Faculty of Humanities
Teaching and Learning Bulletin
Issue 14: 18 August 2008
Welcome to the Faculty of Humanities Teaching and Learning Bulletin.
The Bulletin will normally be distributed every month and will be archived on the Faculty’s HumNet site. It is intended that the next Bulletin will be sent during the week beginning 15 September 2008.
All colleagues are welcome to contribute relevant material and we hope that over time it will become widely used. Please send any items for inclusion in the next issue by 5pm on 12
September 2008 . We would particularly welcome details of events or activities taking place in
Schools that relate to teaching & learning. We would also welcome your feedback on the Bulletin and any suggestions for improvement.
The Bulletin page can also be found at: ( http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/humnet/tandl )
Please note any actions that may be required will be highlighted in italics; these will normally be reminders of looming deadlines, the full details of which will have been circulated by other means.
Please forward names of any other colleagues in your School working in the area of teaching & learning who would like to receive this Bulletin, or notification if you wish to be removed from the mailing list, as well as items for inclusion, suggestions / feedback to: lisa.mcaleese-2@manchester.ac.uk.
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This Bulletin covers the following topics:
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New Look HumNet Site
Teaching Excellence Awards
Conference: Satisfying Student Demand
Developing New Courses in Blackboard
Goodbye to WebCT
How is migration from WebCT to Blackboard going?
Additions to the Manual of Academic Procedures
Clearspace (Teaching & Learning Practice Website)
Contact Lists
New Look HumNet Site ( http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/humnet/tandl )
The Humanities Teaching and Learning Team and the eLearning Team have combined their web presence into one single standalone website.
From the website you can access information relating to undergraduate and postgraduate taught education, quality assurance, eLearning, news and events, funding, resources and the New
Academics Programme.
There is also a section dedicated to the Review of Undergraduate Education; you will be able to access University-level information about the Review, provided by the University's Teaching and
Learning Support Office (TLSO), information about the introduction of Blackboard (the University's new Virtual Learning Environment) in the Faculty, FAQs about the UG Review and the implementation of the recommendations and a document store containing further information, background reading and documents which require consultation.
If you have any questions about the Review of Undergraduate Education or the work of the Faculty
Task Force, please email humsugreview@manchester.ac.uk
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Faculty of Humanities Teaching and Learning Bulletin: Issue 14
If you have any comments about the new look or the content of the site please email Nicola Lord
( nicola.lord@manchester.ac.uk
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2. Teaching Excellence Awards
Congratulations to Dr Maxwell Jones (School of Arts, Histories & Cultures) and Dr Elena Polisca
(School of Languages, Linguistics & Cultures) who have been awarded a ‘Teaching Excellence
Award’ by the University. These Awards focus on achievement in relation to teaching over recent years and involve a grant of £5,000 for recipients to further develop their teaching or their career.
3. Conference: Satisfying Student Demand
Satisfying Student Demand: Enhancing quality, exceeding expectations, managing complaints
Staff from the Teaching and Learning Team recently attended the 2 nd annual Student Satisfaction
Conference. The conference brought together policy makers, student support professionals, student representatives, senior HE administrators and legal experts to explore current student demand issues. Notes from the conference can be found on Clearspace at: https://forums.manchester.ac.uk/clearspace/docs/DOC-1193
4. Developing New Courses in Blackboard
Any member of staff can get going and start developing their course in Blackboard. We are prioritising tutors delivering Level 1 courses from this coming academic year however, our support is open to all members of staff irrespective of the Level of the course you are delivering.
Full details of what you need to do are on our website http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/elearning/blackboard/newcourse.html
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One of the first things you will need to do is to ensure you can view your Blackboard section. To do this log onto Blackboard from http://www.manchester.ac.uk/elearning . If you cannot see your course please contact your Campus Solutions Administrator and ask them to flag the course for
‘ BBDevelop ’
When you log on to Blackboard each course has two ‘sections’ a Development one and a
Production/Live one. We would advise you to start developing your content in Development.
Nearer the start of year we will advise you or how to make sure your students can see your
Blackboard content
We are running training and support throughout the summer see http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/elearning/events/ . Support includes a ‘Kickstart’ training sessions for staff new to Blackboard, drop-in and one to one support. There is also a wide variety of documentation on the eLearning website at http://www.manchester.ac.uk/elearning .
Full details of getting started are available from http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/tandl/elearning/blackboard/newcourse.html
. Any problems, issues, questions etc please email us on elearning@manchester.ac.uk
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Faculty of Humanities Teaching and Learning Bulletin: Issue 14
5. Goodbye to WebCT
WebCT is to close down in September.
As you will be aware, WebCT will be decommissioned with effect from 19 September 2008. The
Faculty eLearning Teams are working with teaching staff to migrate content from WebCT to
Blackboard Vista.
FROM SEPTEMBER 2008 the following will take place via Blackboard:
1. ALL online teaching;
2. Support for teaching and learning.
If you have a course in WebCT which:
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is currently on WebCT; and
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is still being taught (i.e. extends beyond the standard academic year); and
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continues beyond 19 September 2008; but
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you have not received confirmation from the eLearning team that it can continued to be delivered you should contact us your eLearning Team as a matter of urgency on elearning@manchester.ac.uk in order to make arrangements for continued provision.
6. How is migration from WebCT to Blackboard going?
The eLearning Team are making headway in the migration of existing WebCT courses to
Blackboard. In LLC, SED, AHC, Education, Law and SoSS there were a total of c300 courses in
WebCT and as of 18 th July we have migrated nearly two thirds of these. In MBS the vast majority of the 352 courses are now in Blackboard.
7. Additions to the Manual of Academic Procedures
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Interruptions principles
New University principles for granting interruptions to an undergraduate or postgraduate taught programme of study have been approved and are now available within the MAP at: http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/tlso/map/teachinglearningassessment/learning/interrupti onstotaughtprogrammes/
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Peer Review Policy
A new policy on peer review has been approved and can be found on the MAP at: http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/tlso/map/teachinglearningassessment/teaching/peerreview
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Assessment Framework
This has been revised slightly to include specific reference to online assessment see: http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/tlso/map/teachinglearningassessment/assessment/asses smentframework
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Faculty of Humanities Teaching and Learning Bulletin: Issue 14
8. Clearspace (Teaching & Learning Practice Website)
The following new spaces have been added to Clearspace: https://forums.manchester.ac.uk/clearspace/index.jspa
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Faculty of Humanities, Guidelines on Feedback to Students. https://forums.manchester.ac.uk/clearspace/docs/DOC-1185
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Policies ( https://forums.manchester.ac.uk/clearspace/community/talent/policies )
A new space has been introduced to encourage discussion and sharing of information relating to the development of University policies.
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Mitigating Circumstances Policy
( https://forums.manchester.ac.uk/clearspace/message/1418#1418 )
Staff can post their views on the current policy and procedures and what the issues are around dealing with mitigation.
9. Contact Lists
In order that we can provide support and assistance where possible and ensure that our contact details are current please keep us updated on any changes of staff working in your School in the area of PGT, UG and QAE.
We hope that you have found the content of this Bulletin informative. The next Bulletin will be distributed during the week beginning 15 September 2008. Please send any items for inclusion by
5pm on 12 September 2008 to: lisa.mcaleese-2@manchester.ac.uk
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