops are often not heavily subscribed to and often either run with only 2 or 3 participants or cancelled due to lack of engagement.

So this year we thought we would try a different approach and ask what kind of training and support you would like and how you would like that to be delivered.

One model that has worked well has been departmental training where we can come along to a departmental or team meeting and provide a demo or a session on a topic that is relevant to you.

We can also facilitate workshops to support the design of online or highly blended courses and can work with you and your team to develop a storyboard and advise on the best approaches for online delivery of the resources, activities and assessments you have in mind.

If you’re new to the University and would like an induction into the use of our systems we can arrange and one to one session to guide you through the introductory  steps to using technology in your learning and teaching. Alternatively, if you have some ideas about things you would like to do with our systems we’re happy to arrange a consultation to advise you on how to go about turning your ideas into reality.

Please get in touch to let us know your training and support needs and we can arrange tutorials, workshops or departmental briefings to suit your needs.

Contact e.symonds@worc.ac.uk in the first instance and let us help you make the most of TEL this year.

We’re delighted to announce that Andy Bright has been appointed as our new Academic Learning Technologist. Many of you will already know Andy as he’s been our TEL Advisor and first point of contact for the team for the past three years. He has done a fabulous job in keeping our service running efficiently and the promotion is well deserved. Please bear with us while we are working to recruit a replacement TEL advisor.

Libby Symonds
Head of Technology Enhanced Learning

Each year, the global accessibility community unites on the third Thursday of May for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) to highlight the need for more inclusive digital content. Blackboard seek to join the conversation by inspiring and motivating institutions across the globe to demonstrate how accessible content is better content.

As part of this initiative Blackboard are hosting a Fix Your Content Day which encourages academics to use Blackboard Ally to help make the content on their Blackboard pages more accessible.

To support this initiative we are hosting an additional Ally and Accessiblity workshop which will give your the tools and know-how you need to participate in Fix Your Content Day and contribute to an overall in improvement of accessibility.

The workshop will tale place on Wednesday, 18th May, the day before Global Accessibility Awareness Day so just in time to support you in fixing your content. You can sign up for the workshop on the staff development booking system and register for the Fix Your Content challenge with Blackboard from this link.