RUSTLE Really Useful Stuff on Teaching, Learning Etc.
Spring 2011
Peer Review – it’s good for students too Everything we have ever learned, from talking, to driving a car has been mastered through a process of feedback and providing opportunities for feedback is probably one of the most valuable things we do for students. The forms that effective feedback can take are many – the nod of encouragement as a student offers an answer in a seminar can be as important as the page of detailed comments on their essay and tutors are not the only people who can give helpful feedback. As part of the process of becoming reflective lifelong learners students need to develop skills of self-assessment as well as critical skills in relation to the ideas of others so introducing elements of self- and peer-assessment and feedback into courses can be very valuable. Peer review or assessment and feedback is becoming of increasing interest to colleagues so TLDU has developed a web page outlining some of the advantages and challenges and bringing together ideas, guidance and case studies to help you think about whether it is something that you would like to introduce in your courses. In this article we will also be hearing two Sussex colleagues’ first experiences of using peer feedback activities in their teaching. Some peer assessment schemes start by involving students in formulating the marking criteria – as outlined by Paul Orsmond in Self and Peer Assessment: Guidance on Practice in the Biosciences. More often, however, a peer assessment activity is used to acquaint students with pre-existing criteria. Rather than relying on students to read and understand criteria set out in course handbooks, activities involving assessing each other’s work can be used to highlight the expectations. By applying criteria to other people’s work students begin to internalise the standards expected as well as having the opportunity to think about exactly what is meant by terms such as ‘critical analysis’ which might otherwise be unclear.
Peer Review of Draft Essays It was this sort of peer review activity that Sonja Fagernas (Economics) recently introduced to one of her courses. A change to the mode of assessment meant that 50% of students’ marks were to come from an essay for the first time and Sonja ‘thought it might be nice for them to have some sort of feedback on their drafts but the tutors and I were unable to give individual feedback’ so a peer feedback activity seemed like a possible solution and Sonja was interested to find out more about ‘how it works, when it works and when it doesn’t’. After reading the literature on peer marking and feedback Sonja planned an optional activity: Students were asked to hand in a draft essay and these were anonymised and distributed amongst students in the workshop. Before students began reviewing the drafts Sonja ‘talked to them about assessment criteria and what they understood by assessment criteria, what sort of things we were looking for in the essay’. Because not everyone had handed in a draft (as is often the case with optional feedback activities) it was usually ‘two or three people in a group reviewing a draft’ which gave the opportunity for discussion of the work and the criteria. Submission of the drafts was due two weeks before the essay deadline, but Sonja found that ‘some of the students handed in an outline rather than a draft essay’ and thinks ‘it may be that they get going later on and were not very interested at that stage’. Clearly, timing of such sessions is important, though if the submission of a draft essay was a formal part of the assessment process rather than an optional extra this may have encouraged students to start drafting their essay earlier. In the peer review workshop students had a template which Sonja had designed with ‘little open ended questions, but mostly box ticking, mainly on how arguments were presented what the structure was like, whether they were referencing, what they (Continued on page 2)
Also in this issue of RUSTLE Teaching and Learning Development Events for this term Researchers benefit from a creative approach to writing There’s more to YouTube than singing cats Vitae conference and news Teaching Tips First successes for new PGCertHE Technology Tips Subject Centre news and resources Sussex Teaching Awards 2011
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said and whether it was understandable and well communicated’. Some students were initially unhappy sharing a draft of their essay with their peers in case someone stole their ideas, so Sonja ‘tried to be safe and allocate the drafts so that people who were writing on specific topics were reviewing something else’. Sonja surveyed her students to find out what they thought of the peer review activity and ‘most of them found it a positive experience and thought it was useful to some extent’. Interestingly, ‘students thought it was potentially more useful to review rather than get the feedback’ which indicates
that they can see that the process of assessing someone else’s work against criteria is a valuable learning activity in itself. Indeed, students would have liked to review more than one piece of work so Sonja is considering a similar activity but using anonymised past essays instead of, or to supplement current students’ drafts. There were some criticisms of the feedback template that Sonja used ‘because there wasn’t much space for comments so they weren’t sure how to interpret what the tick box really meant’ and she would want to redesign the sheet for the future. This might be a case where involving students in the design of the feedback sheet would be helpful as it would get them thinking about the elements that make a good essay and what sort of feedback is useful in advance of writing their draft.
