Research Methods - Tulip subsite

I've been working with Allegra Cattani and a research student called Halina Kalaga in producing a Research Methods site. The aim is to have a central resource for students to get advice upon research and to be able to discuss and give feedback about the resource to Halina or Allegra.

Snapshot:



The resource can be found:
http://mysite.plymouth.ac.uk/personal/acattani/RMY2/
http://mysite.plymouth.ac.uk/personal/acattani/RMY3/

Tandem Exchange Online is a language exchange scheme developed by Jackie and Flea Palmer which allows two students with different native languages to communicate together as a pair.

Collaborative Working Spaces - Engineering Using SharePoint

The working spaces were created by Rebecca Vickerstaff (formerly Allen) Faculty of Technology Learning Technologist. The brief was to see what could be done to support final year engineering students in working collaboratively on project work. To support this and keep it within the supported University system 9 sub sites were set up in SharePoint.



How this was done:
Nine sub sites were set up, nine groups were then created to give the student group contribute access to the area.

Each site had a discussion board, document uploading area, picture library, task list, calendar, links and announcement area. To assist the students in using an unfamiliar system some help resources and embedded them into the site for them.



To finish the project, links to the areas were included from their portal home page using the summary links web part. An announcement giving the students instructions was also included.

PRDT303 Portal Home Page (UoP Login Only)

CD for Direct Entrants - Computing

This CD was created by Rebecca Vickerstaff (formerly Allen) Faculty of Technology Learning Technologist as a resource for direct entrants to stage 3 to help them with their final stage projects. It contains a number of files that support the direct entrant students in their final project and auto runs.

The CD was created using Dreamweaver 8 and Fireworks.

Public Engagement Coastal Engineering Website

This website was created by Rebecca Vickerstaff (formerly Allen) Faculty of Technology Learning Technologist to target A Level students and to highlight the work within Coastal Engineering and to gain future students and research interest. The site itself was created in Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Dreamweaver and benefits from the use of templates, library items and breadcrumbs to make navigation easier. The site has now been handed over to the relevant academics who will be populating it fully in due course.

Public Engagement Coastal Engineering Website

IT Induction online session

SSB Specialist IT Team (Pauline Framingham, Liz Thomson, Faculty Learning Technologists Rob Giles and Jackie Palmer) produced this online IT induction session to introduce new students to the University of Plymouth's computing system. It is available as an online resource on the web at www.ssb.plymouth.ac.uk/itinduction
It includes an introduction to the University of Plymouth desktop, software and student portal including demonstrations.

Mentorship update 2008

Produced by Stephen Hodge & Samantha Barrington (HSW web developer)

Whilst HSW students are on placement they work alongside Mentors approved by the Strategic Health Authority to make sure the students aren't doing anything outrageously wrong etc. The idea behind the Mentorship Update is an annual update for Mentors in the field to ensure they are kept update with what the students are being taught and likewise.

This project is sent out to mentors as an Interactive CD however hopefully this will be the last year of it in a CD format. Since it should really be in an online format... I've written enough I'll let the pictures and the resource do the talking:







Online resource, UOP Login needed.

This has been my first project as a LT so would appreciate any feedback.

Victorian and Modernist Studies E-Resource

Online Resource for Victorian and Modernist Studies.
Created by Becky Freeman - Faculty of Arts

A resources site created within the English Community site pages, available to all students in the School of Humanities. The site consists of categories within the areas of Victorian and modernism resources, and links to e-resources both within the UOP and on websites and databases.
View the resource

The Plymouth Student Scientist e-journal

Dr Karen Gresty, Dr Ken Kingston, Dr Tim Auburn, Andrew Edwards

This project established an online journal to showcase high class undergraduate research work from the Faculty of Science. As well as providing a platform for publishing and disseminating student research, the journal also aims to offer resources to both students and staff that can utilize content to enhance the pedagogic use of research in teaching and learning.
The journal was created using Open Journal Systems, open source software made freely available to journals worldwide for the purpose of making open access publishing a viable option.
Current features of the journal include:
High quality assessed final year student research projects and literature reviews
Special interest articles maximising the flexibility offered by an electronic journal, such as poster presentations
Links to useful student resources to enhance the learning experience
An online feedback facility to inform evaluation of the journal as a teaching and learning resource
Click here to access The Plymouth Student Scientist website

