by Jonathan Weyers
The University is making major and unique advances in its aim to produce the most IT-literate graduates in Scotland. All through the summer, project teams at the University set up several new systems to assist students in their learning and facilitate administration. The newest system called Questionmark Perception that allows staff to create on-line assessments is now working with the Virtual Learning Environment Blackboard to enhance learning.
Richard Parsons, in the Centre for Learning and Teaching said, "Getting these two programmes to work together has been a crucial advance - and the software companies tell us that we are the first institution world-wide to achieve this. The integration allows teaching and its assessment to work seamlessly together. This has involved collaboration between three main bodies: the Registry, Information Technology Services and the Learning Enhancement Unit."
Underlying these advances is a critical change to the way student information is held. "Essentially, we have put in place a new database that holds information about all the students, the modules they are currently studying and their past results," said Paula Elliot, Director of the Registry. "A key advance has been to set this up so that it automatically registers the students on the computer network. This sounds relatively simple, but in fact getting two or more computers to talk to each other often poses problems. The main benefit for our undergraduates is that they don’t have to queue up several times to register on different systems. For staff and administrators, the advantages are more significant - accurate information, available on demand."
The most obvious change for students is what they see on their PC screens when they log on and the new software available to them. Richard Murphy, Director of Information Technology Services explained: "In recent months, our staff have created a new network interface and installed several new programmes, including a completely new web-based emailing system.
A vital piece of the jigsaw is training for staff and students, as Jonathan Weyers, Director of the Learning Enhancement Unit, explained: Each student entering the University now goes through an IT induction, where they are introduced to the facilities. The University's lecturers and administrators are supported through a comprehensive staff development programme and many have been preparing hard over the last year by attending classes on the software and the underlying teaching theory."
Deputy Principal Geoff Ward said, "The advances are a terrific example of teamwork. The new systems certainly represent one of the most significant advances in teaching facilities at the University in recent years. We recently published our vision for the period up to 2007. A key part of this is our desire to achieve excellence in learning and teaching and as part of this we have set ourselves the goal of graduating the most IT literate students in Scotland. I am confident these new steps put us in an excellent position to achieve this aim."