Seeds for Solutions: Innovation Projects from 2016/17

Project Title: 'Lets meet at basecamp': A mobile app designed to increase group cohesion and student satisfaction in collaborative learning projects
Project Leader(s): Grant Bosworth and Donna Berry

Many modules involve elements of group work aimed at enhancing certain employability skills. However, students often cite difficulties regarding communication with, and contributions made by, other group members. The aim of our teaching innovation project is to tailor a project management app to better engage students and facilitate collaborative learning. The app creatively combines the features students desire from social media (instant message, notifications on progress) with required components for academic work (transparent scheduling, equitable workload distribution and file sharing). Any improvements in the student learning experience will be evaluated from questionnaire responses, compared to responses from a control group.


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Project Title: Introducing undergraduate students to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles' theory and practice
Project Leader(s): Alex Nobajas

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have become increasingly popular and feature regularly on the news, both for positive and negative reasons. However controversial, their use has proven to be successful in a myriad of applications which go from disaster management to agricultural surveying. Nonetheless, due to a lack of courses offering UAV training there is a current shortage of professionals capable of performing missions with UAVs satisfactorily, something this project aims to mitigate by introducing UAV training as part of the university offering. This will be achieved by developing new teaching materials and activities involving UAVs.

Introduction to UAVs - Final Project Report


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Project Title: The pedagogic potential of Turnitin's originality reports
Project Leader(s): Nicholas Seager and Ben Anderson

This project explores the educational potential of Turnitin’s originality reports, as used by students, guided by educators. The project’s foci are: (1) the implications of shifting from a detection-based to a prevention-based approach to academic misconduct with the aid of software; (2) using the instant and ongoing formative feedback that originality reports can provide to develop students’ academic skills (referencing, writing, finding and using sources). To these ends, the investigators will measure Humanities’ students’ take-up of access to the originality reports, the nature of how they use them (and how they might), and staff and student perceptions of the reports.

The Pedagogic Potential - Final Project Report



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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Ways to produce bespoke video resources

Theme: Sharing experiences of using technology to enhance your practice

Author: Sarah Aynsley

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Medicine

Abstract: Video use in our student population has soared in popularity over the years and there have been benefits to using videos identified in regards to teaching and learning. However just capturing a lecture as a recording doesn't always fulfill the needs of the students or topic, instead I use three different approaches to produce short custom video animations to support learning including bespoke video animations, Snagit capture of images and lecture snippets and hand drawn responses to student questions captured as short video responses. This session will introduce you to these three different approaches how they work and what you could use them for.

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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Why diversity in tech matters: A personal journey of using technology

Theme: Creating an active learning environment

Author: Cat Hallam

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract: This session will explore the relationship between the use of digital technology and challenging unconscious bias. Using examples from Keele, personal experience and pedagogy, you will gain insight and strategies to reflect and review your current practices.

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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Applications of Google Apps in Chemistry at Keele

Theme:

Author: The Chemistry Team

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Chemical and Physical Sciences

Abstract: The intention of this lightning presentation is to highlight the breadth of applications of Google apps to support teaching and learning and the administration of teaching within Chemistry at Keele. Examples include: Google Docs for undergraduate group projects; Google Slides for Group Presentations; Google sheets for data pooling (e.g. laboratory practicals); Google forms for module evaluations; Google sheets for assessment timetables; Google sheets for marking teams; Google sheets for Peer Observation of Teaching; Google sheets for coordinating external examiner feedback on assessments and responses.


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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Moodle 'Database Activity', facilitating specific pedagogical needs in the virtual learning environment (VLE)

Theme: Sharing experiences of using technology to enhance your practice

Author: Phil Devine

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Lancaster University

Abstract: At times the institutional VLE, third party applications and related plugins can not, or do not, meet the pedagogical needs of lecturers. Reasons for this can be legion, for example, the institutional VLE may not have that native functionality available to meet that specific pedagogical outcome or, the wider institutional suite of existing applications and third party tools do not integrate with institutional processes, regulations, systems or financial budgets. Set within that context, my presentation will give an account of, the use of, the 'Moodle Database Activity'. The 'Moodle Database activity' is a semi-flexible 'in' VLE 'small' scale development environment that can combine, html templates, cascading style sheets (CSS), javascript and database field entry - connecting with Moodle Grade-Book.

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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Social Media Trends for 2018

Theme: Sharing experiences of using technology to enhance your practice

Author: Paul Newton, Tom Maurice

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Marketing and Communications

Abstract: Social media has changed. So far in 2018 we have seen organic Facebook and Snapchat reach decline, Instagram stories become even more important, and the benefits of a 'mobile first' social approach. Paul and Tom (MAC) will talk about the latest developments in their world of social, and how colleagues can get the best communications results from their social media presence.


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Digital Festival 2018 #KeeleDigiFest - Digital DeLC: Connecting digital with experiential and authentic learning opportunities in language education.

Theme: Creating an active learning environment

Author: Phil Devine

School/Directorate/Research Institute: Lancaster University

Abstract: Digital has the capability to transform experience. If we accept that is the case, and understand that experience is the key to the acquisition of knowledge and understanding (Vygotsky et al) we can begin to unpack more deeply the relationship between digital and learning (and teaching). My presentation will be an attempt to do just that. The presentation will view digital as a conduit for new and existing student experience in language learning by accessing the immediacy, interactivity, fluency and responsiveness of digital technology, in this case, the Microsoft Surface Hub - bringing experiential and authentic learning opportunities into the seminar or workshop.

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