OxTALENT- Teaching and Learning Enhanced by New Technology

The winner of the Best Academic Research Image category was Biochemistry DPhil student Jamie Zhan with The Eye. Showing technical merit, originality, and artistic vision the image was created when pouring away chemical dyes used to visualize the proteins. The bright blue solution streamed down and was collected at the drain from a radial path. Fascinated by the combination of the color and shape, Jamie saw an image of an almost perfect eye.

Runners up in the category were Andre Neves for People and Bridge and last year’s winner, Letitia Ochoa, for her photograph of a new species of from the Bromeliohyla family.

Showing clarity of message, originality of design, an innovative concept, and artistic merit the winner of the ‘Best Academic Poster’ category was Maria Demidova for her poster entitled The Nasmyth Lab Greatest Show on Earth. The poster embraces the theme of a Victorian Circus, but at the same time conveys the full scientific content that would normally be included in a conference poster. The poster is made using PhotoShop using a multitude of layers.

Runners up in the category are Penny Sarchet for her poster Genetic Anaysis of Explosive Pod Shatter in Caramine Hirsuta, and Andre Neves for his poster Evaluating Change in travel and carbon emissions following implementation of interventions to promote walking and cycling: the case of Connect2 Cardiff.

The award for the most innovative use of technology in a learning space was presented to Dr Helen Christian, Dept of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics for her evaluation of an interactive revision session using mobile phones in WebLearn.

The aim of Dr Christian’s project was to empower students to learn actively and deeply by means of peer learning and responding to an interactive quiz. The quiz was enabled via Mobile Oxford so that students could use their mobile phones in a synchronous revisions session to ‘vote’ for answers. Students felt reassured about areas where their understanding was good, and found that working in a group helped them to identify common misconceptions and why certain options were wrong. They voted overwhelmingly for more sessions incorporating the mobile Weblearn polls tool.

This year two winners received awards for the category ‘Best Use of WebLearn to Support a Course or Programme of Study’.

Rev Dr James Robson, Wycliffe Hall, was awarded for his use of WebLearn to support students’ spiritual formation. The first tutor in Wycliffe Hall to investigate and experiment with the use of WebLearn for tutoring and supporting his students in their learning and formation, his students use WebLearn to sign up for tutorial sessions, submit their essays, work in groups and recieve customised announcements alerting them to relevant resources. As a result of Dr Robson’s pioneering work in WebLearn, several of his tutorial colleagues have set up their own WebLearn sites, and the college is planning to make a seismic shift to use Weblearn as their key teaching and administrative tool.

A Cross-departmental team: CPD Centre (Continuing Education) and Department of Primary Care (Medical Sciences Division) were awarded for implementing a comprehensive WebLearn environment for use across three related modular programmes in the Health Sciences. With staff in varying roles, the team has built capacity across multiple departments. heir systematic use of WebLearn has captured the flair and enthusiasm of individuals, while supporting them within a sustainable and efficient framework. Further enhancements are the use of the survey tool to provide rapid day-by-day student feedback on key questions during intensive 5-day modules, and improvement to the navigability and accessibility of resources through links to individual timetable sessions. The award was received on behalf of the team by Adrian Stokes and Matt Penfold.

Today OUCS will host the 10th Oxford University OxTALENT awards to celebrate creative use of technology for learning, teaching, impact and outreach.

Winners will walk up the red carpet to receive awards for:

• Best use of WebLearn to support a course or programme of study
• Best use of technology in learning spaces
• Best Research Poster
• Best Research Digital Image
• Student Podcasting
• Academic Podcasting
• Use of IT for Impact and Outreach
• Best Use of Student IT for Learning

Attendance at the event is by invitation only, however if you do not have a ticket to grace the red carpet you can see the winners announced on the OxTALENT 2011 event page or by following the tweets from @LTGOxford or the twitter tag #oxtalent2011.