JISCAsk

Here you'll find all the questions sent to us through JISCAsk with answers from the team.

Send any questions by email to support@rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk and put JISCAsk in the subject line. If we use your question you will receive one of our pen drives with an RSC lanyard - JISC for the asking!

Q: I hear about so many new technologies and software for e-learning and I haven't time to explore them fully. How do I decide which e-learning products I should learn about?
A: It's easy to get overwhelmed with what's available. In the first instance I would suggest you concentrate on learning about the technologies that are currently available at your own institution. For example, find out what interactive whiteboards you have, check out your VLE and see if there is any resource creation software that your institution already owns - Joan Walker / Senior eAdvisor: Curriculum Management

Q: At a recent staff development event, our Support for Learning Department talked about the fact that materials and information presented electronically will generally be more accessible than 'traditional' paper based alternatives. If this is the case, how can I ensure that any information I produce in electronic format is as accessible as possible?
A: Yes it is a fact, materials online are almost always more accessible than paper based alternatives. It is important to produce materials electronically; as this can be a solution to many accessibility issues. For example colours, fonts and magnification are often easy to customise. Text can usually be read out with appropriate screen reading software. Navigation can be easier than using a book (particularly for students with visual difficulties or for those with concentration difficulties). Standard "office type" software such as word processors and presentation software like PowerPoint can positively add to the usability of resources, particularly if designed with accessibility in mind. - Margaret McKay / eAdvisor: Accessibility & Inclusion

Q:The WWW is so vast, how do I discriminate between good and bad sites? I can easily spend an hour searching and not find anything particularly useful.
A: Try Intute, a free online service funded by JISC providing you with access to the very best Web resources for education and research. The service is created and hosted by a network of UK universities and partners. Subject specialists select and evaluate the websites in the database and write high quality descriptions of the resources. I recommend that you click on the "Resources for FE" section of the site which is organised in familiar subject areas. Each sub-section includes a link to a subject specific search facility, a link to a subject specific tutorial and most have links to case studies which provide ideas on how to use electronic resources for learning & teaching. - Joan Walker / Senior eAdvisor: Curriculum Management

Q:When I'm searching the Internet, how do I know what information is free for me to use and what is protected by copyright?
A: You should always assume that all material on the Internet is protected by copyright even if there isn't a copyright notice on the website. Many websites will have a copyright notice which can usually be found at the bottom of the homepage. This will make it clear what you can and cannot do with the information on the website. If there isn't a copyright notice always check with the owner of the website if you wish to copy or use any of the material. Recently, however, it has become possible to search the Internet by filtering out material by Creative Commons licence. Google have added this to their advanced search option. Creative Commons is a way for a website owner to let those who visit their site know what they can and cannot do with the information in simple terms. - Fionnuala Carmichael / RSC Manager

Q:Where would I find out about training at the RSC and how do I book on to a course?
A: To find out what training we have at the RSC go to the event page on our website. Here you will find some extra information about each event and also a booking form. To book onto an event simply open the booking form and either fill it in on-line and email it to us at support@rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk or print it out and post it to us (but don't forget to ask your staff developer first). You will then receive an email confirming if you have a space. It's as easy as that! - Kirsty Menzies / Senior Administrator

Q:I have been told that some students may need information in alternative formats. What does this mean?
A: Many learners have difficulty accessing printed material as a result of sensory, physical, literacy or dyslexic type difficulties. This type of difficulty is often referred to as 'print disabled'. Other students may benefit from information in alternative formats because they have English as an Additional Language. Information can be provided in a variety of ways other than printed text on paper, and many students use technology to allow them to access this information more easily - Margaret McKay / eAdvisor: Accessibility & Inclusion

Q:I'm interested in using online assessments with my students but don't have the time or skills to develop an assessment bank. What do you suggest?
A: Research identifies a number of benefits to using online assessments (sometimes referred to as eAssessment). Benefits include the fact that immediate & timely feedback can be given to students, and there is a reduction in marking time for tutors.
There are a number of assessment banks becoming available nationally such as SQAs SOLAR project. This project is making available online Summative assessment resources. These are being developed at HN level for Computing & IT, Engineering, Health and Social Care, & Languages.
For formative assessment resources, it's worthwhile looking at the COLA resources. This project led by COLEG has produced over 250 assessments across a range of curricular areas. Further details can be found on the COLEG website or by speaking to the COLEG Named Contact in your college. - Celeste McLaughlin / eAdvisor: eAssessment & eResources

