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Master of Public Health Chevron-right
Explore this course
Intended learning outcomes
Upon completion of the Master of Public Health graduates will be able to:
Discuss the public health conceptual foundations
Identify current public health challenges in global, Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous Australian communities
Describe the ways in which biology, the environment, indigenous status, society and culture interact and determine health
Outline the organisational structures of the Australian and international public health systems
Identify the key population based public health strategies
Apply theories of leadership and management in public health practice
Communicate public health evidence for advocacy, and engagement using diverse media.
Critically reflect on the influences on decision making in public health practice, including personal attitudes and beliefs
Demonstrate a capacity to work collaboratively within an inter-disciplinary team
Apply principles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and International Indigenous cultures and values to public health practice.
Understand the importance of culture and engage respectfully with people of different cultures
Analyse, appraise and synthesise public health research evidence to inform public health decision making
Assess the health needs of a community in the context of the determinants of health and apply the findings to the development of public health strategies
Plan, implement, monitor and evaluate a public health program
Use tools and techniques for planning and managing a public health project
Application of knowledge and skills
Apply a comprehensive knowledge of a public health specialisation or area to develop solutions to complex public health problems;
Design and manage a detailed investigation of a public health issue in a substantial project, with a high level of personal autonomy and accountability;
Reflect on individual performance or processes undertaken in the management of a substantial public health project.
Generic skills
Academic distinction
Have an in-depth knowledge of public health conceptual foundations and practice
Be able to apply specialist public health knowledge and skills in a public health discipline
Be able to examine issues from multiple disciplinary perspectives within public health
Be able to think critically and creatively
Be able to apply knowledge, information and research skills to solve complex problems
Be effective written and oral communicators
Be engaged with contemporary local, national, global issues
Have a high regard for human rights, social inclusion, ethics and the environment
Be aware of social and cultural diversity in communities
Be able to work collaboratively with people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds
Be respectful of Indigenous knowledge, culture and values
Have the potential to be leaders in their profession
Be equipped to make substantial contributions to society
Integrity and self-awareness
Be motivated and organised, with an ability to set goals, manage time and prioritise
Be able to work effectively both independently and in groups
Be flexible and adaptable
Be aware of their own limitations and able to reflect and learn from their mistakes
Have empathy and concern for others and are able manage their own well-being.
The ability to respond constructively to appraisal, performance review or assessment
The ability to manage uncertainty
View some sample course plans to help you select subjects that will meet the requirements for this degree.
200 point sample study plan with research project Capstone option
Foundations of Public Health
POPH90217
Ethics of Ageing
Body of Ageing
Qualitative Research in Public Health
Prioritising & Planning in Public Health
Economics of Ageing
Ageing in Society
Public Health Leadership and Management
Research Project in Public Health Part 1
Global Population Ageing
Population & Global Mental Health
Health Inequalities
Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Linear & Logistic Regression
Health Program Evaluation 1
Infectious Diseases Modelling
Survival Analysis & Regression for Rates
Women and Global Health
Non Communicable Disease & Global Health
Primary Health Care, Jamkhed, India
Comparative Health Systems
Global Health and Human Rights
Global Challenges in Adolescent Health
HIV and AIDS:An Evolving Global Response
Disability and Global Development
Health Economics 1
Economic Evaluation 1
Community-Based Participatory Research
Health Illness and Society
Indigenous Health in a Global Context
Principles of Social Research Design
Bioethics and Public Health
First 1000 Days in Indigenous Contexts
Global Child Health
Practice of Public Health Leadership
Adolescent Sexuality and Sexual Health
Prevention and Control of STIs and HIV
Clinical Sexual & Reproductive Health
Explore the subjects you could choose as part of this degree.
Showing subjects for:
Ageing Epidemiology and Biostatistics Gender and Women's Health Global Health Health Economics and Economic Evaluation Health Program Evaluation Health Social Sciences Indigenous Health Primary Care Sexual Health
10 options available
200 point program with research project Capstone option
Complete all of the following
This subject is a compulsory subject within the Master of Public Health. It lays the foundation for the degree and provides an orientation to the field of public health. It provides a critical overview of public health historical development, conceptual underpinnings and practice in the following domains.
History and distinguishing features of public health and population health: The historical development of public health is traced. The distinguishing features of public health, emphasising the health of groups and populations rather than a focus on the health of an individual, are presented and explored. Key points of transition in the health of populations over time are identified. The scientific disciplines that make up the toolbox of modern population health are described.
Determinants of the health of individuals, groups and populations: Determinants of health affecting the health of individuals, and populations are identified, recognising that social determinants work in concert with environmental and biological factors. The health of indigenous people in Australia is examined and resources provided to assist in understanding common influences on the health of indigenous people world-wide. The increasing importance of health and human rights locally and globally is discussed, including an examination of the ethical frameworks relevant to public health practice.
Strategies and Systems: Major strategies and approaches to public health including health protection, health improvement and health care quality assessment are presented, with illustrations from local and international experience. The elements and function of health systems are defined and the roles of principal public health agencies internationally and nationally are described.
Achievements and challenges: The significant achievements in public health from the late 20 th century through to the 21 st century are identified and emerging challenges and possible solutions are explored, including in relation to indigenous populations.
This subject is compulsory for students enrolled in the Master of Public Health, Master of Epidemiology and the Master of Science (Epidemiology). Students should enrol in this subject early in their program of study.
The subject introduces the fundamental concepts of statistics and the essential methods required to equip students to perform basic statistical analyses and interpret research findings in the public health setting.
This subject is a core subject within the Master of Public Health, the Master of Epidemiology and the Master of Science (Epidemiology). Students should enrol in this subject early in their program of study.
Epidemiology is the discipline of studying the distribution and determinants of disease in populations and is a fundamental science of public health.
The subject covers the role of epidemiology in public health and ethical conduct of quantitative research. Within this subject the measures of population health and disease frequency, measures of association and measures of the impact of specific risk factors are studied. The subject includes descriptive epidemiology using routinely collected data. The common experimental and observational study designs, and systematic reviews, and their relative strengths and weaknesses are discussed. The implications of common types of bias (selection bias, information bias, and confounding) are discussed, as are methods to minimise them. Causal inference is considered within a framework of critical appraisal of epidemiological evidence. The validity and performance of screening and diagnostic tests are considered. Current infectious diseases will also be examined by considering the principles of infectious disease transmission and surveillance systems used for health protection. The cultural considerations in undertaking research within indigenous populations, and epidemiological measures in the context of indigenous health will be considered in an online module.
This is a compulsory subject in the Master of Public Health. Qualitative research plays an important role in public health as it can explain how people experience a particular health issue or why they perform a health-related behavior, taking into account specific social, political and economic contexts. Public health practitioners need to be able to undertake and interpret a range of published research (including qualitative research) in order to gather evidence for practice, identify gaps in evidence and evaluate current practice.
This subject will introduce students to qualitative research in public health - both the principles underlying design and the strengths and weaknesses of different qualitative methodologies. It will cover a range of methods, such as individual interviews, group interviews, visual and participatory methods. Each element of research design will be covered, from recognising research paradigms and sampling strategies through to the different types of analysis. Students will learn how to design, plan and evaluate qualitative research as sources of evidence in public health.
