This post is about getting the know the Moodle team and also includes a brief introduction to the pronunciation guide for students.
Meet the team (in their own words)
Pete Roberts
“The Learning Technology Services team (with an emphasis on Learning) look after existing Technology Enhanced Learning platforms – like our Moodle VLE and Myprogress.
There’s a lot I like about our role in St George’s – for example it’s nice that staff and students can just drop in to see us during the working week. This connects us with our users so we can address issues quickly and make improvements where necessary. I really like the variety, one minute we’ll be helping someone to make a screencast and the next we’ll be helping staff design a learning activity in Moodle – like the pronunciation guide with DrSanYuMayTun – which speaks unfamiliar medical terms out loud.
It’s quite interesting that no one can seem to agree on what a Learning Technologist is – or for that matter the job title which seems to be different at every University, but it’s really a bunch of different skills covering technology and pedagogy.
It’s taken me a while to realise this, but you really do learn all the time – and skills you don’t even think about from years ago come in very useful. For example I did a BSc in Biological Sciences and recently a PG Cert in Online and Distance education with the Open University – but I regularly draw on experience from every other random thing I’ve ever done – I was in a band, produced videos, developed web sites large and small, was an online journalist, teaching assistant, photographer, sound engineer, ambient DJ and electronic musician. Funnily enough it all helps.”
Kerry Dixon
“I graduated last summer with a BSc in Biomedical Sciences. As part of my degree I completed a placement year at St George’s as a Learning Technologist enabling me to gain experience and new skills. After graduating I worked for a while in electronic clinical trial assessment before rejoining St George’s in November. I am interested in science communication/ education and I enjoy creating online learning resources and activities such as quizzes.”
Jacquelene Gill
“With a degree in BSc in Managing Business Information and subsequent qualifications in learning and technology I have had a varied background in IS/IT. I have enjoyed developing systems, training users and managing the implementation/upgrade of various technologies. I am currently supporting Myprogress (the ePortfolio system used at SGUL) for both students and staff which keeps me busy. Aside from work I love arts and crafts, knitting, music, singing and the simple things in life. I do try to incorporate creativity into my work as long as time, resources, ‘brain power’ permit. “
Ludmilla Dias
“I am currently studying a Computer Science degree at Brunel University London. For my placement year, I am working as a Learning Technologist at St George’s University to gain work experience in relation to my degree. Alongside the Learning Technology Services team, my role involves tasks surrounding Moodle and Myprogress. By the end of my placement, I hope to gain skills that I can use in the future, potentially for my Final Year Project, and further understanding of the career fields I could possibly get into.”
The Pronunciation Guide on Moodle
The pronunciation guide is a new resource created for students by Dr SanYuMay Tun, with the help of the Moodle team.
She gave us a few words on how she came up with the idea for the guide.
In my teaching sessions, I was finding that students were sometimes hesitating to contribute in discussions because of uncertainty over how to pronounce words they had only come across in written form.
To help with this, I developed an audio pronunciation guide so that you can hear the words spoken aloud and practise saying them confidently. The concept is that I add new words according to requests, which are anonymous. There’s also a feedback page so suggestions and comments would be great. Give it a try!
Dr SanYuMay Tun
The guide can be found in the Student Help Area in Moodle.
It is important to consider copyright status when adding course materials to modules in Moodle. Remember that distributing material in electronic format, including uploading it to Moodle, constitutes copying and is likely to infringe the rights of the copyright owner unless you have permission from them.
If you are in any doubt please ask permission from the copyright owner before you copy, modify or distribute their work. Contact the SGUL Library at library@sgul.ac.uk if you need further advice.
Q: I want to make a journal article or an extract from a book available for students in Moodle. What do I need to do?
A: Under the terms of our Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) HE Licence only designated library & Moodle support staff may scan and upload published material into Moodle. This is because all digital copies of published material must include a CLA copyright notice and a detailed record of all such copies must also be kept by the library and forwarded to the CLA.
The principle of ‘fair dealing’ permits the library to carry out a certain amount of copying/scanning for you for the purposes of private study or non-commercial research – but we have to abide by the following regulations:
the library can scan up to 5% or one whole chapter (whichever is the greater) from a book;
the library can scan up to 5% or one whole article (whichever is the greater) from a single issue of a journal;
the library can normally only scan material from publishers who publish in the UK or USA provided they are not on the CLA excluded works list;
all scanned PDFs must have a CLA copyright notice attached to the front. The library will do this for you when we scan and upload your article into Moodle;
any item that is to be scanned must to be owned by the institution. If it is not owned by us, the library will try to obtain a copyright-fee paid version from the British Library which we will scan and upload into Moodle for you.
Tip: Instead of uploading a journal article and/or book chapter in PDF (or other) format into Moodle you may find it easier to directly link to an article or chapter. If you are unsure how to do this, see the short video clip below – ‘How to link to articles in Moodle using SFX’.
