How TILE can help you design immersive simulation activities

Posted on 30 January 2024 by Robin Ray

Immersive simulation – what and why?

In recent years, Staffordshire University has used funding from Health Education England (HEE) to develop innovative, simulation-based teaching approaches.

Simulation enables students to develop contextual and practical skills in a safe learning environment. This is particularly valuable for our healthcare students, who are learning how to work with real patients, but the applications of immersive simulation go far beyond the healthcare setting. For example, students can develop interview skills by talking to an AI-generated virtual human, experience tourist attractions across the globe through a VR headset, or navigate a virtual “crime scene” through 360-degree footage. Immersive technology can also help give online learners a richer learning experience, keeping them engaged with the course.

The HEE funding has enabled the University to invest in specialised software such as Virti and ThingLink. TILE’s Instructional Designer, Simran Cheema, has been working with academic staff across the different schools to use these tools to embed immersive activities into their courses.

The following example explains the process of designing and creating an immersive simulation activity. If you can see the benefits of developing something like this for your own course, details on how to make a start can be found at the end of this post.

Designing an immersive activity – a case study

Simran reached out to academic staff in the Institute of Policing to offer to make an immersive activity to develop incident response skills. In this activity, the “incident” would be a simulation of a vehicle collision, and students would need to take on the role of a police officer attending the scene.

Identifying needs

Before starting design work, Simran had a conversation with course staff to identify their needs from the activity and find out what skills and knowledge should be taught and tested. This was then broken down into constituent steps that would form the overall activity – including interactions with different virtual humans, and 360-degree interactive images.

Simran then identified the technology that would be required to build the activity:

Virti for the virtual human interactions
ThingLink to host the whole activity, with 360-degree interactive scenes, embedded Virti characters, and decision-making points with branches to show the consequences of those decisions.

ThingLink also allows for scoring and feedback, to keep the students engaged and on track throughout the simulation, and it also provides the opportunity to track a student’s success through the analytics.

Students would be able to access the simulation freely through a web link, and staff would be able to see analytics data on students’ engagement with the simulation.

Planning phase

Simran used a different tech tool – Miro – to plan out the activity in detail. Miro’s flowcharting function helped connect the different parts of the scenario and identify where branching and feedback points would be needed.

The students are to follow a linear path through the activity until they encounter a particular character in the simulation – at which point they have a choice of different options for what to do with them. The students do not get immediate feedback on whether their choice was right or wrong – they have to follow through one of different scenarios to show the consequence of their decision first.

Design phase

With the flowchart complete in Miro, Simran then started to build the activity using ThingLink’s Scenario Builder. “Simulation” is one of the standard ThingLink templates, but there are also templates for other types of activity such as escape rooms.

Each part of the simulation required some media to be designed and embedded – such as the Virti virtual humans, and the crime scene images.

Simran designed the virtual humans so that students could interact with them in whatever way they preferred – they could speak out loud and the virtual human on screen could respond audibly, or there are text options to read and select from on screen.

The crime scene images – both 2D and 3D – were mainly generated by AI, using the built-in Skybox feature included in the Staffordshire University ThingLink license. However, we do have the in-house technology and simulation settings to capture and record different media to use in the scenario to make it even more immersive for students. For example, for transitions within the activity, video clips of our own simulated court room, custody suite or hospital corridors could be used instead of stock or generated media.

As well as the “action” scenes, Simran also built in space for important conversation points and opportunities to keep students on track with occasional feedback.

Throughout the design process, there was a lot of testing and refining to make sure it was working as intended, and Simran worked closely with the course team throughout.

Could your students benefit from immersive simulation?

If you have some ideas you’d like to explore around immersive simulation, please get in touch with TILE by emailing TILEHub@staffs.ac.uk, or contact Instructional Designer Simran Cheema directly (Simran.Cheema@staffs.ac.uk). We will first identify your needs through an initial consultation and decide on the best approach, and which software to use. We will then support you through the design process as outlined in the case study above.

Blackboard best practice 2 – Troubleshooting common issues

Posted on 8 January 2024 by George Hill

This is a short guide focusing on four common Blackboard issues that we often get asked about in the TILE Hub. Each has a fairly simple solution, so you can save time by knowing the fix for each issue…

1. My module keeps disappearing

This is something we come across a lot in the TILE Hub, and the solution isn’t always immediately clear.

The hallmark sign of this error is when you make your module available in Blackboard, but every day it reverts to being “private” again, so your students can’t access it.

The Solution

To solve this issue, you just need to log in to the Blackboard Management Tool (BBMT). Search for your module using the search box on the left and then select “Make Available”. This may take up to 24 hours to go through but can be as quick as 30 minutes. We have a video guide to help you with this below:

2. I’ve setup the MS Teams integration but it keeps giving me an error

Since the departure of Blackboard Collaborate in November 2023, more staff are using Microsoft Teams for their online delivery.