class and present what they have done to their peers. As well as how they set up the experiment, what results they obtained and why, they talk about any problems they experienced. The rest of the students then ask questions of the presenters who also act as teaching assistants in the session, responding to student queries. Fab is of course on hand to respond to any questions that the students cannot deal with, but has noticed that ‘students are more proactive in asking their colleagues to help’ and ‘don’t just ask a specific question but open up and ask a few things around it’ because it is a colleague they are asking rather than a lecturer. The last 30 minutes of the session is spent in peer assessment with students swapping lab books and giving each other feedback. The marks they give are not used in final grades and the emphasis is on the feedback that they give. Students are asked to comment on each section of the report and offer suggestions on what can be done to develop for the future. Fab says that: ‘some are really willing to give lots of comments, others give less, but the majority put quite a lot if effort into it. It is quite an enjoyable half an hour and students can learn how to do good lab reports by looking at others. Most of the students progressed week by week based on comments their colleagues gave the week before and this process has helped to shape the long reports due at the end of the year as well. It is a good way of getting students into the habit of thinking what they are doing when they do a piece of work’. In February, Fab will be leading a Teaching and Learning Development Event on ‘Using Peer Assessment and Feedback in Physics’ when you can hear him discuss in more detail what he learned in the process of using this method. Peer Assessment for Fairer Grading of Group Tasks Apart from the benefits to students in terms of getting to grips with assessment criteria, learning from each other’s work and receiving feedback from others, peer assessment has also proved to be an effective way of fairly grading group tasks. There is a growing literature on this and you
Sonja was using peer review and feedback formatively, and is happy that this was the right choice in her context because ‘half of the students said they understood the criteria and the other half said they had difficulties and they weren’t always sure how to assess a piece of work’ there were comments like: ‘something was wrong with it but we weren’t quite sure what’. Sonja could spend more time explaining the criteria, but feels that ‘it wouldn’t be enough to get them to understand assessment criteria’ whereas ‘making it a more repetitive process might be useful’. Peer Assessment and Feedback in the Lab Someone who is using peer learning as well as assessment and feedback regularly is Fabrizio Salvatore (Physics). He told RUSTLE: ‘I wasn’t really aware of what peer learning, assessment and feedback was when I started but have to say I find it extremely useful’. It was the previous convenor, Winfried Hensinger who introduced the innovation to the Electronics Lab course but Fab is very enthusiastic about the benefits to his students. The course involves students carrying out 5 different laboratory experiments over the term and Fab divides the group into 5 small groups (usually pairs) which each have responsibility to carry out one of the labs independently in advance of the
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can read more about it on the Assessing Group Work page on the TLDU website. There are also a growing number of relevant resources in the TLDU Web Links. Essentially most models involve students grading each other’s contribution to a group task process so that the tutor-given mark for the end product can be fairly adjusted to reflect individual inputs. There are a number of tools available to help with the practicalities of this method, but one of the keys to a successful outcome is to make the process very clear from the beginning so that students know the basis on which their contribution will be assessed. If students know that, for example, their final mark will depend on how many (Continued on page 6)
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Teaching and Learning Development Events The TLDU organises Teaching and Learning Development Events for staff with a teaching role. There are short sessions of 1-2 hours right up to whole day workshops and days and times are varied to allow as many colleagues as possible to participate. Events cover a wide range of topics related to teaching, learning, assessment, supervision and innovation. The Spring term sessions are listed here and session outlines and online booking are available on the TLDU website. All events are free. Colleagues from partner institutions are welcome and can book by e-mail.
