The Future of VLEs - Live from the University of Nottingham Teaching and Learning Conference 2025

Elephants, Data and E-Portfolios and the University of Nottingham

In the last episode of the current series we have something a little different for you. Dr Lisa Yon from the Vet School leads the Elephant Welfare International project [https://elephantwelfareinternational.org/]and she chats with Simon about the project, its work on creating positive care for elephants both in wild and in captivity as well as the experience of final year veterinary students that choose to work with animals in zoos and the wildlife. Claire then sits down with Dr Sobia Qazi from the Faculty of Engineering to discuss how Mahara is helping students studying degree apprenticeships and foundation degrees with their ongoing learning and recording their own competencies. Hosts   Ben Atkinson, Nicholas Cameron, Claire Storr and Simon Barnett   Guests   Lisa Yon and Sobia Qazi Running Order   00:00 Welcome back  00:56 Lisa Yon interview  26:14 Sobia Qazi interview  44:05 Wrap Up   Links   Read more about the Learning Technology Section in ⁠our blog [https://nottshelp.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/LTBLOG/overview]⁠.  Visit our ⁠SharePoint site⁠ [https://uniofnottm.sharepoint.com/sites/UoNLearningTechnologies] (University of Nottingham only)   We'll be back in 2026 with more episodes, bringing you more stories of teaching and research is intersecting with technology here at the University of Nottingham.    Production elements in this podcast provided by ⁠Music Radio Creative⁠ [https://musicradiocreative.com/] and ⁠Pixabay⁠ [https://pixabay.com/users/nra-lab-29858489/].

Students and Technology at the University of Nottingham

Students and tech. That age old conundrum. Are today's students digital natives or something else entirely?  First up, Simon is chatting with Dr Denise Sweeny from the School of Education about her recent research paper, “Students’ experiences of educational technology use to facilitate university learning: factors influencing their mediation of learning [https://journal.alt.ac.uk/index.php/rlt/article/view/3193/3160]” and the different ways that students can be observed with technology in their pursuit of knowledge.  Then David McMahon and Steven Galloway from the School of Life Sciences, join Simon to discuss their unique way of facilitating group work when it comes to creating a digital magazine with their students.  Hosts    Ben Atkinson, Nicholas Cameron and Claire Storr    Guests    Denise Sweeney, David McMahon and Steven Galloway  Running Order    00:00 Welcome back   01:02 Denise Sweeney discussion   20:17 Thoughts on what Denise had to say   23:32 David McMahon and Steven Galloway chat with Simon   46:38 Wrap Up    Links    Read more about the Learning Technology Section in ⁠⁠our blog⁠⁠ [https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/learningtechnology/]  which is currently undergoing a bit of facelift and the new site is coming shortly.   Visit our ⁠⁠SharePoint site⁠⁠ [https://uniofnottm.sharepoint.com/sites/UoNLearningTechnologies] (University of Nottingham only)    Don’t forget to add us to your podcast feed, we have another episode in 2 weeks time.        Production elements in this podcast provided by ⁠⁠Music Radio Creative⁠⁠ [https://musicradiocreative.com/] and ⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠ [https://pixabay.com/users/nra-lab-29858489/].

