Currently viewing the category:
"LearnTech News"
Learntech have been examining the world of free online polling tools this week in response to a number of requests. While there are several alternatives with different strengths an weaknesses, Polldaddy stands out as a flexible tool to use in a variety of situations – as a brief informal piece of formative assessment, a survey/poll or just feedback on a piece of content or activity. These items embed very well within NILE. There is a fuller description of Polldaddy on the NILE External Tools blog.
It requires an email registration on the WordPress.com site, with which it is also tightly integrated.
Although Staff have access to Panopto to record their presentations, students have had to do things like embedding audio into PowerPoint to create multimedia presentations until now.
SlidesLive can work in a very similar way to Panopto – download the recording software (for Mac and Windows), record the presentation, upload it and make some editing changes. It is slightly different in that it converts each slide to an image, the advantage being that it’s possible to replace or remove a slide using the online editor. It’s also possible to add a second ‘stream’ by using a video clip from YouTube that can be viewed alongside the slide images – the viewer can adjust the relative sizes of those two pictures.
There’s nothing to stop you adding a YouTube video directly in the online editor, then adding a number of images (these could be captions or even a transcript) which you can synchronise to the video. You’re not obliged to just capture PowerPoint, the recording of the slides is just a screen capture, so you can use other presentation software or just capture a screen (just one screen if you have two).
In its simplest form, most students would have very little difficulty in creating a basic presentation. The down side is that although uploaded presentations can be made unlisted, they cannot be downloaded so are unsuitable for summative assessments. However, presentations can be made public, perhaps as part of a portfolio or an online CV. The slide/video combination also opens up the possibility of more creative uses – critiquing someone’s video presentation or interpreting the content. 
You can find a video/slides example here. SlidesLive does require users to register using a simple email – as ever, we’d suggest avoiding the Facebook login option.
Thursday the 23rd of October saw the appearance of the Follow Northampton app in the App Store. The app is a freely available interactive guide to Northampton, and it offers a fresh perspective on Northampton’s rich historical, architectural and cultural heritage. The app, and the associated website, were created and developed by staff and students at the University of Northampton and members of the wider Northampton community. The project leads were Dr. Drew Gray, Senior Lecturer in History, and Sabine Coady Schaebitz, Director of the Collaborative Centre for the Built Environment. Technical support and advice was provided by Rob Farmer from the Learning Technology Team, and the app was built by Chris Collinge from wedoApps. Content was developed by BA History students (Roseanne Belcher, Gabrielle Cairns, Jasdeep Dhillon and Steve Robinson), photographs were provided by a BA Photography student (Peter Holmes), and audio recordings were made of a number of (actual and honorary) Northamptonians, particularly Peter Aiers, Andy Clarke, Peter James Norman, Professor Nick Petford, and Dr. Toby Purser.
The app and website were made possible by the award of a Learning Enhancement & Innovation Grant from the University of Northampton. And the great news is that work on the app and the website is set to continue, as a second Learning Enhancement & Innovation Grant was recently given, and this will allow the project to cover more locations, and will allow the inclusion of extra features into the app. We are hoping to launch a second version of the app in March 2015, which will include full offline access to the locations, improved navigation, and additional locations. A third version is planned for July 2015 which will include design and layout updates, the addition of social media sharing options, and even more locations. In the longer term, we hope to add videos, iBeacons, and augmented reality, and to make an Android version of the app.
Get the iOS app: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/follow-northampton/id919466161?mt=8
Visit the website: http://www.follownorthampton.co.uk
For anyone who doesn’t know, Blackboard is the software which powers NILE. We produce lots of our own Help guides and support materials and keep them under the NILE Help tab, but Blackboard also produce a lot of support which staff will find helpful. Right now, there is a YouTube playlist full of useful videos which you might want to take a look at. Some of the videos will be of more interest than others but there’s fifty-five of them so there’s sure to be some worth a peek at.
