Teaching Development Seminar 3

This weeks learning and teaching seminar is focused on strategies to improve youth engagement and success. Come along to C12 Wednesday 26th at 12.05pm, grab a cup of soup and a roll and listen to senior staff from three schools share their experience

The Increasingly Blurred Line of Reality.

The idea of Virtual Reality (VR) is not new, in fact the first VR machine, The Sensorama was invented way back in the digital Jurassic of the 1950's.
Those of you lucky enough to grow up in the pre-digital era will remember arguing with siblings over who got to watch Disney cartoon strips through the awesome Viewmaster, who's early versions pre-date the Sensorama and will be relaunched later this year based on Google's $25 Cardboard VR headset. And of course lets not forget the universe was saved from the forces of the Dark Side by an imploring Princess Leia hologram to Obe Wan Kenobi.

So what's VR got to do with education?

In some fields of study, it will be truly game changing. At Case Western Reserve University for example, the Medical Faculty is using new Microsoft technology called Hololens. Not only can anatomy students project a human body in front of them, they can use hand movements to interact and manipulate the hologram. Think Chemistry students inside a virtual atom, Automotive students studying an engine with specific parts removed, Architecture students developing 4D buildings and doing walk throughs as not so unrealistic future examples.

To see Hololens in action, take a look at the video below.

With heavyweights like Microsoft, Google and Facebook (who bought startup VR headset maker Oculus Rift for $2 billion earlier this year) all developing VR hardware, expect to see this technology trickle into educational, industry and entertainment applications in the very near future.
For your own completely free VR like experience download this app from VR company DAQRI (iOS and Android versions available). . Follow the instructions and be amazed.

Unpacking a TEEL - What's in the box?

One of the things we often get asked is, "What's a TEEL?"
To start with, lets look at what we're not. We are not an essay writing model, nor are we a glamour aid from the pre-war era.

What we are is a team that’s here to help provide direction and build staff capability to use technology enabled and enhanced learning (TEEL) strategies. In essence we are here to help you in any way we can to use technology to help enhance the learning process with your students. Yes, we are the Moodle People, but we're more than that too.
The TEEL team consists of Ruth Boal, Linda Shaw and Josh Burrell. On Windermere Campus we are located in C11 and at The Bongard Centre room 213a. We love to have staff drop in and discuss their needs with us at any time or feel free to get in touch via email. 

Teaching Development Seminar 1

The first of the Return to the Future Series for 2015 kicks off at Windermere in A3, lunchtime August 12th. The theme is Tech4Learning. Come along, grab some soup and a bun and listen to three tutors discuss how they are currently using video to provide just in time learning resources for students.