When adding the Teams integration in their Blackboard modules, people have reported experiencing one of two issues, caused by:

Adding the Teams integration via the Content Market (don’t do it this way)
Adding it via the menu on the left (which is the right way), however, they have previously used the “Student Preview” feature, causing a preview user to be on the module. This can cause an issue with the Teams integration as it searches for a user that doesn’t exist.

The Solution

The fix for this is rather quick and easy. Open the Class Register in the Blackboard module, find the “PreviewUser” (there may be more than one), click the three dots next to them and choose “Edit member information”, then remove them from the module with the small bin icon.

Once you have done that, add the Teams integration again using the link at the bottom of the left hand menu and it should work fine:

If you are still experiencing issues, there may be something else causing a problem so it is worth contacting Digital Services at CallDesk@staffs.ac.uk

3. The Gradebook view isn’t what I’m used to / isn’t very useful

If you’re still relatively new to the Blackboard Ultra Gradebook, having previously used Blackboard Original, then the default view might feel rather strange.

By default, the Gradebook will display all of your assessments and assignments in a list. You can click on each one to go into it and view the individual students’ submissions.

The Solution

However, if you want to see a view more akin to Blackboard Original, that can be achieved by clicking the grid icon in the top right of the Gradebook:

This will give a view a lot more similar to the one in Blackboard Original.

4. I want to see when students last accessed Blackboard and how much time they’ve spent on the module

A wonderful part of Blackboard Ultra is that a lot of the functionality of Blackboard Original is still available – it’s just the user interface that has changed. So familiar features might be in a different place than you’re used to.

This is true for the student activity data. This is now available in the “Analytics” tab on the toolbar across the top of the module.

The Solution

By selecting the three horizontal lines under “Course Activity” in the Analytics tab, you can see the students’ overall marks and how many days its been since they’ve last accessed your module:

However, clicking on a student’s name and selecting “Student Activity” in the grey bar across the top will allow you to see a more individual look at the student’s activity. Here you can also select the graph icon in the top left to view the student’s activity compared to the module average.

As always, you can get in touch with the TILE Hub if you need any support with using Blackboard Ultra, either by emailing TILEHub@staffs.ac.uk, or by posting on our dedicated “Blackboard” Teams channel.

TILE Hub at the HSW Away Day

Posted on 15 December 2023 by Simran Cheema

It was an honour to join the School of Health, Science and Wellbeing (HSW) at their Winter Expedition inspired away day!

The event took place in the LRV at the Leek Road campus of Staffordshire University on Friday 1^st December 2023. The aim was to introduce staff to the concept of “Simmersive” experiences, and with the help of games and activities, allow them to embed the concept in practice.

Simulation has emerged as a powerful and transformative tool in providing an innovative and dynamic approach to education. In a world driven by technology and characterized by constant change, the traditional methods of learning are evolving to offer hands-on practical learning experiences. Simulation, with its immersive and interactive nature, has proven to be an asset in fostering experiential learning, critical thinking, and skill development across various disciplines.

At Staffordshire University, we have access to many interactive technologies that can help you implement simulated practice in learning materials for students. Our TILE Hub team was kindly invited to the HSW away day to demonstrate the tools we have at our disposal for academic staff.

VIRTI

TILE Hub’s very own Simran Cheema presented this demo to staff at the away day and talked them through the features of VIRTI and the potential with this type of technology. The overall reaction was incredibly positive!

VIRTI is web and app-based software designed to transform education through immersive experiences. With VIRTI, you have the power to construct dynamic simulated environments that closely replicate real-world scenarios, providing learners with a risk-free space to navigate through intricate concepts. This innovative platform enables the creation of both 360 and 2D interactive video scenarios, allowing for a multifaceted learning experience. One of the standout features of VIRTI is the ability to program virtual humans, endowing them with unique characteristics for lifelike face-to-face interactions. Imagine engaging with virtual patients or witnesses, the possibilities are truly limitless.

To demonstrate the creative application at the away day, Simran crafted a game of mystery diagnosis using VIRTI’s virtual human as the central storyteller. Embracing the theme of a winter expedition, participants embark on a quest to uncover patient symptoms through a series of clues presented as riddles. The virtual human guides the game, prompting participants to input their answers in the chat box, creating an interactive and engaging experience.

If you would like to try the demo, we have made the game available below:

VIRTI Virtual Human

ThingLink

ThingLink is a versatile platform that empowers users to enhance various forms of visual media through the incorporation of hotspots. Whether you begin with a map, floor plan, image, video, 360° image, 360° video, or a 3D model, ThingLink enables seamless integration to create immersive experiences.

To showcase the platform’s capabilities at the away day, George Hill from the TILE team developed a very cool mini escape room, presented to staff by Robin Ray!

It is linked below for you to experience firsthand. Explore the interactive elements and discover the potential for innovative and engaging educational content.

