Independent study
By promoting independent study you stimulate students to continue to actively engage with the lesson materials outside contact hours. There are a number of online tools available that stimulate independent study.
Formative digital testing
For learning materials that are primarily acquired through repeated practice, you can use formative practice tests with feedback. Students can practise by completing as many tests as they wish. Depending on the testing system used, these tests can also be adaptive. In an adaptive test, every new session consists of questions selected on the basis of the student’s previous performance. If you have any questions about formative testing, please contact your ICT and Education coordinator.
Web lectures and knowledge clips
A web lecture is a recording of a presentation, lecture or workshop that can be viewed online. The recording is automatically linked to the accompanying PowerPoint or Prezi presentation. Students can use a web lecture to catch up on missed lectures or review difficult topics for an examination.
Instead of recording an entire lecture, you can also create a knowledge clip. A knowledge clip is a video recording of a lecturer discussing a specific topic in maximum 10 minutes.
If you need help or if you have any questions about recording web lectures or knowledge clips, please contact your video coordinator.
Interactive videos
There are various options for creating an interactive video, including apps that allow you to record your own screen. You can enrich your presentation by inserting images, videos or written texts and manually adding notes.
There are also tools for video editing, with which you can shorten your videos or include audio comments or questions. These tools mean you can use videos as listening exercises or explanatory videos.
You can also use a screencast tool such as Screen-o-matic to record your own screen and all the actions you perform (a screencast). You can for instance make a screencast of your PowerPoint presentation. By inserting audio, video or comments, you can turn your screencast into a knowledge clip.
If you need help or if you have any questions about recording interactive videos, please contact your ICT and Education coordinator.
Animations
Animations can help students to better understand and memorise materials. There are tools available that allow you to easily create animations even if you have no background in graphic design. If you need help or if you have any questions about how to create animations, please contact your ICT and Education coordinator.
Formative digital testing
The Faculty of Humanities has launched a formative pilot testing pilot for self-study. In language acquisition, for example, there is a clear need for facilities to allow students to practise intensively. To this end we use the Remindo Test programme. This programme is unlocked via Blackboard. Another programme for language acquisition self-study is Ellips, which can be used to offer semi-adaptive test series in various languages. Both programmes offer more options than the basic Blackboard facilities (see Blackboard manuals for Test Manager and Pool Manager).
Ellips
Ellips has been developed for speaking, listening and writing classes. Its main functionalities are: 5 question types, i.e. multiple choice with one or more correct answers, fill-in exercises, matching exercises, transcription exercises, and speaking exercises; option to explain theoretic topics with reference to internet pages; elaborate registration of student’s performances, rendered for students as well as for instructors; feedback options on the whole exercises as well as per given answer; Unicode-compatibility for entering and displaying non-Western characters; semi-adaptive, i.e. students will be presented automatically with more exercises on the topics they do not yet master. More information on Ellips is in the Ellips Quickstart Guide. Your questions can be sent to the Ellips helpdesk or have a look at the FAQ on the Ellips website for students.
Interactive videos
With Kaltura Capture, you can record your screen and add your own comments. That way you can create your own knowledge clip. With Kaltura Quiz it is also possible to add questions. You can choose to continue playing the video only after the question has been answered.