Activity : Communication, Collaboration
Tool(s) used: LumiNUS Forum, LumiNUS Chatroom
Description:
Activity to promote: Content Creation
Tool(s) used: Glossary, LumiNUS Files
Description:
Create a glossary which features works of your students – where a student defines a term along with a picture to illustrate. Also ask your students to give references to the pictures origins.
Allow your students to submit the entries to the LumiNUS Files and then you can setup the glossary.
Variation:
To allow students to add to it, rate entries and make comments on entries.
Tips:
Be sure to educate students regarding copyright issues
Activity to promote: Communication, Evaluation
Tool(s) used: Chatroom
Description:
Language students can use the “Chat” feature to debate with another student. Multiple chats are created for students. Each chat will have 2 students who will debate in the language being learnt.
Chat transcripts will be viewable to all so the teacher can evaluate the debate and the students can evaluate their own debates. This also allows for other students to view other students’ debates.
Another variation to this is to take those chat transcripts and give them to the students who were debating and have them evaluate and edit any mistakes and hand in again.
Tips:
Setting up individual Chatrooms may be tedious.
Activity to promote: Communication
Tool(s) used: Forum
Description:
This activity is designed to encourage students to get to know each other in an informal and fun way.
Each student (and the course facilitator) is asked to enter three statements in the forum, two truths and a lie about themselves. Everyone is then asked to guess which is the lie.
It’s an amazing experience and generates huge discussion amongst peers as to which are truths and lies. For instance in an online course with 25 students this generated over 300 forum entries and was an invaluable resource in the formation of an online community.
Tips:
Just one warning, if you feel the need to respond to each student you will spend a lot of time doing so. The upside to this is that once generated, the forum takes on a life of it’s own, and you can leave it to the students to keep the ball rolling without significant input yourself.
Reading student entries to this forum can give you invaluable information regarding the likelihood of problems ahead.
Activity to promote: Information dissemination, Communication
Tool(s) used: Announcement
Description:
Usually announcements are used when there is a need to communicate reminders or important news items such as assessment task reminders, time-table or room changes, corrections or clarifications of materials, exam schedules
However, you can use it as a Module information board or bulletin board. After each class post information regarding the class, course materials, links to other reading materials, and information that could help them be better prepared for the next lesson.
This will come in handy during the exams, where students can rely on this to get complete information on the module.
LumiNUS recipes that showcase how other colleagues have been using technology tools to enhance teaching and e-learning will be featured in this site. In particular the use of LumiNUS, the learning management system (LMS) designed to facilitate and support teaching and learning at NUS. It is NUS’s self-developed one-stop e-learning portal.
Have you ever wondered what your colleagues do in their LumiNUS modules? Ever thought of how you can optimise LumiNUS’s potential to enhance your teaching? Or you have tried using LumiNUS before but was dissatisfied with the outcome?
New posts would be added that will help you discover practical ways that LumiNUS can be employed to enhance your students’ learning experience. I look forward to new ideas, comments and suggestion from you to make this learning experience more effective.