BLU Supported Technologies
The Blended Learning Unit uses and supports a variety of learning technologies
Moodle is the virtual learning environment (VLE) at MIC. It is an interactive and collaborative portal with a number of features and activities designed to support and enhance teaching and learning. The majority of modules offered at MIC have a presence on Moodle, such that students benefit from enhanced access to supplementary reading material, discussion fora and mechanisms for feedback.
Moodle is jointly administrated by the ICT Services Department and the Blended Learning Unit. If you have an issue or request about logging in to Moodle or enrolment on Moodle courses please email icthelpdesk@mic.ul.ie. For assistance with Moodle course design, advice on pedagogical enhancement, and assistance with online assessments, email blu@mic.ul.ie.
To find out more about Moodle visit our Resources page and take a look at the Moodle and Turnitin tab.
Turnitin is a system which helps lecturers to evaluate the originality of students’ written work by checking for potential plagiarism and proper citation of references. Turnitin is integrated with Moodle at MIC.
The expanding use of Moodle means that student assignments are increasingly submitted online and can be immediately filtered through the Turnitin integration on Moodle, which indexes them for similarity against previously stored submissions, thereby promoting compliance with MIC’s Policy on Academic Integrity.
To find out more about Turnitin visit our Resources page and take a look at the Moodle and Turnitin tab.
Adobe Connect is the virtual classroom software supported by the Blended Learning Unit. It facilitates staff to deliver live presentations to students in an online teaching and learning environment, where interactions by text, audio and webcam are possible.
To find out more visit our Resources page and take a look at the Facilitating Virtual Classes tab.
Articulate has a suite of products for authoring e-learning content.
The Blended Learning Unit has expertise designing and developing online lessons and learning activities using both the Studio ’13 and Storyline tools provided by Articulate.
To find out more visit our Resources page and take a look at the Development Tools tab.
An ePortfolio is a collection of digital resources used to support learning or for the assessment of learning. The ePortfolio system currently available at MIC is Mahara. Students can upload files and other resources to their ePortfolio repository. They can create and share ePortfolio views.
- ePortfolios can be used to provide evidence of learning or achievement (e.g. teaching portfolios)
- ePortfolios can include personal learning plans.
- ePortfolios can encourage reflection on learning, resulting in increased awareness of learning strategies and areas for improvement.
To find out more visit our Resources page and take a look at the ePortfolios tab.
Screencasts are ideal for teaching simulations of how something works or for explaining visual concepts. Screencasting allows you to record your onscreen actions which can then be supplemented with narration and captions if you wish
Technologies supported by BLU include Camtasia and Screencast-o-matic. Screencast-o-matic is a free online tool. Licenses are required for continuous use of Camtasia beyond the 30 day free trial offered on their website. Screencasts can be uploaded to Moodle courses.
To find out more visit our resources page and take a look at the Development Tools tab.
Podcasts are audio recordings, most often of a person’s voice. Audio recordings can be:
- ideal for giving general or individual feedback to students.
- useful to explain difficult concepts as they can be replayed over and over.
- uploaded to Moodle courses as sound files.
Technologies supported by the Blended Learning Unit include Audacity and Camtasia. Audacity is freeware. A license is required for continuous use of Camtasia beyond the 30 day free trial available on their website.
To find out more visit our resources page and take a look at the Development Tools tab.
If you, a group of staff, or your department would like to find out more about what these tools provide, please contact the BLU by email – blu@mic.ul.ie