March 26th, 2009
The Academic Earth site offers 60 full courses and 2,395 total lectures (almost 1300 hours of video)
from Yale, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Princeton that can be browsed by
subject, university, or instructor through a user-friendly interface.
The site covers a large range of subjects and includes some interesting guest contributions, such as what seems to be a discussion session on entrepreneurship from the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Mostly classic lectures, with lots and lots of writing on blackboards – coloured chalk and all. Quaint!
To see a gun being fired in a lecture, go to the 16th minute of this lecture on mechanics.
You can search by subject, institution, or speaker. Well worth a loo.
October 15th, 2008
TASI are very pleased to announce our new, free-to-use online tutorial to assist staff and students in locating images for use in both teaching and learning:
*Internet for Image Searching*
http://www.tasi.ac.uk/training/tutorials/imagesearching/
The emphasis of the tutorial is on finding copyright-cleared images which are available free; facilitating quick, hassle-free access to a vast range of online photographs and other visual resources.
Sharon Waller from the HEA/JISC Collaboration commented on the new tutorial saying: “This tutorial is an excellent resource for anyone needing to know more about where and how to find images online. The fact that it concentrates on copyright cleared images will make it even more valuable for busy learning and teaching professionals, researchers and students alike. It will also serve to inspire confidence in those needing to use images from the web in their work.”
Sol Picciotto, Professor of Law at Lancaster University reviewed the tutorial saying: “Congratulations on this tutorial. It’s really excellent, very well set out, and the information on copyright is presented clearly and accurately. It really fills a gap, and does so extremely well.”
This tutorial has been created by TASI – the JISC Advisory Service for digital media and Intute as part of the Intute: Virtual Training Suite. The tutorial was funded and supported by the Higher Education Academy / JISC Collaboration Initiative.
For further information please contact Dave Kilbey <d.kilbey@bristol.ac.uk>
———————-
Dave Kilbey, TASI Training Officer and Co-ordinator
TASI – A JISC Advisory Service
In early 2009 TASI will re-brand to JISC Digital Media
Still image, moving image and sound advice
Free Helpdesk for UK Further and Higher Education: <info@tasi.ac.uk>
Online advice documents: <http://www.tasi.ac.uk/>
Hands-on training: <http://www.tasi.ac.uk/training/>
Tel: 0117 3314332
March 27th, 2008
This interesting article in the Higher (20 March 2008) by a mature first year student, starts “We’ll turn up for lectures if you treat us with respect, give us feedback and remember our names“.
No stereotypes of course, but the author does point out that “What the lecturer should always remember is that if students have turned up then they are bothered. They may not appear bothered, but if they weren’t they wouldn’t be there. Never underestimate the effort that it takes to turn up. It might mean fighting through many hazy layers of consciousness when the alarm goes off after just a couple of hours’ kip and stumbling from halls to lecture theatre. The student’s head may hurt, one eye may be almost closed and they will only be able to look out from under their fringe, but they will have made the effort.”
The author then goes on to point out what a diverse bunch you may have in the lecture and what their different needs might be. Worth a look.
May 29th, 2007
My spies in the Law School pass on on this important story. A college lecturer was awarded £365,000 for the injuries she suffered after she tripped over an OHP cable which had been left in the classroom by a colleague. She suffered severe fibromyalgia after the accident and was unlikely to be able to work again.
If you’d like to read the full case, go to Lawtel and login using your Athens ID and password, then search Lawtel Personal Injury for fibromyalgia.
I’m told that as this was a County Court judgment, it does not set a precedent, but still, watch out for trailing wires, and certainly don’t leave any behind for your colleagues.
May 11th, 2007
Online film, photo and sound collections (MMU Library)
As part of MMU’s Adult Learners Week (21 – 25 May), library staff will be offering an introduction to online film, photo and sound collections available to support your research and teaching, pep up your presentations, and for sheer entertainment. There will be quick demonstrations of resources such as Screenonline; British Pathe; the Film and Sound Archive; Anatomy.tv; and the new Media Services Off-air Recording website. Don’t miss it!
Monday 21st May
Venue: Gaskell Library Seminar Room (ROOM 310)
Time 1-2pm
Tuesday 22nd May
Venue: Aytoun Library Seminar Room 2.02
Time: 10-11am
Tuesday 22nd May
Venue: Hollings Library Seminar Room 1
Time: 2-3pm
Wednesday 23rd May
Venue: Crewe Library Seminar Room
Time: 11-12 am
Wednesday 23rd May
Venue: Alsager Library Seminar Room
Time: 2-3pm
Thursday 24th May
Venue: Didsbury Library Seminar Room
Time: 10-11am
Friday 25th May
Venue: Geoffrey Manton 201C LearnHigher Suite
Time: 1-2pm
These sessions are intended for staff rather than students and the Directorate have approved a maximum of 2 hours within the week for each staff member to participate in any sessions subject to management approval and operational requirements. For more information or to book a place, just email Mary Harrison at m.harrison@mmu.ac.uk and let her know the session that you plan to attend.
October 9th, 2006
The Guardian reports this morning on the increasing use of technology to track lecture attendance. . I’m not sure that this is fundamentally different from asking students to sign in, although it is presumably quicker to implement than a sign-in sheet. The article mentions the published benefits to retention from the scheme, but quotes the NUS as saying that the tactics are ‘draconian’ and that “more should be done to address the underlying reasons behind poor attendance.” The article doesn’t say what these reasons might be: other commitments, early mornings, poor lectures…?
August 30th, 2005
You may have got used to putting your powerpoint slides on WebCT/the network/a web page for students to look at after (or before) lectures, but have you thought of leaving a recording of the lecture as well? At Purdue University, they are offering to record all lectures this academic year for students to download (to their MP3 players, of course) and listen to later. The system is set up so that students can even receive a reminder when a new audio file has been posted.
June 22nd, 2005
This article in The Guardian is a few weeks old but it still raises a smile. Advice for dealing with a sleeping student. The putative problem is “I have a student who always turns up on time for my lectures, but then invariably nods off within 15 minutes. What should I do? “. In addition to the useful advice handed out in the article, you could also refer to our advice on How to replace a lecture with an online session and then if they fall asleep, at least you won’t know about it!
