Learning Sessions

Learning Sessions Info

You do not need to register for these sessions in advance. As long as the workshop space has empty chairs, you are welcome to participate.

Please note that some sessions will require that you bring certain kinds of equipment or pre-install software or create user accounts. Make sure that you arrive fully prepared and ready for the session. If you need help with prep, please ask one of the event facilitators in good time before the learning session is due to start.

Session times will be advertised on the Schedule page a few days before #LearnHack.

Moodle - A year in development

Session offered by: Jason, Digital Education

You will learn about the real world stresses and strains of the UCL Digital Learning Environments team, development, operations (DevOps) how we work, how we deliver value to our stakeholders and how we have to balance innovation and demand against budget, resourcing and stability.

This is for you if you want to know what its like working in an Agile DevOps team at a UKHE (where Agile practice is still relatively new). Know about the challenges and decision making that goes on behind the scenes to enable, developing and supporting a platform.

What do you need to take part?

No prior knowledge required


Session length: 30 minutes

Liberating H5P - a practical workshop

Session offered by: David (ARC) and Janina (Digital Education)

You will learn:


This session is for you if 


We are two very experienced educators who prioritise curiosity and fun in everything we do. We aim to inspire and show you that creating amazing content is easier than you think.

What do you need to take part?

You will need a laptop to participate in the session as you will not be able to use the software on tablets or mobile phones.

Before joining the session, you need to

To take part in this workshop, you must create a Github account before the session starts as we won't have time in the session to wait for people to complete this step. 

Session presentation here


Session length: 60 - 75 minutes

Envisioning Futures

Session offered by: Paul Bailey, Lawrie Phipps and Emma Beatson from Jisc

Many complex economic, social, environmental and technological factors are intersecting, conflicting and compelling change across global communities. Additionally, changes in the global demand for education, impending climate crisis and the advent of innovative technologies like Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) are already converging to impact education, research, and the infrastructure of campuses. Future universities, their students, and staff will be impacted significantly by many more challenges in both the near and far future.

The aim of this workshop is to facilitate a forward-looking perspective on the university experience by examining some of these potential challenges and how UCL could best adapt to mitigate the risks and exploit the opportunities they present.  

Participants in this workshop will gain an introduction to:

Envisioning futures is often difficult. It is hard to remove yourself from current obstacles and it is often unavoidable that they impact on your current thinking.  In this workshop students can share your perspectives on how to tackle the deeper societal challenges. The objective is not solely to conceive practical solutions, but also to think the unthinkable. This workshop will give participants a framework to address key challenges through a structured set of group exercises. By gathering and sifting through the most promising concepts, participants will together construct a vision of the future for UCL.  

What do you need to take part?

No prior knowledge required

Session length: 60 minutes


NOTE:
To make this workshop as interactive as possible for all attendees, there will be separate offline and online versions of this session. 

How to create a playful AI Bot

Session offered by: Geraldine, Digital Education

Stealing directly from Malcolm Murray and Matt Wood from Durham University I would like to run their session on how to create a playful character AI bot, see their Padlet for examples of the types of creations you can make (https://padlet.com/thisismalcolm/playful-ai-bots-ggg3cc34c2vtoyh7) 

This is for anyone who would like to have a go and have some fun 

What do you need to take part?

No prerequisites

Session length: 60 minutes


NOTE:
This session will run exclusively online via Teams.

fiAIsco - Help prevent / create an AI fiasco!

Session offered by: Samantha, ARC/DigiEd

In this game, a playset for Bully Pulpit Games’s Fiasco system, you and your colleagues will imagine the story of how an organisation or community’s attempt to implement an AI tool goes horribly wrong. Perhaps this will help you stop such a thing in real life.

This Session is aimed at anyone interested in AI and it's impact on people and society. 

It's a great opportunity to play test a new game.  

What do you need to take part?

No prior knowledge required

Session length: 60 minutes


NOTE:
This session will not be streamed.

Technology-enhanced Feedback

Session offered by: Amanda / Marieke, Digital Assessment

Discover the transformative power of Technology-Enhanced Feedback. 

David Boud famously said that the challenge of feedback is about how to engage with learners in ways that are likely to result in discernible change.

‘Providing comments to students is only a part of any feedback process. Without active engagement from students (eliciting/processing/acting), feedback hasn't occurred because it can't influence learning’ 

In this #LearnHack session we will give an overview of some feedback approaches including audio and video feedback, peer review and feedback, AI as a feedback partner, rubrics and group discussion feedback.  

You will hear David Boud and Mike Sharples discussing some of the benefits of these feedback types. 

You will have the opportunity to share your experiences and preferences with other students and academics on mentimetre at the end of the presentation. 

What do you need to take part?

No prerequisites

Session length: 30 minutes


NOTE:
This session was pre-recorded and will run exclusively online via Teams.