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Discover your Digital – AI questions added to the Discovery Tool

By Caroline Norris, on 22 February 2024

The Discovery Tool consists of reflective question sets which explore your digital practices and confidence levels.  The main question set looks at overall digital capabilities but there are also additional question sets for staff covering effective teaching and accessibility and inclusion and leadership all from a digital perspective.   The tool can also be used by students and there is a general question set for all students and one aimed at new students.

See below for full details of how to use the tool and upcoming workshops on 6 March, 23 April and 13 May.

New for 2024 there is now a question set on Digital Skills in AI and Generative AI for staff and a similar question set will be available for students on 20 March 2024.

The staff AI questions are arranged under the following categories:

  • Responsible AI
  • AI and digital proficiency
  • AI and digital productivity
  • AI and information and data literacy
  • AI and digital communication
  • AI and collaboration and participation
  • AI and digital creativity
As with other question sets you get a customised report  indicating your confidence and proficiency in each area represented in a chart (pictured right) and some suggested next steps to develop your skills.
All the reports signpost to a wealth of free resources and these have been augmented with additional AI-focused content.  We have also added customised UCL resource cards which signpost relevant UCL policies, guidelines, resources and learning opportunities.
Want to find out more?  Visit the Discover your digital web page for details about how to use the tool or come along to a workshop to try it out.  We can also arrange workshops for specific groups of staff or students.  Contact us with any queries.

Discover your Digital – new staff workshops now available

By Caroline Norris, on 16 November 2023

Diagram showing the Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework

Do you want to start a conversation with your students about their digital skills for work and study? Are you looking for a way to enable staff to reflect on their digital skills and identify gaps in their knowledge?

We are delighted to announce a new staff workshop introducing the Discovery Tool.  The tool consists of reflective question sets which explore your digital practices and confidence levels.  The main question set looks at overall digital capabilities but there are also additional question sets for staff covering effective teaching and accessibility and inclusion, all from a digital perspective.   The tool can also be used by students and there is a general question set for all students and one aimed at new students.

New for January 2024 there is now a question set on Digital Skills in AI for staff and one for students is due in March.

We currently have online workshops scheduled to take place at 15 February and 6 March 2024.

About the workshop

During the workshop you will have the opportunity to try out the tool for yourself and receive a personalised report with suggestions for how to develop your skills and links to free resources.
You will explore how you can use the tool with colleagues, for example as part of the appraisal process or an away day, or with students to encourage them to reflect on their digital practices and experience.
Results are confidential and you can choose who to share your report with.  However we are able to generate anonymised analytics to identify overall trends across departments (for staff) and subjects (for students).
Book a place on Eventbrite or visit the Discover your digital page to find out more about the tool and how to use it.  If you can’t attend one of these sessions but would like us to let you know about future dates or you would like to organise a workshop from a group of staff or students, please contact us via our expression of interest form.

Using the Premium version of Equatio with Moodle

By Kerry, on 10 November 2023

Following my post on Using the free Equatio Chrome extension with Moodle, I have finally had the chance to explore how the Premium version works. Currently, UCL has a licence for the Premium version of Equatio for staff and students until July 2024.

Equatio can help you create accessible mathematical content without having to use any code or programming languages. You can easily add formulas and equations to your content through keyboard input, handwriting recognition or voice recording. It is also compatible with LaTeX for more advanced users. In addition, it allows some graphing input.

Screenshot of Equatio toolbar (Premium version)

Equatio toolbar (Premium version)

You may have already explored the free Chrome extension and if not, you can check out our mini guide. While the free version of Equatio can help anyone create accessible maths, it lacks features such as prediction, Equatio Mobile integration, and the screenshot reader. Here is a handy overview of what is included in the premium version compared to the free version.

In case you were not aware (and I only learnt this myself recently), the Premium version of Equatio with unlimited use for Google, Windows and Mac can be installed on any UCL machine. If you would like to try this out when creating Moodle content such as Text and Media areas (formerly Labels), Pages, Books, Discussion Forum messages, Assignment instructions, Quiz questions etc, we have now tested this and created a wiki mini guide.

This will take you through the set up for the Premium version of Equatio for Chrome, the toolbar, setting options and the main features which include the Equation Editor, Handwriting Recognition, Speech Input, LaTeX Editor, Screenshot Reader, Equatio Mobile, Graph Editor, Mathspace and STEM Tools. The mini guide also include links to some handy video guides from Texthelp as well as further information. We hope some of you find it helpful.

Using the free Equatio Chrome Extension with Moodle

By Kerry, on 14 September 2023

You may have heard of texthelp‘s literacy support tool Read&Write but did you know that they also have an education tool called Equatio which helps support the creation of accessible mathematical content online?

Equatio can help you create maths expressions without having to use any code or programming languages. You can easily add formulas and equations to your content through keyboard input, handwriting recognition or voice recording. It is also compatible with LaTeX for more advanced users. In addition, it allows some graphing input.

The Premium version of Equatio with unlimited use for Google, Windows, Mac and LMS can now be installed on UCL machines. Advice and guidance on this will follow in due course but in the meantime, we have created a wiki mini guide on what it is possible to achieve in Moodle with the free version of the Equatio Chrome Extension. This guide will be useful for anyone who would like to dip their toe in to explore what Equatio can do before installing a full version! There is also further information for anyone who is keen to learn more.

Screenshot of using the Equatio chrome extension to insert speech you have recorded and converted to Math.

Using the Equatio chrome extension to insert speech, which you have recorded and converted to Math, into a Moodle Text and media area.

 

 

Do your students have essential Excel skills?