This is a core subject of the Master of Public Health degree. In this unit students will be introduced to the concepts, frameworks and methods used in prioritising and planning in public health. This unit will introduce students to the conceptual approaches and key methods used to conduct a health needs assessment and prioritise the identified needs for subsequent strategic planning. The unit will also explore the strategies and interventions that are commonly used to address health needs in populations and the criteria that can be used to select an appropriate intervention. Finally, the subject will consider essential concepts in the design and evaluation of health programs.
Within this subject, students will have the opportunity to apply the skills learnt to public health scenarios drawn from Australian and international case-studies. The material in this subject is highly relevant in day to day public health practice.
This subject is a compulsory subject within the Master of Public Health. Successful public health practitioners require solid working knowledge of both leadership in public health and management in public health. "Public Health Leadership and Management" will expose students to relevant theories and models of public health leadership and management. These learnings will be grounded in real-life case studies of public health significance, interviews with experts in the field, and small group exploration and reporting on important public health issues.
There are three Capstone options to choose from includings a Research Project, Professional Practice Unit or Capstone selective subject (POPH90227 Public health in Practice) and an additional elective
Research project option A
Research Project in Public Health Part 112.5 pts
The Research Project is a capstone option within the Master of Public Health. Within the Research Project students will work in their chosen area of study with an appointed supervisor. Students will have the opportunity to undertake a literature review, develop research questions and undertake the research activities required to answer their research question. Activities include analysis of data, policy analysis, a small evaluation of a health program, a small qualitative research study, a systematic or narrative review of the literature, or the development of a research protocol. Some activities are only available in specific streams of the course. Students enrolling in the year-long project MUST complete the project in two semesters consecutively.
Please refer to POPH90284 Research Project in Public Health Part 1.
Research project option B
Research Project in Public Health - S25 pts
The Research Project is a capstone option within the Master of Public Health. Within the Research Project students will work in their chosen area of study with an appointed supervisor. Students will have the opportunity to undertake a literature review, develop research questions and undertake the research activities required to answer their research question. Activities include analysis of data, policy analysis, a small evaluation of a health program, a small qualitative research study, a systematic or narrative review of the literature, or the development of a research protocol. Some activities are only available in specific specialisations of the course.
Highly recommended electives
Ageing in Society12.5 pts
This subject aims to offer students a critical examination of the ways in which ageing is socially constructed. Students will learn about ageing from a range of perspectives, including life course, bio-medical, gender, cross cultural, consumer, historical and self-reflection. The subject will focus on how the prevailing social context shapes ideas, relationships, and practices with specific implications for older people. This subject will critically analyse all forms of ageism and how older people are portrayed in literature, media and government policy using case studies from Australia and other countries around the world. Students will be encouraged to reflect on what ageing means to them, how they would like to age and what the impact of an ageing population might mean for future policy development.
Economics of Ageing12.5 pts
The subject examines the influence of private and public/government decision-making on the economic well-being of older people. These decisions include private decisions to prepare for old-age and to live through old-age by saving and managing assets such as housing, superannuation, annuities and other assets and government decisions to provide income support, health care and regulations that aim to protect old people. The influence of behavioural biases, as uncovered by behavioural economics, will be discussed. The subject also covers how an ageing population exerts upward pressure on the taxation required to finance government activities and services for the aged and how this may affect the 'social contract', in which the young assist the old in expectation of assistance when they are old from succeeding generations.
Body of Ageing12.5 pts
This subject focuses on how the body and its systems are affected by ageing and explores the differences between the natural ageing process and physical changes that develop as a result of illness with older persons. Students will also examine the effects of the environment and lifestyle factors on musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory and neurological systems that contribute to the experience of ageing and to the individual's capability to engage with their participation preferences. Understanding the common impairments and physiological changes behind them that occur as part of ageing process provides students with a fundamental base to critically analyse as well as develop strategies for healthy ageing and disease prevention.
Ethics of Ageing12.5 pts
This subject provides an overview of some of the key ethical issues associated with ageing across the lifespan, with an emphasis on their societal dimensions and implications for policy and professional practice. The skills and knowledge gained by students completing this subject will enhance their ability to engage with the health, social and economic issues of ageing encountered throughout the Masters of Ageing curriculum.
Students will be introduced to bioethical theory and its application in analysis, evaluation and decision making. Martha Nussbaum's account of capabilities for human flourishing will be used to frame the exploration of a number of key issues organized within thematic units of "justice", "autonomy" and "dignity". A final unit will explore ethical issues pertaining to the human quest for "immortality".
Topics covered include diverse historical and cultural perspectives on common ethical issues of ageing; ethical principles for health professionals, care givers and institutions providing for the elderly; age as a criterion for health resource allocation; age-based discrimination and bias in clinical decision-making and employment; international and intergenerational obligations in the context of care giving; and life extension and suspension modalities such as fertility preservation, transplantation and cloning.
Other recommended electives
Shifting Paradigms in Ageing12.5 pts
Populations are ageing globally and the Master of Ageing program is designed to produce leaders in the field of ageing who are able to develop new approaches and policies that help shape the societal shift that will inevitably occur. To this end, the Shifting Paradigms in Ageing subject aims to provide students with skills and techniques to think laterally and shift paradigms. As Einstein said "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Ageing is also about opportunity, and this subject will enhance the ability to recognise and leverage that potential.
This eight-week online subject will draw on frameworks, methodologies and techniques from philosophy, education, science, business, marketing and design, combined with object-based learning and trans-disciplinary practice to enable the identification and critical analysis of socio-cultural contexts and paradigms with a focus on ageing.
Ageing Health & Human Services12.5 pts
This course explores the interface of policy and practice in the delivery of aged care services. The responses to policy shifts in aged care over time will be explored. The course will then focus on the present day impact of health care, mental health, income security, housing, and employment, educational and recreational policies on the delivery of services to older citizens collectively and as individuals. Case studies will be used to illustrate both the theoretical and practical aspects of designing and delivering services.
Advanced Mental Health and Ageing12.5 pts
This subject extends the knowledge and skills developed in the prerequisite Mental Health and Ageing course. Management of mental health in older persons is explored from a range of biomedical and social perspectives. Topics include optimising mental health during ageing, preventing and managing common mental health disorders in older age, current models of mental health care and challenges for the future. Pharmacological, psychotherapeutic and environmental interventions are considered. Population health strategies and mental health promotion to support and ageing worldwide population are explored.
Design for Ageing12.5 pts
Demographic ageing is creating a shift in how to think and define homes, cities and public spaces. This subject explores feasible and sustainable approaches to keep the older segment of the population physically and socially active. Innovative changes in design can lead to significant advancements in service delivery, transportation models and homes that allow people to age in place. In addition, design principles for dementia and palliative care are a few of the many concepts that help minimise stress on people as they age and their families. Students will explore these topics and develop their own ideas about the way design can optimise the ageing process for comfort, security and overall well-being.
