10 Quick Learning Technology Wins Charles Shields January 2013

This Session 10 ideas for using learning technologies Not in order of importance All suggestions are quick in terms of learning the tool; each will require thinking time though We recognise that academics have lots of conflicting demands so its important not to add to the burden

Quick win #1: Drag and drop file upload in Learn Works in Firefox, Chrome, Safari – but not Internet Explorer Therefore only for use (currently) on non-Staff Desktop machine By far the easiest way to upload resources to Learn pages Find out more on the E-learning Blog at

Quick win #2: Scheduled release of resources in Learn Can be used with any resources / activity (including forums) on Learn Avoids the need to use hide / show icons in Learn Find it at the bottom of every resource / activity editing screen

Quick win #3: Finding copyright-cleared images Use the advanced search option for Google Images Scroll to the bottom of the page and select free to use or share under usage rights Make sure you acknowledge the owner of the image

Quick win #4: Finding copyright-cleared videos Fantastic new service which has had an extremely positive response from academics – eg will transform my teaching Access it at Find out more at

Quick win #5: GoogleDocs for collaborative writing All staff and students can share / co-edit documents on GoogleDocs using their Lboro account Log in at For collaborative writing tasks, this is an alternative to the wiki functionality in Learn Unlike Learn wikis, multiple students can edit a document simultaneously

Quick win #6: Audio / video feedback to students We support various tools which allow for this: Camtasia ReVIEW Personal Capture Pocket camcorder Digital audio recorder Grademark Find out more at

Quick win #7: Exploiting Twitter in the classroom There are various tools that can be used alongside Twitter to enhance classroom interaction. During Semester 1 12/13, a number of academics used these tools successfully. See Try entering a Twitter hashtag into the next screen of this presentation (which you can simply copy / paste into your own PPT).

PowerPoint Twitter Feedback Slide Use Presentation Mode to view, Click this header to give mouse control back to PowerPoint, change slide, etc. Check the alternate format to see more tweets! © SAP 2009 / Page 10

Quick win #8: Engaging large groups with electronic voting We support centrally the Turning Point electronic voting system. Handsets can be booked through Teaching Support. The software is free and integrates into Powerpoint (Mac or PC). You can add question slides (in a variety of styles) into an existing PPT. Quick and easy to set up and use. Can be particularly useful in enhancing engagement in large groups. Find out more at

Quick win #9: Self-updating resources in Learn using RSS Learn allows you to display RSS feeds on your module page as a block. The Learn screenshot above shows feeds from the E-learning and Teaching&Learning blogs. Whatever your subject area, there are likely to be RSS feeds that update regularly and that are useful to your students. In your module, turn editing on, then choose Remote RSS feeds from the Add a block drop-down menu.

Quick win #10: Capture your lectures with ReVIEW! ReVIEWing your lectures may sound complicated but in fact its very quick and pain-free – and your students will thank you for it. Book lecture capture through Teaching Support, via ReVIEW and Learn are now integrated so that your lectures can be automatically published to your module page.