College of Science Teaching & Learning Newsletter No. 5

Welcome to the fifth Teaching & Learning newsletter for the College of Science.

There is now an Educational Technologies section on the College of Science website. This houses Brightspace how-to guides, video guides and a Resources section, which links out to pertinent articles and information across university websites and beyond.

Digital Teaching Workshop Series

An online workshop series will run over the Autumn trimester based around digital teaching. It is aimed at those who wish to become more familiar with Brightspace, or with integrating digital technology into their teaching, both online and in the lecture theatre.

There are five workshops in the series, and they will run weekly from 1-2PM on Wednesdays. The dates and workshop names are listed below:

1. Wednesday 4^th Sept: Introduction to Brightspace
2. Wednesday 11^th Sept: Creating Accessible Content
3. Wednesday 18^th Sept: Assessment on Brightspace
4. Wednesday 25^th Sept: Using Video Content – YuJa
5. Wednesday 2^nd Oct: Including Interactivity in your Lecture

You can attend some or all of the series; (opens in a new window)please indicate which workshops you would like to attend at this link. Links to attend each workshop will be shared in advance.

VLE Standards Policy

Are you familiar with the VLE Standards Policy? The recommended scaffolding is now being applied to all new Brightspace modules: new modules will be pre-populated with the recommended unit headings. These unit names are editable, and this does not impact importing/copying of content from other modules. (opens in a new window)This page provides guidance on how to incorporate these VLE Standards units with your module content. If you would like assistance with this process, please contact (opens in a new window)aoife.reilly1@ucd.ie. 

Brightspace New Content Experience

The New Content Experience (NCE) is now available on Brightspace and Module Coordinators can choose to enable it for the 24/25 academic year. It offers a better user experience for both students and instructors, including the display of assessment information when used in the My Learning section. The (opens in a new window)IT Knowledge Base has a number of articles on using the NCE, and you can also (opens in a new window)book 1:1 online support appointments with a member of IT services. In addition, you can contact (opens in a new window)aoife.reilly1@ucd.ie if you have any queries.

Update/create your module content on Brightspace

As the new trimester approaches, and you review your module content, or are creating new content and lecture notes, there are a lot of factors to consider. This document provides tips and links to additional resources that might assist with this process.

TEL All Webinars

The TEL All webinars are delivered by Educational Technologists and offer practical and hands-on advice. The final webinar for this year will be on October 22nd, called ‘peerScholar in Brightspace – an overview.’

You can book this webinar at this link.

You can also view the recordings of the other webinars already run this year here.

One-to-One Brightspace Support Meetings

If you do not have previous experience of Brightspace (or if you would like to learn more about its capabilities), one-to-one consultations with the Educational Technologist, Aoife Reilly, are available to help you develop your teaching materials for the online space. They can look specifically at any modules you are or are due to teach on, and how Brightspace can be leveraged to assist you in your teaching. 
This can include a general introduction to Brightspace and the other educational technologies available, or you can also bring any specific queries or issues you might have.

If you are interested in this, please contact (opens in a new window)aoife.reilly1@ucd.ie to set up a meeting.

If you would like to add or suggest any content for future newsletters, please contact aoife.reilly1@ucd.ie