End of Life Issues12.5 pts
This subject explores the ethical issues that may arise at the end of life. Beginning with a multidisciplinary exploration of the concept of the end of life, students will investigate a number of longstanding as well as emerging issues that confront individuals, families, professionals and societies. Students will consider the implications of making decisions in various domains at different stages of the end of life, as well as the potential role of families, friends, carers, health professionals, lawyers, other professionals and policy makers in such decision making.
The subject will focus in particular on the role and responsibilities of professionals working with people preparing for or at the end of their lives. Topics may include historical and cultural perspectives on mortality and the end of life; justice in the distribution of resources at the end of life; the concept of a "good death" and euthanasia; determination of death and deceased donation of organs and tissues; and end-of life care planning and decision-making.
The curriculum for this subject will engage with art as a medium for reflection on ethical issues. Throughout the subject, students will explore a number of artworks independently and with their peers in exercises designed to foster skills in observation, interpretation, and analysis as well emotional engagement.
Leadership for an Ageing Workforce12.5 pts
The world is in the middle of an historic demographic shift in which an ageing population and changing social attitudes interact with a range of other megatrends transforming work organisation and organisational leadership. This subject focuses on understanding how demographic and other changes challenge traditional models of leadership and managing people. It will explore, assess and develop a range of skills and capabilities associated with effective leadership, that enable organisational leaders to drive strategic, people and effective change in the context of an increasing age diverse workforce and dynamic external environment. Using case studies of leadership challenges associated with different aspects of age diversity and an ageing workforce, it explores how leadership can be used to improve organisational and individual outcomes. This subject will also examine dimensions of leadership identity and management of self as an important part of developing effective leadership. It will apply these skills and capabilities to the context of leading age diverse organisations using case studies that explore each of these dimensions of leadership capabilities.
Global Population Ageing12.5 pts
Population ageing is causing fundamental societal and economic change in many countries and regions throughout the world. Although the opportunities and challenges presented by ageing differ between countries and regions, a global perspective can inform the development of sound policy responses to help individuals and societies to manage the transition to an older population structure. This course guides students through a range of key issues that are faced by societies with population ageing, and encourages them to critically appraise specific policy responses and to identify practical lessons to be learned from the experiences of countries experiencing rapid and advanced ageing. Topics covered include health, mature age employment, retirement and finances, age-friendly housing and environments, wellbeing & community participation, advanced ageing countries and rapidly ageing countries.
Mental Health and Ageing12.5 pts
In this subject the implications of mental health and ageing are explored from a range OF perspectives. Lectures will place mental health and ageing within a lifespan framework with an emphasis on both cognitive changes in later life and consideration of other challenges to mental health as people age, including inequality and marginalisation. The subject will also focus on issues such as the high rates of suicide among older men, the impact of loneliness and social isolation on mental health, and human rights, particularly supported decision making. Integrated and multidisciplinary approaches, and community and population based strategies, to prevent and respond to age related cognitive decline and other common mental health problems in older people will be introduced. This subject also will consider strategies to support an ageing worldwide population, including mental health promotion.
Technology and Ageing12.5 pts
This subject looks at the ways in which recent technological advancements can revolutionise the experience, management and future of ageing. Innovations in how we age are explored from multiple perspectives, including how technology can support autonomy and independent living as well as social connectedness to minimise the isolation common in later life.
The subject offers an introduction to the aged care information technology industry and major products and services. Controversial improvements in assistive technologies are covered, such as robotics and sensors that monitor behaviour and health conditions. Lastly, this subject considers technologies for end-of-life support, for longevity and for regenerative medicine. This subject opens up challenges and possibilities for ageing that have implications for older adults, health practitioners, caregivers, service providers, policymakers and researchers.


Yo Hablo Español … Y Ingles!
A new year at Risen Christ Catholic School in Minneapolis means new students participating in its dual immersion language program. Risen Christ, which serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade, is a member of the Two-Way Immersion Network for Catholic Schools (TWIN-CS). This is a national immersion network of the Barbara and Patrick Roche Center for Catholic Education at Boston College's Lynch School of Education that helps schools transition from monolingual to bilingual.
"We live in a culturally diverse world," said Patricia Weitzel-O'Neill, executive director of the school at Boston College and one of the study's authors, along with Hosffman Ospino.
"We wanted to advance the tradition of academic excellence, but in a form that allows the Church to serve multicultural and multilingual students," Weitzel-O'Neill said.
TWIN-CS provided a way for Risen Christ to meet its students' needs. Ninety percent of Risen Christ's student population is Latino, with the majority of students being English language learners.
"Studies show that English language learners enrolled in dual immersion programs perform better than students who spend all day learning English," said Michael Rogers, president of Risen Christ Catholic School.
Risen Christ was one of 12 schools selected nationally for TWIN- CS in 2012. Today, TWIN-CS has grown into a network of 20 schools.
If a school decides that TWIN-CS is right for the school and community, leaders determine which language and model is best for them. At Risen Christ, a 50-50 model is used, where kindergarteners through fourth grade students spend half of the day using English and the other half using Spanish.
For Risen Christ, the transition has increased enrollment. In 2017, 350 students were enrolled, the largest enrollment at the school in nearly 15 years, Rogers said. Enrollment remains steady this year.
"It tells us that we have a good representation of the community, and that we have a strong demand for Catholic education and the immersion program," Rogers said.


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Nothotrichia illiesi är en nattsländeart som beskrevs av Oliver S. Flint Jr. 1967. Nothotrichia illiesi ingår i släktet Nothotrichia och familjen smånattsländor. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Smånattsländor
illiesi

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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You are here: Home / Home / Carousel / Cloud of uncertainty hangs over Griselda Aldrete's nomination to lead Fire and Police Commission
Cloud of uncertainty hangs over Griselda Aldrete's nomination to lead Fire and Police Commission
July 26, 2019 by Edgar Mendez 1 Comment
A decision on whether Griselda Aldrete will become the next executive director of the Fire and Police Commission might not come until September. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
After two contentious community listening sessions, there's still uncertainty over whether Griselda Aldrete, Mayor Tom Barrett's choice to become the next executive director of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, has enough support from the Common Council to get the job.
"I have no clue as to whether they will appoint me," Aldrete said during the first listening session Tuesday at the UMOS corporate office, 2701 S. Chase Ave. The other session was held on the North Side. Aldrete said she's met with 12 council members.
Ald. Michael Murphy, Ald. Jose Perez and Ald. Mark Borkowski are endorsing her candidacy.
"I'm a huge supporter," Borkowski said. "She came across to me as a very genuine and real person."
Several others are still undecided.
"At this point, I do not know enough about the candidate or community reaction to the candidate to have a position on her nomination," Ald. Robert Bauman said in an email to NNS. He added he plans to meet with Aldrete in August.
Ald. Russell Stamper shared a similar sentiment when asked whether he had met with Aldrete and if he supported her nomination.
"No, I haven't. And I won't know until due diligence is done," Stamper said.
Ald. Bob Donovan has met with Aldrete but has not made a final decision, his legislative assistant Patty Doherty said. Ald. Khalif Rainey also said that he'd met with her and is still undecided.