Click here to view the video playlist
If you want a suggestion then I’d point you towards the bottom of the list to Student Preview, which is a new feature on NILE. In fact, while you’re down there you could also look at how to upload Test questions to NILE using an Excel spreadsheet as it’ll make the process of setting up a Test on NILE much easier.
Have a look and get in touch with the team if you need any support from a real person.
learntech@northampton.ac.uk
Al
A number of staff are designing e-tivities (online learning activities) that require students to undertake some independent research and then share a link to the online resource with peers who can then click on the link and view the article for themselves.
If the article has been found and accessed through NELSON and the link shared with students who are not already authenticated through the University systems then they will be faced with either a dead link or an ‘Access Denied’ message.
In this situation the solution is as follows:
- Ask students to include the full reference for the journal so that potential viewers can access the article themselves via the Library ‘Find My Reference’ tool. By using this route, students will be prompted to login with their University login in order to get access to the article.
If this applies to you, please change your e-tivity instructions to ask for articles to be shared using the University of Northampton Harvard referencing style. Include this link to a Skills Hub video that shows quickly how to use the ‘Find My Reference’ tool. You might also want to include an example of how to reference a journal using the Harvard journal – guidance is available from the Help Tab in NILE.
The added bonus for the students, of course, is practice in Harvard referencing!
With thanks to Hannah Rose, Academic Librarian for helping us with the solution
The LearnTech team are:
Rob Howe – Head of Learning Technology
Rachel Maxwell / Rob Farmer / Julie Usher – Learning Designers
Rachel McCart – NILE Administrator
Adel Gordon – Learning Technologist (Science and Technology)
Geraldine Murphy – Learning Technologist (NBS)
Belinda Green – Learning Technologist (Education)
Iain Griffin – Learning Technologist – 0.8 (Health)
Al Holloway – Learning Technologist (Arts and Education)
Simon Thompson – Learning Technologist (Social Sciences)
Andy Stenhouse – Learning Technologist (Health)
Kieran McGovern – Learning Technologist 0.2 (No school alignment)
LearnTech Team - July 2014Front row (l-r) Rachel Maxwell, Geraldine Murphy, Belinda Green, Rachel McCart. Middle row (l-r) Adel Gordon, Julie Usher, Iain Griffin, Al Holloway, Andy Stenhouse. Back row (l-r) Rob Farmer, Rob Howe, Simon Thompson. Kieran McGovern - not available for photo.
The Learning Technology Team within Library and Learning Services has provided a number of tools to assist staff who wish to use video as part of their learning and teaching. These tools are simple to use and designed to enable staff to develop their own resources as required. The LearnTech team are not responsible for video production (filming and editing) for teaching purposes or for events.
The two key tools provided by the Learning Technology team are Panopto and Kaltura and these are promoted at regular training events or bespoke sessions can be setup for small groups depending on availability of staff and sufficient notice (at least one week). Requests should be directed towards the normal Learning Technologist for your School or via general email to the team.
If any staff wish to use these tools then they will need to ensure that they have the training and have assured themselves that the machines which they intend to use are setup correctly. (IT Services can assist with installations if needed).
If staff wish to contract to a supplier to do the filming / editing work then please contact production@northampton.ac.uk who will advise of the most appropriate next step depending on needs.
Data Visualisation has become an important aspect of our lives and the ability to present data in interesting ways has always had a role in teaching and learning. On behalf of Tableau Software, Andy Kirk recently presented a fascinating overview of the challenges of Art vs Science in data presentation.
The overall message is that the nature of the visualisation needs to be appropriate for its intent – is this exploring or explaining, thinking or feeling? So, for example, is a filter needed to explore the content or is a bold graphical statement required? 
Andy refers to his excellent web site visualisingdata.com during the presentation – the ‘resources‘ section contains a massive selection of applications that could be used, including a ‘Web’ section where most of the free online tools can be found. We have already experimented with some of these – Tableau Public and Infogram, for example – but there are many promising new ones such as Numberpicture that we hope to review as they become more polished. The ability to link to live data feeds as well as static data opens up a wide range of possibilities.