Accessibility and Study Direct Tuesday 18th January, 12-2pm Turnitin - originality checking software Wednesday 19th January, 10-11am Play it Again: Lecture or Personal Capture with Echo 360 Wednesday 19th January, 12-2pm Using Clickers Wednesday 19th January, 2.15-3.15pm Planning Sessions Thursday 20th January, 2-4pm Using an Interactive Whiteboard Tuesday 25th January, 2-4pm Marking and Feedback (numerical based subjects) Tuesday 1st February, 10-12am Marking and Feedback (text based subjects) Tuesday 1st February, 2-4pm Assessing Oral Presentations Wednesday 2nd February, 10-11.30am Using Study Direct as part of your teaching Wednesday 2nd February, 2-4pm Creating Inclusive Learning Materials Thursday 3rd February, 12-2pm Managing the Doctoral Supervisory Relationship Tuesday 8th February, 1-4pm Assessing Group Work Wednesday 9th February, 10-11.30am Taking a Scholarly Approach to Teaching and Learning Wednesday 9th February, 2-4.15pm Using Peer Assessment and Feedback in Physics Tuesday 15th February, 1-2pm Quality Assurance and Enhancement Tuesday 15th February, 10-12am Learning in Labs Wednesday 16th February ,12-1.30pm Student-Centred Learning Wednesday 16th February, 2-4.30pm Livescribe Digital Pen Demo Wednesday 16th February, 10.30-11.30 Inclusive Teaching Thursday 17th February, 10am-1pm Prevention of Plagiarism Wednesday 23rd February, 10-12am Understanding Reflective Practice Wednesday 23rd February, 2-4pm Course Design and Approval Thursday 24th February, 2-4pm Learning in Small Groups Tuesday 1st March, 10-12am Learning at Progressive Levels in HE Thursday 3rd March, 10am-1pm Being the Internal Examiner for a Doctoral Thesis Thursday 3rd March, 2-4pm Preparing a Teaching Portfolio Tuesday 8th March, 2-3.30pm Feedback using Study Direct Wednesday 9th March, 2-4pm Discussion Forums in Study Direct Wednesday 9th March, 12-1.30pm Effective Lecturing Thursday 10th March, 10am-1pm Supervising Undergraduate Students Tuesday 15th March, 10-12am 10 Minutes of Fame—your lecture in the spotlight! Thursday 17th March, 10am-1pm Doctoral Student Supervision Workshop Wednesday 23rd March, 9.30am-4.30pm Technology Hands-on Drop-in Thursday 24th March, 10.30-12am Web Link and Contact TLD Events 2010-11: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/events/tldevents E-Mail: tldu@sussex.ac.uk 3
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Researchers benefit from a creative approach to writing Academic writing is a genre or ‘authoritative discourse’ with a particular set of rules that can sometimes feel restrictive and constrain thinking processes. For researchers attempting to write about their work this can be frustrating and lead to blocks that undermine their progress. Feras Alkabani (English) was in just that situation. He explained: ‘I was getting a bit stuck with my writing, I was reaching a point where I’d written lots and I wanted to go back and edit it and I found that quite difficult. I wasn’t sure which bits to keep and which bits to take out, at points I wanted to throw everything away and start from scratch’. For Feras, the key to unlocking his writing was attending one of the 2day writing retreats organised by the Doctoral School and TLDU. These workshops on creative writing for researchers are led by Celia Hunt, formerly Reader in Continuing Education (Creative Writing) at Sussex and a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, who is well known for her work in the developmental uses of creative writing. Celia puts the emphasis on ‘playing’ with and subverting the rules of the academic genre, in order to help participants to think outside of the usual frameworks. The researchers who attend get the opportunity to explore what it means to find a writing voice or writing identity for academic writing and consider the effect I was very busy and of real and imagthought I’d rather get on ined readers on with my work - but I wasn’t the development of voice and identity getting on with my work, how they imI was finding it quite difficult. and pact on the way we I was struggling with it. tell the story of our research. Feras says that this approach ‘makes you think of your own thesis, of your own ideas, in terms of something creative,
something that you create yourself and it gives it a personal touch’. From the ‘liberating’ ideas in the pre-session reading, to the imaginative exercises, group discussions and feedback, Feras found the whole two days ‘very, very useful’ and he is now progressing with his writing. But Feras nearly did not sign up for the event: ‘Had it not been that one of my friends recommended it, I wouldn’t have gone, that’s partly because I didn’t have the time but you make the time, don’t you?’ And that is the message that Feras wants to get across to researchers and supervisors the writing retreat is two days well spent and can really kickstart your writing. This view is echoed by a previous participant who said at the end of the two days: ’all the activities taught me something. I leave with lots of new tools in my toolbox.’ If you think that you, or one of your supervisees would benefit from the opportunity to spend a couple of days looking at their writing from a creative perspective you will be pleased to hear that more workshops are planned this term. The events, which are open to all doctoral researchers and research staff are: Two Day Writing Retreat for Researchers in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: Monday 31st January - Tuesday 1st February. Two Day Writing Retreat for Researchers in the Sciences: Monday 21st March - Tuesday 22nd March. The Doctoral School and TLDU also organise workshops on ‘Advanced Presentation Skills’ and ‘Media Skills Training’ as part of the wider programme of Doctoral School Researcher Training.