Please note: both SGUL staff & students have off-site access to electronic content and resources provided by the Library via Shibboleth authentication. Please see the Library’s ‘Accessing SGUL electronic resources off-site’ guide (PDF file) for further information.
For advice & assistance on uploading material into Moodle, please contact the SGUL Library at library@sgul.ac.uk.
Q: Can I use extracts of text, tables or diagrams (e.g. from books or journal articles) in my lecture slides and upload them into Moodle?
A: The scanning of printed material into electronic form for the purposes of private study or non-commercial research may be regarded as ‘fair dealing’. However, the material may not subsequently be republished e.g. placed on a web page or included in teaching materials which are held in a Moodle module.
Under the terms of the CLA Licence held by SGUL, only designated library & Moodle support staff may scan extracts from published material, within certain limits, for use in Moodle – provided it is covered under the terms of this agreement. Currently, the scanning element of this licence only permits copying from publications published in the UK or USA, provided they are not on the CLA excluded works list. Each scanned extract must include the CLA copyright notice and a detailed record of scanned extracts must be kept by the library.
Q: Do I need copyright clearance to use lecture slides, images or video in Moodle?
A: Slides from your own lectures, for which you hold the copyright, can be easily incorporated into a Moodle course. However you will need copyright permission to use materials which belong to other individuals. Take care to ensure that all images and multimedia in presentations are copyright free or permitted by the rights holder. Also, please be aware that permission to use an item may not give you permission to adapt it, so (for example) you may have permission to use an image in its original form, but not if you crop it (check the licence terms).
It is possible to include digitised TV or radio excerpts which have been recorded under the Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licence. The Licence stipulates that an excerpt must not be edited and should be clearly identified with the programme title, date of recording and channel, together with a statement saying it was recorded under the terms of the ERA Licence.
Q: Am I able to use anything downloaded from the internet (e.g. images) in my teaching materials?
A: If you wish to use an image from a website you must make sure that you have permission from the copyright holder to do so. Increasingly, commercial website owners are including a watermark in an image to discourage illegal copying.
To avoid any possible copyright issues, it is best to only use images where it explicitly states on the website or against the image that the material is in the public domain or covered by an open license such as Creative Commons (CC). For more information about Creative Commons licences, see the section below ‘What is Creative Commons and how do the licenses work?’.
There are an increasing number of web sites available that provide a large number of good quality images with unrestricted use. A good selection can be found at Creative Commons Search. The Library also lists websites for images and video under a CC license or in the public domain here.
When using any image, it is good practice to provide attribution (e.g. under the image on a PowerPoint slide). Creative Commons provide guidance here for images using this type of license here.
For any other image in the public domain, unless the website specifies how to attribute, under an image include “source: <web address to page where image is located>” and name of creator / photographer if known.
Q: Does copyright exist on the internet? Can I use materials that I find on the internet for educational purposes?
A: Copyright exists on web-based materials in the same way as other published materials. You cannot cut and paste information or images into your site from another site without permission. If you wish to direct students to other web-based materials, you can link to other websites.
Before downloading or copying any material from the web you should pay particular attention to any copyright statement, terms and conditions or license attached to the site. Increasingly, organisations are including this information prominently on their site and you should read it and take note of any specific restrictions. For example, see the BBC’s terms of use for their website.
Many educational websites will freely grant permission for other academics to use their material. You will need to identify the copyright holder and often the webmaster for a site is the most useful first point of contact. Their contact details are usually included on the bottom of web pages.
Images are equally covered by copyright law and increasingly commercial website owners are including a watermark in their images to discourage illegal copying. There are several web sites available that provide a large number of good quality, free-to-use images i.e. in the public domain or covered by an open license such as Creative Commons (CC). A good selection can be found at Creative Commons Search. The Library also lists websites for images and video under a CC license or in the public domain here.
A: Generally, linking to other sites does not cause copyright issues. However, there are good practice guidelines you should adhere to:
If you link to a resource available on the web, do check from time to time that it is still valid as material may be moved or taken down
If you are linking to an external website you may wish to ensure the link opens in a new browser window or a new tab. This is to make it clear that the user is visiting an external site. It is particularly important when you are linking from Moodle, as it will help the student navigate back to Moodle
Q: Can I link to electronic resources available through the Library?
A: Yes, that’s fine. Most of our electronic resources can be accessed off site as well, but require a log in using a University username and password. If you need help with setting up links in Moodle please see the short video clip below – ‘How to link to articles in Moodle using SFX’.
Q: What is Creative Commons and how do the licenses work?
A: Creative Commons (CC) is a way of licensing material to protect some of the rights, rather than copyright which protects the work entirely. You can find out more about the Creative Commons movement and the licenses on the CC website. So, for example, some people are happy to allow you to re-use their work (e.g. an image, a video) if it’s for a non-commercial purpose and if you give them credit. You can search for material licensed under different types of Creative Commons licenses using Creative Commons Search. The Library also lists websites for images and video under a CC license or in the public domain here.
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