Q:Why won't our IT department let me use Skype on the college network?
A: Skype technology was developed as a peer to peer network of skype nodes much in the same way as the file sharing applications Kazaa and Napster.This means that any Skype client left running will assess how much bandwidth is available to it and then use it for it's own Skype services without the user ever suspecting what's happening to their own PC becoming, this is called a Super Node. In practical terms this means that your Skype client could be routing calls for half of Europe to the US all via your desktop PC swamping your college network, just because you left your skype client running. Not only that, it can also introduce viruses onto your PC which could then spread to other workstation throughout your college. To combat this JANET will shortly be introducing a new service called JANET TALK it's a software product that offers similar functions, services and gateways the telephone network that skip does but without the risks and network impact. - Mark Clark / eAdvisor: Technology & Infrastructure Management

Q:What is Web 2.0?
A: Well it's difficult to give a definitive answer to this. In it's simplest form, web 2.0 refers to technologies that enable the concept of the "writable" web where users are not just consumers but actively contribute to the content of it. The commonly used services that exploit Web 2.0 technologies are Blogs, Wikis, Social Bookmarking sites, Social Networking sites, content syndication (RSS feeds), Multimedia sharing sites and Podcasting services. For more information on all of these go to our section on learning technologies - Joan Walker / Senior eAdvisor: Curriculum Management

Q:I was looking at some terrific teaching resources available from National Learning Network but I can't seem to download them. How can I use them on our VLE?
A: The NLN materials can be viewed and downloaded from the NLN website. you'll need to register and will require an institutinal password which they will email to you during the registration process. A new facility on the site means that you can select a number of learning objects, make a collection and a url or web address will be generated which you can give to you students to access the materials. Contact us the RSC if you need any help with this. - Celeste McLaughlin / eAdvisor: eAssessment & eResources

Q:I'd like to create some student activities that exploit resources that I've found on the Web but I don't have regular access to a computer lab. I'm not sure where to start can you make any suggestions.
A: I know it's sometimes difficult to organise access to computers and plan when you will require them in the context of a traditionally organised unit or course. My advice would be to keep it simple at the start and try to encourage your learners to investigate topics in a semi structured way by distributing activity sheets as "Word" documents. Feedback sessions to discuss, focus, contextualise and consolidate the topic can follow on. It is easy to insert a link to a website (hyperlink) by typing in the web address or copying and pasting the web address from the address bar in your browser. Press the space bar and the link will become active and change to blue, underlined text.
A series of questions with links to appropriate information sources means that your learners will be pointed to sites that you have selected but will not be restricted to them if they wish to find others. It will allow you to exploit visually stimulating sites that can potentially include multimedia, quizzes and games if appropriate but does not involve learning a new software package or having specialist skills. - Joan Walker / Senior eAdvisor: Curriculum Management

Q:I know that I cannot use images from web pages. Where can I find images that are copyright free?
A: Yes it's tempting at times to use images from web pages, but as you say quite rightly, you are breaching copyright by using them without permission. There are sites that promise free images but in my experience they aren't very reliable. If in doubt though check the terms of use. See if your institution subscribes to SCRAN or the Education Image Galley. Access to these collections has been negotiated though JISC and you will need an institutional password to access them - see your learning resources team. TASI, funded by JISC, is the Technical Advisory Service for Images and provides lots of useful information on the use of images for learning & teaching. Always check terms of use before using images. Best of all, get your digital camera out and take your own! - Joan Walker / Senior eAdvisor: Curriculum Management

Questions will be answered by the most appropriate member of RSC staff. Send your question by email to support@rsc-sw-scotland.ac.uk and put JISCAsk in the subject line. The sender of the question used will receive one of our pen drives with an RSC lanyard - JISC for the asking!