Web Links and Contacts: To request a place or add your name to a waiting list e-mail: TLDU-Researcher@sussex.ac.uk Details of the Creative Writing Retreat: www.sussex.ac.uk/dr2/1-2-3.html#retreat Doctoral School Researcher Events: www.sussex.ac.uk/dr2/1-2-3.html
Sussex Teaching Awards 2011 Details of the arrangements for the Sussex Teaching Awards for 2011 have now been announced. The awards will be made later than usual in the academic year to give more people the opportunity to be considered. Each School will set its own deadline for nominations, which is likely to be in early in the Summer term. School Teaching and Learning Committees and the Professional Services Group may each propose up to 3 awards for Teaching Excellence, one each in the categories of Established Staff , Early Career (less than 5 years teaching experience) and Team. These awards will be open to all faculty, learning support staff, associate tutors, teaching fellows and others in teaching related roles. In a separate process up to 3 University Teaching Fellowships with funding of £5000 will be awarded for 2011-12. Fellowships will be open to all on a competitive basis and a call will be made in week 5 of the Spring Term 2011.
Web Links and Contacts: Details of the Sussex Teaching Awards and Fellowships 2011: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/awards/sta To register interest in the Fellowship scheme e-mail: tldu@sussex.ac.uk 4
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Vitae conference and news In September, over 400 delegates from Universities, Research Centres and related organisations across the UK and beyond gathered at the Vitae Researcher Development Conference in Manchester. In case you are not familiar with the role of Vitae (which replaced UKGrad in 2008) it is a national body which exists to promote the personal, professional and career development of doctoral researchers and research staff. Vitae operates through a series of ‘hubs’ and Ross English, the Vitae South-East Hub Manager, is based in the Teaching and Learning Development Unit at Sussex. Ross attended the conference and has picked out some key points for RUSTLE readers. This year’s conference focused on: researching and evaluating the impact of researcher development and careers; the latest developments in policy relating to postgraduate researchers; implementing the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and evolving practice to support cost-effective researcher skills and career development. The conference also saw the announcement of the winners of Vitae Innovate funding for 2010. Delegates heard about the latest policy developments and shared ideas and practice concerning the professional and career development of postgraduate researchers and research staff. Dr Iain Cameron (Head of Research Careers and Diversity, RCUK) confirmed the Research Councils’ commitment to the continued development of researchers’ transferable skills and career management and set out RCUK’s expectations in relation to the Roberts’ Agenda; including that researcher development would continue to be fully embedded into the research and training environment and that funding for transferable skills training would be recovered from all funders and included in the fees for postgraduate researchers. Dr Janet Metcalfe (Chair and Head, Vitae) outlined a number of initiatives that Vitae had been involved with over the previous years. Most notable was the development of the Researcher Development Framework – a tool to help researchers plan their own development - and the accompanying Researcher Development Statement which is designed to replace the Joint Skills Statement and outline the areas in which all researchers (postgraduate and research staff) can look to develop, On day two of the conference, Professor Sir Ivor Crewe (Chair, Concordat Strategy Group and Master of University College, University of Oxford) outlined the progress that had been made in implementing the Concordat . This included the announcement of the first ten UK institutions to be awarded the badge of ‘HR excellence in research' from the European Commission: Universities of Aston, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Heriot-Watt, Newcastle, Queen Margaret (Edinburgh), Reading, Salford and York. Away from the plenary sessions there was a large variety of workshops (58 in total) and ‘special interest sessions’ providing updates and highlighting good practice and new innovations in researcher development, illustrating the innovation and energy that has been invested in the development of researchers.
