Category Archives: Events

Upcoming Training Sessions: May 2025

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I will be offering the following lunch-time training sessions to staff in the Faculty of Health and Medicine (FHM) but staff from across the University are very welcome to join:

Tuesday 20th May, 12-12:30pm: Preparing your Moodle space for a new cohort

This short lunchtime session will look at the key things that staff should include in their Moodle spaces. It will also showcase the one section per page layout and other features of Moodle that can improve the student experience and staff monitoring of engagement. The information shared in this session is based on student feedback on Moodle as well as staff feedback.

This session is most relevant to academic staff and professional service staff involved in creating resources for Moodle spaces and managing Moodle spaces.

Book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4376280

Thursday 22nd May, 12-12:30pm: Video production using Panopto

This short lunchtime session will look at how to access video recordings as well as how to record, edit and caption your videos.

This session is most relevant to academic staff who teach and professional service staff who need to create training materials. 

Book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4376282

All sessions will be recorded and a copy of the recording will be sent to attendees.

Lent Term 2025: Training Offering

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We will be offering the following lunch-time training sessions to staff in the Faculty of Health and Medicine (FHM) but staff from across the University are very welcome to join:

Wednesday 5th March (12-12:30): Making Resources Digitally Accessible in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint

In this session, we will look at how to use the accessibility checks in Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. We will look at some of the common problems with document accessibility and also look at how to use ALLY in Moodle to view and improve the accessibility score of documents. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop. Follow-up appointment details will be shared in the session to book a 1:1 support meeting to put what you have learned into practice if required.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347623 

Wednesday 12th March (12-12:30): Quizzes in Moodle

An introduction on how to set up a quiz in Moodle either for formative or summative assessment. We will look at a some example question types and also show an example of an online exam. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347630

Wednesday 19th March (12-12:30): Assessment Feedback in Moodle

This session will showcase three different ways to mark and provide feedback on assessments in Moodle. The session will cover how to set up 3 different types of feedback in Moodle: feedback criteria, rubrics and marking guides. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop. Follow-up appointments are available should you wish to discuss a particular assessment.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347643

Wednesday 26th March (12-12:30): Video Production in eStream

We will look at how to record a video (including screen capture) and then how to automatically caption the video using eStream, sometimes referred to as ‘Planet eStream’.

This session is useful if you wish to record welcome videos, lectures or show students how to record videos of their own for assignment submissions. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347647

Wednesday 2nd April (12-12:30): Groups, Groupings and Group Choice in Moodle

We will look at how to set up a group and groupings of students in Moodle as well as how to set up an activity where students can make a choice about which group they want to be in. This is useful for setting up Learning Sets, group work tasks and more! Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347650

Meetings will take place online and attendees will receive a recording.

We hope to see you all there!

Training Offering – Winter 2024

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We are currently offering the following lunch-time training sessions to staff in the Faculty of Health and Medicine (FHM) but staff from across the University are very welcome to join:

Monday 25th November (12-12:30): Moodle H5P Activities: A Showcase

H5P activities are interactive and often gamified content on Moodle such as interactive videos, flashcards, image hotspots, Cornell notes, crosswords and more! In this session you can preview a selection of the activities and learn how to set one up in Moodle. Including H5P content in your Moodle spaces will help engage your students and many of the activities are great for revision.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4293160

Thursday 5th December (12-12:30): A new Moodle layout: images, summaries and more!

Learn how to create a more engaging looking Moodle space by using the “one section per page” layout and adding images and summaries to each of the sections. You will also learn about student feedback on Moodle layouts and templates and what students like to see in a Moodle space.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4293167

Monday 9th December (12-12:30): Making documents accessible

In this short session, we will look at how to use the accessibility features in Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. We will also look at how to make .pdf documents accessible using Adobe Acrobat Pro. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop. Follow-up appointment details will be shared in the session to book a 1:1 support meeting to put what you have learned into practice if required.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4293168

Monday 16th December (12-12:30): Resource Lists in Moodle

In this short session you will look at how resource lists in Moodle work and how to edit/manage them. You will also learn about how to add shorter weekly or topic based reading/resource lists to your Moodle spaces.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4293173

Meetings will take place online and attendees will receive a recording. We hope to see you all there!

Upcoming Training: Exams Moodle

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Here at Lancaster, we use Moodle as our virtual learning environment (VLE) and have several customised instances of Moodle where we can host different types of material. One of those is ‘Exams Moodle’ and…it does “exactly what it says on the tin”… hosts exams.