ThingLink

Wooclap

We wanted to take the opportunity to showcase other tools we have access to, that we think can still contribute towards creating more engaging learning opportunities. TILE’s Rowan Walker has been working on Wooclap, a polling solution where you can create online polls for students to join.

With 21 question types including, ‘Find on Image’ questions, brainstorming questions, fill in the blanks and more! To make things seamless, you can integrate Wooclap polls with your Powerpoint slides!

Padlet

Padlet is a unique notice board tool which is great to have for more collaboration between lecturers and students. These boards are amazing to obtain feedback, for e-portfolios and more!

The TILE team used this to create a Padlet for feedback on the away day demonstrations by our team. If you would like to add anything or are inspired by the technology we have showcased, feel free to post on here to let us know!

HSW Away Day – Share your thoughts and tech tips (padlet.org)

Blackboard best practice 1 – Improving the student experience

Posted on 7 December 2023 by Robin Ray

The Blackboard Ultra Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is the main way for students at Staffordshire University to access their course materials online. Each module of every course has its own space on the VLE, populated with resources by the module instructors.

No matter how high the quality of the learning materials, students need to be able to find what they need easily. Used correctly, the technology can aid accessibility, but without a bit of careful setup it can also be a hindrance.

Here are four things you can do as an instructor or module leader to make sure your students have a more positive experience navigating your Blackboard modules.

1) Fill in the Welcome folder documents

Each Blackboard module for the 2023/2024 academic year has been created from a Blackboard Ultra template specifically designed for best practice and tailored to suit your subject area. One important part of this template is the “Welcome and module information” folder, containing documents guiding you to give your students the information they need.

Before each module is made available, each document in the Welcome folder should be filled in and set to be “Visible to students”. That way, students always know where to look for the key information, as it will always be in the same place in every module they study.

2) Keep things tidy in folders, subfolders and learning modules

When adding learning materials and assessments to your Blackboard Ultra module, there are a few things you can do to make them easier to navigate to:

It’s a good idea to have separate folders for learning materials and assessments – you might even have these set up already from the template. Click inside the relevant folder when you need to add some resources or create a new assignment.
Instead of adding a huge list of different resources to the learning materials folder that students will have to scroll down through, create some meaningful subfolders to sort them into. For example, if you usually release your materials on a weekly basis, you could have subfolders named by the week or date. Or it might fit your module better to arrange the resources by topic, so name your subfolders with each topic covered. You can move the subfolders around too so they follow a logical order inside the main folder.
Make sure you add descriptions to your folders and subfolders to tell students what they can find inside them. To do this, click on the three dots to the right of the folder and choose “Edit”, then fill in a description and “Save”.
Within Blackboard Ultra there are special folders called “Learning Modules” with a few extra features in the “Edit” panel. Ticking the “Forced Sequence” box means that students must access the materials in the folder in the order that you set them – they must open the first item to unlock the second, and so on. You also get the option to add an image to learning module folders to make them stand out better on the screen:

3) Check the Gradebook for old assessments

Blackboard Ultra has a number of ways to import or copy existing content into new modules to save you time. However, you need to be very careful when copying from old modules that you don’t accidentally import old assessments with long-expired deadlines. When this happens, your current students might be notified that they have overdue work – when in fact they haven’t yet been set those assessments. It can be confusing and stressful for all involved.

The best way to avoid this is to check in the “Gradebook” tab under “Markable Items”. The only things listed there should be assignments you’ve created for this year’s module, and you can check their deadlines in the “Due Date” column. If you find any that shouldn’t be there, click the three dots to the right of them in this view and choose “Delete”.

4) Use the Release Conditions panel

You might not want your learning materials and assessments visible to all students at all times. For example, you might want to release subfolders of resources week by week, or set different assignments to different groups of students. You might also have to create a new assessment submission point for students who are resitting, but don’t want to confuse the students who aren’t.

To help with all these situations, you can use the “Release Conditions” panel on any content in your module – folders, documents, assessments etc. To open this panel, click in the drop-down menu under the name of the item, and choose “Release Conditions”.

First you are given the choice to make the item visible either to “All members”, or to choose individual students or groups to make it visible to. (If you’ve created a “Student preview” version of yourself, you can choose that student preview user here if you want to check what the item looks like to students before you release it to everyone.)

You can set up groups from this menu if you haven’t already done so by choosing “Create a new group set”.

The other part of the panel allows you to “Set additional conditions” such as a date and time to make the item visible, as well as a second date and time to hide it again. You can even select “Performance” and only make the item available to students who have scored a certain amount on a previous assessment.

A little goes a long way

Spending an hour or so to make these tweaks and checks to your module before you start to teach can really improve the digital learning experience for students. If you need any support with Blackboard Ultra, or would like someone to check over your modules before you make them available to students, please get in touch with the TILE Hub on TILEHub@staffs.ac.uk, or through our Blackboard channel in Teams.

How meaningful is it to review old assessments in an age of fast-changing technology?

