Science Learning Hub – a social network for science educators

In the winter of 2009 the Science Learning Centres approached Webducate for assistance in setting up, theming and using an Elgg community. This community called the Science Learning Hub, was created to offer the Science Learning Centres an on-line social network to support its programme of face-to-face courses for science educators in the UK. Following a review of the intended use of this community, Webducate offered advice on the appropriate plugin’s to provide within the system (e.g. blogs, message boards, groups etc) and proposed learning activities designed to promote the development of a sustained community of users.

Working closely with the Science Learning Centres support staff, Webducate then created a theme to apply a standard branded look and feel to the community site that matched the Science Learning Centres own website. Finally Webducate scripted and authored a series of six help movies which provide a narrated overview of the community and walk throughs of key scenarios of use such as “Creating a blog post” and “Uploading and sharing files”.

International Conference of Movement Dysfunction Blog – Elsevier, MACP, Kinetic Control

Leading up to the International Conference of Movement Dysfunction in November 2009 Webducate became involved in delivering a live blog from the conference. Working to the design of the existing conference website we developed and hosted a complementary blog site which integrated social web 2.0 applications. We then attended the conference and provided the live blogging services with reports published events from the conference in real time including content reports from each keynote and guest lecture.

Key features of this project included:

• Development of the conference blog site to match existing website
• Hosting of the blog site
• Integration of social web 2.0 applications including Twitter
• Live blogging and tweeting service from the conference provided
• Promotion of blog site amongst delegate community
• Management of ongoing discussion between delegates and speakers following the conference

View the ICMD Blog site

The Casebook – University of Leeds

Seeking to promote the innovative teaching practices undertaken by staff at the University of Leeds, the Staff and Department Development Unit (SDDU) contracted Webducate to develop a searchable database of case studies, called the Casebook.

Developed using PHP and MySQL this web system allows university staff to submit a case study via an on-line form. A secure on-line administration area of the site allows SDDU staff to review, amend and publish submited case studies. The site delivers the portfolio of case studies via a search interface, and incorporates a page side bar which highlights the best, most recent case studies published, a tag cloud and the site generates a customised RSS new feed based on any search result. As with many Web2.0 type systems communication is facilitated by an open commenting facility linked to each case study, the admin system allowing comments to be manually screened before publishing.

View the Casebook site

Study Success at Sussex (S3) – University of Sussex

In the spring of 2009 Webducate became involved in an already established project to create an ambitious highly interactive website aimed at equipping new students with important key skills at the University of Sussex. Following a review of the development to date we advised a different approach be taken to improve site accessibility and ease the future maintenance and development site. This involved a re-build of the site from the ground up starting with a bespoke modular content management system to allow the enormous flexibility required in the page design and interactions while also allowing website edits to be made by administrative staff with minimal requirements for technical skills. Working closely with Sussex staff the project was completed on schedule and went live in Sept 2009.

Key features:

1. Interactive page content (tabs ,accordians, hide and reveal, quizzes) developed with jQuery.
2. Multimedia elements created with flash and dynamically populated from the content management system.
3. Extensive use of videoed  student interviews to give peer perspectives on appropriate pages.

View the University of Sussex S3 website…

BPNA distance learning

The British Paediatric Neurology Association approached Webducate to seek advice and support to migrate an existing paper based distance learning course to on-line delivery.  Following a discussion of their requirements and review of the existing materials a solution was formulated which included:

1. The splitting of the existing course learning materials into two related resources separating activities from feedback.
2. The creation of interactive web based activities using Dragster 3 to support identified learning activities.
3. Creation of on-line unit quizzes to review learning after each unit of materials has been completed.
4. Installation of a Moodle VLE for the delivery of the course.
5. Development of on-line feedback recording to track student satisfaction with the course.
6. Development of customised PHP pages integrated with Moodle to facilitate admin and student mentor tracking of student progress.

The course was first delivered in the new on-line format in Jan 2009 and has to date received very positive feedback both from the students participating and the support staff running the course.

