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LTQ Creative Connections
Now that is SMART… 24/7 online academic support program A 24/7 online academic support in assignment writing and basic mathematics will be trialled by LTQ in semester 2. The virtual tutors will complement a suite of academic support and services already being provided by LTQ and The Learning Centres at the three campuses.
The trial will extend academic learning support to focus on reaching our external students residing in various time zones. The service has a response time of 3-4 hours and students can have both live tutorial support and/or specific feedback on essays.
All virtual tutors are qualified to at least Masters level and the professional service is yet another unique response to providing personalised learning support that is ‘just in time’. The 24/7 academic support will be hosted by Smarthinking in the USA.
USQ and Moodle - making history together USQ has ensured that it is staying at the forefront of digital education through the recent upgrade of the learning management system (LMS), Moodle 1.9, to Moodle 2.2 for S2, while also hosting many Australian and international educators in two major eLearning events this year. USQ was the first university in Australia to use the Moodle LMS at a corporate level, proving to be a leader in the sector, with many other universities now adopting this system. With the upgrade to Moodle 2.2 and with the proliferation of HTML5, USQ is taking a front-foot approach. USQ was the joint host for the ‘2012 Moodlemoot’ on the Gold Coast in July and will also be hosting the first ever ‘HTML5 in Higher Education Summit’ in
November, at USQ’s Toowoomba Campus. The implementation of Moodle 2.2 has brought many updates and enhancements to the current USQStudyDesk platform including integrating Moodle, the ePortfolio and digital repository systems into one integrated USQStudyDesk environment. Dr Michael Sankey, Director, (Learning Environments) has been instrumental in leading the upgrades and ensuring USQ is on the front foot. On the surface students will not see much difference between Moodle 1.9 and Moodle 2.2, but it is what is under the hood that makes this really exciting for the users. In 2013 we will also start using the powerful data sets that sit
behind Moodle and trial the Moodle Learning Analytics Plug -in developed by NetSpot and Monash University. This enables USQ staff to start exploring learning analytics to inform their course development. The HTML5 Symposium will be looking at what affordances HTML5 can provide the higher education sector and we will be having brainstorming sessions, as well as a key note address from Phil Whitehouse from DT Digital in Sydney and Frances Kneebone from V2 Training in Brisbane. HTML5 paves the way for agonistic device delivery of content.
Fast Fact
StudyDesk welcome page EDX1280 accessed 40,557 times in the first four weeks of S2, 2012
Fast Fact
StudyDesk welcome page LAW3202 accessed 1,789 times in the first four weeks of S2, 2012.
See below for registration details.
USQ HTML5 Symposium HTML5: Exploring New Dimensions: HTML5 in Higher Education
The technology to watch in 2012 and beyond, particularly in higher education, is HTML5 (Higher Ed Tech Talk, 2012). Not because it is more efficient, but because of the way it has stimulated mobile and e-book proliferation to the user. It simplifies the playing of media on mobile devices and it provides greater usability for ebooks.
So it’s all about how HTML5 will provide us with enhanced standards for web development and e-publishing.
This symposium will have two distinct themes running through it; Designing for HTML5 and HTML5: Exploring New Dimensions: Developing for HTML5.
As we are now seeing a surge in the use of digital content consumption devices by our students (and staff), it is important as educators and developers, to fully understand the affordances HTML5, CSS3 and Java Script have for us.
Keynote Speakers: Phil Whitehouse , DT Digital – Sydney and Francis Kneebone, V2 training – Brisbane
HTML5 in Higher Education November 19 & 20 University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba Sponsors: USQ: PVC (Learning, Teaching & To find out more and to register Quality) and Faculty of Sciences, go to: http://www.usq.edu.au/ Dept. of Mathematics and Computing html5-symposium QSITE Toowoomba Chapter
ACS Toowoomba Chapter