By Caroline Norris, on 30 January 2023

This blog post is aimed at teaching staff who might wish to promote Excel workshops to their students. However, the workshops are open to all students and can be booked by students by following the links below.

people at computersThe Digital Skills Development team in ISD run a series of three Excel Essential Skills workshops designed to ensure that they do.  These cover creating calculated worksheets, data management and using in-built Excel functions.  They are facilitated by fellow students in small groups of 10 – 12 in computer workrooms on campus.

The workshops take a new approach to learning by presenting students with a problem to be solved and encouraging them to use prior experience, web searches, in-application help and fellow participants to find a solution to the task.

By the end of the session students have improved problem-solving skills, an increased knowledge of the topic, a ‘suggested solution’ to the problem they worked on and some resources and guidance for further learning.

Students take the workshop at their own pace so they can leave when they have completed all the tasks and either finish the tasks in their own time or come back to another session if they don’t have time to complete.

Why not share details of our upcoming workshops with your students and encourage them to attend? Places on these workshops can be booked here:

To see our full schedule of courses for this term, see our most recent newsletter.

Alternatively, bring the Excel Essential Skills workshops to you!

We can arrange workshops specifically for your cohort and our materials are also available for you to offer these workshops yourself, facilitated by you or your teaching assistants.   Please contact us isd-digiskills@ucl.ac.uk if you are interested in either of these options.

Do more digital with your teaching and assessment

By Caroline Norris, on 17 January 2023

Table with laptop and person in foreground gesticulating. Person in background.Do you want to try something new in your teaching or assessment?  Are you concerned that your materials aren’t as accessible and inclusive as you would like them to be?  Why not come along to one of our short online* training sessions to learn a new skill, improve your teaching materials or explore new assessment methods?

Add more interaction to your course by using polling software like Mentimeter for Continuous Module Dialogue or to engage students either during class or asynchronously between sessions.  You could also Use online whiteboards to encourage student interaction or ask students to collaborate on projects using Microsoft Teams: get a Beyond Basics Overview or learn about Document Management and Collaboration.

Digital Accessibility is a vital part of making your course inclusive and we have courses on Enhancing the Accessibility of your Moodle Courses, Creating accessible PowerPoint Presentations  and  Creating accessible Word documents.  You might also want to ensure you are following Best practice for video captions and transcripts when sharing multimedia.

Liven up your course with more multimedia content by learning how to do Basic video editing using iMovie on a Mac or Record a narration over your PowerPoint on a PC to convert your  Mixing deck and microphonepresentation to video.  You could also come on our Podcasting made easy workshop or our series of workshops for making a film using your iPhone (Planning, Filming advice and Make a short film) and pass these skills on to your students so they can create multimedia content as part of their course.

If graphical content is a challenge, our beginners courses in Basic image editing using free tools can get you started with existing content while An introduction to free graphic design tools and Creating Infographics using free web-based tools are a great way to start creating more original content without having to buy expensive software.

Finally, if you’ve never done Digital book-making, it can be great for digital storytelling and Sway, Microsoft’s modern presentation tool is another interesting option for presenting your material in new ways.  These can also open up new possibilities for your students and the ways in which they present their coursework.

We’ve cherry picked a few courses below that might be of particular interest, but for our full schedule of upcoming courses visit Digital Skills Development News on the Digital Education blog.  If you subscribe to the blog you’ll get regular updates from us and our other Digital Education teams. Click on the link(s) below to book a place or add yourself to the interest list to be informed about upcoming dates.  More details about how to book, how to join sessions etc. can be found on our Practical Course Information page.  If you aren’t sure what training you need and would like individual support and advice we also have a regular drop in during term time.

*All sessions are online via Microsoft Teams unless otherwise indicated.

Add more interaction and collaboration

01/02/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Mentimeter for Continuous Module Dialogue (CMD)
THIS SESSION IS NOW CANCELLED
08/02/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Use online whiteboards to encourage student interaction
02/02/2023 10:00 11:30 DSD: Microsoft Teams Workshop 1: Beyond Basics Overview
08/03/2023 10:00 11:30 DSD: Microsoft Teams Workshop 3 – Document Management and Collaboration 

Make your content more accessible

24/01/2023 14:00 15:30 DSD: Creating accessible PowerPoint Presentations
02/03/2023 10:00 11:30 DSD: Creating accessible PowerPoint Presentations
24/01/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Best practice for video captions and transcripts
31/01/2023 14:00 15:30 DSD: Creating accessible Word documents
09/03/2023 14:00 15:30 DSD: Creating accessible Word documents
02/02/2023 14:00 15:30 DSD: Enhancing the Accessibility of your Moodle Courses

Use more audio-visual content

25/01/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Basic video editing using iMovie on a Mac
25/01/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Record a narration over your PowerPoint on a PC
02/02/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Podcasting made easy – workshop
07/02/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Planning a short film
07/02/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Filming advice for a short film
14/02/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Make a short film using your iPhone

Create and edit graphical content

31/01/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Creating Infographics using free web-based tools
15/02/2023 10:00 11:15 DSD: Basic image editing using free tools (Demo)
21/02/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: An introduction to free graphic design tools

Present material in new ways

08/02/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Digital book-making
25/01/2023 10:00 11:30 DSD: Sway, Microsoft’s modern presentation tool – Workshop
21/02/2023 14:00 15:30 DSD: Sway, Microsoft’s modern presentation tool – Workshop

Please note that the above dates and times were correct at time of publication but are subject to change.  Follow the links provided or check our latest schedule for the definitive current schedule.