Collision Simulation Project

By Rob Giles for Maggie Hemsworth & Penny Howard Law & Social Science Litigation Module

This project was designed to help students understand the nature of evidence simulation as used in real life scenarios. I decided that an animated 3D representation of the various witness descriptions of the described event would be the most appropriate way to illustrate the process and how I would have depicted the reconstruction for a real life situation. The application was built using Macromedia Flash but the animation was produced using 3D construction software. The resulting application can illustrate and tie together various witness descriptions of the events and help a jury visualise the events effectively. I can also assist the module by being called in as an expert witness for the student's cross-examination.

http://study.plymouth.ac.uk/Module/LAWP5000%20AYAU%2008/LectureNotesAndPresentations/Civil%20Litigation/Collision%20Simulation.aspx

Making Multi-national Connections; Students debate across Europe's national borders

Dr Mark Wise Liz Thomson + SSB Specialist IT Team (Pauline Framingham, Liz Thomson, Faculty Learning Technologists Rob Giles and Jackie Palmer.)

This project uses the internet and computerised translation tools to extend classroom debates beyond students confined to the Plymouth campus out to others across Europe. The pilot debate about the nature of a `European Identity’ involves 100 students from different countries including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic.

Website including translation tools http://facultyj.hs.plym.ac.uk/eu

Glacial Disposition Animation

By Rob Giles for Dave Croot Social Science & Business

This project was designed to help students understand the nature of glacial disposition under a variety of climatic conditions. I decided that an animated 2D representation of the various processes would be the most appropriate way to illustrate the process. The application was built using Macromedia Flash and is just one example of how animation can simply illustrate an otherwise complicated process effectively.

This project was created under the title of 'Glacial Disposition' which was intended to be a subsection of the Glacial Environments module which we hope to expand to include other animated facets examples and learning facilities within the overall digital environment and is a good example of what applications I think will be necessary to aid blended and flexible learning.

http://study.plymouth.ac.uk/Module/GGP2114%20AYAU%2007/Glacial%20Environments/Glacial%20Environments.aspx

Allocating Projects in the School of Biology - Speed Dating!

Dr Stephen Thompson, Dr Paul Ramsay, Phil Tubman

An electronic questionnaire surveys the specialisms of the staff in the School of Biology.

This is then completed by all students and the results are compared using multivariate analysis to 'match' the interests of staff and students.

Students are given a list of their top 5 'matches', and the student is invited to contact staff with similar interests to discuss ideas for final year projects. The process of handing in a signed Project Choices form to the school office remains unchanged, but the process of finding a tutor with similar interests is made easier.

This system was brought in to replace the manual process of previous years, which discriminated against University of Plymouth Colleges students and certain members of staff, who would become 'over-subscribed' very quickly.

Enhancing fieldwork using mobile devices - In development (07/08)

Dr John Rieuwerts, Dr Malcolm Nimmo, Phil Tubman

A new stage 2 residential field course for the BSc Environmental Science programme is currently being designed and planned which will be based in West Cornwall. This residential field trip is being offered as an alternative to current destinations (China, Malaysia and Malta) at zero cost and having a comparatively low Carbon footprint.

The main aims of project will be to:

(i) Develop a web based information resource with a generic framework, allowing future developments, containing academic information of each site to be visited and presented in an interactive form (formative assessments, images, video footage) and linking to a new LabPlus resource.

(ii) Underpin the information presented for each site with a video tour by selected academic staff. In addition we will use representatives from key stakeholder groups (Natural England, National Trust etc).

(iii) Develop a series of research projects (n=4) which groups of 4/5 students will undertake at the end of their residential field course. These will be presented in a special interactive “virtual” tour section, with formative assessment, providing students with hypothesese to be tested and guidance and information allowing them to develop a research strategy (sampling site, parameters to be measured, data statistical treatment and synthesis).

