Supporting distance learners: creating digital content for Engineering students in South West Jiatong University, China

Supporting Digital Education: Case Studies Joanne Shiel: Director of Year 1, Southwest Jiatong Leeds Joint School, Faculty of Engineering Supporting distance learners: creating digital content for Engineering Students in South West Jiatong University, China Joanne Shiel is a lecturer in Engineering and creates digital content using Personal Capture to support students at the University’s partner school in China, South West Jiatong University. This has helped “bridge the gap” between the two different time zones and physical locations. Joanne has created mini-lectures using the Mediasite Desktop Recorder which she has downloaded to OneDrive so that students in China can access them easily as there are technical issues with streaming content between China and the UK. She has also used video to introduce herself and the course material to personalise the experience for students. This is important for distance learners who may want to feel more connected to lecturers based at the University of Leeds. Joanne also uses Personal Capture to create digital media to clarify concepts and review content material for students who need extra, flexible support for exams, especially for re-sits. After some experimentation she recommends keeping this type of digital content short for the benefit of the learner as it easier to digest and understand. As the students are non-native English speakers, they benefit from being able to replay course material in their own time at their own pace and this helps develop their listening skills and improve their English. It is also more inclusive because it offers students another modality to learn. Joanne hopes to encourage the Flying Faculty (lecturers based at Leeds who then go to China periodically to teach students) to introduce themselves to students using Personal Capture. This helps the Chinese students to “tune-in” to the wide variety of accents of University of Leeds Engineering lecturers who may also be non-native English speakers. It also personalises the experience for students who get to see and hear their tutors before they arrive in China. The use of Collaborate Ultra for live webinars has been trialled and is being developed to support Engineering staff and students working in partnership with South West Jiatong University.

Joanne Shiel, Director of Year 1, Southwest Jiatong Leeds Joint School, Faculty of Engineering

11/7/2019 11:56:45 AM