Wednesday 19 July 2016
Making your course available to students
Remember to make your course available to students as soon as it is ready. This is the responsibility of the course coordinator and can be done by following the steps below.
Control Panel > Customisation > Properties > Set Availability and select the Yes radio button. Refer to the Course availability guide for step-by-step instructions.
Not finished setting up your course? Just hide the menu links and create an announcement to welcome your students.
You can still request your Semester 2 course
Order your Semester 2 course now! Complete the Course Request online form located under the Staff tab in Blackboard. Visit the Course Request page for further information.
Course site design tips
Tip 1: Welcome message
Your first announcement should welcome and orientate students to your course. Refer to the Announcements and Kaltura guides for step-by-step instructions.
Tip 2: Menu design
In a number of surveys UQ students have requested a more consistent navigation scheme across courses. To achieve this please consider the following recommendations:
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Use the default content areas of Learning Resources and Assessment.
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Use the UQ colour scheme or ensure your colour scheme meets accessibility guidelines. For more information refer to the accessibility guidelines webpage.
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Keep the number of menu items to a minimum.
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Use a divider line and subheading to break the menu content into sections.
For more information refer to the Course menu webpage.
Tip 3: Weekly folders/ learning modules
Organise your content from the students' point of view i.e. By week (or by topic). For more information refer to the Content area webpage.
Tip 4: Assessment folders
Create a folder for each assessment with the same name as that used in the ECP. Include all resources needed for the assignment and an online submission link. Refer to the Turnitin and Blackboard assignments guides for step-by-step instructions.
Tip 5: Label all resources
Label all resources with a description of its contents and purpose. For more information refer to the Content area webpage.
Course design guides
The Course Design guides give staff tips on how to effectively design a course to improve student learning.
- 7 elements of an effective course
- Designing course sites
- Developing web content for learning
- Chunking
- Making your resources work online
- Online assignment submission
- Icebreakers
Getting started with Learn.UQ
The Getting started with Learn.UQ guide gives new staff information about ordering a course, adding content to their course, UQ eLearning tools and help available. It is also recommended that new staff attend the Learn.UQ Basics workshop.
Office Mix guides available
Office Mix is eLearning authoring software that allows staff to produce mini online lectures that include narration, webcam video, media, screen recordings and formative quizzes. For step-by-step guides on using Office Mix refer to the Desktop Recording guide.
Lecture recordings
All centrally controlled teaching spaces with 20 seats or more are equipped with lecture recording (Echo360). Lectures in equipped venues are automatically recorded, processed and linked to the associated Learn.UQ course.
The lecture recording policy and procedure requires course coordinators to make full lecture recordings available to students within about 48 hours of the lecture, and keep them available for the duration of the semester and exam period. For further information refer to the lecture recording and theatre operation guides.
View the Questions about: Lecture recordings paper for an overview of research regarding the use of lecture recordings.
Using AV equipment in lecture theatres
The AV team are delivering short courses on how to use AV equipment in lecture theatres this week at all campuses. Participants will learn how to change the projector input between the desktop machine, a laptop and the document camera as well as how to use dual projection. To register visit the Staff Development website.
Digital recording studio
A new self-serve digital recording studio is now available in Duhig Tower Building (#2), room D402. The studio includes a suite of lecture recording equipment and applications including: Echo360 PCAP, iSpring and Kaltura. You can use the studio to pre-record lectures, presentations, tutorials and demonstrations for your classes.
For information on how to use the room and make a booking refer to the Digital recording studio webpage. You may also nominate for the eLearning Solutions Service to receive personal instruction on how to use the digital recording studio.
eLearning Solutions Service
The eLearning Solutions Service is available to all UQ teaching staff that would like to receive a series of one-to-one consultations and assistance for the integration of eLearning into their courses. At the start of each semester, UQ staff can make a nomination to utilise this service for implementing one of the centrally supported eLearning tools for the duration of that semester. To make a nomination please follow the steps as outlined on the eLearning Solutions Service website.
As part of the eLearning Solutions Service, you can:
- receive one-on-one consultations tailoring eLearning solutions for your course
- get ideas on how to deliver your course more effectively with technology
- save time, improve student engagement and give better feedback to your students