Posted on 27 November 2023 by Robin Ray

Staffordshire University’s Steve Hollyman and Duncan Hindmarch recently published a discussion piece on the WonkHE blog titled “Judging yesterday’s creative work by today’s standards is a tough ask“. They have summarised their thoughts here for the TILE Hub Blog, to prompt discussions around how we can meaningfully retain and review old assessments in the context in which they were produced.

Full colour head and shoulders image of Duncan Hindmarch

Dr Duncan Hindmarch is Course Director for Postgraduate and Professional courses at Staffordshire University’s Institute of Education. The IoE offer face-to-face or 100% online courses to support the career development of academics at Staffordshire University and beyond. One of Duncan’s recent works was A Concise Guide to Lecturing in Higher Education and the Academic Professional Apprenticeship, available from Critical Publishing.

Black and white head and shoulders image of Steve Hollyman.

Steve Hollyman is a Senior Lecturer in Storytelling, Critical and Contextual Studies, in Staffordshire University’s School of Digital, Technologies and Arts. Steve’s most recent novel, ESC&CTRL, was published last year, by Influx Press.

Will the Office for Students B4 condition to retain assessments for years mean inspectors will be issued with time travelling DeLoreans?

Decorative image of a toy DeLorean car like the one used as a time machine in the film Back to the Future — Photo by Roger Ce on Unsplash

For quality assurance purposes, the OfS requires providers to retain students’ assessed work for up to five years after the completion of their course. But reviewing work and tutor feedback years after it was originally produced is not without its problems.

Authentic assessment methods encourage students to negotiate their response to an assessment brief, to reflect modern workplace expectations and personal career aspirations. This may include creating a digital artefact such as a podcast, app, blog, or short film; or perhaps organising a live event. To support employability, such work is often accompanied by a practical element to justify the work’s potential market value to a targeted audience or outlet.

However, in a fast-changing market, what was once cutting-edge can quickly become clichéd. OfS inspectors will therefore need to be not just discipline experts but also have awareness of what represented “credible” work for each specific past year they review. Otherwise, barring the use of a non-factory standard DeLorean with after-market flux capacitor…

How will inspectors be able to evaluate what represented excellent, good or poor work at the time the work was submitted? Is this akin to trying to step into the same river twice?

Where technology is used there are also serious concerns:

Who has responsibility for ensuring and funding ongoing access and functionality of systems which may become obsolete?

Professor Stephen Hawking famously organised a time travellers’ party – with the invitation sent afterwards – but no one attended. Rather than attempting 88 mph time travel, perhaps the OfS could focus on evaluating present assessment practices by selecting a sample of work from each year’s cohort for review and discussion. This might not resolve differing viewpoints of what makes an effective assessment, but it would save universities second guessing what may or may not be acceptable – and accessible – in many years’ time. With constructive dialogue to improve assessment practices between the OfS and providers, it might just help back ourselves for the future too.

How much do you know about generative AI?

Posted on 8 November 2023 by Robin Ray

It’s been almost a year since ChatGPT was released, and it’s been a hot topic in Higher Education ever since. Members of TILE have been working with colleagues across the University to make sure staff and students know how to use tools like ChatGPT both effectively and ethically.

Developments in the field of generative AI have been breathtakingly fast this year, so you’d be forgiven for feeling lost and confused. Here’s a short summary of the key facts and issues concerning generative AI in Higher Education, followed by some practical tips for teaching staff.

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can generate new content, such as text, images, audio and video, based on data they have been trained on. The most well-known examples are large language models like GPT-3 (ChatGPT), DALL-E for image generation, and emerging tools that generate audio or video.

These systems are trained on vast datasets of text, images or other media to recognise patterns and relationships between elements. They can then generate brand new outputs that are high quality and often remarkably human-like. The possibilities for using generative AI to create content, art, media and more seem endless. But as with any powerful technology, there are important ethical considerations around its use.

The ethical implications for Higher Education

Generative AI can be a hugely powerful tool in education – helping both staff and students work more efficiently and effectively. It can also be argued that because of their increasing presence in the workplace, students need to be taught how to use generative AI tools to prepare them for employment. However, generative AI introduces new ethical dilemmas for universities that need to be properly considered:

Authenticity – If students use generative tools to produce written work, how can instructors determine what is the student’s original work versus what is AI-generated? So far, no “AI detection” tools have been found to be reliable, and they can also give false positives on (for example) students writing in their second language.

Bias – Current generative AI models reflect biases in their training data. Both written and image-based outputs can perpetuate harmful stereotypes around gender, race, ability and more.

Accessibility – Whilst generative AI tools (translation apps, grammar checkers etc.) can improve accessibility for some, there is an unequal distribution of resources (premium AI tools come at a price) and skills (e.g. expertise in prompt engineering), which can make the tools themselves inaccessible.

Impact on skills – If generative AI makes producing content easier, will this reduce students’ motivation to build creative and critical thinking skills themselves?

