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As a PhD student, I have regularly used Moodle, Teams (and the wider Microsoft package), Zoom, and Padlet. And also occasionally Echo360 and Xerte (I think!) - and possibly some others I'm not aware of!

As a tutor I have also used Turn-It In.

I would say that broadly speaking these have all been useful tools. Moodle has an accessible interface and can be an effective medium for sharing and collaborating on ideas. Teams is enormously useful in enabling online participation in talks, conferences etc (occasional technical glitches aside!), and in opening up a new avenue for participation which allows for more inclusive learning. And I found Turn-It In a very effective tool for marking work and providing clear feedback.

In general I'd say the problems I've experienced have mostly concerned the ways in which students opt (or have the ability to) to engage with these tools. They allow for online participation which has many benefits, but compared with face-to-face teaching it also brings a greater opportunity for disengagement (e.g. in attentiveness; or in contributions to online discussion), which might result in inequalities and inconsistency in learning experience.

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I have used Moodle, Turnitin and PowerPoint as a learner and a tutor both in a hybrid format and in person. As a learner/researcher, I have used Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Zoom's breakout facility is a particularly useful feature for large meetings or conferences. I hadn't heard of WhatsApp as a learning tool but thought of it as a communication app.

The sheer power of platforms such as Turnitin to check for plagiarism has been a game changer in higher education.

What do people here think about higher education institutions becoming increasingly dependent on technology platforms in such a way that reduces their autonomy, i.e., such technology platforms being independent of any higher education institutions? Some of the issues were already highlighted in the material for day two, such as:

C - Charging Model: Make sure there are no unexpected costs.

U - Unsustainable: Ensure there is longevity in the tools such that they are still usable when they are needed.

I - Identity Data: Ensure any of your personal data will not be stolen, and that it is kept safe according to GDPR.

O - Ownership and Recovery: Make sure you retain ownership of your materials and that you can recover them should the tool collapse.

There seems to be a lot of trust in these technology platforms. But then, the only alternative is to hire a developer to develop a bespoke platform for which the university has exclusive ownership, which would solve points C, U, I and O.

I think the affordances offered by technology platforms are particularly advantageous. Such as:

Multi-modality

Editability

Interactivity

Traceability

Rhetoricity

Arguably, such benefits as those above are more easily measured and managed through technology platforms than traditional face-to-face teaching contexts.

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As a learner, I’ve used all three VLE’s mentioned in this section - Blackboard, Moodle, and Campus - as well as both Zoom and Microsoft Teams.  Of the three VLEs, Blackboard has been my favourite to use due to its simplistic interface and clear design which shows the trail of which you’ve clicked on folders.  This last point I’ve found difficult on other VLEs and contributes towards unnecessary lost time.  As for video conferencing software, I much prefer Zoom over Microsoft Teams, though I contribute this greatly to technical logistics rather than usability.  I do recognise that as someone in the humanities and social sciences, the tools/platforms I use don’t require nearly as much technical prowess as other fields.

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As a Co-ordinator I used Moodle to organise Disabled Students' and Support Workers' courses and to disseminate information. I have used BigBlueButton, Zoom, Skype, Kerboodle, Kahoot, ClassDojo (as a reward system), WhatsApp and I just trained to use Xerte. As a learner and notetaker, MOOC, Echo360, Teams are some of the platforms that I acquired knowledge and skills from.

I like the student engagement and interaction of Kahoot and WhatsApp, the organisation of Moodle and MOOC, and the accessible recordings of Echo360 and BigBlueButton.

The opportunity to clearly label sections with headings and the easy of navigating Moodle and MOOC makes learning organised giving the power to pace learning to suit individual needs to the learner. This autonomy is beneficial to the independent learner while the easy of navigation helps to review or reference learnt material.

Social interaction, engagement and instant feedback afforded by video calls on Skype, quiz on Kahoot, and homework on Kerboodle respectively motivate learners as evidenced learning encourages fosters interest and further engagement.

