Congratulations!

Well done, RSEL-ers! The exhibition yesterday was a great success. I'll be reviewing your full, narrated presentations and going through the feedback provided by you and your visitors over the vacation, so look out for some audio feedback posted in Canvas.
In the meantime, I just wanted to say how impressed I and my colleagues are with all the work you've done on these projects, and with your responsible and conscientious attitude to the module.
You can start to think now about Part A of the assignment (you may want to draft that over the vacation) and also about a topic for your individual project. See detailed guidance on the wiki.
I'll be contacting you soon about who will be your supervisors for those.
So we'll be in touch again before too long, but meanwhile, have a great vacation - and well done again on some excellent group projects.

Final preparations

The deadline for uploading your narrated powerpoint presentations is Monday 9th December. Follow the instructions on the wiki, which you can access from the previous post on the blog.

Come to the exhibition on Wednesday (11th) in Learning Centre LG13 from 2.00, which should be finished by 4.00, in time for you to go along to the party (4pm – 6pm), in the Arts Lounge (at the back of the Mason Lounge, through the door and down the stairs).

Narrated PowerPoint Presentations

As you start to think about your presentations, this is just to let you know that we have some PC Headsets (headphones and a microphone) that you can borrow.  You can come to Arts, Room 352 between the hours of 09:30 and 15:30 to collect the equipment and use in a location of your choice.

The guidelines for creating your presentation can be found here and instructions for uploading them to your blog are here.

Progress review session Week 9

The final progress review session has been arranged for Wednesday, 27th November, between 2.00 and 4.00. The session will be held in Alison’s office (Arts 147). 

We are aware that some of you have sporting or other commitments on Wednesday afternoons, so remember that Alison’s office hours continue to be another option. There is no fixed agenda for Wednesday’s session – it is in your hands. Alison will be there to answer any questions you may have regarding your research, and Catherine will come along too if anyone has technical queries. Do remember to look at the extensive guidance on the wiki that explains what to prepare and what to expect at the exhibition in Week 11.

Please access the poll here to indicate if you will be attending the progress review session - it can be individuals, representatives of groups or whole groups - by adding your name and group number at the time slot you prefer. Make sure you choose a slot that has not been taken by anyone else! We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, 27th November.

Milestone 2

If you click on the link to the left of this message, you'll see that the second milestone is a group post to the blog entitled ‘What we’ve done and what we need to do’. 
So each group should now upload that post, reflecting on your progress so far and outlining your plans for completing the research and preparing for the presentation. The deadline for this is TOMORROW - the end of Week 7. 
I am pretty up-to-date with what you're all doing, so this can be a very short post, just to confirm within your own group, across all the groups, and with me and Catherine, what stage you are at and how you will get from there (as I'm sure you will) to the presentation on Wednesday afternoon of Week 11 (11th December, Learning Centre LG13). 
I must add that I'm very pleased indeed with the way you're working on this module. All but two people have now completed the individual progress check (thanks!), and most of the feedback from those is positive and encouraging. If any problems do arise, we are here to help (office hours, by email/blog, review session in Week 9 ...).

Next face-to-face session

If your group, or one or more representatives from the group, would like to meet with Alison or Catherine in Week 7, please sign up using the link here. There are slots between 2.00 and 4.00 on Wednesday November 13th, so do come along if you have anything you would like to discuss.

And please don't forget to complete the Individual Progress Check. So far just over half of you have done this and THIS IS SOMETHING THAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO DO.
Individual Progress Check

Update

I'm impressed with how well you all seem to be getting on with your group projects. I'm being kept up to date with progress on all seven blogs, and have seen quite a few of you in person during the first half of the semester. However, I want to make sure I'm not missing anything, and to give you a chance to reflect on your own individual progress and learning on this module so far. So please take a minute to complete this quick survey before Week 7. Everyone needs to do this and I shall keep nagging until you do! Thank you!

These projects seem to be going really well. Next week (Week 5) is when we scheduled the first face-to-face progress review sessions for any group who would like one.
You will be able to drop in and see Catherine Coltman in the early part of Wednesday afternoon (30th October), so if you'd like to do that, please sign up using this link for a slot when one or more representatives of your group can get help with the technical side of your work. Make sure you select a time slot that no-one else has signed up for.
You can arrange to see me by signing up on the door of my office (Arts 147) for one of my office hour slots on Monday 28th October or Tuesday 29th October. In addition, I'm available to see one or more representatives of your group in the later part of Wednesday afternoon (30th October), so if you'd like to do that, please sign up using this link. Make sure you select a time slot that no-one else has signed up for.
In addition, please carry on using your blogs for keeping us up to date with your progress. The next milestone is a review after Reading Week of 'what we've done and what we need to do'.
Keep up the good work. It's all looking very promising.

Milestone 1 reached

Well done all six groups who have reached the first milestone. Hopefully the remaining group will do so very soon. As well as comments on the blogs, I have left audio recordings in response to these six proposals as 'announcements' for each group in Canvas. Please listen to this feedback and take it into account as you move on to the next stage. Looking forward to more news of your interesting projects soon.

Checking for feedback

You've made a great start with this module, and posts on your group blogs show some interesting ideas developing. It's really good to see that you're making times to meet and keeping to these. Please check for comments from us when you post updates on your blogs, and I will sometimes give you feedback via audio recordings. These will be saved in Canvas, where each group now has its own section within the module section. So do check there to pick up my feedback, and let me and Catherine know of any technical problems. Keep up the good work!

Documents

If you have mislaid the documents from the Induction sessions you can download a copy.  You will have to log in with a Google userid and password to access them.

RSEL Handbook 2013
RSEL Introduction to Blogging

Extra info

This isn't about this module as such - but it could be. There's funding available for students to develop projects about learning at the University. So this is an alert (you may hear about it from other tutors too), in case you have any ideas for projects. They could potentially be about this module, or about any number of other things, so have a think!

Getting going

It was great to see you all this morning - an excellent turn out. We're really looking forward to seeing what topics you choose to research (when you've read the relevant sections in the textbook and viewed the v-lecture on this, of course). Don't forget to add the gadget that enables us all to follow your group blogs, and to make sure you're following this one. Do keep in touch as your work progresses. Catherine and I are readily available to help if you need us. Otherwise - over to you!

Welcome back!

We're looking forward to getting notification of your group blogs by the end of this week (20th September). Then we also look forward to seeing you soon. There are the induction lectures for your programmes (JH and SH) on Friday 27th, before the first main lecture for RSEL on Thursday 3rd October. See you soon!

Well done - we're off!

It was really good to see so many of you at the induction session on June 3rd. I hope you've signed up to get alerts when messages are posted here. If you're not sure how to do that, ask a friend and/or go back to the booklet about blogging. Remember that you can post questions and comments here (remember netiquette!), and that you can also use the e-learning blog for more technical issues. Good luck with your individual and group tasks for the vacation, and I look forward to working with you next semester.

RSEL Induction Session

We look forward to welcoming you to the Induction session on Monday, 3 June 2013 in the Learning Centre UG08. Please ensure that you arrive between 09:00 - 09:30 in order to begin the session promptly at 09:30 hours.