(iv) Pilot the compilation / transfer of all web based material (images, video footage) to a readable format onto iPods and assess their usefulness as a reference source for students in the field.

(v) Evaluate the interactive web based sessions with student questionnaire, focus group and formative interactive assessments enabling future developments.

Tamar Field Sites

Matthew Sharples, Phil Tubman

This site was created by the experiential learning CETL to bring together information of field locations in the Tamar Catchment currently used by staff from the University of Plymouth. It uses an interactive map to identify locations and link to further information on their environmental characteristics and educational value.

Click here to view the Tamar Field Sites website

Simulated laboratory experiments in environmental radioactivity

Prof. Geoff Millward, Ben Jaeschke, Phil Tubman

Animated representations of real laboratory instruments are provided in an interactive manner. The simulations are authentic in terms of the instruments, the data and the practice. This allows students to (i) prepare for lab experiments (ii) revisit lab experiences and methodology and (iii) broaden their investigations through analysis of virtual samples. All this can be achieved in their own time and in a safe environment.

Click here to view the simulations (Flash plugin required)

Phase 1 Habitat Management Learning Package

Dr Paul Lunt, Phil Tubman, Jenny Plackett

The package contains information on two local sites (Butspill Woods and Lopwell Dam) which are used to train students in phase 1 habitat survey. A formative mode allows users to ‘practice’ the survey process on one site prior to undertaking a field trip to the second site to collect data for a ‘real’ survey. The software features interactive site maps with example species data at key locations and ArcGIS base maps which are used to present survey data.

Butspill Woods
Lopwell Dam

Preparing for fieldwork - Wembury

Dr Richard Sandford, Prof. Paul Worsfold, Phil Tubman

This website gives support to students on the Wembury project which is part of EOE2204 Research Methods in Environmental Science. Not only does the site provide pre-field information on destinations but also includes video demonstrations of field equipment and embeds PowerPoint files on key concepts to support data interpretation.

The website was also designed to be used as a stand-alone pre-fieldwork preparation package demonstrating use of generic field instrumentation and fieldwork best practice. It can be combined with pre-field practice on instruments that are stored in Labplus.

http://www2.plymouth.ac.uk/science/wembury/

Fine Art Degree Show & Faculty of Arts Degree Shows Sites

Created by Becky Freeman (Learning Technologist, Arts) and Mark Pannell (EdaLT).

Fine Art Degree Show:
This was a interactive site illustrating the final year degree show work created by the Fine Art students and providing information about the various exhibition locations for each student's work. The site contains interactive floor plans detailing where students' exhibits can be found and was intended as a guide for the external examiners to use.
http://demo.lsa.plymouth.ac.uk/fads2008/
Faculty of Arts Degree Shows:

This site provides floor plans of the 3 Faculty of Arts buildings, showing the location of the various subject area degree show exhibitions for the Faculty. http://demo.lsa.plymouth.ac.uk/fadegreeshows2008/

Passage Website (History in Politics)

Created by Becky Freeman (Learning Technologist, Faculty of Arts) working with Dr Peter Hinds from the School of Humanities.
The website is intended as a resource/information site for students as well as external users and is currently still being developed. The site contains historical information linked to literature, and includes glossary notes and links to related literary texts and further reading.

Virtual Tensile Test.

This Computer Aided Learning (CAL) program was created by Rebecca Allen (Faculty of Technology) and provides students with an introduction to materials (tensile) testing. An understanding of materials testing is essential for graduate mechanical engineers. The simulator is especially relevant for materials science and structural mechanics classes. It takes the user/s through the essential steps of conducting a tensile test, shows a test being performed (in real-time) and then provides the specimens actual load-deflection data for analysis. The purpose of the program is therefore to familiarise the students with the testing equipment and to support or supplement the concepts and theories presented in the lecture theatres and tutorial rooms. The program can be used in a classroom environment (or embedded within a distance-education course) to show how the mechanical properties of a specific material (in this case mild steel) can be characterised using experimental methods.


For further information please contact Rebecca Allen - Faculty of Technology Learning Technologist

Child Protection Scenario for Registered Practitioner Portfolio

This exercise provides an opportunity to make decisions based on a scenario which students may experience in their workplace. It is an interactive story which aims to teach students how to recognise the signs and take the right course of action when dealing with child abuse.

