The Learning and Teaching Conference in March gave Gemma and I the chance to present a video about our current ERDP research project.
Our research focuses on engagement with online learning materials within the Faculty of Medical Sciences and NUMed. The full video can be viewed on the conference playlist.
It was nice to see some familiar faces and meet new colleagues at last week’s Learning and Teaching Conference. Members of the FMS TEL team took turns answering queries during sessions breaks. We also had the opportunity to attend the talks ourselves, and pick up some helpful tips and tricks!
At the desk we were pleased to see a number of visitors take copies of our booklet, showcasing some of the best posts from the FMS TEL blog.
If you were unable to attend the conference and you really wanted a booklet, we’ve got you covered!
This post is a review of the conference experience by FMS TEL members John Keogan and Andy Stokes.
This years conference was going to be a bit different to any conference we had ran in the past, the decision was made for the 2022 conference to be hybrid! We would run in-person presentations, online only sessions, and some sessions would be a hybrid of both. We were excited to take advantage of the video-conferencing technologies on offer within the University.
Using lessons learnt from last years online version, we set out tasks to complete and deadlines to meet.
We divided the main tasks between us and ran through the list of jobs involved in preparing for the conference. We quickly realised that there was lot more involved than we initially thought!
The main tasks included:
One aspect of the preparation was getting word out about the conference. We approached schools within the faculty and asked them to put up posters in areas with heavy footfall, as well as staffrooms. We put up posters in cafes, corridors and even lifts – please let us know if you saw them! We also requested that the campus messaging screens carried information about the conference in FMS areas.
Overall, the conference was a great success and we all enjoyed our time being part of the 2022 FMS TEL Conference team.
Being new to running a conference we developed skills and knowledge during the journey. The encouragement and support from our team helped ensure that we fulfilled our tasks and that looming deadlines were met.
We learned things that we will do different, or better, next year and we hope the tips shared in this post will be a good starting point for anyone wanting to run their own conference.
See an overview of some highlights of the conference for you, depending on your role and your interests.
Not many of you would have time to attend all 16 sessions running this year, from 7th-11th November – here are some sessions you may like to join, depending on your interests.
Spend Monday catching up on developments and reminding yourself of university systems by attending the Welcome and Keynote, and boost engagement with accessibility and Canvas overviews. Dip into Lightning Talks on Tuesday and Friday for bite-size guides to our current technology and teaching practice.
Pick up tips and tricks to speed up the management of students’ learning using technology by coming to accessibility, captioning and Canvas sessions on Monday. Join the audience for our panel discussion around placements on Wednesday, then learn some timesaving tips with an overview of Microsoft forms.
Try the Special Edition Journal Club to hear about authentic digital assessments, and join the session about how technology can support adaptive feedback on Friday.
How about trying some 3D Scanning on Monday and learning how Augmented Reality is being used in various areas of the university. Later in the week, see how the recently-implemented H5P plugin for Canvas has been used to create digital escape rooms for students.
Why not drop in to our session on using technology to support lab teaching to get some inspiration, or get practical tips on making informative and beautiful infographics in PowerPoint, and spruce up your Canvas pages with some HTML.
The FMS Technology Enhanced Learning Conference 2022 will run in the week beginning 7th November. We would like to invite all members of staff – Professional Services, Clinical, Teaching and Research – in FMS and NUMed to showcase their work in teaching and learning, whether this is in the classroom, online, or managing things behind the scenes.
Conference themes include:
Submissions close at the beginning of October. Please check out the Conference Page for full details.
In addition to the FMS TEL Team, confirmed speakers and events include…
We are delighted to announce that the FMS TEL Conference will run again this year in the week beginning 7th November 2022!
The conference team are in the process of putting together an exciting programme with something for everyone, whatever your role in FMS or NUMed. Colleagues in FMS and NUMed will receive further information by email in due course, and all colleagues are welcome to attend.
We look forward to seeing you there!
The team shares success at the Learning and Teaching Conference – find out more about how DIY and bespoke animations can help boost learning in your course.
Several members of the FMS TEL team attended the NU Teaching & Learning Conference on Thursday 31st March giving strong representation of the team.
It was a great day with some very insightful presentations on a broad range of topics and a very interesting keynote from Professor Paul Ashwin. It was also the first time in years that the conference has been able to be run ‘in person’ and with around 300 attendees it felt like a slight return to normality.
Members of the FMS TEL team had both ‘posters’ and ‘video presentations’ entered into the competitions. Attendees were sent a link to view them and were able to vote for their favourites both in the week leading up to the conference and also on the day itself.
Ashley Reynolds and Eleanor Gordon from the FMS TEL team were delighted to be announced winners of the ‘Best Video Award’ for their video presentation titled ‘Creating and using animations to explain concepts’ which highlighted how animations could be used to enhance teaching, and techniques that will both improve memory retention and also increase learner engagement. The video presentation entry can be seen below.
If you would like to know more about animations and the services that the team can offer, please get in touch.
We would like to say ‘Thank you very much’ to the LTDS team for organising a great conference. Can’t wait for next year!
Looking forward to seeing you all at the Learning and Teaching Conference!
