Help with educational technologies is now easier to find

From February 2020, information and help guides for Canvas, Turnitin, Echo360, SEAMS, ePortfolios, and other online tools for education will be easier to find, browse, and search. We have moved the ‘Online Tools’ information, originally housed in the Teaching Resources Hub, to a dedicated Educational Innovation knowledge base within the University’s Services Portal, powered by ServiceNow.

Why the move?

The key motivations for this move are: (i) the availability of a functional search tool which can be accessed even via the Intranet, and (ii) your ability to give us immediate feedback about each article. The search bar in the Knowledge Base will help you find articles based on a keyword search, helping you find what you are after that much faster. Once you click into a particular article, you can rate the article, as well as give us comments, which we will use to continue to improve the articles.

Access the Educational Innovation knowledge base

 

What exactly are ‘knowledge bases’ and ServiceNow?

ServiceNow is the University’s home for the “tools and answers you may need to succeed”. Within the ServiceNow platform there are dedicated areas called ‘knowledge bases’ which house our answers about all things related to a particular area (e.g. Finance) – in our case under the Educational Innovation section you will find articles relating to online tools for teaching. 

Where will I now find help on online tools for education?

  • Service Now portal showing results for 'Canvas assignments'.
    Screenshot of the Educational Innovation knowledge base within the Services Portal

    When searching for help/info related to online tools e.g Canvas, head to the the Services Portal and then click ‘Knowledge’. 

  • Educational Innovation has a dedicated knowledge base which you can access directly, then either use the search bar to interrogate the database or select any (or many) of the categories we have created for you.
  • The ‘Online Tools’ modules in the Teaching Resources Hub will be phased out over the next few weeks and all current information, help, and updates related to Online Tools can be accessed via the Knowledge Base system.
  • You can also search for Educational Innovation knowledge base articles directly from the Intranet’s search box.

Where will I find help and information more generally around teaching and learning?

  • The ‘Teaching’ section in the Teaching Resources Hub will still be maintained so that you can continue browsing there for help and advice on general learning and teaching matters such as designing assessment, educational integrity, student engagement, giving feedback, teaching inclusively, and more.
  • Soon, a new ‘First Year Coordinators’ section will be added to the Teaching Resources Hub, specifically designed to support unit coordinators, especially of first year units, in supporting their own staff and students.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Eszter Kalman from the Educational Innovation team.

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