First Digital Classroom Staff Development Session

On the 9th of November 2018, the first Digital Classroom staff development session was carried with the Barony Campus Animal Care department and select members from the Agriculture department.

Image above: Staff members from Animal Care and Agriculture, with Andrew Treadaway presenting his online Tree Identification Unit.

We had Karen Garnett (Barony Library Services) and Andrew Treadaway (Forestry Lecturer) as guest speakers during the session.

This 1 hour and 30 minutes session included;

1. Introduction to the Kirkmichael Digital Classroom

  • Introduction to the room layout and policies and procedures for the students
  • Introduction on how to use the lectern, iPad control panel and the document camera
  • Introduction to the Clevertouch screens, including how to use the Clevertouch tilt screen
  • Introduction to the collaborative Teammate tables, including linking an iPad to the table’s screen

2. Introduction to the Digital Classroom Staff Guidance Site (built within Mahara)


Image above: Screenshot taken from the Digital Classroom Staff Guidance Site.

With the collaboration between Ali Hastie (SRUC e-Learning) and Karen Garnett (Library Services) in developing a Digital Classroom Staff Guidance site using Mahara, Karen presented the prototype site to the teaching staff within the Kirkmichael Digital Classroom.

The site, which is currently still under construction, includes interactive Web-based pages covering:

  • Reshaping Your Teaching & Learning
  • Digital Technology within the Room
  • Tools to Engage Students
  • Managing Your Students
  • SRUC (Digital Classroom) Case Studies
  • Hints & Tips

Once fully developed, including input from teaching staff, the site will be made available to all SRUC staff.

3. Sharing Best Practice with the Forestry Tree Identification Project

Barony Campus Forestry Lecturer (Andrew Treadaway) provided the teaching staff within the session an overview of his Tree Identification Unit project, which has successfully been delivered within the Kirkmichael Digital Classroom with Certificate and Advanced Certificate in Forestry students.

Andrew shared best practice with the online Moodle based unit:

  • Interactive HP5 drag and drags and hotspot activities
  • Newly developed interactive e-Booklets
  • Lessons learned in using the Digital Classroom
  • The student team’s professional looking Learning Outcome 1 Sway presentations

4. Having a Go with the Technologies

The last 15 minutes of the staff development session included the staff members having a go with the technologies within the room. This included the teaching staff gaining access to the PC at the lectern. Confidently turning on the technologies within the room using  the iPad’s control panel, switching on the Clevertouch screens, Teammate table screens and utilising the document camera.

This staff development session has really sparked particular interest with the teaching staff, including  Jackie Irving (Animal Care Team Leader) and Claire Hodgkins (Animal Care Lecturer) booking the room for their NC and HND Animal Care students for collaborative team-based projects.

Image above: HND Animal Care student’s first session on collaborating within their team-based Padlet projects.

More news on the Animal Care collaborative projects coming soon!


One thought on “First Digital Classroom Staff Development Session

  1. Julie Parker Reply

    Fantastic! Great to see staff development sessions starting to take place in the Digital Classroom – staff and students embracing the collaborative learning digital experience, well done to all.

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