FMS TEL are well-represented at the University Learning and Teaching Conference 2022. We look forward to seeing you at the conference, and hearing what you think of our sessions, videos and posters! All of our posts about this conference can be seen under the tag NULTConf2022.
To book your place at the conference, or find out more, please visit the Learning and Teaching Conference homepage.
A showcase of some of our work from 2021 and our submissions to the Learning and Teaching Conference 2022.
The FMS TEL team have collaborated on a wide range of projects throughout 2021, some of which we have submitted to the internal Learning and Teaching Conference 2022.
Staff from the School of Dental Sciences and FMS-TEL have collaborated throughout the pandemic to ensure summative assessments continue in a robust fashion to satisfy regulatory requirements. This required a flexible approach to online assessment which continues to be important as the uncertainty continues. This presentation details the challenges we have faced and solutions we have utilised, offering practical advice for those who may wish to run online exams in the future on any platform.
Sarah Rolland and Luisa Wakeling, School of Dental Sciences
Role-play and peer observation are widely used as educational methods for teaching communication skills in healthcare education, which has become a greater challenge to implement during the pandemic. In the context of dietetics and nutrition, our students developed communication skills using innovative audio resources. This video will discuss student voice survey findings regarding engagement and quality perceptions of the resources, and advise those wishing to create similar tasks, including task setup and technical support.
Susan Lennie, Biomedical, Nutritional and Sport Sciences
This workshop sets out the aims of incorporating reflective practice with scaffolded approaches in your teaching contexts and invites you to explore their potential value in your programmes or modules. Structured reflective templates are one of the key developments of the new NU Reflect system, which are currently being piloted. This session will also offer case studies to demonstrate how colleagues have implemented reflective templates to support the student reflective process within their contexts.
Patrick Rosenkranz, Simon Cotterill, Sam Flowers, David Gillies, David Teasdale
A brief look at the FMS bespoke VLE Ngage, and its special features which were designed for our distance learning programmes. This session will cover how we migrated our content into Canvas without losing functionality and the challenges we encountered. We will also discuss how the content has evolved during the pandemic and the changes made to enhance the student experience.
Emily Smith, FMS TEL
This video demonstrates a how animations can be used to demonstrate concepts in teaching. It showcases advanced animations that are used to show complex concepts and allow for dynamic and interactive content to be shared on screen. Should you not have access to high-end software, the video also shows what can be achieved using PowerPoint animations and shows some tools that can be used to develop understanding beyond static diagrams or simple videos.
Ashley Reynolds, FMS TEL
This workshop provides colleagues with practical tips on how to design teaching that can be converted between online and offline, and synchronous and asynchronous delivery styles with minimal effort. Participants will think through resource design using examples, and apply this knowledge to their own resources brought to the session. Participants will take away technological shortcuts that reduce the burden when changing delivery styles, as well as an understanding of how to design inherently flexible resources.
Eleanor Gordon, FMS TEL
This talk covers the development of a MOOC which develops students’ skills in 3D Spatial Awareness in the context of the study of anatomy. This collaboration between Newcastle University and the University of Cape Town focuses on specific art-based and technology enhanced learning exercises to develop skills that will enhance students’ capabilities in clinical observation, diagnosis, and surgical training. Prior research and development of specific observation methodologies, their deployment in an online environment, and students’ learning outcomes will be shared.
Iain Keenan, School of Medical Education
This presentation shares practice from rapid changes made to ‘flip’ learning and teaching in MB BS, in response to the pandemic. This is in the context of a new Clinical Decision Making course, originally designed to use online cases to supplement primarily face-to-face learning and teaching in both UK and NuMed. The pandemic gave need to rapidly shift to predominantly online delivery with more asynchronous delivery. We will demonstrate adaptions made and discuss lessons learned.
John Moss, David Kennedy, Dan Plummer
A study across campuses of Newcastle University into perceptions of TEL use found that staff in the NUMed and Singapore campuses felt they lagged behind in training for using TEL. The FMSTEL team responded with an online conference, collaborating with NUMed, at a time accessible to all. Various topics included specific technologies and embedding online transnational cross-campus teaching in the curriculum. Successful, it may become an annual event.
Alison Clapp, David Kennedy, Ruth Valentine, John Moss and Bhavani Veasuvalingam, FMS and NUMed
What is Canvas Commons, how does it work, and why is it useful for disseminating online learning material? I will present examples of tutorials I have shared and induction material. By using Commons we can promote our material and the University to the wider Canvas Community. This will address the theme of Changing Practice through the Pandemic by focusing on the use of Canvas to provide excellent learning opportunities.
Michelle Miller, FMS TEL
The FMS TEL Conference ran at the beginning of this month. Fifteen events ran in the week beginning 6th September 2021, with diverse themes covering technology in teaching, technical guides and inspiration, and how we interact with technology as people.
Sessions were attended by staff from Newcastle and from NUMed, with over 150 session bookings across the conference. Feedback from attendees has been positive, and colleagues shared their plans for implementing their learning from the conference.
Many thanks to the session hosts, everyone working behind the scenes, and to the attendees for joining us.
Session resources can be found on our Canvas and MLE communities.