Intellectual property – Who owns the output generated by AI systems – the company that created it, the user or no one? Important questions around copyright and plagiarism arise.

What can we do about it?

If you’re curious or concerned about generative AI, here are some practical tips.

Learn more about what generative AI can do

To learn more about generative AI, a good place to start is Jisc’s AI Primer or the UNESCO Quick Start Guide. Staffordshire University staff can book on to one of the training sessions hosted by the Library through this Access Link. You can also check out our AI guidance for students via the Library and Learning Services website.

You can try out some of the popular text-generation tools by registering for a free account with ChatGPT, Google Bard or Claude, or use Bing Chat in a Microsoft Edge browser.

Talk to your team about how gen AI affects your work

How and whether generative AI should be used in your work and teaching can be quite context-dependent. Having a discussion with your immediate colleagues about gen AI can help you come up with a coherent and consistent approach, and it’s a good way to share knowledge and resources too. You can register your interest in becoming an “AI Liaison” for your team – that is, someone who initiates these kind of discussions with their colleagues – by filling in this form.

As a result of these discussions, you might identify some potential changes to your modules or assessments, to incorporate teaching gen AI skills, or make your assignments more AI-proof. You can get support with this from your School’s TILE Hub and Academic Development team contacts.

Communicate clear expectations to students

The term “Generative AI” encompasses a wide variety of tools and uses, and it’s understandable that some students might be unsure as to what things are acceptable to use in assignments. For example, copying an entire AI-generated essay and passing it off as your own is almost certainly inappropriate in most cases, but what about using editing tools such as Grammarly or Quillbot to reword something you’ve written?

Think about what students need to do to show they’ve met your learning outcomes, and where the use of generative AI might disrupt that, and set some clear boundaries and expectations accordingly. For example, you could ask students to disclose their use of gen AI when submitting an assignment, or to reference generated content as set out on Cite Them Right Online. For more general advice on academic integrity, point students towards the Library’s AI guide.

Lead by example

It’s not just students who use generative AI – there are an increasing number of tools to help educators plan, teach and even mark, and the ethical implications of using them still apply.

It might decrease your workload to let AI generate summaries of course texts, or to upload students’ essays for some AI-generated feedback, but both of these uses involve sharing other people’s work with a commercial black-box system without their knowledge or consent.

It can help to be transparent to students about how and where you’ve used generative AI, and model good practice. For example, most of the first half of this blog was written by entering the following prompt in the claude.ai tool:

“Write a 500 word tech blog article aimed at university instructors in the UK, explaining what generative AI is and the ethical issues of its use in higher education.”

I then edited the output to change any US English spellings, add in extra points I wanted to make, and remove some sentences that seemed overly general or corporate in tone. Could you tell? Would that be acceptable in an assessment?

Follow the established procedure if you’re concerned about misconduct

Although generative AI is new, academic misconduct is not, and the rules surrounding falsely passing work off as your own still apply. Where you suspect academic misconduct of any form, you should follow the procedure and guidance outlined in the Staffordshire University academic conduct policy.

TILE Hub presents the SUMEC (Staffordshire University MIE Expert Coaching) Teams community channel

Posted on 12 October 2023 by Robin Ray

TILE Hub on Teams

Hopefully you’re familiar with the TILE Hub Teams site – a community of practice facilitated by the TILE team. It’s a space for the staff at Staffs to ask questions about teaching and learning tech, share their experiences, support each other, attend drop-in sessions and find out about training and workshops. Although many people find it a helpful way to consult TILE for tech support, we encourage all members to participate in helping and inspiring each other to use digital tools to enhance their teaching.

Within the Teams site there are a number of topic-specific channels to contribute to. For example, in the “Ask a question” channel, you can do just that, and get a response from anyone in the community. In the “Blackboard” channel, colleagues support each other and share good practice around the Blackboard VLE, and any Blackboard-specific training is advertised here too.

Introducing the new SUMEC channel

This month, we’re adding a new channel specifically for sharing innovative practice using Microsoft software. Although it will be hosted on the TILE Hub site, the new “SUMEC” channel will be curated by Francesca Brown-Cornwall and other talented MIE Expert colleagues from Staffordshire University. But most importantly, EVERYONE can share their innovative uses of Microsoft tools.

Maybe you’ve created escape rooms with Sway or OneNote, maybe you’ve had some epic successes with Minecraft or Word. No matter what the context, this channel is a space to showcase fabulous Microsoft ideas. It is not intended to be a troubleshooting channel (you should still post in “Ask for Help” if you need help), but a space to see and share best practice with Microsoft education tools.

The aims of the channel are as follows:

To focus on how Microsoft Technologies can be used to develop teaching and learning practice.
To enable staff to become leaders and advocates of Microsoft Technology to enhance teaching and learning by developing digital skills.
To showcase the innovation and quality of Microsoft facilitated teaching and learning at Staffordshire University.
To facilitate accreditation, achievement and recognition of skills, such as through the MIE Expert status application.