Other council members contacted by NNS could not be reached for comment.
On Monday, July 29, there will be a special meeting of the Common Council's Public Safety and Health Committee. Aldrete's appointment is the only item on the agenda.
A move to delay appointment
Borkowski said he believes there is a movement by some on the council to delay Aldrete's nomination until September. The Journal Sentinel reported Thursday that there also is a push from the community to hold off on her nomination.
Barrett's last two nominees have been rejected by the Common Council, and the commission's previous executive director, La Keisha Butler, left the post in June.
The commission was established in 1885 and oversees all aspects of the city's fire and police departments and sets policy. The commission also handles citizen complaints as well as appoints and promotes employees.
If approved, Aldrete would oversee the commission, which has six members, including Ann Wilson, whose term expired in 2017. Her position was never replaced. The commission is supposed to have seven members and one full-time executive director, according to the city website.
Aldrete, who has a law degree, serves as president and CEO of Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee.
During the listening sessions, community members have asked whether she plans to provide more oversight of the Milwaukee Police Department, including implementing recommendations brought on by a lawsuit from the ACLU against the city over its stop-and- frisk policy.
"There are things I plan to monitor to make sure we are compliant with the settlement," Aldrete said.
Jarrett English, senior field organizer of the ACLU of Wisconsin, said he has concerns over whether Aldrete is conducting enough outreach to those most affected by issues such as police misconduct.
"It's imperative that the Fire and Police Commission be directly connected to the community and not rely on others to find out what the real concerns are in our city," English said.
Filed Under: Carousel, Home, Neighborhoods, News, Public Safety
About Edgar Mendez
Edgar Mendez is a beat reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, covering Clarke Square, the neighborhood in which he lives. Prior to joining the team at NNS he was a feature writer for El Conquistador Newspaper in Milwaukee, and a web writer/reporter for Scene262.com in Racine.
It is the responsibility of the board to conduct due diligence. When do Bauman and Stamper plan on doing their duty to conduct the due diligence they are quoted as not having done? The hearing is on Monday. By their own on-the-record comments they admit to being ignorant of a basic duty entrusted to them by voters.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Edna Buckman Kearns, suffrage activist (1882-1934)
from Marguerite Kearns Plus
Edna Buckman Kearns was a suffrage activist who organized on Long Island and in New York City. She is best known for her suffrage campaign wagon, the "Spirit of 1776" that began its journey on July 1, 1913 from Manhattan and was used in parades and special events. Celebrate women's freedom to vote by subscribing to Suffrage Wagon News Channel. Shoulder to shoulder coverage since 2009. News and views of the suffrage movement.
suffragewagon.org
SuffrageCentnnials.com
LetsRockTheCradle.com
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To follow up the work we did last year on improving the layout of our Moodle pages (based on student focus groups), we recently distributed a feedback survey to gauge the views of students now that they have had two full terms to work with the new layout. In this post we'll look at the results of that survey (full results of all responses are available as a download at the bottom of this article).
The survey was distributed to second-year undergraduate PAIS students in March 2019. Second year students were selected because (a) first-years would not have experienced the previous design as a point of comparison, and (b) there was a concern about 'over-surveying' finalists due to the NSS running at the same time. An entry into a prize draw for £50 Eating@Warwick credit was offered to anyone who took part. In total we had 36 responses out of approximately 200 students (~18% response rate).
Somewhat reassuringly, the vast majority of the responses were very positive, in particular around consistency, ease of finding content, and the decision to embed reading from Talis Aspire by week.
There is some slight area for improvement on the question about accessing Moodle on a mobile (this now works much better than previous years, but we acknowledge there are still some outstanding issues), and in particular there were a several respondents who only answered 'neutral' or 'disagree' when it came to the ease of finding staff contact details. We are going to look at improving this for the next academic year (2019-20).
For the next three questions we enabled text-entry answers to get some qualitative comments.
What is your favourite thing about the new layout?
We can see from this word cloud that one of the main changes we made (organising the modules by weekly topics, with weekly reading lists embedded in each week) was a very popular decision, as the words week, topics, reading, and lists featured prominently as respondent's favourite feature.
We can also see that references to consistent and standardised are very prominent, which was one of the main goals of our redesign.
There are many positive adjectives that show just how much students like the new layout. These include easier, quickly, accessible, convenient, concise, useful, logical, simple, and intuitive. Seeing these words coming back from our users is hugely encouraging as these are clear indications that we have got our design right in terms of usability.
The picture here was perhaps less clear, with no single theme around what wasn't working well (potentially this could be interpreted as a good thing, because there is no obvious area in which we are failing students). There were lots of different ideas to sort through, including encouraging use of forums, providing clearer contact details, improving weekly descriptions, and better use of the announcements section. Indeed, the need for clearer contact details was flagged up by quite a few respondents, and while we have made big improvements in consistency in this area since last year, it's helpful to know that we could still do better here.
Two major themes did appear to be visible, however.
Firstly, as we have now set an expectation of consistency across modules (particularly around Talis Aspire week-by-week reading lists) students are critical of modules that don't uphold this consistency. This is why we see words such as Talis, reading, list and week appearing prominently, because there were certain modules that didn't conform to the use of Talis or the weekly reading setup that students now expect to see.
Secondly, the way we handle assessment could be improved, both in terms of the consistency in assessment information that we provide in Moodle, and in terms of integration with Tabula which we use for submissions. This explains the prominence of the words assessment, essays, Tabula, and rubric.
We ended the survey with an opportunity for students to leave any further comments in a free text field. Of those that left comments, most were positive about the redesign, with some additional recommendations for improving consistency, wider use of Talis Aspire, and improving the information about assessment.
"Showing this to other students from the Faculty, universal positive feedback was received. This has been something the PolSoc SSLC has supported from the beginning of the year, pitching this idea to other departments in the Faculty (not necessarily saying they should use the PAIS design) would ensure that joint degree students have at least relatively similar degrees of consistency if not just one single moodle experience."
"Both sets of Moodle pages have been easy to use and useful overall."
"The collection of Resources and General Info is really useful for just having one common space of misc stuff!"
"Thank you for putting effort into developing these platforms."
"I think having a Tails Aspire page (one that is regularly updated, of course) should be a requirement for all modules."
"Clearer information on Exams/Essays would be better than the huge blocks of text under the 'assessment' section on the new Moodles."
"There could be some more consistency between modules in the way they use moodle - in terms of the notes and seminar information they put up. Also, a general standard level for the amount of notes, and if not what is available on the lecture slides that is available. If someone misses a lecture due to illness, and it is not lecture captured, there needs to be notes on the lecture if there is very little on the slides (this is the case in my International Relations module)."
"A real improvement from last year!"
Collecting this data was an extremely useful exercise, and we would like to thank all of the students who have now responded. We will be using the results to fine-tune some of the improvements to the modules, particularly around staff contact details, consistent use of reading lists, assessment information, and mobile responsiveness.
There were also many other helpful comments and suggestions that were submitted by individual students (unfortunately too many to respond to in this article) that we will be taking into account for the next academic year.
The winner of the prize draw has now been selected and has been informed directly.
