All posts by Elizabeth Walkden

About Elizabeth Walkden

Learning Technologist for the Faculty of Health and Medicine at Lancaster University. Former History Teacher of ages 11-18 with 5 years experience.

How accessible is your Lancaster University WordPress site?

Pedagogy,

What is WordPress and how can it be used for digital teaching and learning?

WordPress (WP) is a popular open-source website builder and Lancaster University hosts 772 active WP sites. One of the advantages of WP is you don’t need any experience using computer programming languages; a great website can be set up quickly and easily. WordPress can be used as a teaching resource where students can collaborate, using their knowledge to present research in an interesting way. Dr Lisa Bradley from Queen’s University Belfast recently presented in the June 2023 EmpowerEd Webinar Series on ‘Breaking Down Barriers to student research using Social Media’. Lisa showcased a group activity where students used Twitter to present their research. Students were then assessed on the content of their posts, the quality of their research, their interactivity with other users, their overall design and their communication. Using an online platform is an excellent way to help students gain skills that are transferable to future graduate careers and can be highlighted by students on a C.V. demonstrating their skills in online editing and communication. WordPress can be used in a very similar way, and it is also used here at Lancaster University by staff to promote departments and research.

However, no matter what platform is used and what it is used for, we need to ensure that any content can be accessed by all and follows accessibility guidance.

The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 legislation applies to any website or app which is used by a public sector body in the UK. This includes all websites and web services associated with Lancaster University.

The legislations is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidance (WCAG). The guidance translates to making sure that we consider content and user interactions when we design a product. For example, we should consider colour contrast, content layout, how the website would be navigated with a keyboard and how it responds to the use of speech recognition software. By following the guidance, we are more likely to create logically laid out sites that layout information clearly. It improves the user experience for everyone!

How do you go about checking accessibility compliance?

This Digital Digest blog is very new, and I had no experience in using WordPress let alone ensuring that the content on there followed accessibility guidance. Myself and the DLT team worked together to explore the issues and overcome them with the help of Heath Boffey (thanks Heath!) from the Accessibility Team and using the information that we have available on both the University and Government websites (more details on this later!). Continue reading How accessible is your Lancaster University WordPress site? →

User Experience: What do students like to see in a Moodle space?

Moodle,

The Digital Teaching and Learning Team are currently in the process of engaging students and staff in a range of discovery activities to find out about their experience of using Moodle. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been conducting focus groups with students to find out more about their interactions with our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). As a new member of staff, I really enjoyed having my first proper interactions with students over a slice of pizza! They had some wonderful things to say about staff and the campus; for example, every student saw the library as a wonderful calm space which they were eager to utilise for independent study (a testament to all staff who work in and with the library!).

The inside of the University library showing an indoor tree and students studying.
Lancaster University Library

Most students are accessing Moodle everyday during term time and engaging with the resources designed and recommended by their tutors. Students recognise the importance of Moodle in their learning seeing it as “a platform for getting all the information we need to study”.

The students were asked several questions around their interaction with Moodle which included questions on where to find support, notification frequency, accessibility and preferences of layout and activities.

I thought I would share with readers the top 3 things that students like to see in a Moodle space as we come into the summer months and staff will be thinking about how to layout their courses for the coming year:

  1. Collapsible topics

Students found collapsible topics to be one of the features that could improve Moodle user experience the most. One student said “it really helps if you have got modules divided by week or in sections”. Scrolling through a lengthy Moodle course page is difficult via a mobile or tablet and students struggled to find the content they required even on a desktop/laptop when spaces weren’t organised into clear sections, topics or weeks. A special shout out from students to the ‘Politics of Ireland’ (a brand new module with Dr Brian Garvey), ‘Europe and the World, 1450-1650’ (with Dr Alexander Wragge-Morley) and ‘Content-Based Approaches to Language Education modules’ – students love your course layout and design! Dr Diane Potts who has put together the course on Content-Based Approaches to Language Education modules would like to thank Paul Harness and Phil Tubman for their help in incorporating video into pedagogic practice as video is essential to the module’s design.

If you are interested in rethinking your course design, Embrace Digital has some information on Moodle course design with handy instructions and useful tips! The upcoming Moodle 4 upgrade offers some alternative options when it comes to course layout and if you need any advice or assistance you can also contact a Digital Learning Facilitator for a chat.