What is an MIE Expert?

MIE stands for “Microsoft Innovative Educator”, and MIE Experts are a community of educators across the world and at all levels, not just HE. They are passionate about teaching and learning, creative, resourceful and collaborative. And, as the name suggests, they have expertise in using Microsoft tools for teaching and learning that they want to share with others.

MIE Experts need to have completed extensive online training provided by Microsoft (three of the Microsoft Learn learning paths) before they can apply to be part of the program. Self-nominations are only open once a year (maybe twice if we’re lucky), and nominees need to provide evidence of their expertise to a regional Microsoft representative in order to be accepted into the community.

You can find out more about the process of becoming an MIE Expert here:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/educator-center/programs/microsoft-educator/expert

Where did SUMEC come from?

The SUMEC programme was a SCoLPP (Staffordshire Centre of Learning and Pedagogic Practice) innovators project, which you can read more about in this SCoLPP blog post. We are delighted that the legacy of this project means we have colleagues keen to share their expertise and experiences with others through the new TILE Hub channel. Hopefully, this will also inspire more staff to achieve MIE Expert status and disseminate their fantastic work with Microsoft software. We look forward to this growing community taking shape in this new Teams channel, and can’t wait to see the amazing practice facilitating high quality student experiences with Microsoft tools.

Staffordshire’s Student Wellbeing team are using Padlet to support students’ mental health

Posted on 5 October 2023 by Robin Ray

Poster advertising World Mental Health Day featuring a cartoon globe with a smiling face, a thought bubble and a ribbon. Text reads Tuesday 10 October is... World Mental Health Day 2023. — Image Credit: Mental Health Foundation, 2023

This month we’re showcasing an innovative use of technology by Staffordshire University’s Student Wellbeing and Marketing & Communications teams, for World Mental Health Day 2023.

Padlet at Staffordshire University

All Staffordshire University staff can take advantage of our institutional access to Padlet – an interactive online notice board. It’s a simple and intuitive tool that allows staff and students to share ideas and comments, give and respond to discussion prompts, or even contribute to maps, flowcharts and timelines.

With just a few tweaks in the settings you can choose the perfect colour scheme, design and layout for your Padlet board, and control how participants interact with it. Depending on the context, you can allow people to rate, “upvote” or “like” each others’ posts, post anonymously, or add comments to posts to form discussion threads. Padlet allows multimedia posts to allow people express themselves in different ways – by attaching files, photos, videos, audio, polls, GIFs and more.

Padlets can be shared publicly or just within Staffordshire University. Public Padlets can be protected with a password, or set to read-only if necessary.

All this makes Padlet a really useful and versatile bit of tech to incorporate in your teaching. The TILE Hub team are really pleased to see it being used more widely across the University too – and want to share this excellent example made in collaboration between the Student Wellbeing and Marketing & Communications teams.

The “Wobble Wall” Padlet

World Mental Health Day (WMHD) is held on 10^th October each year to raise awareness and get people talking about mental health. The Student Wellbeing team at Staffs are running a number of in-person events on WMHD 2023 across the Stoke, Stafford and London sites. Students at each campus will be able to visit wellbeing stalls and stands to pick up information about the various support services the Student Wellbeing team provides (along with a few freebies too).

To compliment these physical events, Student Wellbeing’s Lisa Benson and Communications Office Claire Frays have created an online space for students to connect with each other and share how they are feeling (their “wobbles”). This “Virtual Wobble Wall” was created using Padlet, and is designed like a physical brick wall where students can add any number of anonymous posts to share with others. You can have a look at it for yourself using the link below:

https://staffs.padlet.org/comms61/world-mental-health-day-virtual-wobble-wall-2erv0tfn4nmz5fhx

The idea behind creating a space to express feelings on the Wobble Wall is to normalise these wobbles and help students feel that they are not alone. It’s also a space to share positive and inspirational posts too, that might make someone smile when they’re feeling low. The Padlet description encourages students to “take a break and find a moment of calm away from the hustle and bustle of University life, relax and reflect on what you’re going through”.

The Student Wellbeing team will also be creating a physical version of the Wobble Wall on Tuesday 10^th October, 12-2pm in the Science Centre on the Stoke Leek Road campus. Students can leave wobbles or positive messages on the wall, and talk to wellbeing staff if they need to.

Want to try Padlet for yourself?

If you’re feeling inspired to set up a Padlet, here’s what you need to do…

If you haven’t already, sign up for a Staffordshire University Padlet account by filling in this form: Padlet/Thinglink Registration of Interest Form

When you get an account, you can then sign in through the Staffs Padlet link using your single sign-on university email address (username@staff.staffs) and password. Click on “Make a Padlet” and explore all the different options.

If you feel like you need a bit more guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out to your TILE Hub contact, or drop us an email at TILEHub@staffs.ac.uk. You can also ask the whole TILE Hub community via the “Interactive Technologies” channel on the TILE Hub Teams site.