Web Links Vitae: www.vitae.ac.uk/ South East Hub: www.vitae.ac.uk/sehub Contact: sehub@vitae.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/Vitae_SE_Hub Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers: www.researchconcordat.ac.uk/ The Researcher Development Framework: www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf
Teaching Tips It's not about what you know; it's about what the student needs to learn. As someone very new to teaching there is a tendency to over-prepare lecture material so that you feel confident teaching it, and overlook the needs and learning styles of the students in the process. Teaching undergraduates differs so much from presenting research to experienced academic audiences, where it really is all about what you know. Writing learning outcomes for a lecture and/or seminar can help you to focus on what it is essential that students learn.
Setting some ground rules can be really useful, especially with 1st year undergrad or 1-year Masters (especially international) students who often don't know what to expect of a course. Rather than imposing your own rules, try asking the students what they expect of themselves, each other and you. Usually the result will be a list that includes most of the things you would want – and you can include one or two of your own during the process. ‘Show, don’t tell’ is often used as advice to writers of fiction, but is equally apt to teaching situations. Focusing on showing rather than telling encourages you to make learners’ engagement more interactive, because making something 'show', often involves getting students actively involved in a task, the material or a demonstration. Thanks to Sarah Robins-Hobden and Ruth Staras for passing on these tips.
Web Links Guidance on Learning Outcomes: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/ideas/curr/learningoutcomes Links on Active Learning: www.delicious.com/tlduteam/active_learning 5
RUSTLE First Successes for New PGCertHE In the first ever issue of RUSTLE we reported on the new more flexible, individual and workbased Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (PGCertHE) that TLDU began to offer in 2008. Time has flown by and the first cohort of participants has now successfully completed the 2-year part-time programme and will be graduating at the winter ceremony. As a result of passing the PGCertHE the successful participants have also become Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. The University of Sussex strongly encourages academics and support staff to gain Higher Education Academy (HEA) recognition which is for anyone involved in 'teaching', including support staff who give one to one training or run small workshops. This first cohort includes colleagues from across campus representing a wide range of disciplines and includes our first PGCertHE from the library. Since the new programme was introduced the number of volunteers signing up has increased and they now outnumber those taking the course as part of their probation. The individual and flexible nature of the programme has allowed a number of more experienced colleagues to take the opportunity to develop their practice and gain a qualification, and colleagues in academic-related and learning support positions are now taking part too. Whatever your teaching role, if you would like to gain the appropriate HEA status as an associate, fellow or senior fellow, you can get more information by following the links below. Many congratulations to the following colleagues who have been awarded a PGCertHE this year:
Ahmet Aydin, Engineering & Design Martin Berger, Informatics Hans Crombag, Psychology Ian Crossley, Chemistry Sherif El-Khamisy, Genome Centre Adrian Ely, SPRU Sonja Fagernas, Economics Kevin Gray, International Relations Ilian Iliev, Physics & Astronomy
Kamran Matin, International Relations Thomas Nowotny, Informatics Fabrizio Salvatore, Physics & Astronomy Josh Siepel, SPRU Shova Thapa, Business & Management Eddy Viseux, Chemistry Emma Walton, Library Catherine Will, Sociology
Web Links and Contacts Details of the Sussex PGCertHE: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/events/pgcert Information about HEA Recognition: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/awards/hea (Continued from page 2)
Peer Review—it’s good for students too group meetings they attend, they are more likely to attend regularly. This is another situation in which it can be useful to engage students in the creation of the grading template so that they get the opportunity to think about and discuss the sorts of contributions to a group task that are necessary and their relative value. This article has only touched on a few examples of ways in which peer assessment or review and feedback can contribute to student learning. As Sonja found, looking at other people’s work can help students to get a better understanding of their own writing and the standards by which their work will be assessed. Regular peer learning, assessment and feedback activities such as those used by Fab show just how much students can learn from each other, as well as the extra motivation that being the ‘teacher’ can provide. And if we want to assess the process of group work, as well as the end product, then peer assessment can be the way forward. If you are interested in finding out more about peer assessment and feedback the links below will point you towards further resources.