Soon, exam season will be upon us and the exam timetable has gone live today!

For those of you looking at setting up exams for the upcoming season we have some hybrid training available to help you get started.

The training covers:

  1. How exams spaces are created
  2. How staff and students are enrolled
  3. How ILSP adjustments are added
  4. How exam access is restricted to appropriate times and individuals
  5. How grading and feedback works

The sessions are suitable for professional services staff members and anyone else responsible for configuring online exams at Lancaster.

There are two sessions available (both exactly the same!) and you can sign up via the Libcal links below:

  1. Tuesday 5th March, Management School LT10, 2-3pm (hybrid)
  2. Thursday 14th March, Engineering Building Entrance, 10-11am (hybrid)

We hope to see you there but if you have any questions in the meantime, please get in touch with one of the Digital Learning Team. There’s also written guidance available on Embrace Digital – Guidance for setting up open book exams in Moodle.

Digital Training Courses Available!

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The Digital Learning Team have a whole host of training courses available this term. These are mainly aimed at academic and professional services staff to help you make the most of our suite of digital learning tools and services. 

Below you can find the dates and sign up links to the training sessions we are offering in January.

Tuesday 16th January 2024

[Hybrid] Moodle Part 1 – Introduction for Staff – Events – Lancaster University (libcal.com)

A 30-minute introductory session looking at Moodle, which is Lancaster University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). This session covers what Moodle is, what it does, and how staff can access and interact with it. This session is a hybrid one and staff are welcome to join online or in-person in Library Training Room 1

Friday 19th January 2024

[Hybrid] Moodle Part 2 – Features for Course Administrators – Events – Lancaster University (libcal.com)

This 60-minute session looks at the management of Moodle spaces and will detail Moodle’s links with LUSI, the student records system, as well as how to manage materials and participants (staff and students). This session is a hybrid one and staff are welcome to join online or in-person in Library Training Room 1

Monday 22nd January 2024

[In Person] Panopto Part 1 – Introduction to Lecture Capture – Events – Lancaster University (libcal.com)

Panopto is our Lecture Capture system and is primarily used to record in-person lectures in rooms on campus, but can also be used for recording lecture materials from your home or office. Lancaster operates an “opt-in” lecture capture system – nobody is recorded by default but you have the opportunity to opt-in to recordings should you wish to. Nowadays, the majority of modules are recorded and published to Moodle to aid students in their learning, revision and access to learning.

This session will give an overview of the Panopto system, and explain how it’s set up in rooms on campus and how you can be recorded automatically, make basic edits to your recordings and publish them to students.

This is an in-person session and will take place in LUMS Lecture Theatre 19

Wednesday 31st January 2024

[In Person] Moodle Part 3 – Moodle Feature Showcase – Events – Lancaster University (libcal.com)

This 60 minute session will cover some of the activities and features in Moodle that lecturers can use to increase student engagement and the learning experience as a whole. Activities that we will cover include Moodle Board, Collaboration Map, Student Quiz and more!

This is an in-person session and will take place in Library Training Room 1

 

More training sessions will be taking place during the Lent term. You can find a whole list of the events we are running via Libcal.

AI tools: A Christmassy Showcase

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The 12 Days of AI is  a self-directed online course run by the University of the Arts London. Participants can learn about a new AI tool each day. I’ve signed up via Eventbrite and places are still available if you want to join  up. It is free!

Each day, participants receive an email that directs them to a ‘daily task’. You are then introduced to an AI tool and given a quick run down on how it works. You can then follow the instructions to familiarise yourself with the tool. There are other resources shared on the website too including articles, demos and more!

So far this course has introduced the following tools:

  1. Hour One – a tool to create videos. An example of this tool is showcased on the ‘What is 12 Days of AI?’ webpage.
  2. Chat GPT – the one we have probably all heard of! Participants are given some tasks to prompt this tool to generate information and there is some guidance on ‘Prompt Engineering’.
  3. Claude.Ai – a tool that can summarise text. You can create an account and test out this tool on an article or some text that you have permission to upload.

I’ll be working my way through these tools and hopefully some of you will be able to join in too!

DLT Sharing Practice Event #4

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Come and join the Digital Learning Team and colleagues for our 4th Sharing Practice Event!

