We had to change our logo to ‘Technology Enhanced Learning with Plymouth University’. The ‘with Plymouth University’ text had to stay dark grey, and as we’ve become quite attached to our magenta colour the logo really sorted itself out.

We initially created the new logo with a solid white background, and we were really amazed about how striking the magenta stood out from the screen, this then became the focus for our style. The problem with the previous website was clutter. The text was pretty small, which is okay as long as there is imagery to break it up, but there wasn’t. Therefore this time I was conscious that if we were going to go down the minimalist route I had the opportunity to address this. Before our readers would view a full screen width of small text and it was hard to decide where to focus your attention. Now the user is presented with a clean, refreshing, modern, simple interface with a fixed width. These days I prefer to design fixed width websites as its easier to cater for the varied screen sizes, ranging from small mobile devices (roughly 240- 320 pixels) to large screens such as my 27″ iMac with a massive width of 2560 pixels.

We have kept the ATbar developed by University of Southampton as it is a great OpenSource tool for accessibility and it contains some really nifty features. I won’t list them here, but be sure to check it out if you haven’t seen it before.

At the time of writing this I am firstly launching this site, but also developing my entire site. One thing I am experimenting with is the new HTML5 media queries. This will allow me to write multiple stylesheets that display depending on screen sizes. As HTML5 support grows I’ll will be phasing this into this project. Currently this site is HTML5 ready but doesn’t use any semantic tags, this will be phased in at a different date.

The only problem we have had is providing an awareness of the space to our staff across the university. Therefore I drew up a couple of designs for flyers, posters and advertisements in electronic format.

In my designs I set out to achieve the following. Firstly per sieve the space as it actually is. Therefore the drawings were based on the real environment. Secondly, make the space look like a hive of activity (not just a bunch of computers on a work bench) and thirdly, make it look eye catching. A lot of information is often thrown around and we needed something that would stand out from the rest.

The process

I photographed the space and imported them into Adobe Illustrator, I then traced each individual computer and the work bench. I then asked for some lovely volunteers to model for me, three said yes, so I manages to make a cameo appearance (thats me on the left).

Once everything was traced and appropriately scaled I imported the vector drawings as a smart object into Photoshop where I could add some textures and a background.

Then, when I was happy with the composition and the colour scheme, I moved the materials over to InDesign and added the text.

Banner design in Adobe InDesign

One thing you probably can’t see from the photo is that the banners take on a 3D box-like form, meaning there were 4 sides to design. The final result of the designs can be seen below, this is the second design I created as we decided to go for a theme, rather than two differently designed banners. This will be easier for the future I we decided to get further banners printed for other topics.

Banners erected

All of the work here was created in Adobe InDesign, the format is designed to be generic so if another topic needs a banner, we can tweak the colours, the text and the images and the format can stay the same. The raster images at the top of each banner was taken from our archive and then masked. As we are also advertising the URL’s for each topic I included the QR codes as an additional access route to the sites.

These banners get used at various events throughout the year and due to their eye-catching designs, people are drawn to our stand where we’ll chat about what we offer and how we can support them in their teaching.

Simple e-Portfolio promotional flyer

.

e-Portfolio mini awareness poster

.

To create interactive, online scenarios for use on BA ECS using Poser (3D character animation software) that makes characters more engaging and interactive;
Test new decision tree/branching models of presentation;
Compare student attitudes, through feedback questionnaires, to new, more fully rendered character models with what was said about the originals in previous evaluations;
Rigorously evaluate the interactive element, decision tree format, the opportunity for formative ‘simulated’ workplace, work practice role modelling. We will be using a user group to facilitate this process that will be engaged in the developmental phases as well as in sampling the completed product.
The child in this story, Elliott, is 3 years old and has serious difficulties with attention deficit syndrome. He has problems sitting still, concentrating and sharing. We previously produced a similar scenario, using Flash, to teach students how to deal with a child (David) who has been physically abused. We are planning to revisit ‘David’ incorporating a more detailed ‘decision tree’ approach.

Method

The story is presented as a series of scenes. At the end of each scene students are presented with options to determine what they should do. They are given instant feedback on their chosen course of action and told why their decision is good or bad.

.

Collaboration

Co-developed with Mark Pannell, Flea Palmer

The written extracts show examples of key ‘functions’ and ‘qualities’ of writing. By ‘functions’, we mean such things as: defining terms, describing a process, explaining or exemplifying a point, or providing a cogent line of argument and drawing conclusions. The ‘qualities’ include: characteristics of the writing, such as the way it gives the reader ‘signposts’; the vocabulary chosen; the way writer has referred to sources of information and how they are used; and the style adopted.

The primary aim of WrAssE is to help students develop their awareness of what makes ‘good’ writing for academic assignments; and how writing can be used to achieve academic functions. WrAssE is designed to support learning activities in class, or students working independently. As the project evolves we will create links to other relevant resources for learning about and developing skills for writing.

www.learningdevelopment.plymouth.ac.uk/wrasse

Credits

Co-developer: Mark Pannell

Plymouth e-Learning Conference 2009 flyers

My avatar - the final result

.

Before and after tracing

Credits

Work adapted from Flea Palmer

Interact with First Aid

.

Assessing the scene

.

Explore the scene by clicking on objects

.

Learning objectives for 'Assessing the scene'

.

Attention to detail

Impulse Bunny - Screenshot 1

.

Impulse Bunny - Screenshot 2

.

Impulse Bunny - Screenshot 3