CELT – Page 3 – Your Library DMU Blog – News, updates and insights

Tech’ top tips – #45. Continue to success

September 9, 2019September 28, 2021Ian Pettit

This tip is provided by the Centre for Enhancing Learning through Technology (CELT). The images in this post will expand when clicked.

Have you noticed the Continue page when logging in to Blackboard? If not, it’s worth pausing on this page as it provides a wealth of information and links to important tools.

Along with the permanent link to Out Of Hours support information, other important information will appear here as and when appropriate.
This might include details of planned maintenance or downtime to enable you to plan.

Clicking either the Browser Checker or Browser Support link will take you to a page where you can use different tools. Use the Check your browser tool to make sure your browser is set up correctly to deliver the best experience when using Blackboard.
Of course, once you have used the tools, please ‘continue’ to Blackboard by clicking the Continue button.

Tech’ top tips – #44. Techtoptips roundup

September 2, 2019September 28, 2021Ian Pettit

This tip is provided by the Centre for Enhancing Learning through Technology (CELT). The images in this post will expand when clicked.

After a busy 2018/19 academic year, the new year will shortly be upon us. Techtoptips will continue to provide all of the latest and relevant hints and tips for students and staff members in 2019/20 – in the meantime, here’s a roundup of the topics covered so far.

From the importance of the Continue page to ensuring Blackboard remains accessible for your needs; Techtoptips has covered a raft of Blackboard related subjects.
Getting the most from the student viewing experience and making your own recordings using the system are just two of the DMU Replay related subjects that have been blogged about.
TurnItIn has been the subject of a few blog posts. From emphasising the importance of the digital receipt to viewing and downloading your feedback.

And did you know… Techtoptips can be sorted by tags so you can find that all important post quickly and easily. From the main home page click on Categories; all of the Techtoptips posts are tagged with ‘CELT’ and ‘Techtoptips’ along with the technology that they relate to.

Tech’ top tips – #43. Open Source – an alternative way to go

August 19, 2019September 28, 2021Ian Pettit

This tip is provided by the Centre for Enhancing Learning through Technology (CELT). The images in this post will expand when clicked.

While at DMU, students have access to Microsoft Office 365 (on up to 5 devices) and other proprietary software; but what happens after? Well, if you don’t want to pay for proprietary software there are a number of Open Source options that students may wish to explore.

LibreOffice is a powerful productivity suite that includes applications for writing, producing spreadsheets, authoring presentations and creating databases. Visit https://www.libreoffice.org/ to download the latest version (6 at the time of writing).

For photo editing, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is heralded as being a great alternative to photoshop and many of the features are comparable. Version 2.10.12 can be obtained from https://www.gimp.org/

Although not Open Source, for video editing; Corel VideoStudio can provide a cheaper but fully functional alternative to more expensive video production software – VideoStudio can be download from https://www.videostudiopro.com/en/products/videostudio/

Tech’ top tips – #42. Time to browse for a new Browser

August 12, 2019September 28, 2021Ian Pettit

This tip is provided by the Centre for Enhancing Learning through Technology (CELT). The images in this post will expand when clicked.

Following the recent Blackboard upgrade staff and students may find that some areas of Blackboard no longer display correctly in Internet Explorer.

This is a known position and Blackboard have published guidance on supported web browsers here https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Administrator/Hosting/Release_Notes/Browser_Support

Internet Explorer is listed as ‘Unsupported’ and therefore there is little that can be done other than use an alternative web browser. On DMU computers; Edge, Chrome and Firefox are available for use – it is recommended that one of these browsers is used when in Blackboard.

Tech’ top tips – #41. Lean Library update

August 5, 2019September 28, 2021Ian Pettit

This tip is provided by the Centre for Enhancing Learning through Technology (CELT). The images in this post will expand when clicked.

There has been an upgrade to the Lean Library browser extension! Following an upgrade to this browser extension, users can now right click a term on a web-page and select ‘DMU Library Search’. This will then search the DMU Library resources for the term that has been clicked. The Lean Library browser extension is free and is compatible with most major web browsers.

For more information and a link to download the Lean Library browser extension click here.

Tech’ top tips – #40. OneDrive to drive them all

July 23, 2019September 28, 2021Ian Pettit

This tip is provided by the Centre for Enhancing Learning through Technology (CELT). The images in this post will expand when clicked.

Students, did you know that you have 1tb (yes, a whole terabyte!) of cloud storage at your disposal while at DMU?

Using your pnumber and password you can log in to Microsoft OneDrive via MyDMU or direct at https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-gb/signin/ to access your own personal storage.

Use your OneDrive to store copies of important documents, large multimedia files or anything else you want* 😊

Your OneDrive can also be synchronised with your PC to help make sure those really important files are backed up automatically.

^{*Student use of Microsoft OneDrive is subject to DMU’s student regulations and policies at https://www.dmu.ac.uk/current-students/student-support/exams-deferrals-regulations-policies/student-regulations-and-policies/index.aspx}

Tech’ top tips – #39. Head(ing)s we all win!

July 15, 2019September 28, 2021Ian Pettit

This tip is provided by the Centre for Enhancing Learning through Technology (CELT). The images in this post will expand when clicked.

When writing using Microsoft Word it is useful to use the Heading Styles to ensure our documents remain as accessible as possible.

To our eyes, formatting headings and sub-headings using just the font size/colour, bold and underline functions may look ok but to the computer these cosmetic changes mean nothing. By using the built in Headings Styles, we ensure that our headings are preserved for those reading our documents in different formats (on the web or as .pdf). More importantly accessibility technology such as screen readers will translate our headings properly and our documents will be more accessible.