Online learning training sessions
Development sessions are being provided to support staff in their transfer to remote and online working and teaching. You can find available sessions below.
Managing Breakout Groups in Collaborate Ultra
This is an informal online session for any member of staff needing guidance and practical experience on moving students into Breakout Groups in Collaborate Ultra to promote peer-to-peer, active learning.
The 45-minute exploratory session will end with an optional Q&A.
Following a brief discussion in Breakout Groups you will be given moderator access to divide fellow participants into groups:
Moderator Skills:
- Randomly Assign participants to rooms
- Return participants to the main room
- Custom Assign Groups
- Allow participants to move into their own groups
- Send files to Breakout Groups – how to return files to the main room
This webinar is limited to 12 participants. Please bear in mind that you will be moved into different groups throughout the session on numerous occasions to ensure everyone gets the chance to moderate and manage Breakout Groups.
There will be a summary of Best Practice Tips for guidance and an optional 15-minute Q&A to support you with any further technical queries.
Click through to book on to this training.
Blackboard Webinar Training Series: Remote Instruction from Basics to Advanced
There are a series of free webinars available to help staff with the transition to remote teaching. We are currently supporting topic 3: ‘Getting started with Blackboard Collaborate’. Register to find out more.
Gradescope
Gradescope is an assessment tool that is particularly useful for assignments that require a handwritten response. This webinar will include a live demonstration of using Gradescope to manage and grade handwritten submissions for assessment, followed by an opportunity to ask questions.
On completion, participants will be able to:
- Understand the benefits of using Gradescope for handwritten responses through a live demonstration
- Add a Gradescope link within a module
- Create a Gradescope assignment
Suitability – All teaching staff – first-time users of Gradescope from set up to marking.
| Date | Time (online session) | Ticket |
| Tuesday 15 September | 1:30-2:30pm | Ticket link – Tuesday 15 September, 1:30-2:30pm |
| Tuesday 29 September | 10:00-11:00am | Ticket link – Tuesday 29 September, 10-11am |
| Wednesday 7 October | 1:30-2:30pm | Ticket link – Wednesday 7 October, 1:30 – 2:30pm |
| Tuesday 13 October | 10:00-11:00am | Ticket link – Tuesday 13 October, 10-11am |
| Thursday 22 October | 1:00-2:00pm | Ticket link – Thursday 22 October, 1-2pm |
| Tuesday 27 October | 11:00-12:00 noon | Ticket link – Tuesday 27 October, 11-12 noon |
Make Minerva Accessible with Blackboard Ally
These sessions are for any member of staff who is responsible for uploading content into Minerva.
The aim of this online workshop is to provide a brief introduction to Blackboard Ally which is a tool to improve the accessibility of digital content in Minerva. It will be available in all 20/21 modules and organisations in time for the upcoming academic year.
Ally is a tool that automatically scans the original content in Minerva and provides an Accessibility Indicator for each file. Blackboard Ally has three key features:
- It will identify content with accessibility issues
- It will show staff how to make their content more accessible and
- It will also automatically give students access to files in multiple formats, such as braille, html and mp3 audio.
Please see training dates and links to book below:
| Date | Time (online session) | Ticket |
| Wednesday 1 July | 1:30-2:45pm | Ticket link – Wednesday 1 July, 1:30-2:45pm |
| Tuesday 7 July | 12:30-1:45pm | Ticket link – Thursday 7 July, 12:30-1:45pm |
| Thursday 9 July | 2:30-3:45pm | Ticket link – Thursday 9 July, 2:30-3:45pm |
| Thursday 16 July | 2:30-3:45pm | Ticket link – Thursday 16 July, 2:30-3:45pm |
| Wednesday 29 July | 3:00-4:15pm | Ticket link – Wednesday 29 July, 3:00-4:15pm |
| Tuesday 4 August | 1:00-2:15pm | Ticket link – Tuesday 4 August, 1:00-2:15pm |
| Thursday 27 August | 3:00-4:15pm | Ticket link – Thursday 27 August, 3:00-4:15pm |
Teaching and Learning with Top Hat
In these sessions staff will learn how to:
- Collaborate and Top Hat how they differ and how to use them together
- Create folders
- Upload slides
- Create questions & discussions
- Present – using Collaborate and Top Hat for synchronous instruction
- Assign – asynchronous instruction
- Minerva – resources.