Web Links and References: Paul Orsmond, Self and Peer Assessment: ftp://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/TeachingGuides/fulltext.pdf The foundation for Graduate Attributes: developing self-regulation through self and peer assessment: www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/documents/G21C/Assessment_150910.pdf Nancy Falchikov (1995) 'Peer Feedback Marking: Developing Peer Assessment', Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 32: 2, 175 — 187: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1355800950320212 Nancy Falchikov (2005). Improving Assessment through Student Involvement. Practical Solutions for Aiding Learning in Higher and Further Education. RoutledgeFalmer, London Web Links on group assessment: www.delicious.com/tlduteam/assessment+groups Assessing Group Work page: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/ideas/assessment/grp Peer Assessment and Feedback web page: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/ideas/assessment/peer Fab Salvatore’s TLD Event: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/events/tldevents/assfb#peer 6
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Subject Centres: news and some great resources It was recently announced that the Subject Centres run by the Higher Education Academy will be closing as part of a reorganisation. The network of 24 Subject Centres which provide subject-specific support for enhancing the student learning experience will be fully funded until the end of the current academic year and then there will be some interim funding until the HEA headquarters in York takes over their role. RUSTLE will probably be reporting on the new arrangements for supporting discipline-specific teaching and learning development in the future, but for now we wanted to celebrate the wonderful job that the Subject Centres have been doing and highlight some of the great resources which are currently available from them. Most of the centres provide events and resources specially designed for early career academics and one good example is the Bioscience Resource Folder for New Lecturers. The Subject Centres have also produced many excellent resources focusing on discipline-specific teaching methods such as tutorial teaching in Economics; online discussion in English Studies; effective fieldwork for the environmental and natural sciences; problem based learning in the Physical Sciences and group work in Mathematics. The Subject Centre web pages house a wealth of materials and case studies around topics such as assessment, e-learning and inclusive teaching, providing amongst other things guidance on undergraduate dissertations, using e-assessment in Law and e-bulletins on inclusive practice in Psychology. The centres encourage the sharing of teaching materials with banks of questions, practicals, images and other materials, and many of the Subject Centres produce their own publications on teaching and learning within a discipline, ranging from newsletters to peer-reviewed pedagogic journals. Here are a few examples of Subject Centre Resources including the ones mentioned above. To see the full range of material available for your discipline see the links below to find your Subject Centre.
Bioscience Resource Folder for New Lecturers: www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/ resources/resourcepack.aspx Tutorial Teaching in Economics: www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/showcase/ mash_tutorials Online Discussion in English Studies: A Good Practice Guide to Design, Moderation and Assessment: www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/resources/technology/ report.php Designing Effective Fieldwork for the Environmental and Natural Sciences: www.gees.ac.uk/pubs/guides/fw2/GEESfwGuide.pdf Problem Based Learning - a primer from the Physical Sciences Centre: www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/ps/documents/primers/primers/pbl.pdf Guidelines for Introducing Group Work in Undergraduate Mathematics: http://mathstore.ac.uk/headocs/ GuidelinesForGroupwork.pdf Improving design learning through the use of simulation tools and multidisciplinary collaboration: www.engsc.ac.uk/downloads/scholarart/100629-miniproject-case-study-design-brunel.pdf A Companion for Undergraduate Dissertations: www.socscidiss.bham.ac.uk/ Using E-Assessment in Law: www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/assessment-andfeedback/caa/ E-Bulletins on Inclusive Practice (Psychology): www.psychology.heacademy.ac.uk/networks/sig/index.asp Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies Materials Bank: www.llas.ac.uk/resources/bankcontents.html Psychology Practicals: www.psychologypracticals.com/ Discourse: Learning and Teaching in Philosophical and Religious Studies journal: www.prs.heacademy.ac.uk/publications/discourse.html Web Links: Find your Subject Centre: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/resources/sc Subject Centre Events: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/events/heaevents/sc 7
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Technology Tips Ladibugs: If you have been teaching in Fulton you will have seen these small red creatures. Technically referred to as visualisers or document cameras the Lumens models which we use at Sussex have acquired the nickname of ‘ladibug’ because they look a bit like a ladybird. A visualiser is essentially a fixed digital camera which can be connected to a projector so that an object placed beneath it can be displayed on a screen. You can use it to project text and/or images from a piece of paper, as you would with an overhead projector, but without having to create transparencies in advance. So if there is an interesting article in today’s newspaper you can just take it along to the session and show it to your students. The ladibug can also be used to display threedimensional objects and the flexible ‘goose-neck’ allows the camera to be positioned at different angles so you can see all around an object. As the projected images are ‘live’ you can even move or manipulate the object. The visualisers in use at Sussex are not all the same model, as newer ones are coming along all the time, but some of the more sophisticated devices have automatic zoom, multiple lamps, remote controls and options for saving the projected image.