We also have some upcoming Padlet training through MS Teams – use the links below to book your place:
11^th October at 11am
17^th October at 4.30pm (Padlet/Thinglink/Sharepoint drop-in)
26^th October at 3pm

Students can experience Staffordshire University Library’s resources using ThingLink

Posted on 24 August 2023 by Robin Ray

Head and shoulders shot of Jodie Heap, a smiling woman with wavy long blonde hair against a blue background. — jodie.heap@staffs.ac.uk

In this blog post, Academic Librarian and Skills Tutor Jodie Heap, of Staffordshire University’s Student & Academic Services department, shares how she has been working to enhance students’ understanding of information sources with ThingLink‘s 360-degree imaging tools. If you’re interested in using ThingLink in your own work, email the TILE Hub (TILEhub@staffs.ac.uk) to enquire about an account.

Enhancing student understanding of information sources with ThingLink’s 360-degree images

In today’s digital age, information is at our fingertips, but the challenge lies in deciphering and comprehending the vast array of sources available. At the Staffordshire University Library we strive to equip students with the skills needed to critically analyse and contextualise information. ThingLink is a powerful tool that leverages 360-degree capabilities to support students in understanding information sources more comprehensively. In this blog post, I’ll explore how ThingLink’s innovative approach can be a game-changer in education.

ThingLink: an overview

ThingLink is an interactive media platform that lets users create engaging visual experiences by adding interactive elements to images and videos. With its user-friendly interface, educators can seamlessly integrate text, images, videos, links, and other media directly into 360-degree images. This functionality transforms static images into dynamic, interactive learning tools that engage students on a deeper level.

Scaffolding understanding with 360-degree images

Imagine teaching information sources from afar by transporting students to real library sites, exploring the ambiance of the library as if they were truly there.

A still image from the Library's thinglink showing a person sat at a desk in the Library Core building surrounded by shelves of books, screens and small, circular, clickable hotspot tags.

This is the potential that ThingLink offers in the classroom. By embedding hotspots within 360-degree images, it is possible to provide contextual information, explanations, and additional resources that enhance students’ understanding.

The power of contextual understanding

Understanding information goes beyond merely reading words on a page. It involves grasping the context, background, and nuances that shape the meaning of the content. This is where 360-degree images come into play. The immersive images used provide a view of the Library Core building at Staffordshire’s Leek Road campus, allowing students to explore the environment and uncover hidden details. ThingLink takes this concept a step further by enabling educators to embed interactive hotspots within these images.

The Digital Library is often hard for users to visualise and to contextualise. By using the physical elements of the Library’s resources, it is possible to scaffold students’ understanding of equivalent digital products and further introduce resources which exist exclusively as digital products.

Check out the embedded product within the Library’s Animation & VFX Subject Guide through the following link: https://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/c.php?g=694356&p=4982323

A screenshot of the Library web page titled "Animation & VFX Subject Guide 2022", with the embedded "ThingLink Library Core" taking up most of the right side of the screen. The landing image for this shows library shelves and numbered circular hotspot tags.

With the University’s growing interest and commitment to immersive programs it is also worth noting that the ThingLink product can be used in VR headsets.

Closing thoughts

In a world where information is abundant and diverse, the ability to understand, contextualise, and critically analyse sources is a vital skill. ThingLink’s use of 360-degree images and interactive hotspots offers a transformative way to enhance student engagement, understanding, and retention. By immersing students in dynamic, multimedia-rich environments, it is possible to foster a deeper connection between learners and the subjects they study. As we continue to explore innovative approaches to education, ThingLink stands out as a tool that empowers both educators and students on the journey of knowledge discovery.

The Library department is constantly innovating and working with the TILE team to embed new technologies, which helps both students and staff to understand the resources and support available to them from the Library. Massive thanks to the TILE team for their ongoing innovation and support!

Immersive teaching for the Institute of Policing

Posted on 15 August 2023 by Robin Ray

TILE Hub’s George Hill (Online Distance Learning Designer) and Robin Ray (Digital Curriculum Designer) were recently invited by Institute of Policing (IoP) lecturer Karen Pirrie to talk about interactive teaching and learning software.

Karen and her IoP colleagues are in the process of updating their curriculum to adapt to the needs of their learners. These are police recruits across our partnered forces (Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia Police) who may begin their studies with Staffordshire University at different points throughout the year. They want to engage these recruits – who are keen to get started on the practical aspects of policing right away – with authentic and immersive digital content, to make sure they are actively learning the essential knowledge and skills for the job.

Here’s an overview of some of the tools that TILE recommended, with examples of how they could be used for delivery on the Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) programmes.

ThingLink

ThingLink allows you to combine images, video, audio and text to turn your teaching content into a much more immersive experience. It’s quick and intuitive to use – just upload a photo (including 360-degree images) or video and add hotspot tags for the user to click or tap to open up some text, audio or video relating to one part of the image. There’s also a “scenario builder” that lets you branch media into different learning pathways so the user can choose their own route.

