[Institutional Report] Thompson Rivers University

Contributed by Melissa Jakubec, Instructional Designer and Provost’s Fellow, Blended and Innovative Learning

We have some exciting projects afoot at TRU this fall. We are fortunate to have Alan Levine join us for a four-month fellowship as an Open Learning Scholar. Alan has been working on a variety of projects, involving websites, wikis and blogs. Alan has already found 27 places at TRU needing images in Wikipedia using Wiki ShootMe! Another project is SPLOT – Smallest Possible Learning Online Tools – small tools for teachers and learners that don’t require accounts or log ins. The first of these is Comparator, which enables you to compare two overlapping images with a slider. You can experiment and make your own comparators at splot.ca. A Digital Storytelling seminar is also in the works for the winter semester. You can follow Alan’s time here at TRU in both words and pictures on cogdogblog.com.

 
Alan Levine CC BY-SA 2.0
Where the Rivers Meet https://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/15635307651
We are also embarking on a project to revamp Moodle and see if it is a suitable platform for Open Learning courses. This is part of an institution-wide evaluation of the learning environment, which involves consulting Open Learning faculty members, instructional designers, faculty and students about features and the interface. Learning analytics will also be considered to improve both the user experience and the learning.
We are also busy preparing for the upcoming Learning at Intercultural Intersections Conference to be held at TRU, March 11 to 13, 2015. More information on this event can be found at http://www.tru.ca/intercultural.html.