Summer School

Students from various regions in the North West visited the University of Cumbria last week to take part in a Summer School as part of the Aim Higher initiative.

During the week they were given a taste of University life; staying in the Halls of Residence, attending lectures and presenting work they had produced during their visit.

A lot of fun was had by all and they are pictured above on their final day.

Software event in the Gateway

We were thrilled to welcome Rachel Ashmore of Promethean to the Learning Gateway as part of the PCGE Primary Conference Week ( 23-27 June). Rachel lead three training sessions on the latest developments in interactive whiteboard technology and focused on some key features of 'Activ Primary' and 'Activ Studio' software for use with Promethean boards. Students and staff were also shown the voting and texting system 'Activ Expression', which operates using mobile phone like handsets. A taste of what the future has in store!

BA(Hons) Production 2008 Degree Show

The Learning Gateway hosted the BA(Hons) Production 2008 degree show on Friday 20th June. Films available to view included;

The Rottingdom Family Explorer's Club.
Emily Sharpe.
Volition.
This Old Dog.
Unravelling The Red Ribbon.
The Hidden Guide.
Stoked.
Bloody Heritage.

All films on show were a culmination of the student's work whilst at the University with scripts, production and even the event was managed by the student's themselves.

BA Media Event on 20th June

The 'Media Production 2008 Films & Documentaries' evening runs from 6.30pm to 9.00pm and will present showreels of BA Media students work.

The students themselves will be on hand to answer any questions about their work and films will be shown in the Lecture Theatre and in each Flexi-room around the building. This promises to be an interesting and entertaining event, so why not come along and check it out?!

For more information on other UOC events please visit:
http://www.cumbria.ac.uk/AboutUs/News/NewsArchive.aspx

Smarten up your weekends!

A beautiful sunny day today but still we had a respectable turn out at the Gateway with a number of students using the time to brush up on their SMART Board skills.
Some of you will be familiar with SMART Board through seeing tutors use it, or witnessing interactive whiteboards being used in teaching placements. If you would like to know more or just simply have a play with the SMART Board equipment then please feel free to come along to the Gateway and we'll set you going.

Today, two QTS students took the opportunity of learning more about how to use SMART Board by playing a 'SMART Board for the terrified' game and are going to come back for further training when they have more time.

If we haven't told you enough times already, we are able to give you support and training in using the many features of SMART Board at a time to suit you and you are welcome to come back for more practice and ideas at any point. And that includes the weekends!

Staff training days

If you are University of Cumbria staff and would like to sign up to a full day of Smart board training from our Learning Facilitator team, please contact the learning gateway for details.
Learninggateway@cumbria.ac.uk

Learning and Teaching projects with CDLT

The Centre for Learning and Teaching have sponsored a number of projects this year to investigate learning and teaching. The CDLT team hosted a workshop for successful candidates to work on their projects.

The above team are investigating the use of interactive whiteboard in higher education, and of course are our very own learning gateway team. Look out for us advocating new ways of working and ways of using the technology to best advantage.