Karen has already developed a virtual ThingLink tour to give paramedic students an immersive experience at Staffordshire University’s Crime Scene House. Using images taken from the inside and outside of the building, clickable hotspot tags were added at every point of interest. Learners can effectively walk around and look at them as if they were there – and read more detail about each hotspot.

This sort of tour could be used for formative assessment as well as content delivery – by asking learners to add their own tags to a ‘crime scene’ and share their thoughts about each hotspot in text or audio.

Decision making is a vital skill for policing students, and ThingLink’s scenario builder can help with actively developing that skill. For example, video or audio incident role plays could be recorded, with learners having to choose what to do next at key points, as if they were responding to a real incident. Depending on what they choose, another video or audio recording would open to show how the consequences of that decision might play out.

ThingLink encourages active rather than passive learning, and you can monitor how students are engaging with the content by looking at the engagement statistics on everything you share. You can drill down into the data and see how many people have clicked on each hotspot, or the amount of time they spent watching a video clip, so you can check how your content is being used and make changes if needed.

Wooclap

Where ThingLink helps engagement with asynchronous learning content, Wooclap is designed for live interaction with synchronous lectures, whether your students are sat in front of you in a lecture theatre or watching a live stream from home.

You can upload your lecture slides to Wooclap and embed questions and polls throughout the content. There’s a huge variety of question types you can include, from the basic multiple choice and “word cloud” questions to “fill in the blanks” and “label the image”. When you present your question-enhanced slides through Wooclap, whoever is watching can scan a QR code or access the event through a URL on their own devices and answer the questions as and when they are presented. As it links to an open website there should be no issues with institutional access either – anyone with internet access can join in, and it can comfortably be shared with up to 500 people at a time. You’ll be able to see how many people are actively engaging, and see and display their answers for immediate assessment for learning. If you want to make sure people are paying attention, you could add a “Spin the Wheel” slide to choose someone in your audience at random to respond to a question.

A potentially useful question type for policing is “Find on Image” – where a photo of, say, a potential crime scene would appear on the viewers’ devices, and they could be asked to click or tap on the important part of the image. This makes the learning immediately relevant and authentic, rather than simply testing their comprehension of the content on the slides.

As with ThinkLink, you can use Wooclap’s built-in analytics to monitor engagement, with the aim of improving it. It could be especially powerful as a tool in hybrid sessions to give all learners the same experience, whether they’re with you in person or online. Everyone responds to the same questions in the same way, which can foster a better sense of belonging for remote learners, and allows the lecturer to check everyone’s understanding and deal with any misconceptions as they arise.

Virti

Virti is a powerful simulation tool, designed specifically for vocational training. It takes a bit more setting up than either ThinkLink or Wooclap, but it can be used to immerse learners safely in real world scenarios before they have to encounter them in their work. Staffordshire’s School of Health, Science and Wellbeing already use Virti for healthcare simulations, and there is obvious potential for the IoP to use the software too.

TILE demonstrated two different features of Virti – programmable “virtual humans”, and recorded video simulations.

The animated virtual humans can be used for interactive role play, by programming them to react in certain ways (either by giving them a script of different responses, or letting generative AI do the work – see below). Learners could navigate conversations with a virtual crime suspect, witness or victim by choosing from a range of different responses.

Similarly to ThingLink, Virti can also be used with uploaded videos, to present learners with recordings of real humans acting out different scenarios, with decisions to be made at key points. For example, a day of filming (perhaps in conjunction with drama and production students in Staffordshire’s School of Digital, Technologies and Arts) could lead to an immersive virtual experience for policing students, delivered safely through their screen (or even a virtual reality headset).

Like ThingLink and Wooclap, Virti has engagement analytics so you can see who is accessing the simulations, and how they’re being used.

Using Generative AI for Assessment

Although there are many concerns around generative artificial intelligence (AI) being used inappropriately in assessment, there is also huge potential for using it deliberately, consciously and ethically to assess learner’s understanding and skills.

Text-based generative AI models work by predicting answers in text to a given prompt, drawing on a very large set of data. This means that a tool such as ChatGPT could be given a ‘persona’ (e.g. a witness to a crime) and asked to respond as if they were writing from that perspective. This script could form the basis of a role play, or a piece of text for a policing recruit to analyse and discuss.

Designing assessment tasks around critiquing the outputs of generative AI is another way of encouraging students to consider both its benefits in the workplace and its limitations. For example, ChatGPT could be asked to write a press release for a fictional incident – and learners could be asked to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the generated text, to demonstrate their understanding.

Try it for yourself

If you’re feeling inspired to use any of these tools for your own teaching at Staffordshire University, just send a quick email to the TILE Hub (TILEhub@staffs.ac.uk) letting us know what you’re interested in, and we’ll get you set up with an account.