Busy times!
As was no doubt the case for many XJTLU colleagues, the first few weeks of the new semester have proved very busy for the Educational Technologies Team. For example, we recently launched a major new version of ICE which brings with it many important new features and refinements, particularly in the areas of assignment grading and search (see the article below for further details of these and a range of other new features). To assist staff with learning about and making the most of ICE's new capabilities, we also successfully launched an online training module which allows staff to receive recognition upon completion of the module. On top of this, a lot of our time has been spent preparing for the launch of XJTLU's brand new Digital Learning Resources Hub - the first facility of its kind within the University designed to support staff wishing to create high quality video and audio-based content. You can also read more about this below, with further communications concerning the Hub's launch following shortly. Finally, we also welcomed a new member to the team, Zhirui Xu, who takes on the role of E-learning Officer with responsibility for supporting operations within the Digital Learning Resources Hub.
From the entire Educational Technologies Team - good luck with your teaching and research activities over the coming months!
Contact us:
As always, the Educational Technologies Team would be very happy to hear from you, and if you have any feedback, comments or suggestions concerning this page (or any other educational technology-related topic), please don't hesitate to get in touch with any member of the team via:
Roland Sherwood - Educational Technologist: roland.sherwood@xjtlu.edu.cn
Na Li - Educational Technologist: na.li@xjtlu.edu.cn
Yezi Yang - E-learning Officer: yezi.yang@xjtlu.edu.cn
Grzegorz Rogala - Instructional Designer (IBSS & AEC): grzegorz.rogala@xjtlu.edu.cn
Zhirui Xu - E-learning Officer: zhirui.xu@xjtlu.edu.cn
Digital Learning Resources Hub
In the digital learning resources hub, teachers are able to record teaching resources.
With the help of the touchable integrated PC, teachers can be more interactive with various kinds of resources, such as hand writing notes, dragging and zooming graphic resources.
In addition, the hub supports audio/video recordings of group discussions.
AEC also support the editing of the multimedia resources. Zhirui Xu (Nathan) is a new E-learning Officer, who is responsible for supporting recording and multimedia resource editing.
XJTLU Online Training: Developing Your ICE Module Area
XJTLU Online Training: Developing Your ICE Module Area is available now for all academic staff – this self-paced and skills-based module focusing on the development of a range of skills related to using ICE to support your students’ learning, both in and out of the classroom. The module comprises 16 short tutorials covering basic through to more advanced topics, with each tutorial featuring detailed explanations, step-by-step instructional videos, quizzes, discussion forums, ideas for teaching, as well as other interactive content.
Welcome Zhirui Xu - the e-learning officer for the Hub
My name is Zhirui. I have 8 years working experience at SIAS international university. I acted as 4 different roles including the Recording and Editing course tutor, Academic Secretary who was also responsible for the Digital Recording studio assistant, Administrative Secretary and Student Affairs Officer. Apart from this, I also worked with four Leading Chinese educational publishers to produce listening materials for English textbooks. I have an interest in Photography.
I’m recently joining AEC as the E-learning Officer. I’m looking forward to providing good services to all the academic staff who come to create audio and video resources via this newly established hub, and developing new technology for VLE with our team.
New Features of ICE 2016/17
ICE is upgraded for the new semester and there are plenty of useful new features for teachers. Please click here to see all the new features in ICE.
Assignment online grading:
First, the submissions can be annotated with colorful highlights, inline text comments, drawing and pre-defined stamps. The feature supports a wide range of file formats, such as document files, Spread sheets, slides and images.
Second, the interface of the online grading is improved. The grading and commenting area are now on the right hand side of the submission, which is more convenient for marking.
Global search
Global search is a more powerful search function that searches keywords not only in module names, but also in the activity names and contents.
Activity/resource notifications
ICE has developed a new feature that teacher can choose to send a notification about an activity or resource. The notification will be sent out through emails automatically to remind students about the new content in the ICE module page.
Private messages
Users can now contact each other privately through messages on ICE, by clicking the message icon in “People” block. The receiver will get a pop up notification at the bottom right of ICE. And all the message histories are stored in ICE.
ICE app
The ICE app allows students to view module resources, receive forum notifications and private messages, upload submissions, join in discussion forums and other online activities efficiently without logging to ICE webpage.
Heat map analysis
The heat map block analysis the traffic in your module area and display the popularity in colours (how many times and how many users) that the activities and resources has been visited.
Attendance record activity
Teachers are now able to record student attendance in “attendance” activities on ICE. It also allows to set up regular class repeatedly and export the records as spread sheets.
Badges
Teachers can now motivate students to join in online activities by providing badges. Students can automatically award badges when meeting certain conditions defined by teachers. Please click here for how to set up a badge.