Announcements

Playful and Creative Learning in HE

Next Tuesday LTI will be hosting a presentation by Chrissi Nerantzi (Principal Lecturer in Academic CPD, expert in creative, innovative learning, teaching and assessment from Manchester Metropolitan University) on Playful and Creative Learning. A good opportunity to reflect on what playfulness and creativity mean in an educational context and explore ways in which we can promote it in our practice.

Definition: What is playful learning?

 In a blog post by JISC titled Learning to play, playing to learn: the rise of playful learning in higher education, Chrissi gives an explanation of what playful leraning means to her:

“Playful learning is using play activities to immerse ourselves and learn, either on our own or with others in a space we feel safe.  In playful learning it’s ok to make mistakes when experimenting with new ideas, when challenging ourselves and others and doing things we normally wouldn’t do – which can lead us to surprising discoveries.

Playful learning can happen anywhere.”

Play and Its Connection to Creativity

The “Creativity for Learning in Higher Education” open course, based on the Manchester Metropolitan University’s PgCert and MA in Higher Education in which Chrissi is involved, offers colleagues with an interest in creative teaching and learning to explore three areas that foster more creativity in their practice and their students’ learning experience. One of which is play and games.

As Resnick (2017) puts it,

“Creativity doesn’t come from laughter and fun: It comes from experimenting, taking risks, and testing the boundaries.”

When it comes to experimenting, games are a very powerful learning tool. Games are by definition a space where the rule of the real world do not apply, thus providing a safe space to take risks and experiment with various choices, strategies and outcomes.

Moseley and Whitton (2015) define games as“a safe space in which participants have freedom to make mistakes, learn from failure, play with fantasy and identity, have control over decisions and outcomes”

Interested in finding out more?

Check out Chrissi’s various projects around playful and creative learning:

At LSE

References

Resnick, M. (2017). Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passions, Peers, and Play. MIT Press.

Moseley, A. and Whitton, N. (2015). Using Games to Enhance the Student Experience. Higher Education Academy

January 30th, 2018|Announcements, Events & Workshops (LTI), games, innovation, LTI Grants, Teaching & Learning, TEL Trends, Tools & Technologies, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Playful and Creative Learning in HE|

Secret spaces: Can you find LSE’s new student study spaces?

STUDENT COMPETITION – CAN YOU FIND LSE’S SECRET STUDY SPACES?

Find ALL of the secret spaces to win an iPad 9.7 128Gb

LTI have worked with Estates to refurbish some underused and unloved spaces around the campus and make them areas for students to chill, charge, collaborate and study.  See our interactive campus map for details of where you can find them.

Each space has a code word – collect each one and enter them on our form by Wednesday 6th December 2017 for your chance to win a 128GB iPad.

Send us your selfies!

We will also be giving away prizes of £30 of John Lewis vouchers for students who send in the best photos of themselves in one of the spaces

1. Take a selfie in your favourite space (see interactive map below)

2.Tell us why you like the space

3.Share on Twitter or Instagram using #LSEspaces. Deadline is Wednesday 6th December

Please note that both competitions are only open to registered LSE students.

 

November 24th, 2017|Announcements, Learning Spaces, Projects, Teaching & Learning, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off on Secret spaces: Can you find LSE’s new student study spaces?|

Two new vacancies at LSE

LSE’s Learning Technology and Innovation team are recruiting for two vacancies: a Learning Technology Systems Officer, to provide first and second line technical support for learning technologies including Moodle and lecture capture, ​and a Learning Technology Content Developer, to produce a range of engaging media content for use in the School’s online and blended learning provision.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 12th November 2017 (23.59 GMT)

October 19th, 2017|Announcements|Comments Off on Two new vacancies at LSE|

New look Moodle for 2017/18!

We hope you like the new look of Moodle and can find you way around. When you first log in you will taken to your dashboard

On your first access you should see a tour which takes you through the new layout.  Also see our online guide on finding your way around.

If you are a Moodle editor we have devised some new guides to get you going and we have updated our FAQ’s for staff and students.

If you really don’t like the new look you can change it back, just follow our instructions on our website.

We are running Moodle basics training for Moodle editors on Tuesday 22 August and Wednesday 20 September. Book a place via the Training and Development System.

Remember that all courses are automatically hidden after the refresh so you need to make them visible to students before the start of term.

August 17th, 2017|Announcements, Moodle, Teaching & Learning, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off on New look Moodle for 2017/18!|

Moodle refresh for 2017

Moodle will be unavailable all day on Tuesday 15 August and Wednesday 16 August for all users, and on 12th September for courses used to submit dissertations.