You can download the full raw data from the survey here: pais-moodle-redesign-feedback-survey-march-2019-full-results.pdf.
Any queries about the survey or the PAIS Moodle redesign can be directed to James Roscoe, Academic Technologist for PAIS.
Over Summer 2018 we decided to hold some Moodle focus groups with PAIS students to find out more about how they are currently using Moodle to support their learning. As part of this, we discussed a potential new course layout which would involve structuring the module page by weekly topics.
More consistency across PAIS modules.
A simpler, cleaner layout that works better on mobile devices.
An easier interface for not only finding content, but also editing and maintaining it.
The restructure proposal also received strong support from the PAIS Senior Management Team (SMT) and has been commended by the central Academic Technology team.
In particular, consistency in layout and presentation was highlighted by students as a major area for improvement. When asked to consider the statement 'My modules are presented in a consistent way', 0% of the participants agreed with the assertion, with 91% actively disagreeing. However, it was also recognised that tutors ought to have the creative freedom to deliver content how they see fit, within a given framework. Our aim is therefore to provide a consistent page template, within which colleagues can still create any resources they wish.
It made pedagodical sense for our Moodle pages to reflect the structure of the course itself, i.e. a 10- or 20- weekly schedule of topics. This has been achieved via the 'Collapsed topics' course format, i.e. a dropdown of sections, which provides easy access to the content without required much vertical scrolling. There is also a 'General Information & Resources' dropdown at the top for easy access to resources that might not fit into specific weeks, such as the module overview and assessment information, or any other resources that could be useful to refer to throughout the year.
Previously, course pages were organised by relatively arbitrary categories that were arranged in the grid format on the homepage, e.g. 'reading' / 'resources' / 'additional resources', with each module using slightly different variations. This made it more difficult for students to find what they were looking for, and sometimes the grid sections were simply being used to house a single link, requiring unnecessary extra clicks. The grid format also had a number of bugs associated with it, including issues around visibility settings and permissions, and was also difficult to use on mobile devices.
HTML tables have been removed, which were previously being used to present the course structure. These were exceptionally difficult to navigate on mobile phones, often requiring awkward horizontal scrolling. The new collapsed topics layout is much easier to view on mobile, which is important as our research found that students are accessing Moodle on a multitude of different devices.
The dropdown structure now effectively takes the place of the old weekly schedule tables, except that now we have the ability to add Moodle activities/resources directly into weekly topics (rather than just having to edit the section summaries), which will have great improvement our ability to quickly add content, move and edit existing material, and also access learning analytics data for individual resources.
Students also expressed a strong preference for using Talis Aspire to present reading list material rather than static lists within Moodle. For those using Talis Aspire, the link is still available via the block in the right-hand column, though in the future we also hope to make use of an incoming Talis Aspire plugin that will enable us to embed weekly reading from Aspire into the correspondingly weekly dropdown on Moodle, which will make it quicker and easier to access the current week's reading.
The ability to easily access the course director's contact details and feedback hours was a feature that all students wanted. Students also commented that it would be helpful to see the contact details for seminar tutors.
The vast majority of modules were already displaying basic contact information for the director, such as name and email address, though we noticed that several of the email links were not working due to errors that had been introduced when adding the 'mailto' links.
Given that all modules ought to have this information as standard, we decided to implement a more consistent way of displaying this, and have now placed contact information for the module director and additional teaching staff in the right-hand blocks. This now includes additional details as standard, such as a photo, link to staff profile, and an office number that ties in with the interactive campus map. Placing this information in the side column now frees up space in the main section for course-related content.
To view the contact details, users simply click on the lecturer's name to open the dropdown. (Note: On some older browsers, e.g. Internet Explorer, the show/hide dropdown functionaility may not be supported, in which case all the contact details are displayed by default).
All module pages were using an image in the top-left, but the size/dimensions of the image (and therefore the way in which content flowed around it) was inconsistent. Again, there were problems associated with viewing on mobile devices.
We have decided to standardise the presentation of the header by including a PAIS-themed header image which incorporates the module image via a circular cut-out. The header uses red shades from the official PAIS colour palette and displays the module title and code. It has also been set to always span 100% of the available width of the page, meaning we no longer have isues with text wrapping, and it displays well across all screen sizes.
This new header provides a more consistent look and feel, which is both asthetically pleasing and provides a clear visual indiciation to students of which module they are currently accessing. Anyone who wishes to change the photo shown in the circular cut-out can do so by contacting James Roscoe.
Lots of the existing module pages had links to standard departmental references, such as the PAIS website, marking critieria, the UG/PG handbooks, and Intranet sites. For instance, last year a link to the new marking criteria had to be manually added to all PAIS module pages, which was took a reasonable amount of time.
We've now decided to offer a standard set of 'department-level' resources on all PAIS Moodle pages, which has been rolled out automatically via a department-wide side-block. This is now much easier to update (e.g. should we ever need to add/remove/edit any of the links) as it can be changed in one place rather than needing to edit every single module manually.
If there are additional PAIS web links that you wish to add into the main body of your module page, then this is of course still possible.
We hope that you will find the new Moodle layout an intuitive and flexible way to deliver your module's online content. While it is always a little daunting to adjust to a new system, we are confident that after a little getting used to it we will all find the new format easier to edit and maintain, and that these changes will give students a much better experience using Moodle to support their learning.
If you have any comments, questions, or simply want a refresher on using Moodle, don't hestitate to get in touch our Academic Technologist, James Roscoe.
Our thanks goes out to Kostadina Yanakieva and Alex Paszta-Keene, our temporary members of staff who helped with much of the legwork for reformatting the 80+ modules across the PAIS department.
The Moodle 'Announcements' forum is a good way to send out updates to your students, as not only do all enrolled students receive an email notification but the post is also retained in the forum for future reference.
In this post, we'll explore how you can use the 'Latest News' block in Moodle to add a feed of the 5 most recent announcements to the sidebar of your module page.
This is particularly useful if you want to increase the visibility of your module announcements. We all know that email tends to be rather ephemeral, and it's unlikely that even the most diligent of students will click into the announcements forum every time they visit your module page.
Therefore, adding a feed of announcements as a side block is a good way to ensure that important updates will always be seen by students when they log in - A handy feature if you regularly have important news, events, or deadlines to remind students about!
For a quick reminder of what the Announcements forum actually is, and how it differs from a discussion forum activity, take a quick look at my other recent post on Announcements vs Discussion Forums.
Firstly, you will need to 'Turn editing on' for the page via the cog in the far top-right of the module page. This will allow you to add content.
Next, at the bottom of the left-hand navigation menu, choose 'Add a block', as highlighted in red below. If you can't see the left-hand navigation menu, you may need to toggle it on by clicking the menu icon in the top-left of Moodle (also highlighted below).
You will then be presented with a list of possible blocks to add to your page. In this list, select 'Latest news (News forum)', as highlighted below.
You will now see the 'Latest News' block appearing in the right-hand column of your module page, with the announcements already populated, as shown below. It's as easy as that!
Every time that you add another item in the announcements forum, this will appear in the side block, with the most recent appearing first. This will display up to 5 of the most recent entries.