  1. A range of activities

Students really appreciate interactive activities in their in-person and online learning. Teaching tools such as Slido, Mentimeter and Kahoot were highlighted as enjoyable in-person tools that lecturers utilised to engage students. In Moodle, students told us they liked the use of video, quizzes and Leganto. One student also highlighted that they enjoyed activities which gave them a choice, providing the student with more ownership over their learning. It could be a choice of which reading or writing assignment to do that week for example. The ‘choice’ activity is a possibility when trying to set something like that up.

I would also like to highlight the H5P activity, a great way of including interactive content in your courses. If you would like to hear more about H5P activities, there is a session in our upcoming DLT event.

  1. Active forums

Students were keen to have direct contact with their lecturers whether in person, during office hours, or online. Students are confident in using forums to contact staff and some courses even have a new forum for every week to group questions and answers together. Students like forums as a quick method of getting questions across and the fact that answers can be shared with all students. It is worth noting that the ‘staff alerts’ role may need to be given to staff so that they can receive notifications via email when a new post appears in the announcements forum or any forum with ‘forced subscription’ enabled.

Over the next few weeks, we hope to begin sessions with staff to look at their experience of using Moodle in more detail.

Mentimeter: encouraging participation

Pedagogy, , ,

Written by Susan Armitage, a member of the Educational Development team.

Mentimeter is a way to interactively engage a group of participants either in person or online (or both!).

Mentimeter logoI use Mentimeter as a strategy to keep participants engaged in a session, particularly to quickly share views of a large group in a way that everyone can see, usually for a follow up discussion, to set up the next teaching point, or to encourage reflection on what has just been the focus of the session. 

I have also used it to gather views after a discussion, which is a quicker than going round each group/pair in turn.

For generating discussion between participants, this works equally well online (sending participants into breakout groups) or in person with small group discussion.

I have also just discovered that they have a ‘Spin the wheel’ slide, which is really useful for identifying in a fun and random way which pair or group will present or feedback next.  Previously I have used “wheel of names” for this.  Remember to select the extra option “Eliminate options to prevent repeated results” if you are using it for this purpose!

It’s easy to set up with a few ‘standard’ question types such as multiple choice, word clouds, ranking.  There are also templates available that are helpful for getting new ideas for using it.

I use the free version which has up to 34 slide types with a limit of 2 questions and 5 quizzes per presentation.  So far, I have never needed more than this.

It is well received by participants in terms of generating discussion and/or exposing the range of views within a group.  It is something that they too can use with their students which has been mentioned in feedback on sessions using Mentimeter.

Continue reading Mentimeter: encouraging participation →

New Features in Moodle

Moodle, ,

The Moodle upgrade is fast approaching and I thought now would be a good time to highlight a few of the new features that you can expect.

  1. Collapsible course index and ‘block drawer’
  2. Moving activities and resources just got easier!
  3. Starred modules option
  4. Main menu for easier navigation
  5. New layout option

Why not take a look at what your course content looks like in the new version? Use this link to https://moodletest.lancaster.ac.uk/uat/ (staff only) to view your course. If you would like to add a course to this page, get in touch with a member of the team.

For more information on these changes, continue reading below:

Continue reading New Features in Moodle →

DLT Event#3

Events, ,

Our next sharing practice event will take place on the afternoon of Monday 17th July 2023. The focus for this event will be on the use of Moodle for teaching and learning.

Members of the Digital Learning and Teaching Team will be on hand to answer any questions you have.

The inside of the West Pavilion with seating area and balcony.

Venue: LU Management School, West Pavilion, Robinson Lecture Theatre LT16

Time: 12-4pm, Tuesday 18th July 2023

Please find the agenda below. You are welcome to come for the whole event or just the part that is relevant to you.

Tea, coffee and cakes will be provided!

You can register for a place if you are a member of staff at Lancaster University using this link: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4042795

Continue reading DLT Event#3 →

Moodle 4.1 – The Upgrade is Coming!

Moodle,

Moodle logoOn 24th July 2023, we will be updating Moodle here at Lancaster University to version 4.1.

This upgrade will hopefully make your modules easier to navigate and give you a better user experience.

Watch the video below to find out more…

https://estream.lancaster.ac.uk/View.aspx?id=66545~5n~GQQbHenNm5

If your department has not yet had a demo of the new Moodle 4 features, please do get in touch with a Digital Learning Facilitator to arrange this.