Big night for Computer Science at the OxTALENT – Teaching and Learning Enhanced with Technology – awards

Three projects linked to the Computer Science Department were celebrated at the annual  OxTALENT awards. The OxTalent awards recognize staff and students who have been innovative in their use of technology to enhance teaching and learning.  Either fostering learning and academic practice at undergraduate or postgraduate level; developing more effective links between teaching and research; or improving  impact through outreach and public engagement. 

Our winners were:

Support for Blended Learning: Winner:

'Virtual Machines for a Forensics Course' - Dr Gareth Digby

This category recognises teaching staff who have blended technology with classroom learning. Gareth is a visiting lecturer who flies over from the USA twice a year to teach Forensics, one of the courses in the part-time MSc programmes offered by the Department of Computer Science’s Software Engineering Programme. The course is blended, in that students come to the University for a week of face-to-face classes and then have six weeks to complete an assignment and submit it online. The assignment is an authentic task of the kind typically required from a forensic investigator.

Find out more here:   http://blogs.it.ox.ac.uk/oxtalent/2014/06/18/support-for-blended-learning/

Use of WebLearn to Support a Course or Programme of Study: Winner

'WebLearn and Panopto: Capturing and Distributing Lectures' - Prof. Andrew Martin,  David Hobbs, Maureen York &  Manu Apostolidis -  Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security, Department of Computer Science

The team have been exploring how the technology can enhance the activities going on in their classroom and give feedback to students. They worked with colleagues in ITLP (the Unviersity’s IT Learning Programme)  to design a day-long course on presentation skills. The course focused on the planning, design and delivery aspects of presentations, after which the students were guided in creating a presentation that they then delivered to their peers. The presentations were captured using the Panopto system, which made them available through the students’ WebLearn area.

Find out more:  http://blogs.it.ox.ac.uk/oxtalent/2014/06/06/use-of-weblearn-to-support-a-course-or-programme-of-study-3/

Open Educational Practices:  Runner-up

'Scientific Reproducibility: Learning with Lego' - Sophie Kay

Sophie is a doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science.  The role of good communication in scientific research has been a hot topic for some years now – and this was the focus of Sophie’s work.   An increasing emphasis on the reproducibility and repeatability of scientific results places demands on researchers to enhance and hone their communication skills in the delivery of their research outputs. Sophie’s Lego-based teaching scheme provides a means of educating young students and researchers in communication of methods and techniques, through the fun and engaging medium of Lego.

Find out more here:   http://blogs.it.ox.ac.uk/oxtalent/2014/06/18/open-practices/

Sophie also won an OxTALENT award in 2013 for her Open Science Training Initiative.  

The OxTALENT awards are part of Oxford’s University Teaching Awards Scheme.

The winners were announced at the awards ceremony held on 18th June. Congratulations to all those involved.