Each entry title acts as a hyperlink that takes students straight to the post in question. In addition, you will notice that just above the title, the author and date/time posted is also displayed.
As a teacher on the course, you will also see the 'Add a new topic...' link at the top, which is a quick way to add a new post to the announcements forum.
To give students an easy way to view older posts, there is also an 'Older topics...' link at the bottom, which allows anyone to view the entire list of announcements, as shown below.
I hope you have found it useful to learn how to add the 'Latest News' block to your page, and perhaps this is something you may consider providing if you regularly make use of the announcements forum.
If you have any queries or would like further support on your module page, please feel free to contact me.
If your Moodle page is particularly long and involves a lot of vertical scrolling, you may find it useful to add a 'Table of Contents' block to the sidebar of your module. This is really quick and easy to set up, and works particularly well for modules which have a lot of content on the landing page, such as those using the 'Topics' course format. It allows students to simply click on a menu at the top of the page which will take them straight to the section they want to view.
A quick disclaimer: For courses using the 'Collapsed Topics' format, you may find this tip less useful given that the collapsed sections essentially already act as a table of contents. The same can also be said for courses using the 'Grid' format, and in fact on the grid format the 'Table of Contents' block doesn't currently seem to open up the sections properly (at least not on our Warwick's Moodle site).
You will then be presented with a list of possible blocks to add to your page. In this list, select 'Course Contents', as highlighted below.
You will now see the 'Table of Contents' block appearing in the right-hand column of your module page, with the list of sections already populated, as shown below.
You can also now move, show/hide, or configure the block. It's the 'configure' option (via the cog drop-down) that we'll look at next, which can be selected via the cog dropdown.
On the configure screen, there are a few options available underneath 'Block settings' which I will briefly explain.
Block title - This overwrites the title of the block if you would rather it say something other than 'Table of Contents'.
Enumerate section titles - This option is on by default and places a number in a small grey box next to each menu item, as can be seen in the screenshots from earlier.
Auto title - Instead of lifting the text of each menu item from the section title, it will instead lift it from the section summary (If you are not sure what a section summary is, have a quick look at my other post on 'Using Moodle Labels'). This is probably not advisable if you are using particularly long section summaries, but if they are very short and work better in the menu than the default section title then this could work for you. Note that this option only works if you are using the 'default section name' for each section. If you have specified your own title for a section rather than using the default ('Topic 1', etc) then your own title will still take precedence over the section summary.
I hope you have found it useful to learn how to add the 'Table of Contents' block to your page, and perhaps this is something you may consider providing to help students navigate your course if your Moodle page is particularly long.
Moodle forums are a fantastic way to encourage additional discussion and student participation outside of face-to-face sessions. They provide opportunities for tutors to communicate with their students outside of class, to explore issues in more detail than time might allow in a seminar, and can even be used for assignments in-between lectures.
However, it's important to understand the difference between an Announcements forum, and a more generic discussion forum (forum activity). The key difference is that only teachers can post in the Announcements forum, whereas anyone on the module can post in other forums.
Another key distinction is that students automatically receive email notifications of items posted in the Announcements forum, therefore making it a good place to post important news that you need students to know about (but not necessarily comment on).
The screenshot below shows an 'Announcements' forum alongside a generic forum (which has been titled 'Discussion forum'). Despite behaving differently, they look rather similar!
Firstly, everything discussed in this post should be done in editing mode on your module page. Therefore, we first need to 'Turn editing on' for the module (via the cog in the far top-right of the page).
You should find that an Announcements forum is automatically present near the top of your module page. It's possible that at some point it may have been renamed to something other than 'Announcements', so to check whether or not it is an Announcements forum you can choose 'Edit > Settings' next to the forum and then look to see if 'Announcements' is set as the 'Forum type' property (as shown below). If it shows something else, then the forum is not an Announcements forum.
If you don't seem to have an announcements forum, you can reinstate it by simply going to 'Edit settings' for the module (via the top-right cog) and then click 'Save and display' to reset the Announcements forum.
Remember, the Announcements forum can't be posted in by students, so while they are useful for delivering important news, you cannot encourage students to post/reply directly underneath an item because their permissions won't allow them to do so.
To add a general discussion forum (that students can post in), click on 'Add an activity or resource' for the section you wish to add the forum into, and then choose 'Forum' from the list of options.
You can then input settings such as the forum title before adding it into your module page. You can even add multiple generic forums to your page, for example if you wish to have one per section.
Both types of forums behave like any other Moodle resource in that you can show/hide, move, delete, and edit them at any time.
Given that Announcements and the more generic forums appear very similar visually (with exactly the same icon) it's worth using titles and/or descriptions that clearly explain how they are to be used.
I hope this post has helped you understand the difference between the Announcements forum and the more generic discussion forum.
How do you add instructions, descriptions, and signposts on your Moodle page, when you need to explain something to students?
Many of our pages are currently using the 'section summaries' to deliver this content (or indeed using section summaries for all of the module's content).
In this post we'll explore why 'labels' are a more powerful and flexible way to achieve signposting in Moodle.
Wait, what's a section summary?
This is a default label which allows you to place information about the specific topic or week. It could be an introduction to the unit of study or a short summary of the weekly plan. Activities and resources are listed below this section.
In this example, the section summary for 'Weekly schedule' contains a paragraph, a link to a Talis Aspire reading list, a subheading, a table, a list of weeks, links to lecture slides, and even an audio recording. On the face of things this works fine, but arguably it far exceeds the intended scope for a Moodle section summary.
Why are section summaries problematic?
For one thing, the whole section can only be edited in one go by clicking on the 'cog' icon at the bottom-left of the summary. As a result it can also only be moved/hidden/duplicated/exported/deleted in one go, which signficantly restricts how flexibile your module content is, for example should you ever wish to restructure your page or add new content.
Secondly, we completely lose the ability to access learning analytics for the content contained withing a section summary. We have no idea how many students are clicking on the Talis Aspire link, downloading the lecture slides, or listening to the audio recording. This is valuable information that can be used to assess and improve our modules.
Breaking down our section into bite-sized pieces of distinct content means that our course becomes more modular/granular, and as a result we have better control over our content on a resource-by-resource basis.
Our advice would be to restrict your 'section summary' to just that - A brief 'summary' of the content that is about to follow. You can then place your content (lectures, downloads, links, video, podcasts, etc) as individual resources underneath the summary, and signpost this content using labels.
Simply put, labels are short pieces of descriptive content (usually text) that are constructed in just the same way as section summaries, except they act as standalone resources and can therefore be moved around the page or positioned in between resource to provide further clarity or explanation.
You can add a label to your page by using the 'Add an activity or resource' link and then selecting 'label' from the list of options, as shown below.
You will then be presented with a simple editing interface for inserting the content of the label. Similar to the 'section summary' editor, this contains options for headings, formatting, links, images, and media - Though in most cases we would use a label for simple text content.
We also have options here to change the 'visibility' of an individual label, or to set access restrictions (such as by student, seminar group, date, or course progress). This is a great way to make individual pieces of text or descriptive content conditional on certain prerequisites, something which is not feasible with section summaries.