| Date | Time (online session) | Ticket |
| Thursday 23 July | 3:45-4:45pm | Ticket link – Thursday 23 July, 3:45-4:45pm |
| Tuesday 4 August | 3:15-4:15pm | Ticket link – Tuesday 4 August, 3:15-4:15pm |
| Tuesday 11 August | 3:15-4:15pm | Ticket link – Tuesday 11 August, 3:15-4:15pm |
| Wednesday 12 August | 3:15-4:15pm | Ticket link – Wednesday 12 August, 3:15-4:15pm |
| Monday 24 August | 3:45-4:45pm | Ticket link – Monday 24 August, 3:45-4:45pm |
| Wednesday 9 September | 3:15-4:15pm | Ticket link – Wednesday 9 September, 3:15-4:15pm |
| Tuesday 15 September | 3:15-4:15pm | Ticket link – Tuesday 15 September, 3:15-4:15pm |
| Thursday 24 September | 3:15-4:15pm | Ticket link – Thursday 24 September, 3:15-4:15pm |
| Monday 28 September | 3:45-4:45pm | Ticket link – Monday 28 September, 3:45-4:45pm |
| Monday 5 October | 3:15-4:15pm | Ticket link – Monday 5 October, 3:15-4:15pm |
| Friday 16 October | 3:15-4:15pm | Ticket link – Friday 16 October, 3:15-4:15pm |
| Tuesday 20 October | 3:30-4:30pm | Ticket link – Tuesday 20 October, 3:30-4:30pm |
| Thursday 29 October | 3:00-4:00pm | Ticket link – Thursday 29 October, 3:00-4:00pm |
Plan and Deliver Webinars – Collaborate Ultra
This webinar will introduce staff to Collaborate Ultra to plan and deliver webinars for:
- Synchronous (real-time) teaching sessions
- Small group seminars or tutorials
- Q&A sessions with a small group of students
- Recording presentations for students to view independently via Minerva
This will be a one hour online session to explore the functionality of Collaborate Ultra including the use of chat, audio, video, file share, polling, whiteboard tools and breakout rooms to conduct webinars. There will be a 10 minute Q&A session at the end.
| Date | Time (online session) | Ticket |
| Thursday 6 August | 3:00-4:30pm | Ticket link – Thursday 6 August, 3-4:30pm |
| Wednesday 26 August | 2:00-3:30pm | Ticket link – Wednesday 26 August, 2-3:30pm |
| Wednesday 16 September | 10:30-12 noon | Ticket link – Wednesday 16 September, 10:30-12 noon |
It is recommended that new users read through the Collaborate Ultra help guides in addition to attending this session.Blackboard is also offering a 30-minute Collaborate Ultra training session for new users, which you can book onto by visiting the Blackboard page.
Create and share digital content with Mediasite
This is a 1-hour webinar within Teams. There will be a 15-minute optional Q&A at the end.
This webinar will explore how teaching staff can record and share screencasts or presentations for learning and teaching in preparation for 2020-2021. There are pedagogical considerations when designing a hybrid curriculum and there are many benefits to creating ‘snack-size’ presentations for students to assimilate information in their own time
at their own pace.
| Date | Time (online session) | Ticket |
| Wednesday 5 August | 1:30-2:45pm | Ticket link – Wednesday 5 August, 1:30-2:45pm |
| Tuesday 15 September | 3:00-4:30pm | Ticket link – Tuesday 15 September, 3:00-4:30pm |
Online marking and feedback for written submissions in Turnitin
The drop-in sessions have been cancelled due to low demand. However, if you are interested in attending a future drop-in session please email the People Development team.