Tag Archives: Padlet

TILE Hub at the HSW Away Day

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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 1st 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!

Simran demonstrating the Virti demo to HSW colleagues
Simran demonstrating the Virti demo to HSW colleagues
Simran demonstrating the Virti demo to HSW colleagues
Simran demonstrating the Virti demo to HSW colleagues

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

Screenshot of the VIRTI virtual human demo with a virtual human named Sally

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.  

Robin demonstrating ThingLink to an HSW colleague

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 

Screenshot from ThingLink escape room

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! 

Screenshot from Wooclap polling app. The question is "What are you looking forward to in the winter break?" and the answer in large red text is "No work".
A Wooclap word cloud question
Screenshot from Wooclap polling app. The question is "What ideas would you have for a festive party?" and there are various suggestions in columns headed "Food", "Activities" and "Decorations".
Wooclap can be used for collaboration and sharing ideas
Screenshot from Wooclap polling app. The question is "Where's the Yeti?" and there is a wintry illustration underneath.
A “Find on image” question in Wooclap, with a seasonal twist

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) 

Screenshot of HSW Away Day Padlet

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

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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

Screenshot of the Wobble Wall Padlet - several rectangular boxes containing text and images on a brick wall background.

World Mental Health Day (WMHD) is held on 10th 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 10th 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:
11th October at 11am
17th October at 4.30pm (Padlet/Thinglink/Sharepoint drop-in)
26th October at 3pm