Media Assessments at the University of Nottingham

Welcome back to the podcast. In this episode we are looking at two different types of media assessments.  First up, Simon talks with Dr Will Paterson about using podcasts as a group assessment, two years ago, Will moved from an individual poster assessment to a group podcast recording. Why use audio, what do the students think of this assessment and looking back, how has Will found the whole process? In the second half of the episode, Simon chats with Dr Niamh O'Sullivan from the university Business School about a rather unique module. Niamh explains how Masters students are given a real world simulation where they need to pitch a new business plan to a Board of Directors made up of practicing business professionals all while dealing with a simulated media crisis and a press conference with journalists. Thanks to the work on this module, Niamh was invited to the United Nations in New York earlier this year to receive an award from UN Prime, you can find out more information about the awards [https://www.unprme.org/awards/] and read an interview with Niamh [https://www.unprme.org/awards/faculty-awards/2025-prme-faculty-teaching-award-8/ ]. Hosts   Nicholas Cameron, Claire Storr and Simon Barnett   Guests   Will Paterson and Niamh O'Sullivan   Running Order   00:00 Welcome back  0:53 Will Paterson interview 26:13 Nicholas and Claire reflect on Will's interview  28:24 Niamh O'Sullivan interview  52:342 Wrap Up  and congratulations to Niamh Links   Read more about the Learning Technology Section in ⁠our blog⁠ [https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/learningtechnology/]  which is currently undergoing a bit of facelift and the new site is coming shortly.  Visit our ⁠SharePoint site⁠ [https://uniofnottm.sharepoint.com/sites/UoNLearningTechnologies] (University of Nottingham only)   Don’t forget to add us to your podcast feed, we have another episode in 2 weeks time.     Production elements in this podcast provided by ⁠Music Radio Creative⁠ [https://musicradiocreative.com/] and ⁠Pixabay⁠ [https://pixabay.com/users/nra-lab-29858489/].

Assessments at the University of Nottingham

Welcome back to the pod! In this first episode of the new run we are starting our look at assessments. First up, Ben, Claire and Nicholas are joined in the studio by Dave Corbett, the Learning Technology Consultant for Medicine and Health Sciences. Dave has recently completed a secondment where he was looking at assessments across the university. Dave reflects on the secondment, highlighting some of the work that is already underway as well as looking ahead to what might be coming. Ben then sits down with Keith Benedict, Deputy Head of School of Physics and Astronomy and Teaching Assistant Chris Briggs to talk about the School's pilot of using Graide. Graide is a piece of AI software that helps improve marking for academics while aiming to improve feedback for students. Hosts  Ben Atkinson, Nicholas Cameron and Claire Storr  Guests  Dave Corbett, Keith Benedict and Chris Briggs  Running Order  00:00 Welcome back 01:03 Dave Corbett discussion 24:33 Graide pilot discussion 49:23 Wrap Up  Links  Read more about the Learning Technology Section in our blog [https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/learningtechnology/]  which is currently undergoing a bit of facelift and the new site is coming shortly. Visit our SharePoint site [https://uniofnottm.sharepoint.com/sites/UoNLearningTechnologies] (University of Nottingham only)  Don’t forget to add us to your podcast feed, we have another episode in 2 weeks time.    Production elements in this podcast provided by Music Radio Creative [https://musicradiocreative.com/] and Pixabay [https://pixabay.com/users/nra-lab-29858489/].

The Future of VLEs - Live from the University of Nottingham Teaching and Learning Conference 2025

Welcome back to the podcast! In this latest episode, we are back with something a bit different.  In this live episode recorded at the University of Nottingham’s Teaching and Learning Conference in April 2025, Nigel Owen (Associate Director for Learning Technology) chairs a roundtable discussion that looks at the future of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs).  The discussion centered around several questions: Where do we expect platforms to be in five years, and what will students want from their VLE experience?”   The panel, consisted of Professor Peter Stockwell from the School of English, Scarlett Zhang, the Student Union Education Officer for 2024/25 and the podcasts own Ben Atkinson, a Learning Technology Consultant.  Hosts  Nicholas Cameron and Claire Storr  Guests  Nigel Owen, Peter Stockwell, Scarlett Zhang and Ben Atkinson  Running Order  00:00 Welcome back  02:01Round Table Discussion  38:35 Nicholas and Claire reflect on the live discussion share their own thoughts.  49:23 Wrap Up  Links  Read more about the Learning Technology Section in our blog [https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/learningtechnology/]  Visit our SharePoint site [https://uniofnottm.sharepoint.com/sites/UoNLearningTechnologies] (University of Nottingham only)  Don’t forget to add us to your podcast feed, we have another episode in 2 weeks time.    Production elements in this podcast provided by Music Radio Creative [https://musicradiocreative.com/] and Pixabay [https://pixabay.com/users/nra-lab-29858489/].