Moray House School of Education and Sport Online MSc Courses Technology Handbook 2020/21 Online MSc Courses Technology Handbook 2019/20 Contents Introduction Hardware, operating systems and the basics Hardware and Software .2 Your internet connection Register with EASE MyEd DiscoverEd .4 Getting started with Moodle .5 Logging in to Moodle My Profile .6 Discussion forums Submitting assignments .8 Student email Getting help Introduction The purpose of this Technologies Handbook is to make it as easy as possible for you to get to grips with the key technologies we will be using, and to point you in the direction of sources of help should you need them Given the pace of technological change, this handbook is usually updated once per academic year Some individual courses will make use of other technologies not covered in this guide You will receive guidance on using course-specific technologies in the relevant course handbooks or as part of the substantive work of the course We hope you will find this guide accessible and helpful You will need it to set up access to your courses, and should aim to read it through before you begin your work on the programme A substantial part of your time during the early weeks of the programme will be spent in setting up and becoming familiar with these technologies Get in touch if you have any issues Hardware, operating systems and the basics Hardware and Software The computer you access the programme environments with should be of a reasonable specification, but you not need the very latest and fastest in technology to this MSc The following specification should be taken as a strict minimum: • • • 1.8Ghz processor 4GB RAM Operating system: Windows 8.1 or higher; OSX High Sierra or higher A PC or Mac lower than this minimum threshold will struggle to run some of the required software and web applications Most PCs or Macs from the past 3-5 years should be able to meet this minimum threshold, and be able to run the core software required: • • • • an up-to-date web-browser (e.g Firefox, Chrome, Safari) with Java plug-in a PDF reader (e.g Adobe Acrobat Reader or Mac OS X Preview) email access, either via software (Apple Mail or Outlook 2016) or web a word processor (e.g Microsoft Word or Apple Pages) As part of the University’s Office 365 subscription, all students are entitled to install and activate up to copies if Microsoft Office software on personal computers or mobile devices for as long as they remain members of the University Students also have access to TB of storage on Microsoft OneDrive with access to browser-based versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint Do note that the ability to save work to an offline location is required for submission Read about the technical requirements for online programmes Your internet connection To get the most from this programme, you will benefit greatly from a stable broadband connection wherever you intend to most of your studying You could participate in many activities and environments using a mobile or dial-up connection, but the experience will be a far better one with faster internet access, either at home or at work You should be aware that some organisations - the NHS and certain Local Education Authorities in the UK, for example - have rigid security settings which may mean that local firewalls can prevent access to certain external systems If you are studying from work and come up against this problem, please contact us for help but also bear in mind that the University is often not able to provide a solution in these cases, since it is a local issue The best advice we can offer is to seek help from your local computing support staff If necessary, you may need to make arrangements to access the course materials from somewhere else Read about how to test your internet speed connection Register with EASE This section details the key things you must before you can access Moodle, ejournals, student email, MyEd and other key University resources You should work your way through the guidelines given here once you receive your initial EASE username and password, and before the programme formally begins To get into most of your course learning spaces for the first time, you will need to register with EASE You’ll only need to this once Register with EASE Please note that, even if you are a member of staff at the University of Edinburgh, you will need to register with EASE as a student to get into your course and programme resources To this, you will need your matriculation number and the password that you will receive by email (this information will be sent to the address you used on your application to the University) If you are a continuing student who has already studied MSc courses, you should not need to reregister with EASE - just use your usual password and UUN to log onto the various resources that require authentication If you can't remember your password, you can reset it using your 'shared secrets' If you can't remember these either, contact the IS Helpline If you are a new student on this programme, but have studied other courses at the University of Edinburgh fairly recently (within the last 2-3 years) you should also be able to use your existing EASE login If you have any problems, contact the helpline as above MyEd MyEd is the University’s student portal for accessing services such as Learn, finance, timetabling, and your student record Log in to MyEd After logging in with EASE, you’ll be taken straight through to your MyEd home page: Notice the four menus along the top: Studies, Accounts, Student Life, etc Each one contains different services Read up on MyEd and get help with common issues DiscoverEd The University Library has an extensive range of digital resources, and you will be able to access a wide collection of online databases and full-text journal articles via DiscoverEd You should be logged on to EASE before you try to use any of the library resources Navigate to https://discovered.ed.ac.uk: There are a number of ways to find resources on DiscoverEd Use the search bar to enter keywords related to the kind of content you’re looking for, or use the top ribbon to browse a list of e-Journals by title Many online resources like journal articles and e-books are behind paywalls, but the University subscribes to many services to offer these resources to students If at any point in trying to get hold of a resource you are asked for a password or login, using your UUN and password should give you the access you need, as long as the university subscribes to the service you are after Check out information about DiscoveredEd and get help on common problems Getting started with Moodle The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) used at the University is Moodle Moodle is used differently by different courses, but almost all courses will at least require you to submit assignments through the VLE Some will use Moodle extensively The guidance below is intended to introduce you to Moodle and help you get started with using it You can get more advice and help from the Student Moodle Help course, which you'll find in your list of courses when you log into Moodle Logging in to Moodle Open a web browser and go to https://www.moodle.is.ed.ac.uk Click on the red login with ease button, enter your