Student Educational Technology Guidance

Automated lecture capture enables the lecturer to record and post a series of recordings from a live lecture including the presentation on screen and audio and sometimes video. Recordings are made available via the relevant module on Moodle, the University Online Learning Environment to view on or off campus.

Example of Lecture Capture (showing you how to use the system)

Lecture capture recordings are intended to supplement, and not replace, face-to-face teaching. Please be aware that the viewing of lecture capture recordings is not a substitute for attendance at lectures.

What are the benefits of using lecture capture?

The ability to review lecture recordings is particularly useful for;

students whose first language is not English, or students with a learning difficulty which makes it difficult for them to take notes. It provides the opportunity to review and make notes in the best way suitable for them.
revision ahead of exams and other assessments.
revisiting and reviewing difficult topics or concepts at your own pace.
giving greater freedom to participate more actively in lectures, e.g. by making notes of the key points and concepts, and spending more time asking questions and thinking more deeply about subject matter, knowing that you can review the content later to fill in any gaps in your knowledge.

Further information on Student Benefits of Lecture Capture

Using Lecture Capture Recordings

Will all my lectures be recorded?

This will depend on the modules you are taking. It is the lecturer’s decision as to whether they use lecture capture. For some lectures it may not be appropriate and therefore not used. The lecturer should tell you that the lecture is being recorded. You may choose to sit further back from the camera shot. Please be aware that questions asked or discussions held near the mic, at the front of the room, may be picked up if a capture is recording.

If lectures are recorded, will they be available immediately after the lecture?

Recordings will be available via your Moodle module, and can take up to 24 hours to process. It is the decision of your lecturer to choose when to release them. They may choose to release them at a later date for educational reasons.

When else might I be recorded?

Sometimes your lecturer may choose to record you giving a presentation or a performance - they may choose to do this for examination purposes or to provide you with feedback. This requirement should be outlined to you at the start of your course and you will be asked to sign a consent form.

What is lecture capture not for?

The viewing of lecture capture recordings is NOT a substitute for attendance at lectures. You can’t recreate the unique, spontaneous nature of a lecture but you can use lecture capture to return to your lectures for revision and to fill in gaps in knowledge. Discussions and questions and answers may not be picked up by microphones so the main benefit of recordings is to recap on the content delivered by the lecturer.

Lecture capture provides greater freedom to participate more actively in lectures, e.g. by making notes of the key points and concepts, and spending more time asking questions or thinking more deeply about subject matter, knowing that you can review the content later to fill in any gaps in your knowledge. Attending lectures allows the opportunity for students to;

gain immediate feedback and support from your lecturer.
view copyrighted material shown that cannot be recorded, view in class discussions that are not recorded or audible.
Immediately know what the lecture was about; some lecturers may choose to make the recordings available at a later date, for example, at the end of term, in time for exams. However it is likely you will be required to know lecture content to prepare for a seminar, tutorial or lab session.
Experiencing the lecture with your peers allows you to make connections and discuss lecture topics together before, during and after a lecture, further aiding your understanding.
spread out your learning across the term and avoiding cramming and watching many hours of lecture capture in one go before an assignment or exam.
view a lecture when the lecture has not been recorded. As with all technology, it is possible that there may be problems with recordings.

What can I do with my lecture recordings?

You can use lecture capture recordings for note taking, allowing you to expand on your note taking during the live lecture. The recordings allow you to pause, play and rewind the lectures in order to make effective notes for assignments or exam revision. For more information on lecture capture and using the recordings please visit http://tiny.cc/studentleccapture and click on the About Lecture Capture link.

You can find more guidance on note making on the library study skills pages at www.city.ac.uk/library or find out about academics skills workshops via the Learning Success Moodle Module: http://tiny.cc/learningsuccess.

How do I get help with lecture capture?

If you have difficulty accessing lecture capture recordings via Moodle, or lecture capture recordings do not work, please use the IT Service Desk self-service centre or call 020 7040 8181.

City Blogs

About City Blogs

City Blogs is a service for staff and students to blog about learning, teaching and research activities at City. It runs on the CampusPress network which specialises in WordPress blogs for educational institutions.

Students are using City Blogs in a variety of ways including:

Recording Personal Development Planning (PDP) activities;
Charting project progress;
Managing group projects;
Collaborating on the development of course resources;
Commenting on lecturer-led blogs and
Interacting with guest speakers.

Mobile blogging

You can find detailed guidance on mobile blogging here:
Mobile blogging

Request a blog

Log your blog request with the IT Service Desk. Students and staff can request blogs to support learning and teaching activities. Request a public blogs to publicise the work of a department; to disseminate the results of a research project or to promote the work of a club or society. Once your blog has been created you can login using your City username and password. Please refer to City Blogs FAQs for getting started with your blog.

Login to City Blogs

Turnitin

About Turnitin

Turnitin is a web-based application that provides a number of functions that facilitate online assignment management including collection, marking, and feedback. It is also used to check electronic assignment submissions for 'originality'. It does this by comparing the text of a submitted assignment against text from a wide range of electronic material including journals, websites, and other students' work, including work from many UK universities.

