Three achievable ways to make your teaching more inclusive

When developing learning in higher education institutions, we always try to make it relevant and effective, to ensure that all students have equal access to the learning. Inclusive teaching practices are crucial for making sure that every student feels valued and supported in their educational journey. In this blog post, we will discuss three ways …

Implementing UDL 3: Multiple means of Action & Expression

If you’ve read any of our previous blog posts on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) or encountered it somewhere else, then you’ll know there are three main principles of the UDL Framework, developed by CAST. Each UDL principle is designed to help academics and others involved in teaching to improve how we present information, engage …

13 years as a learning technologist

Long term Moodle maven Helen Whitehead retires at the beginning of June, so we asked her to reflect on her 13 years at the University. How long have you been at the University? I started in the Learning Technology Section in 2010 as a Learning Development Support Officer. I still do essentially the same job, …

Implementing UDL 2: Multiple means of Representation

If you’ve read any of our previous blog posts on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) or encountered it somewhere else, then you’ll know there are three main principles of the UDL Framework, developed by CAST. Each UDL principle is designed to help academics and others involved in teaching to improve how we present information, engage …

Turnitin (& Moodle) assignment submission: checklist for students

We are often contacted by students worried about why their submissions to assignment dropboxes are not succeeding. Here are some of the most important things to check. Your document: please check Your filename must be no longer than 40 characters (you may get an error message if your filename is too long: it will be …

Designing for Engagement in a Learning Community – course starts Wed 19 April

Time and again, we hear that students are not engaging with their learning. Being engaged benefits students in so many ways. It can make learning more enjoyable as well as boosting achievement. So what can we do to promote more engagement in our classes? The course “Designing for Engagement in a Learning Community” looks at …

Digital badges, safety online and other posts for students

Our blog has been running since 2010, and moved into this blog platform in 2020. We’ve had two Advent Calendars and a Summer of Moodle, and published posts hopefully of use to both students and staff. Some of the posts which may still be of interest to students (and of course some staff) include: How …

Creating audio and podcasts

I got some really good tips on creating audio and podcasts in education, from the recent Future Teacher webinar focusing on audio. Speakers included Andrew McLaren. Edinburgh Napier, Sheila MacNeill, Jane Secker, and Mark Childs. Here are, with thanks, some of their tips. The preparation time needed (at least at first) means it can be …

Take a NAP 8: Accessibility checkers

The final core habit of the eight we’re calling Nottingham Accessibility Practices — the NAPs – covers accessibility checkers. These can be an important tool in identifying issues or catching errors in your documents. Much like spell-checkers, accessibility checkers can be found in most text editors and are easy to use. Within Microsoft Office you …

Take a NAP 7: Formats and assistive technologies

The Nottingham Accessibility Practices – the NAPs – are eight core habits that will help make your teaching materials and publications more accessible.  In this seventh post in our series on the NAPs we’re looking at how materials can be formatted to be used with assistive technology tools. Those who will benefit most from accessibility …