The theme for this event is “Collaboration”. We will hear from colleagues on how to facilitate effective groupwork and collaboration amongst students.

The event will be held on Wednesday 13th December 2023 from 2-5pm in Management School LT16 (The Robinson Lecture Theatre). You can drop in and out of the event and attend the sessions you are interested in. Refreshments and cake will be provided!

The current outline of the event is as follows:

2:00 – 2:10 – Intro from the Digital Learning team, Liz Walkden

2:10 – 2:40 – Using learning sets with students and the role of digital learning, Sandra Varey.

2:45 – 3:15 – Collaboration at a distance: asynchronous and synchronous approaches to working with research students at a distance, Steve Wright

3:15 – 3:30 – Break + Refreshments.

3:30 – 4:00 – Accessibility considerations for collaborative and group work, Alison Sharman

4:05 – 4:35 – Using peer evaluation to assess group dynamics on the MBA course, Phil Devine & Stephen Owens

4:40 – 5:00 – Collaboration suite tour, Stephen Owens

You can read more about what each session is about and sign up here.

We look forward to seeing you all!

Training Sessions Available!

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In addition to my last post about training sessions in September, we are now offering more sessions on Panopto Lecture Capture, Moodle quizzes and assessment.

The dates, times, topics and sign-up links for our upcoming training sessions can be found below. Some of the events can be attended online or in-person as indicated.

  1. Introduction to Moodle for Staff (hybrid), Tuesday 19th September at 2pm, https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4076794
  2. Introduction to Panopto Lecture Capture (hybrid), Thursday 21st September at 2pm, https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4076796
  3. Moodle for Course Administrators (hybrid), Thursday 28th September at 2pm, https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4076797
  4. Assignments Part 1 – Moodle Assignments (in-person), Tuesday 24th October at 2pm, https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4076798
  5. Quizzes Part 1 – Questions and Question Bank (in-person), Thursday 2nd November at 2pm, https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4076800
  6. Assignments Part 2 – Peer Moderation and Assessment (in-person), Friday 3rd November at 10am, https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4076799
  7. Quizzes Part 2 – Quizzes and Quiz Management (in-person), Monday 6th November at 10am, https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4076801
  8. Quizzes Part 3 – Quiz Grading and Reports (in-person), Thursday 9th November at 2pm, https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4076802

Book a space as soon as you can to avoid disappointment. Please spread the word on these events to other departments and colleagues!

Moodle Training Courses Available in September!

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Time is flying by and the start of the new academic year is nearly upon us (eek!). Many of you are starting to look at your online teaching and learning provision and especially, your Moodle spaces. The DLT team are hosting a series of training workshops to help Lancaster University staff make the most of our virtual learning environment (VLE). The first two training sessions will happen in September. These are hybrid sessions that are free for staff to attend. The in-person sessions will be held in Library Training Room 1 and links will be shared with all registered attendees to join via Microsoft Teams.

The links below show the topics we will be covering in each of the sessions and will take you to the sign up page to register for your place.

  1. Introduction to Moodle – a 30-minute introductory session looking at Moodle, which is Lancaster University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). This session covers what Moodle is, what it does, and how staff can access and interact with it.
  2. Course administration in Moodle – this 60-minute session looks at the management of Moodle spaces and will detail Moodle’s links with LUSI, the student records system, as well as how to manage materials and participants (staff and students).

Further sessions will be held in October and November on assignments and quizzes. These will be in-person workshops where you will get a chance to work with the DLT team on setting up assessments, online marking and more! Keep an eye out for future posts on these sessions.

All the sessions that we offer are not just for new staff at the University. They are also suitable for staff who have used the VLE before but want to build their confidence and explore more of what Moodle can do!

We look forward to welcoming you at the sessions as well as the Moodle drop-ins we are currently running throughout the rest of August and September. You can see all of the sessions the DLT team are running via the Events page on the Staff Intranet.

If you have any specific questions about your Moodle spaces or online teaching and learning, don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of the Digital Learning Facilitators.

Need some help or advice on Moodle? Drop-In Sessions Available!

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Following the Moodle 4 upgrade on 24th July, the team are holding regular drop-in sessions throughout August and September. We will be available should you have any questions or concerns. We can also discuss any ideas that you have for developing your Moodle spaces.

The sessions will be held online via Microsoft Teams and you will be sent a link after you register for a place. You can view the available dates and book your place on a session via the Events page on the Staff Portal.