The video is a little long – around 50 minutes – and the sound is quite poor (it was a webcast after all), but is highly recommended for anyone considering creating infographics or visualisations themselves or asking students to submit assignments in this format.
Click here to launch the video (slides from the presentation – large file! 85mb)
We are pleased to announce the release of the new version of iNorthampton, currently available in the App and Play Stores. 
This release has addressed some of the feedback that we received about the app from staff and students, as well as it being built on a new development platform behind the scenes.
For those that have noticed that the old version hasn’t been updated for a while, this is the reason why – we’ve had to build it from scratch and re-visit the ways in which the data is pulled in from various institutional systems, which took much longer than anticipated.
So, the functionality remains similar to the previous version but with lots of new content. There are new Videos and Photos and updated locations and details in Maps like opening times and descriptions of shops and eateries on campus. As well as a new map of Northampton which contains points of local amenities like pharmacies and nightlife. Don’t forget that you can still use Augmented Reality on iPhone within the campus Maps.
We have added the Tours feature, which will take you around both campuses allowing you to move around areas and buildings.
We are still working on the dedicated iPad version, which will make more use of the larger screen size of the iPad to give users a more scaled experience of the app and its features. We hope to go live with this over the next few months. In the meantime if you want to get iNorthampton on your iPad you can download the iPhone version by searching the App Store and choosing to search for iPhone rather than iPad apps.
We now plan to move forward with developing more features and functionality within the app. The library tool was the most requested feature for improvements, and the Library and Learning Services department are currently reviewing the Library Management System. The ability to renew books and check their account on mobile will be included in the new system and we will hopefully be able to make that available through iNorthampton.
We have collated the most common questions and answers below:
1) I can’t login to NILE
Please see details on the University Login page
Please first try to reset or generate a new password.
If your password has expired, you will still be able to log in to the user portal to reset this yourself.
If you have forgotten your password, please click on the above link and select ‘Forgot Password’.
If you continue to have log-in problems, please contact IT Services. You will need to have your student number to hand.
Email: ITServices@northampton.ac.uk
Phone: 01604 893333 (Monday to Friday 08:00 – 17:30)
Visit: Grendon Building, Park Campus (Monday to Friday 08:00 – 17:30)
2) I can login to NILE but cannot see my modules
In order to see the modules listed in the site box in NILE:
· You should have completed the enrolment process. Active enrolments are added to NILE every 20 minutes.
· You should be correctly enrolled on the module on the student record system. Contact your Student Administration Team to check enrolment details
· Your tutor needs to have made the module live on NILE.
3) I have modules listed but they are not the correct ones or some of my personal details are incorrect (e.g. name / email address).
Contact your Student Administration Team to check enrolment / personal details.
4) I cannot see my University timetable.
Your timetable should appear 48 hours after you have enrolled. If you have a timetabling query then email Timetabling@northampton.ac.uk
5) I have a problem with my laptop – in what ways can IT assist me?
IT will help you with installation of programs that are supporting your programme of study.
IT Services are more positioned to provide an overview and high level guidance on how to use standard office programmes however IT Services do not offer a formalised training programme to students. Please refer to free training advice and support.
IT Services will assist with any aspect of getting antivirus working on your machine or assistance with removing virus / malware or restoration to factory settings.
6) How and where do I print?
After enrolment it can take up to 24 hours for you to be emailed your University PIN which is required for printing and to access their library account.
- Using your student ID and PIN, you can credit up their student printing accounts at the machines in the library
- From computers in the library, print jobs are sent to all library photocopier printers
- To release a print job or to access a photocopier, it is:
- Student ID number (called PIN on the machines)
- 4 digit University PIN to print (called password on the machines)
7) How do I find out details about my student email and link this to my mobile device
You can get details of your email address by going to the University search4email page and then enter your username and date of birth. Please refer to the guidance provided by Microsoft on linking this email to your mobile device.
8) I have heard that there is a free offer for Microsoft Office
To download Microsoft Office 365 please visit the dedicated Microsoft site and login using your University email address and password.