Below is a good example of how we might break up our content into individual resources and use labels to help signpost these resources. What is your inital impression when you see this content? Hopefully you will find the layout clear and easy to see how the week's content is broken up.
In this example, the 'section summary' is simply used for a single sentence to briefly explain what will be covered in the week. The module overview is then contained within a sub-page to reduce the amount of content shown in the section summary. After all, students probably don't need to read the module overview every time they access the course!
We then use a label ('What to do first') to point students towards some initial activities to help ease them into the module (a pre-course survey and a discussion forum), before inserting another label 'An introduction to IR theories' which sets out expectations for the week's core content.
Another label is then used to direct students to the 'optional' resources (a Moodle book and a video link), showing that labels are a great way to separate out compulsory and optional content (or provide further clarification as to the relevance of each piece of content).
We then have a greyed-out label ('Seminar activity') which is followed by a collabative wiki. Notice how these have both been set to release from 8th October, which shows how we can use conditional access settings to control visibility of content (including labels) based on factors like date, student ID, or seminar grouping.
And the best thing from the point of view of the teacher, is that all these resources and labels can be individually moved, edited, and hidden, because they have been added as individual pieces of content rather than as one whole section summary. It's now also incredibly simple to insert additional resources at any point in the course.
We can also access learning analytics for all the individual resources in this section, enabling us to measure the students' engagement with the core material, optional resources, collaborative wiki, etc. This gives us a valuable insight into the ways students are interacting with our content.
This is just one example of how labels might be used to provide better signposting, structuring, and clarification on your module page. There are many more use cases out there - the possibilities really are endless.
I hope this post will help you see the potential benefits of using labels for structuring your Moodle page.
As it's currently reading week at Warwick, why not use this opportunity to add some useful reading links to your Moodle page via the power of RSS feeds!
RSS feeds are a great way to provide your students with links to the latest content from external blogs, news, and other websites that may be of relevance to your module. It provides a constantly up-to-date list of the latest posts and articles from a chosen source, and is a really nice way to keep your page current and relevant without having to manually add new content.
First, establish the website that you want to draw content from. You'll then need to check that the site has its own RSS feed, so look out for a link or button with words 'RSS' and/or 'Feed', and in particular keep an eye out for the RSS icon, often shown in orange as below.
For this example, I'm going to use the BBC's Politics news feed and show how this can be embedded into Moodle. In this screenshot below, taken from the BBC Politics landing page, you can see the RSS feed icon that I've highlighted in the bottom-right. This one is quite small and not actually shown in orange (which demonstrates they can be a little tricky to spot at first), but nevertheless the feed is there.
On clicking that link you will usually be presented with the raw output of the latest posts, but it's not what we see on this page that's important but rather the link to the feed itself.
You'll need to copy the link to the RSS feed, either by right-clicking the link and choosing 'Copy link address' (or similar, depending on your browser), OR you can click on the link and then lift the URL from your browser's address bar, as pictured below. In this case, the URL is 'http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/politics/rss.xml', so this is what we need to copy to our clipboard.
You will then be presented with a list of possible blocks to add to your page. In this list, select 'Remote RSS feeds', as highlighted below.
You will now see the (empty) 'Remote RSS feed' block appearing in the right-hand column of your module page, which you can now move, show/hide, or configure. It's the 'configure' option (via the cog drop-down) that we need to use to set up our feed.
On the configure screen, you will see a number of options. You will also notice that there is a list shown of existing feeds that other colleagues have already added and made 'public' (feel free to make use of these if they look useful!).
To add your own feed (in this case the BBC Politics feed that we grabbed earlier) we need to click on the 'Add/edit feeds' link'.
Depending on your level of permissions, the next screen might show you some pre-existing feeds, or it might not. Either way, click on the 'Add a new feed' button at the bottom.
This will then take you to the next screen for adding a new feed, as shown below.
You will need to paste in the RSS link that you copied earlier into the top box (Feed URL), and then you can choose to give it a custom title if you wish.
Naming it is optional, as the feed should generate its own title. In the case of this feed, the BBC actually provides an automatic title of 'BBC News - UK Politics', which is probably good enough. But, for some feeds you may wish to provide your own title for clarification, or perhaps just to shorten it. In the example above, I've decided to rename it 'BBC Politics'.
You also have the option to set it as a 'Shared feed'. This means that other colleagues at the University will be able to see it in the main list of existing feeds, but depending on their permissions they may be able to edit/delete it too! For this reason, I'd advise keeping this set to 'No', unless you have a good reason to do otherwise.
Click 'Add a new feed', which saves the feed and takes you back to the 'Manage all my feeds' page.
You now need to go back to the module landing page - the quickest way to do this is to click your module title in the 'breadcrumb trail' of links along the top. Then (as before) use the cog drop-down on the RSS side block and re-enter the configuration settings. You will then see your feed listed in the 'Choose the feeds...' list, which you can now select!
Display each link's description - If the RSS feed supports it, you will get a brief description underneath the title/link to each resource.
Max number of entries to show per block - Pretty much what it says, but perhaps this should best be thought of as 'Max number of entries to show per feed' (see next point).
Choose the feeds... - As discussed, select your feed here. You can even select multiple feeds (by shift+clicking or ctrl+clicking), and then each feed will display the number of posts selected above - So in theory selecting 2 feeds with a max number of 5 would result in 10 posts in total on your block.
Title- If you want to rename the title of the block. If you leave this blank, you will get the title of the feed itself as the name of the block, which may be fine. I would definitely recommend inserting your own title if you are selecting multiple feeds, otherwise the block title will lift it from the first feed (which is a tad confusing).
Show a link to the original site - You will get a link saying 'Source site...' at the bottom of the block which will take you to the website of the feed provider (can be useful if you want to encourage students to read more articles, but note that this only works for the first feed if you select multiple feeds.
Show channel image if available - You may get an image/logo from the publisher at the top of the block, but not the words 'if available'... Some publishers don't provide them!
Due to the discrepancies discussed above in relation to 'number of entries' and 'title', I would tend to recommend only selecting one feed per block. Using multiple feeds per block can create some confusion, and you will be probably find the interface is cleaner and easier to manage if you simply add another block to your Moodle page and insert the second feed that way (if you actually want multiple feeds).
Hit 'Save changes' and you can then return to your module landing page and see the newly added feed on the right-hand side, as shown below (which may vary in appearance depending on the options you selected above).
And that's all you need to do! It may take you a few minutes to add/configure the feed, but once done you won't have to touch it again and you can benefit from a continuously updating list of news stories that will publish as links to your page whenever the publisher adds new content.
It's a great way to help make your module page feel fresh, current, and up-to-date, and also gives students more variety in terms of the range of sources that you direct them to read. We're already seeing some great uses of RSS feeds around the departments of PAIS, Philosophy, and Sociology at Warwick, so next time you're reading a relevant blog or website, do look out for the 'RSS Feed' icon and consider adding it to your Moodle page!
I hope this post will help you with adding RSS feeds to your Moodle page, and is something you may consider providing for students during reading week.
You can also find further support documentation over on moodle.org - Remote RSS feeds block.
