We are kicking off the new year with another round of Teaching & Learning Showcase events here at Reading, starting next week with a session on the ‘Use of technologies in Teaching & Learning’.
Join us on Tuesday 22 January 1–2 pm in Carrington 201 for the following presentations:
- Matthew Nicholls, Department of Classics: ‘Integrating digital modelling into student teaching and assessment’
- Milan Radosavljevic, School of Construction Management and Engineering: ‘Augmented Reality and BIM Lounge’
- David Nutt, Department of Chemistry: ‘Piloting the “flipped” classroom’
All three speakers have close links with Digitally Ready and are funded under our ‘Digitally Ready for the Future’ small project scheme to develop staff and students’ digital literacies, share good practice in the use of digital technologies, and contribute to the case studies needed to drive forward strategic developments at Reading.
Matthew Nicholls, one of the University’s Digital Heroes, has developed an interest in computer modelling as a way of exploring ancient structures and bringing them to life for research, Teaching & Learning. Matthew presented at our ‘Sharing Good Practice’ event last July where he spoke about ‘Rebuilding the ancient world, digitally’.
He has also contributed to our research study into ‘Digital literacies for student employability’, having managed several student research placements under the University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP).
Digitally Ready is now funding Matthew, who is also Part 1 Coordinator in the Department of Classics, to develop Part 1 modules which link digital literacies and study skills for Classics students.
Milan Radosavljevic will be managing a UROP placement this summer, co-funded by Digitally Ready and Associate Dean for the Faculty of Science, Orla Kennedy. Milan and his student will be developing his idea for a synchronous chat tool for Construction Management students.
David Nutt has been piloting the flipped classroom approach. He has flipped two of his lecture courses, a second-year course on spectroscopy and a fourth-year course on biomolecular modelling, transforming them into workshops where concepts are put into practice, the students having prepared with the help of a video podcast beforehand. Back in September, David blogged about his thoughts on ‘Preparing to turn the classroom upside down’ so it’s time for an update on how he has bedded down with this new approach to teaching.
If this has whetted your appetite, we’ve got more of these informal, bring-your-own-lunch sessions coming up – each with three speakers presenting on a topical issue, followed by questions and discussion:
- ‘Closing the feedback loop’ , 12 February 2013
- ‘Inclusive practices in teaching, learning and assessment’, 12 March 2013
All sessions this term will be chaired by Matthew Nicholls.
For details of all our events, take a look at the Events section of this website at https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/digitallyready/events.