PhysioUK – online course management system

Its been a long painstaking development process but just before Christmas 2008 Webducate completed the new PhysioUK website. This represents probably the most sophisticated web based face-to-face course management system around and includes a whole host of features including:

• Full course search facilities
• Integrated online payment system
• Automated course enrolment and pre-course confirmation emails
• PDF course documentation generated dynamically from data base of course details
• Waiting list enrolment automatically provided when courses are full
• Automated traceable PDF course completion certificates
• PDF registers generated for checking attendence
• Comprehensive web based admin system behind the scenes
• Participant accounts providing personal enrolment details, certificates downloads, receipts etc via a login
• and much, much more…

With this new site PhysioUK intend to spend less time managing their courses and more time developing new innovative services for their clients.
For Webducate this website has been the most ambitious and demanding project yet and we are looking forward to developing even more features for PhysioUK in the future!

Previous to working with Webducate our experience of getting our new website written had been painful to say the least. However, fortunately for us, we started working with them and the website developed quickly into something that was far better than we initially imagined. They have been both highly professional, and more importantly adaptable, in both the development and implementation of the website. I can’t thank Tony (and his team) enough for giving us a site wihich has streamlined our business to a new and far improved level.
Chris Murphy – PhysioUK

International Staff – University of Leeds

The International Staff website aims to inform and support international academics seeking to work in the UK. Webducate provided technical development, support and advice for this HEFCE project working closely with staff at the University of Leeds. The website is built on a bespoke content management system that facilitates the addition and maintenance of page content and also allows subscribing universities to add supplementary institution specific information.

Embedded within many pages are videos which feature interviews with typical international staff members working within the UK. In these videos they describe the issues they encountered and their experiences of getting established in the UK.  To promote communciation and support an on-line forum (phpBB) has been integrated into the website.

I contacted Webducate in 2007 with only a brief concept for a website to benefit non-UK staff working in higher education. From this idea Tony and his team built a complex site with fully-functioning content management system and backup support that is both easy to use and provides valuable and compelling content. The site has attracted very positive feedback from institutions around the UK and users worldwide.
Webducate have really felt like part of the team, yet still provide a very professional service working to tight deadlines to deliver project requests in a very rapid turnaround time. Work is consistent, of high quality and incorporates the up-to-the-minute new technologies available. Tony has always made suggestions on how our site can be improved and works very flexibly to accommodate our requirements. I can highly recommend Webducate and look forward to continuing to work with Tony and his team.
Heather Timm – University of Leeds

View the International Staff website

Making groupwork work – LearnHigher

Working with the Universities of Leeds, Bradford and Brunel, Webducate provided technical advice and development in this LearnHigher funded project to create an ambitious and extensive set of resources covering the complex issues involved in group working.

At its core this project involved the creation of a set of ten videoed episodes following a group of students through the process of tackling a group assignment. Each episode focusing a different aspect of group behaviour (such as conflict) and exploring approaches that can be taken to deal with such situations.

These videos were then delivered via an interactive flash player developed by Webducate which provides access to supporting learning activities and additional commentaries, video diaries, academic perspectives etc. The completed project is publicised in a supporting website which provides additional information for students and teachers using the materials.

Webducate has worked with me on a number of e-development projects including the Making group-work work project. Most of our communication is via email and they are highly skilled at interpreting requirements from minimal specifications. I am continually impressed by their professionalism, technical skills and their ability to promptly respond to requests (even when stuck in a snow drift in the Alps!).
Carol Elston – Skills@Library University of Leeds

View the LearnHigher Making groupwork work site.

Paediatric Neurology Module – Sheffield Hallam University

In this project Webdcuate provided consulting, development and support for the first distance delivered module offered by the Faculty of Health and Well Being at Sheffield Hallam University. The project focused on a 30 credit MSc module and involved the development and use of a range of e-learning resources including:

1. Multimedia presentations (Articulate)
2. Interactive anatomy diagrams (Flash)
3. Dragster drag and drop activities
4. Wiki based collaborative activities
5. Reflective activities that used personal blog journals

The majority of these materials were developed within a tight time frame and the module ran extremely successfully for the first time in Spring 2007.