Don’t forget: you must download any information and documents you will need from Moodle before the refresh date that applies to your course. Course content will not be available to you after these dates.

See the LTI website for further details: http://lti.lse.ac.uk/moodle-end-of-year-arrangements/

 

July 31st, 2017|Announcements, Moodle, Teaching & Learning, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off on Moodle refresh for 2017|

An evaluation of LSE’s new informal learning spaces

In the 2016-2017 academic year, staff at LTI undertook an evaluation of the use of new LSE informal learning spaces. The findings and lessons learnt can be found in our final report. Here are the highlights.

Background

As part of a School-wide objective to provide students with more informal learning spaces across campus, “forgotten” spaces were redeveloped and opened for the 2016-17 academic year. Staff at LTI led the design of 6 spaces – one at each landing of Clement House’s back stairwell- along with Estates, the Teaching and Learning Centre and AV services.

While each space was designed to fulfil a specific function, such as collaborative work or quiet study, they were also intended to be flexible so that students could own and shape them.

This work was also an opportunity for LTI to experiment with new configurations and technology to apply a variety of modular spaces for LSE’s future buildings. LTI’s report investigates the effective use made by students of the six spaces, and whether they match the design intentions. It also provided a context to understand how they fit into the overall experience of students with informal learning spaces at the School.

Click the picture for a description of the spaces

Findings

In spite of the fact that the effective use of the spaces did not always match the original design intentions, the spaces were welcomed by both students and staff and saw high levels of occupancy.

As far as use is concerned, students seemed to favour individual use of the spaces, even on those floors fitted with collaborative furniture. This was found to align with the most common approach to teaching and learning adopted at the School and also reflected in assessment, namely quiet study and individual working. It would be interesting to reassess the use of those and similar spaces once other modes of teaching and assessment are adopted as a result of the School-wide initiative to diversify assessment from next year.

With regards to the spaces themselves. students appreciated the calm and relaxed feel to the spaces and the range of equipment available to them.  Areas for improvement include noise levels (especially between classes) and a lack of work space (such as tables or chairs).

Report

More information about the spaces, findings and our analysis can be found in the full report: An Evaluation of Clement House Informal Learning Spaces.

LTI is currently working on the redevelopment of other informal spaces, as well as three rooms in various areas of the campus (more details to follow soon)

Findings from this evaluation and our previous new teaching spaces evaluation will inform the design of these spaces and the future ones.

We would love to hear your feedback, please use the comments below or email LTI to share your thoughts!

June 29th, 2017|Announcements, Ed-Tech news and issues, innovation, Learning Spaces, Projects, Reports & Papers, Teaching & Learning, TEL Trends, Uncategorized|Comments Off on An evaluation of LSE’s new informal learning spaces|

Changes to Moodle for 2016/17

The Moodle recharge event took place on Tuesday 27 June for those that couldn’t attend a brief summary of what went on can be found below.


This summer lots of changes are taking place so we split attendees up into four rooms and got them to rotate round to each room.  We asked everyone to give us feedback on the changes and the padlet is still open if you would like to comment.

 



 

New Features

Adding links to Echo recordings will change with a plugin making it easier for students and teachers to view recordings – see our online guide.

Reading lists will now be added using the External Tool or reading list blocks – see our online guide.

There are lots of new features for Moodle 3.1 – see our website for more details and new guides will be created over the summer.  In addition to our usual Moodle training before the start of term we are also offering bespoke training sessions for departments.  If you would be interested in this please get in contact (Lti.support@lse.ac.uk).


New themes

The look of Moodle is changing to be more modern and in line with the new LSE website.

LTI are working on getting the Moodle mobile app ready for 2017/18.  The app can be downloaded from itunes or Google play and more information will be made available on our website over the summer.

 

Turnitin have also made changes to their theme and on 1 August will introduce the Turnitin Feedback Studio which featuers a user-friendly interface, with a responsive design that is compatible with a wide range of devices.  More information about the changes can be found on our website.


My Feedback & Moodle archive

My Feedback is a feature that has been developed by UCL to improve access to assessment and feedback for students and staff.  One single view for all Moodle activities with marks and feedback.  The report will be combined with a live archive of Moodle so that users can view marks and feedback from previous years.  There will be a variety of options for staff with different roles gaining an overview of students marks and feedback.

Coursework  has been created by the Royal Veterinary College to enable more online and assessment and feedback options in Moodle.  LTI will be working on making it compatible with LSE Moodle for individual pilot projects in 2017/18.  Features include: double blind marking, sample marking, sampling workflows, personal deadline and no deadline assignments.  If you are interested in piloting this please contact LTI.Support@lse.ac.uk


Moodle labs & Moodle Audit

Moodle labs is a live instance of the most current version of Moodle which is available for LTI Spark or Ignite funded projects.