The animated story was created in Flash and placed in Perception so that students receive immediate feedback on their chosen course of action.

Content by Caroline Leeson, Senior Lecturer, Early Childhood Studies. Site created by Melanie Roberts and Mark Pannell (LTs)

http://demo.lsa.plymouth.ac.uk/cps/cpsweb/index.htm

360 degree Panoramic Campus Tours

These 360 degree panoramic campus tours were originally intended to appear on the Extranet to market the distributed campuses of the University!

Created by Sid White (EDaLT) and Flea Palmer, (EDaLT)

http://demo.lsa.plymouth.ac.uk/vr/location/swmap.html

ILS Education Induction

This resource aims to support Education students using electronic resources available through the library. It is split into 4 short modules with each being approximately 4 minutes long. Modules can be downloaded in various formats:- as a webcast combining video with PowerPoint slides (shown ); audio with PowerPoint; audio only or text only.

The site was created using Microsoft products - PowerPoint, MovieMaker and Producer - all of which are already available on UoP computers (although Producer must be downloaded free from the Microsoft site). This enables all to create web and podcasts.

ILS Education Induction was created by Wendy Martin (PCET Programme Leader) and Jonathan Smart (ILS Education) with help from Flea Palmer and Mark Pannell (EDaLT)

http://www2.plymouth.ac.uk/distancelearning/ILS_Education_Induction/index.html

Catfish - A Virtual Tour

The boat 'Catfish' is based in the School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences and is used for a wide range of fieldwork activities (including hydrography, physical and chemical oceanography, biological surveys and navigation).

The website aims to give students essential information on carrying out water sampling in an estuarine system onboard Catfish, enabling them to be better prepared for timetabled module practical sessions.

Funding to develop this website facility was allocated to Drs Maeve Lohan and Malcolm Nimmo from the CETL "Experiential Learning in Fieldwork" project as part of the personal funding for staff initiative. All technical developments of the website were carried out by Phil Tubman, FLT for Science.

http://www2.plymouth.ac.uk/science/catfish/default1.htm

¡Adelante!

¡Adelante! is a resource for learning Spanish. It aims to promote and supports second language acquisition within the University of Plymouth and its partners. Although it is targeted to students taking Languages modules, all students and staff with an interest in Spanish can benefit from it.The activities available are self-study exercises, created in Hot Potatoes, designed to allow easy and open access to a grammar based bank of materials organised in three levels of competence. Listening and Translation exercises are also available, together with cultural resources and related links.

http://intranet.plymouth.ac.uk/spanish/intranet.htm

For further Hot Potatoes examples see http://hotpot.uvic.ca/wintutor6/index.htm

Designing Assignments to Avoid Plagiarism

Plagiarism Tutorials

This is the 4th tutorial in a series of 'What is Plagiarism?' tutorials.

These tutorials, created in Flash, are designed to offer staff guidance on how to prevent their students from plagiarising. There are 5 different tutorials in total to work through. Each take about 15 minutes to complete.

This resource, created by Mark Eggins, Faculty Learning Technologist for UPC, can be found on the EDaLT website in the Resources section.

https://exchange.plymouth.ac.uk/intranet///edalt/Public/Sections/Resources/plagiarism%20materials/4.%20Designing%20Assessment%20to%20aviod%20Plagiarism/flash/DesigningAssignments.swf

Perception Tensile Test Demo using Captivate

Perception Drag and Drop Examples

As well as general support the learning technologist can also assist with creating more advanced Perception questions. For example drag and drop questions.

Here is an example, from an engineering module, of the use of a Drag and Drop question in Perception. This resource was created by Becki Allen, the Faculty Learning Technologist in Technology.

http://www.tech.plymouth.ac.uk/learntech/captivate/perception_tensile_test_demo_demo/perception_tensile_test_demo_demo.htm

Examples of Learning Technology Projects

Here are examples of Learning Technology Projects from across the University to illustrate how learning can be enhanced by technology.