EASE username and password and click Login now The Moodle home page will be displayed - this consists of a dashboard (currently showing a list of all courses), plus blocks on the left and right sides You can customise this dashboard by clicking ‘customise this page’ in the top-right hand corner The central content area will display a list of all the courses that you have access to Choose the course you want to work in, and click its title My Profile Your profile has some settings which will apply across all of your courses in Moodle These include your profile photo, information about you that you want to share with fellow participants, your contact email address, and various preferences relating to notifications Before your course starts, it is a good idea to check that these settings are as you want them, and add a photograph or an image that you want to have represent you in discussion forums Editing your profile: Click on your name/profile picture at the top right of the page and select Profile In the User details block click on Edit profile Browse through the various options and choose the ones that suit you best See the Discussion Forum section below for information about the read and unread posts option To add a profile photo: Scroll down to User picture and drag and drop the image file (JPG or PNG) you want to use onto the New picture area If drag and drop does not work click the Add link and follow the instructions to upload an image Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Update profile Discussion forums At various places in your courses, you will see links to discussion areas, called Forums in Moodle, where you can write your own posts, and reply to those of others on the course In Moodle, there are forums, topics, threads and posts: • • • A forum is a container, which holds a number of topics Topics are an original post, along with any replies it receives These can be viewed as a 'thread' (see below) Posts are the individual messages that make up topics Create a topic Enter the forum by clicking on the link on the course home page Click on Add a new discussion topic Fill in Subject and Message sections (all areas in red have to be filled in) Click the Post to forum button You will see a message: "Your Post was successfully added You have hour to edit it if you want to make changes." Reply to a topic Go into the forum and click on the title of the discussion Click on Reply below and to the right of the post you want to reply to Fill in the Message section and click Post to forum Forum views A drop-down menu above each forum discussion allows you to choose your view: • Display replies flat, with oldest first This view displays the posts in the discussion in the order in which they were added • Display replies flat, with newest first The same as the first view, except the replies to the original post are displayed in reverse order • Display replies in threaded form This view displays the original post with a summary of the replies underneath You can click on the reply titles to read them This view allows you to easily see which replies are to the original post and which are replies to replies • Display replies in nested form This view displays the content of all the posts indented and ordered to show which replies are to the original post and which are replies to replies Read and unread posts: To make sure that you can always see unread posts highlighted in your forums, you need to edit your forum preferences To this click on your name/profile picture at the top right hand corner of the screen and select Preferences Under User Account select Forum Preferences Choose to have Forum tracking set to "yes: highlight new posts for me" If you have unread forum posts a message will appear below the forum title on the course page informing you that there are unread posts Click on the forum link to see a list of discussions and unread messages Once you have read a post or thread, you need to mark it as 'read' in order to remove this highlighting You can this at the level of forum by click the tick mark in the column header (where it says "unread") At topic level, click the tick mark next to the unread count (highlighted above) When reading a post or a thread, you can use the "mark read" button beneath each post to clear the 'unread' status Subscribing and unsubscribing Every time you post to a forum you can choose whether or not you want email copies of posts to that forum If you want to change your subscription settings without making a post click on Subscribe to this forum or Unsubscribe from this forum in the dropdown menu under the cog icon Submitting assignments An assignment is only marked 'submitted' when a file has been uploaded So, even if your assignment is a web essay, you need to upload a file that contains the web address Here's how: Please note that if there is an Own Work Declaration link you will need to agree to this by following the link and checking the box before submitting your assignment Click on the assignment name on your course home page Click the Add submission button Drag and drop the file you want to submit onto the File submissions area If drag and drop does not work click on the Add icon and follow the instructions to upload the file Click the Save changes The file you uploaded will be listed on the assignment page Tutor feedback Assignment feedback may be returned via the assignment page in Moodle This will appear as a Feedback section on the original assignment description & submission page You can also access the assignment page from the Grades page: • • Click on Grades in the first block in the left-hand navigation menu Click on the assignment link for the relevant assignment in the Grades User Report that appears Student email Each student in the University has their own University email address, which consists of their student number @sms.ed.ac.uk (eg: s1223456@sms.ed.ac.uk) The University, and the programme team, will send important messages - including announcements, invoices and library notices - to your student email address Anyone who looks you up through the University directory would send a message to your student address Many services at the University require you to contact them from your student address It is therefore important that you develop a system for checking your student email regularly Add your student email account to a desktop client such as Apple Mail or Outlook or on mobile device such as an iPhone or Android Access your student email online via Office365 Getting help If at any point you get stuck with using any of your course technologies, there are several routes for help If the problem is a very specific, course-related one, raise it first with your course tutor Otherwise, contact the IS Helpline The IS Helpline is the first point of contact for enquiries relating to library services, computing services, and e-learning Phone: +44 (0)131 651 5151 Email: IS.Helpline@ed.ac.uk Online: IS Helpline web form In Person: Visit the IT Support Desk If you are contacting the helpline by email, please so using your University of Edinburgh email account The status of University web-based services can be checked on the service alerts page If you are having issues, it is a good idea to check here first to see if the problem is affecting other users