ICT News, October 2006
Additional news items are available to staff only.
WebCT upgrade
The University is undertaking an upgrade to its WebCT learning management system. Karen Davies, ICT Project Manager, says that the aim of the WebCT Upgrade Project is to provide a newly supported, standard, scalable enterprise-wide learning management platform.
This initiative is driven by the Learning and Teaching portfolio of the University. This exciting upgrade will provide a new learning management system and materials for staff and students, which will greatly improve the quality of the on-line part of the students' whole learning experience.
Roll-out is scheduled for Semester 1 2007. Further information is available on the WebCT CE6 Upgrade News page of the Flexible Online Learning Team website, and in an August background document.
Video-Conference Teaching Workshops
ICT and the Institute for Learning and Teaching are running two video-conference teaching workshops during November.
Video- and Data-Conferencing over the Internet
Date and time: Thursday 16 November 2006, 1.00pm - 4.00pm
Venue: Camperdown Campus, Carslaw Building, Room 354
This seminar will introduce you to the basics of Video- and Data-Conferencing over the Internet infrastructure at the University of Sydney. The seminar will review the types of equipment and applications used to support live communication and demonstrations, including synchronous file-sharing and bridging (or connecting) multiple sites. The seminar is aimed at users and potential users of the technology as it is available at USyd. The applications explored are suitable not only for supporting teaching and learning, but also for conducting staff meetings, project management, research collaboration, small tutorials, seminars, events and remote participation in international conferences.
Staff on all campuses of the University are welcome, but note that this session itself will not be run as a video-conference to other campuses.
This workshop will be limited strictly to 15 participants. Please register online.
For queries about the workshop, please email the workshop facilitator (ICT Video-Conferencing Development and Implementation).
Effective Video-Conference Teaching Workshop
Date and time: Friday 17 November 2006, 9.30am - 12.30pm
Venue 1: Camperdown Campus, Carslaw Building Room 354
Venue 2: Cumberland campus, Room 311B
Facilitators: Rafik Razzouk, ICT, and Kim McShane, Institute for Learning and Teaching
This half-day workshop aims to introduce academic teaching staff to educational strategies for effectively engaging students when teaching via video-conferencing and video-lecturing. Ideally participants will have completed the other half-day video-conference workshop "Video- and Data-Conferencing over the Internet", which introduces participants to the technical side of the medium.
In this workshop, we will establish your particular interests and needs, and we will demonstrate and discuss a range of techniques necessary to teach effectively via this medium (including: presentation techniques, preparing visuals, using a document camera, and running simultaneous PowerPoint). You will be able to practice video-conference teaching techniques between the two venues, supported by feedback from the facilitators and other participants. Workshop certificates will awarded to participants who attend the entire session including presenting a micro-teaching session via video-conferencing.
Staff on all campuses of the University are welcome, but note that this workshop will be run between booked venues at Camperdown and Cumberland (Faculty of Health Sciences) campuses. Colleagues at both campuses are encouraged to take part!
The workshop will be limited strictly to 15 participants at each end. Please register online.
For queries about the workshop, please email and/or .