 

 

The Moodle Audit took place in March 2017.  LTI went through the methods and overall findings of the independent review.  Individual results will go out to each department in July for review with recommendations for improving your courses.

 

 



Next steps

Each department will be sent the results of the Moodle audit.  We are currently working on new guides and case studies to go on our website ready for the start of term.  We will be running bespoke Moodle training for departments – if you are interested in setting something up then please get in contact (LTI.Support@lse.ac.uk).

The Moodle refresh will take place on Tuesday 15 August for the majority of courses and Tuesday 12 September for courses used to collect dissertation submissions.  On these dates Moodle will be unavailable all day and students must ensure that they have downloaded any materials they would like to keep before these dates.  If you would like your course not to be included in the annual refresh then please let us know as soon as possible (email LTI.Support@lse.ac.uk).  More information about the Moodle refresh is on our website.

 

June 28th, 2017|Announcements, Events & Workshops (LTI), Moodle, Projects, Roundup, Show and tell, Teaching & Learning, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off on Changes to Moodle for 2016/17|

The way you link to reading lists in Moodle is changing

After we upgrade Moodle to version 3.1 this summer, one of the ways you currently link to reading lists won’t work. The integration between Talis Aspire and Moodle was written by the University of Kent and has not been updated to work with the new system.

How can I tell if I need to make changes?

If your reading lists bear this icon:  then they will no longer work after Tuesday 15th August

Instead, you will need to use one of the following methods:

June 20th, 2017|Announcements, Moodle|Comments Off on The way you link to reading lists in Moodle is changing|

LTI’s Funding Opportunities: Results and New Call

Find out about the SPARK projects that were funded for the 2016-17 academic year and read about our new call for our large-scale IGNITE scheme, now open!

IGNITE funding call now open!

IGNITE! is one of LTI’s strand of funding offering support to large-scale, technology-informed initiatives at course or programme level.

Now in its second year, the 2017-18 call will focus on supporting applications that seek to engage with innovative approaches to assessment and feedback using technology.

Find out more about the scheme and how to apply on our funding web pages.

SPARK: the results are in!

This academic year 6 projects were awarded a SPARK! grant, LTI’s seed funding scheme that supports innovative teaching and learning projects.

Projects include students produced learning material and research, an initiative to improve assessment and feedback and data visualisation training.

 

Visit our dedicated pages for more information on each project. You will also find last year’s winners along with evaluation and other shared outcomes for those completed.

June 5th, 2017|Announcements, LTI Grant Winners, LTI Grants, Projects, Reports & Papers, Teaching & Learning, Uncategorized|Comments Off on LTI’s Funding Opportunities: Results and New Call|

Moodle recharge

Following on from our post back in February on our plans for Moodle we will be holding an event for all Moodle editors on Tuesday 27 June from 3-4pm to give everyone a sneak peak of the changes that will taking place this August in time for the new academic year.

Image from @XarxanetTecnMoodle is getting a recharge for 2017/18.  In addition to the usual refresh of all courses we will be upgrading to version 3.1.  On the 27 June we will be going through some of the new features that we think editors will be most interested in and unveil our new theme for the platform.  We will also share the results of our Moodle audit and invite Moodle editors to try out our new features ‘my feedback’ and Moodle labs.

 

New features
Moodle 3.1 features improvements to the layout, course editing, course administration, grading, and activities.  We will go through some of the more significant changes plus give attendees a chance to try out our new interactive guides.

 

Moodle theme

LTI will be changing the look of Moodle to be more in line with the LSE website. We will give LSE Moodle editors a sneak preview of the new theme.

 

 

Moodle Audit

In March 2017 LTI carried out/commissioned an independent review of a sample of LSE Moodle courses from across all the departments.  Approximately 22% of all courses were reviewed using three different metrics – the 3E framework (Enhance, Extend, Empower), an overall classification and a traffic light Red, Amber, Green system.  We will be sharing the findings of this audit and promoting some of the good practice that was discovered as a result.  Individual reports will also be made available for departments which highlight areas or issues that were cause for concern or need attention.

 


Moodle labs

A separate instance of Moodle that features the latest release for teachers to test out new approaches to teaching and is available for LTI grant projects.

 

 

 

 

My feedback

Developed by and rolled out successfully at UCL.  My feedback allows students and staff a single view of all Moodle grades and feedback.

 

 

 

To reserve a place at the Moodle recharge event please book via the LSE Training and Development system.

More information about the Moodle refresh for 2017/18 can be found on the LTI website.

If you have any questions about the Moodle refresh or recharge email LTI.Support@lse.ac.uk