Category: Technology
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VIU Students Saved $483,000 in Textbook Costs Since 2015
Open Textbooks Remove Some Barriers for Students to Learn Over half of B.C. students do not buy the required textbooks for a course, and over a quarter of potential learners choose not to register for a class due to excessive textbook costs.* Since Fall 2015, 21 Vancouver Island University faculty members have been using open…
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New Content Creation Experience Coming to VIUBlogs!
You have likely seen the notice on your VIUBlogs Dashboard announcing “ A new, modern publishing experience is coming soon.” If you have not yet seen that message, or if you have yet to click the blue Try Gutenberg button to see the new editing interface in action, we strongly suggest doing so now. The…
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Introducing VIU’s Open Education Working Group
Photo by James Sutton on Unsplash The VIU Open Education Working Group (VIU-OEWG) brings together key stakeholders from across the institution to provide advice and support for VIU’s open education initiatives, which include the creation, adaptation, and adoption of open educational resources while embracing innovative open pedagogies. Email maxwell.stevenson@viu.ca if you wish to join this meeting. Meetings happen…
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Student Digital Learning Experience: Requirements for Learner Success at Vancouver Island University
Digital technologies are an essential part of student learning. The student digital learning experience encompasses the required technology services, supports, infrastructure, access and learning tools for ensuring graduates of post-secondary institutions have the necessary digital skills, knowledge and abilities to thrive in the world. Students need a robust, reliable, flexible, and accessible digital learning experience for…
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Changes to the VIUBlogs WordPress Service
Since 2012, the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning has supported two WordPress installations under the banner, VIUBlogs. One of these installations was intended for students (studentblogs.viu.ca), and one was for use by University employees (wordpress.viu.ca). The two separate installations were created because, at the time, we could only technically connect to either student…
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VIU Course Retention Process: Why Are We Deleting VIULearn Courses?
Photo Courtesy of: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash VIU has implemented a Course Retention Process to protect and streamline course and student data in VIULearn, our virtual learning environment (Brightspace by D2L). Since implementing VIULearn in Spring of 2012, there were over 40,000 courses in our system as of June 2018. Because we create a blank ‘shell’…
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Cleaning Up VIULearn: New Process for VIU as of July 2018
New Process for VIULearn Course Cleanup Status: Currently we have over 40,000 courses dating back to Intersession 2012 when we began using D2L’s Brightspace software (branded VIULearn). Many of these courses were never used or are not used anymore. The accumulation of old courses can make managing VIULearn challenging and creates a messy view for faculty. Rationale: It…
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D2L FUSION Conference: Key Take-Aways for Higher Ed
D2L’s annual FUSION conference (Reach Every Learner) for its customers was held July 19-20 in Las Vegas. This is a summary of the key take-aways for higher education faculty and support staff with a focus on Brightspace (D2L’s learning environment). Much of this info is also found on this Summer 17 release page: https://www.d2l.com/products-releases/summer-2017/ Daylight – Responsive…
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VIULearn Looks Different! Updated to a Modern Responsive Design!
When Vancouver Island University students and faculty members log in to VIULearn for the first time this Fall 2017, they will experience a change in the look and feel of the learning environment. On April 30, 2017 VIULearn was upgraded to “Daylight”, a new interface design that allows for the same experience regardless of your…
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‘Daylight’ Has Come and Gone: VIU’s Experience Moving to D2L’s New Responsive Design Interface
On April 30, Vancouver Island University switched its learning environment, called VIULearn, to the “Daylight Experience” from D2L. Daylight is a change in the look and feel (colours, buttons, icons, text), but it really updates the learning environment to one that is designed to be responsive/resizable to varied screen sizes and mobile devices. Daylight is…
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VIUTube moves to a New Location at UBC
VIUTube, VIU’s streaming video platform for uploading and watching videos in a secure and private location is being upgraded (and moved to a new location). VIU is now part of a centralized shared service for post-secondary institutions in BC for streaming video. By being part of this new service means we save on our annual…
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Daylight is Coming! VIULearn Upgrades to a Modern Responsive Design April 30
On April 30th, VIULearn (VIU’s learning management system) will be changing its look to a more modern and cleaner interface – called Daylight. Daylight is a brighter and more stream-lined environment with emphasis on faculty and student activity. The way VIULearn functions (where buttons are, how things work) remains untouched as the entire system will work…