Skip to Main Content

Software for Students: Home

This page contains information about apps that can be used to promote engagement in the online teaching and learning environment.

Moodle Discussion Forums are a useful asynchronous activity to encourage student engagement on a topic. The discussion can be continued in the live, synchronous session.

H5P is available in CCT Moodle. It can be used to add interactive functionality to pre-recorded content, CCT video tutorials and recordings of the live class as examples.

Padlet enables students to post comments to post-its on an online platform. This platform is excellent for facilitating discussion in the virtual classroom. It is also possible to anonymise comments which can encourage students who are less confident to engage.

Zoom contains a range of functions that are helpful in promoting student engagement in the live, synchronous class such as emoticons, raising and lowering hands, breakout rooms, chat, whiteboard, and polls. Polling functionality is particularly helpful for assessing students' knowledge of course content to date or knowledge of a specific topic.  It is also possible to engage students to lead breakout rooms to foster peer learning.

Mentimeter allows lecturers to create interactive presentations like polls and word clouds. 

Additional tools may be used within and outside of the VLE to further enhance the student experience. This should however be considered at a programme level to maximise consistency of experience and reduce the potential for multiple approaches.
 

Where an additional tool is proposed, this should be brought to the attention of the Educational Technology Manager who will liaise with the Centre for Teaching and Learning and IT services to determine the suitability of the proposal and ensure the functionality it provides is not already possible within the VLE and existing tools. 
 

Where proposals require purchase of tools, once the initial checks have been satisfied, a purchase request (including rationale) should be submitted to the Dean for Administration and Finance in accordance with standard procedures. Faculty are advised that the investigation and tool trial process may require a number of weeks; therefore proposals must be submitted with as much notice as possible. To facilitate a consistent experience for student across all modules in their programme of study, the following are outlined as the minimum expectations for the use of Moodle.

Technological tools are investigated by CCT prior to the acquisition, according to the following attributes:

  • Functionality (ease of use, supports teacher and student presence and interactivity, learning analytics etc.)
  • Accessibility (incorporates universal design principles)
  • Interoperability with other platforms, off-campus access, mobile design, security etc.
  • Data Protection and Privacy, GDPR compliant etc.
  • Products are approved for educational purposes.