The Digital Teaching Environment

This course provides a practical introduction to Blackboard Collaborate Ultra virtual meeting and classroom software. 

The course is aimed at staff who will be running Collaborate sessions. It is intended to complement the "Using Collaborate in Learn" course - we will spend more time looking at the tools, demonstrate creating a session in MyEd, and attendees will be able to practice sharing content in breakout groups. 

Learning outcomes:

• Introduction to roles in Collaborate

• How to set up a Collaborate session in MyEd

• Overview of communication tools

• Sharing content, including slides and polls

• Setting up breakout groups

• Hands-on practice sharing content in breakout groups

• Tips for running a session

 Learn is the University’s virtual learning environment. This online session will cover ​​​​​​ the topics  below and give you the opportunity to ask questions about them. The session will last for 1 hour, including 20-30 minutes set aside for Q&A.

Learning outcomes:

• Use Student Preview
• Understand the course menu structure
• Create a content item
• Understand the content editor
• Copy text into Learn and format appropriately
• Add hyperlinks to a course
• Upload a file to Learn
• Copy items from other courses
• Move items within a course
• Add folders
• Use adaptive release
• Add content from media hopper
• Add a link to lecture recordings
• Create announcements

These short, one-hour sessions have been specially designed to help you quickly move your teaching online​​​. With the University moving to hybrid teaching during the current pandemic we are recommending a core set of online teaching tools, and these skills-based sessions will help you quickly get up to speed.  

Book  a drop-in training session: Staff​​​​​​Book a drop-in training session: Students                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Learn update: Staff drop-in sessions

Learn was updated over the summer to provide a new and improved experience when accessing the platform. This drop-in session will allow you to come along ​​​​​​ and see what the new face of Learn looks like and gives you an opportunity to ask us questions.

Learn update: Student drop-in sessions

Learn, the online platform you use to access course materials, assignments,  grades, and other resources, was updated over the summer. You will notice it has a new look and an upgraded set of tools and features which make navigating around much easier.

Sign up for a drop-in session available to all students to find out more about the improvements and to ask us any questions you may have.  

Collaborate is the University’s virtual classroom, and the supported tool of choice ​​​​​​for synchronous online classroom sessions. This session is for anyone who will be teaching ​​​​​or hosting Collaborate sessions within the University’s VLE Blackboard Learn.  

Learning Outcomes:

• Requirements for using Collaborate
• Set up Collaborate within Blackboard Learn
• Giving students access to Collaborate through Learn
• How to record a session, upload slides, and manage students
• Tips for running a session

Book on to a training course: Staff Collaborate information                                                                               

The University has added an integration for Zoom into Learn which will be available from August for all Staff and Students via Learn courses.

This training will cover how to use this integration to add a Zoom session to your course and highlight the teaching tools available in Zoom.

Learning Outcomes:

• How to access Zoom in Learn

• Security for sessions

• Useful settings in ed-ac-uk.zoom.us

• Scheduling a call

• Hosting and participating in calls

• How to use Zooms teaching tools

If you’re new to Creative Commons licences or simply need a quick refresher, this Quick Start 30 minute information session will provide a brief introduction to Creative Commons, covering all the main licence types, and show you how to quickly and easily apply CC licences to content in Learn, Media Hopper Create and blogs.

This session will introduce participants to:

• The key concepts of copyright, licensing and the public domain.
• The benefits and affordances of open licensing.
• The different Creative Commons licences and how they can be used.
• How to attribute open licensed content.
• How to add a licence to your own resources on:
  • Learn
  • Media Hopper Create
  • Blogs.ed.ac.uk
  • PowerPoint.

Open Educational Resources: Copyright and licensing for hybrid teaching

Building upon the introductory ‘Building blocks of UK copyright and exceptions’ this information session provides teaching staff with guidance on how to use copyright and licensed materials in the core toolset to support in-person, online, and hybrid teaching.

This session is provided by Stephanie (Charlie) Farley, our Open Educational Resources (OER) Advisor for Educational Design and Engagement.

Learning Outcomes: 

• Authenticated vs. Public teaching spaces 

• Licences in Higher Educations 

• Subscriptions, databases, and services 

• Open Educational Resources and materials 

• Attribution of materials 

• Finding useful materials 

OER: Building blocks of UK copyright and exceptions

Copyright and licensing awareness is essential in enabling the provision of teaching (in person, online, or hybrid), research, and information services in compliance with the law and open educational practices. 

This session will be run by Stephanie (Charlie) Farley. Charlie is our Open Educational Resources (OER) Advisor for Educational Design and Engagement. She provides the OER service and the Open.Ed website. 

Learning Outcomes:

• Components and duration of UK copyright law 

• Public domain  

• UK copyright exceptions related to teaching & research 

• Licences and how they allow specific re-use of copyright protected works 

• Copyright risk assessment 

Book on to a training course: StaffBook on to a training course: Students    *New dates to be scheduled shortly, in the meantime please contact the OER Service for advice and guidance on OER, copyright and open licensing.                                                                                                                                                                         

Top Hat: In-Class Polling for Student Interaction and Engagement

This session will look at some techniques and functionality of in-class polling systems that can help engage your students with your teaching and course material. We will look at different question types, in-built functionality, and common techniques for encouraging peer and class discussion. 

For any practical demonstrations, we will use the centrally supported system, Top Hat. However, the functionality and techniques described are common to other polling systems or are not system dependent. 

In this session we will cover:

• Making the most of question types
• Advanced functionality
• Alternative approaches and activities
• Sourcing questions

NOTE: This session will use the new polling system Wooclap for examples and practical activities when it becomes available. 

Top Hat: Introduction to Top Hat electronic voting system

NOTE: Training for Top Hat has now ended as it will be replaced in AY 2023-24 with Wooclap. Self-paced materials exist, in the Training section of our Top Hat web pages, should you require them. Training sessions for Wooclap will be added here in due course.

Electronic voting systems allow lecturers to add question and answer activities to lecture sessions to support interactivity and engagement with large groups. 

This course introduces you to Top Hat and shows you how to use the basic features such as creating a course and adding questions to the course. We will be using the browser-based version of the system and you are welcome to bring your mobile device use during the session. 

Learning Outcomes: 

• Create courses, folders and questions 

• Organise content within a course  

• Add Students and co-Professors to a course 

• Review different Top Hat content delivery options – synchronous and asynchronous 

• Gather and display audience responses 

Collaborate: Interactive Teaching ​​​​​​

This session will look at the interactive functionality available within Blackboard Collaborate that can help engage students with your teaching and course material.  Participants will have the opportunity to try out the functionality via a Learn playground course throughout the training session to gain practical experience.

Learning Outcomes: 

• Primary Content – Using the interactive whiteboard, screen share and sharing files
• Secondary Content – How to create and use polling questions within your Collaborate session
• Interact – Set up and usage of breakout groups