Livescribe: The Livescribe smart pen is mainly marketed to students, having been designed as a tool to aid note-taking but it has possibilities for teaching, especially in mathematics -based disciplines. The Livescribe pen uses a combination of digital camera, audio recorder and special paper to record what you write in digital form with an accompanying audio track. If you were making notes in a lecture you could later tap a particular line in your notes and hear what the lecturer was saying at that point. The combination of notes and audio is called a ‘pencast’ and these can be uploaded to the Livescribe website so that others can access them. Claudia Eberlein (Physics) uses Livescribe to create ‘pencasts’ that take students through a problem step-by-step with a voice-over. When viewing and listening to the ‘pencast’ it is possible to repeat a stage and hear again the accompanying audio track. If you would like to try using the Livescribe pen in your own teaching we have a pen which you can borrow from TLDU and there is a Livescribe demonstration planned for 16th February.
Web Links: Handouts on the Ladibugs in use at Sussex: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/technology/equip/handouts Livescribe: www.livescribe.com/en-gb/ Livescribe Demonstration: www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/events/tldevents/innlt#live
There’s more to YouTube than singing cats. Increasingly universities, museums and other institutions are posting videos to YouTube that can be a valuable addition to a lecture, seminar or Study Direct site. But there is a lot of material out there so TLDU has pulled together links to some of the channels that are most likely to provide quality material for you and your students. They are sorted into three rough disciplinary categories:
Science: www.delicious.com/tlduteam/You_Tube+science Humanities: www.delicious.com/tlduteam/You_Tube+humanities Social Science: www.delicious.com/tlduteam/You_Tube+social_science There are also a number of institutions such as Stanford University, the Smithsonian Museum and the Open University that offer materials in a number of disciplines so it is well worth browsing the main list of channels at:
www.delicious.com/tlduteam/You_Tube
lives up to its name RUSTLE promises ‘Really Useful Stuff on Teaching, Learning Etc.’ and according to one satisfied reader that is just what is being delivered. It is always good to hear from readers and your comments and suggestions help to shape future issues, but it was particularly nice to hear recently how the Summer issue helped Tamsin Hinton-Smith (Sociology): 'After maternity leave to have my twins, I realised at the beginning of this term that I hadn't taught a seminar for two and a half years, and felt a bit rusty, so RUSTLE dropped into my inbox at the perfect moment. I printed off the pages on Skillclouds, Echo360 and Turnitin for my reference. I also publicised the writing coaching to my students, as I thought that is a really valuable resource and opportunity. I found the 'top teaching tips' most useful, particularly as a recap after my break. I've been using post-its for questions to inform student small group discussion work every seminar since, so thanks for that!' RUSTLE is produced by the Teaching and Learning Development Unit (TLDU) and is online at www.sussex.ac.uk/tldu/resources/rustle If you wish to comment or contribute please e-mail tldu@sussex.ac.uk
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