At City, Turnitin is most commonly used to assist in the detection of academic misconduct (such as plagiarism or collusion) in an assignment after it has been submitted. Turnitin can also be used formatively to help students learn about the importance of good academic practice.

Turnitin and Moodle

City has integrated Turnitin with Moodle. This means that for some programmes, students will be required to submit their assignments to Turnitin via their Moodle module. This is so that their work can be checked for 'originality' and graded via the Turnitin Grademark tool. Not all courses use this tool but for those that do you can find guidance on uploading an assignment to Turnitin via Moodle here.

Turnitin accounts for help with good academic practice

Currently we do not offer Turnitin accounts directly to students unless requested by your department. This is because Turnitin is usually used in your course for assessments, and if you were to upload your papers separately your paper would later show up on the system as an 'unoriginal' copy. If you would like help with the content of your paper, for referencing, grammar, or language reasons, please do visit the library since they should have material and staff who can help support your studies.

Adobe Connect

About Adobe Connect

Connect allows for video conferencing with collaboration and exchange of documents. It has additional tools such as instant recording and playback of sessions, polling tools, and a document repository that make Connect a powerful, professional program and give it great advantages over other tools like Skype or traditional video conferencing units.

Webinar Participant Guide

Detailed guide to using Adobe Connect

Poll Everywhere

About Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere allows you to answer questions in class, vote on polls and automatically get feedback on those questions using your own devices.

U sing Poll Everywhere

Online Collaboration

Tools to Support Group Work

Explore free tools from across the web that can help you easily host meetings online and collaborate on shared documents.

Tools to Support Group Work

Working with digital documents

Adding hand-written diagrams and drawings to digital documents

Learn how to add your hand-written diagrams and drawing to digital documents such as Word.

Adding diagrams and drawings to documents

Click on Tools and then Export to PDF to print pages.

FAQs

Moodle

I've forgotten my Moodle password

Contact the IT Service Desk on 020 7040 8181 or log a query on Service Now.

What do I do if I'm missing modules or content on Moodle?

Contact your course officer or administrator.

If you are missing modules, first check that your Year and Period filters are set to ALL on the My Moodle page, then click on your school category to find your module/s. If you still cannot find your module/s contact your course administrator and they will be able to enrol you on to the required modules.

They will enrol you on the correct modules and solve administration problems.

Students of the School of Health Sciences can either call 020 7040 5000 or email shshelpdesk@city.ac.uk.

Which browsers can I use with Moodle?

Moodle works with all modern browsers. Some features require flash (e.g. personal video capture).
Moodle’s published minimum browser spec (for our current version 2.8) is as follows:

Browser	Minimum version	Recommended version	Notes
Google Chrome	30.0	Latest
Mozilla Firefox	25.0	Latest
Apple Safari	6	Latest
Microsoft Internet Explorer	9	Latest	Version 10 is required for drag-and-drop upload of content from outside the browser into Moodle (i.e. assignment upload)

Moodle also works well on iPhone and Android devices and has a responsive design so the page layout changes according to your screen size.

How do I report a problem with Moodle or other Educational Technologies?

If you are experiencing a technical issue with Moodle or another Educational Technology, such as those listed on this page, and your issue is not covered by these FAQs, please contact the IT helpdesk on 020 7040 8181 or log a query on Service Now.

If you need guidance on how to use Moodle please view the guidance within this site for help.

City Blogs

What is a blog?

A blog is a website where the content typically displays in reverse chronological order - i.e. newest entry on top. Most blogs encourage interactivity by enabling readers to leave comments and engage in a conversation with the author. Different themes will provide blogs with a different look and feel, but they tend to have a similar layout.

How do I set up a personal blog?

Please log your request with the IT Service Desk and provide your username, email, the site URL and the site title. By default all blogs are set with the privacy setting Visitors must have a login - anyone that is a registered user of City can gain access. if you want to change these settings click on the Settings menu and select Privacy. From this screen select the appropriate privacy setting and click Save changes.

How do I change the theme of my blog?

From your blog Dashboard go to the Appearance menu
Select Themes
Click on Live Preview to see how your blog will look in a new theme
Once you have found one you like, click Save & Activate.

Please note that themes have different functionality so if you change your blog theme you might lose access to widgets in a sidebar. These will move to inactive widgets and can be reused in your new theme. Please note: Not all blog themes will display your name or display multiple authors.

How do I write my first blog post?

From your blog Dashboard or blog view, click on + New tab to open the drop-down menu
Select Post
Type a title for the post
Type your post into the input field
The edit toolbar enables you to spell check, format your text and insert images and files.
You can enter keywords known as Tags to help others to search for posts that are relevant to them in the Post Tags input field on the right of the screen. Tags need to be separated by a comma. Click Add to add the tags to your post.
Once you have completed writing your post you can preview it to ensure it is correctly formatted. Click on Preview
Close your preview window and from your Dashboard click on Publish. This will make the post visible on your blog and to all Users on your blog .

If you are not ready to post to your blog click Save Draft to save your post for further editing

For further guidance and a video follow the link below: http://help.edublogs.org/2009/07/29/writing-your-first-post/

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This site is produced by the Educational Technology Team (ETT). If you have any related suggestions or queries please contact ldc@city.ac.uk.

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Mobile blogging

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