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As a teacher I have used kahoot, echo, moodle, microsoft powerpoint. Kahoot has been brilliant for a quick change in pace with the students, get them back engaged and to test their intake of the lecture (which I can feed back into next year lesson plans). I often use two powerpoint presentations, one released prior to the lecture and one released afterwards so that the main information is present but any interactive elements from the lecture are removed until afterwards - I want them to be thinking and take them on a journey, not just have them reading the next slide. Moodle I have used as a structure to organise content and to make sure the content (e.g. echo recordings) is available to those that attend asynchronously. I feel that I have not made the most of these features, for example chat or discussions have tended to be in-person content rather than through online sessions. This is something I am hoping to take away from this session, a way to engage with those that are online asynchronous learners. I also have not done any synchronous teaching where I am live and in person, as personally I have found this isnt something that works well, but again something I hope to discover more about that balance in this course.

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I have been using below platforms, tools, and applications.

1.) Moodle - for teaching and learning, marking; I think Moodle is a very good way to make learning environment productively.

2.) Teams - for meetings and my schedule.

3.) Power Point- teaching materials for seminars.

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As a teacher, I have experience in using the following platforms, tools and applications in facilitating an online course and creating teaching materials:
1. Moodle - for teaching and assessments
2. Zoom - for teaching
3. WhatsApp - for teaching and communication
4. PowerPoint - For the preparation of teaching materials
5. Google drive for storage and sharing of resources
6. e-learning authoring tools such as xerte

I like using moodle due to its robustness in delivering teaching and learning materials and the availability of different assessment question types. However, it requires a bit of time to explore and learn how some of the tools in moodle could be used to facilitate learning effectively.

I like zoom for conducting a synchronous session of my classes. However, it consumes a lot of data, which poses a challenge for students with limited data connectivity, especially in developing countries.

I like PowerPoint for presenting my teaching materials due to the various animations which can aid students' engagement.

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As a student I frequently use Teams and Moodle for my learning. I do find that Teams is particularly useful for communication and collaboration, while Moodle is designed to support the management of online courses. The choice of which platform to use will depend on the specific needs of the instructor and the students, and it may be beneficial to use both in combination to provide a comprehensive online learning experience. Other tools and applications commonly used in online learning include video conferencing software like Zoom, Google Meet, and Skype, collaborative tools like Google Docs, Dropbox that help instructors and students to communicate and access using these tools to support blended learning.

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Platforms/tools/applications I have experienced as a teacher and learner

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Platforms/tools/applications I have experienced as a teacher and learner

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As a teacher, I have used Teams to: 1) deliver synchronous and asynchronous teaching; 2) use it as a forum for students to ask questions (in general chat) and storage for relevant teaching materials. I also used Microsoft Form to get feedback from students after classes. Additionally, I also used Moodle to make an announcement, publish teaching and learning materials, and deliver assessment and student feedback (via Turnitin submission)

I find that in terms of usability, Microsoft Teams is much easier to use than Moodle. However, Moodle provides an easy structure to organise the content (easier to follow by students). Moodle also allows for a summary of student engagement, which is lacking in Teams. This means that, by relying on Teams, I will not be able to know if students have accessed particular learning materials or not.

I like using Microsoft Form, although it is not as intuitive as Google Form. However, it is much more secure than Goole Form and is consistent with the UoN Data regulatory framework. Providing feedback on Turnitin is straightforward. I could provide detailed feedback (at particular sections of student work) which they can then use to improve their future work.

As a student, I have experience in using Moodle Teams (including break-out rooms), as well as smaller apps to capture live feedback such as quick poll, live feedback, etc. My experience of using Moodle is that it is rather clunky to use, especially the bit before entering a particular course or module. Moreover, as the module or course page is designed individually by lecturers, there is no set "style or set up" for the page, which means that I have to constantly adjust my interaction with different courses/modules, sometimes resulting in a longer time to find particular information on the Moodle page.

The breakout room in Teams is great as it allows groups to discuss among themselves and mimic face-to-face interaction with a teacher joining in at a random time and offer some feedback and query our discussion progress (providing scaffolding for us as learners).

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As a learner, I have used Moodle, Microsoft team and zoom. Moodle platform is fantastic because it makes learning environment friendly, it gives link to access further information and make course assessment. Microsoft team is also wonderful as it helps raise concern while course is going on by sending reactions or chat, ask questions or make contributions.