The Learning Technologies Unit website

This is a service note for IOE users of the Bloomsbury Learning Environment, www.ble.ac.uk

Where have my links to BLE Expo gone?

We have upgraded the Expo tool in Blackboard today (30 April 2009) to implement some bug fixes and new functions.

Unfortunately, this upgrade has removed the existing links to the BLE Expo tool on your My IoE BLE page.

How can I get the Expo links back?

• Log onto www.ble.ac.uk and go to the My IoE BLE page.
• Select Modify Content from the top right corner.
• Check the box for Expo Sites.
• Click OK at the bottom of the screen.

You will now see the links to your Expo site and the Expo Directory on the My IoE BLE page.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Note: BLE Expo is a personal area for users to create their own blogs and wikis. These blogs and wikis can be used as a private storage area, as a public website, or as a collaborative work area, as users can invite other people as editors, including external users who do not have a BLE account. For more information, see BLE Expo for Staff.

The programme for this year's BLE Showcase on 13th February 2009 is now available, featuring six exciting and concise presentations under the heading Enhancing the Student Experience (with direct experience accounts), plus networking opportunities with colleagues from the six Bloomsbury Colleges.

You can attend in person at the Clore Management Centre on the Bloomsbury campus, or remotely via desktop conference.

The event is targeted at Academic staff, but Learning Technologists, Librarians, IT staff and others are also very welcome! Please click the link below and reserve your place:

More about the BLE Showcase 2009: Programme and Booking Form

Kyriaki Anagnostopoulou and Deeba Parmar from Middlesex University have published a Practical Guide on Bringing together E-Learning and Student Retention. The guide stems from institutional research funded by the Higher
Education Academy and Middlesex University.

Bringing together the areas of e-learning and student retention, the guide provides case studies, practical tips and activities to aid student progression, specially during the first year of study. It is designed to help staff think about ways of approaching and incorporating the use of learning technologies in order to enhance the students' learning experience.

Download the Practical Guide: Bringing together E-Learning and Student Retention

This resource is recommended for people involved in the use of e-learning and those who directly support and provide guidance to
students.

The guide was launched at the "Making Connections" Conference. Presentations from the conference are also available online at:
http://mancons2.middlesex.wikispaces.net/Conference+Schedule  

The LTU report on the Evaluation of E-Learning Courses, part of a suite of Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund projects, has been published as an occasional paper at the WLE Centre.

The paper provides a review of evaluation resources available for practitioners which are applicable to online and mixed-mode courses. The main objective of this report is to provide an overview of practical evaluation resources for IoE academics who are currently using technology in their courses so as to facilitate the integration of evaluative practices into e-learning courses.

Occasional Paper 4: Evaluation of E-Learning Courses