Staff and students at Warwick can take advantage of the Talis Aspire reading lists to help organise and manage reading lists.
There are many advantages of using Aspire lists (compared to static reading lists), including better controls for integration with the library, the ability to link directly to resources, better sharing capabilities, features for tracking engagement, as well as ensuring a consistent approach across multiple modules.
It's also possible to automatically add a link in your Moodle module to the current year's reading list. In this post, we'll look at how to add and configure this feature on your Moodle page.
Next, at the bottom of the left-hand navigation menu, choose 'Add a block', as highlighted in red below. If you can't see the left-hand navigation menu, you may need to toggle it on by clicking the hamburger-style menu icon in the top-left of Moodle.
You will then be presented with a list of possible blocks to add to your page. In this list, select 'Talis Aspire Resource Lists', as highlighted below.
The block will then be visible on your page (as shown below), and providing the current year's list has been correctly linked to your module within Talis then it should automatically display a link to the list, along with the number of entries it contains and the date it was last modified. It really is as easy as that!
There are a few options available to you once the block has been added. You will need to ensure you clicked 'Turn editing on' for the module in order to see these options (This will already be the case if you have just added it via the instructions above!).
You can move the position of the block within the sidebar by dragging-and-dropping the 'arrows' icon shown below. You can also show/hide the block via the cog dropdown, and you can also use this dropdown to gain access to the 'Configure' settings for the block.
The difference between these options may be a tad confusing at first, as they rely on a complicated combination of page types, page contexts, sub-pages, and permissions. There's a more detailed discussion around this over on the Moodle.org forums, but as a general rule of thumb: For Warwick's Moodle site, you should choose 'Any type of course main page' if you just want the block to appear on the module's landing page, or alternatively choose 'Any page' if you want it to appear both on the landing page AND any sub-pages.
These visibility options also apply to other Moodle blocks (such as the Echo 360 block) so it's worth knowing they are there. If in doubt, I'd stick with the default (usually 'Any type of course main page') as this is what most modules will be using.
I hope this post will help you with setting up your Talis Aspire reading block on your Moodle module page.
As a course convenor, it's good practice to include your contact details in the opening section of your Moodle module, including your email address. To make things easier for your students to contact you, you can also create a clickable link (called a 'mailto' link) that instantly fires up an email to the convenor in the student's preferred email client.
This is a really simple tip that adds a nice usability boost to your Moodle page, but it has to be done in quite a specific way.
Most module pages already have a space set up where the convenor's details are displayed, similar to the example below, so we'll skip over setting this up and jump straight to adding the mailto link.
In this example, the course convenor's name is a link that directs students to their staff profile on the web. This is indicated visually by the colour blue. The email address is currently visible, and students can manually highlight+copy+paste it into an email client, but it's not been set up as a link.
To edit the content and add the link, we first need to 'Turn editing on' for the module (via the cog in the far top-right of the page). Next, click on the smaller cog icon which will have now appeared at the bottom of the section (as shown above). You will find this right at the bottom of your opening section, which may not necessarily be immediately below the contact details, so you might need to scroll down to find it.
On the next screen, highlight the email address in the summary section editor, and click the 'link' button on the top-row of the toolbar as indicated in red below. You may also wish to 'copy' your email address to the clipboard (Ctrl+C / Cmd+ C) before clicking the link icon.
In the pop-up box that appears, you will now need to type 'mailto:' followed by your email address (which you can paste with Ctrl+V / Cmd+V if you copied it in the previous step).
This means the text box should read something like mailto:j.bloggs@warwick.ac.uk. Note that the 'mailto:' part needs to be added exactly as shown below, i.e. all one word and with a colon, but no space, before the email address.
Now hit the 'Create link' button to add the mailto link, and then at the bottom of the page hit the 'save changes' button.
Back on your module page, you will find the email address has now been visually styled as a link, and if you hover over it most browsers will indicate the destination of the link in the bottom-left corner of the window, as can be seen below.
Clicking on this link will now launch our email client of choice, open up a new email, and populate the 'to' field automatically with the email address. The default email client for many people (if they are running Microsoft Office) will be Outlook (as shown below) but it can be configured to anything the user wants.
Firstly, if the 'mailto:' text has not been added in front of the email address, the link will break. In the case of Warwick's Moodle, if we create the link as simply j.bloggs@warwick.ac.uk then Moodle will actually interpret this as a webpage link to https://moodle.warwick.ac.uk/course/j.bloggs@warwick.ac.uk. This will launch a new page with an error message!
Secondly, sometimes when a course convenor has changed on a module, the text of their email address may have been updated but the mailto link might not have been updated.
Take a close look at the example below. It looks like the link will send an email to Joe Bloggs, but hovering over the link reveals that the mailto link will cause the email to be sent to Jane Doe instead!
If you have this issue, simply edit the section as discussed earlier, then change the link target, being sure to retain the 'mailto:' text in front of it.
I hope this post will help you with checking your module's contact details and ensuring your email links are working as intended.
The ability to hide/show sections in Moodle in an instant is a powerful way to control access to your content. For example, you may wish to temporarily hide a future part of your module until it is ready for release.
Unfortunately, when using certain course formats in Moodle, it's not always obvious which sections you have visible or hidden to students. As a result, sometimes we can forget that we have actually hidden a section when we in fact need it to be visible.
This is particularly common in cases where you might have inherited a module from a previous convenor, so it's always worth checking that all the sections you intend to make available really are visible.
In this post, we are going to see how you can check that your module page looks as it should to your students.
If you are using the topics format (i.e. all your topics/weeks have their resources listed down the page) it's fairly clear which sections are visible and which are hidden. You will clearly see that the hidden sections are greyed out, indicating that they are not visible to your students.
In the screenshot below, the 'General resources' section is visible, while the 'Week 1: Introduction' is hidden.
If you are using the 'collapsed topics' format, then it's not quite so obvious which sections are visible. If you take a look at the screenshot below, the only indication the 'Week 1: Introduction' is hidden is that it is written in italics.
Things are slightly easier to see when the collapsed topics are expanded, because in addition to the title being in italics we can also see that the resources are greyed out, similar to the standard 'topics' format.
Things get slightly trickier when we are using the 'grid' format. Unfortunately, there is no discernible difference in visible/invisible topics when viewing your module landing page, as you can see below.
In this example, 'Week 1' is actually still hidden to students, but you wouldn't know it! If you click on 'Week 1' you will be able to see that the resources are greyed out, but this is time-consuming if you have lots of sections.
The best way to check if all your sections are visible is to 'Turn editing on' (via the cog in the top-right), and then scroll down the page to the editing area, where you will clearly see which sections are greyed out.
Here we can more easily scan down the list of topics and see that 'Week 1' is in fact greyed out (invisible).
If we need to toggle a section's visibility, first we need to 'Turn editing on' for the page (via the cog icon in the top-right of the page). Then, alongside the section title we need to change, click the 'Edit' dropdown, and choose either 'Show section' or 'Hide section', as shown via the red highlights below.
There is another, more reliable, method of checking your module page is displaying as intended, and that is by simulating a student view.
To do this, click the dropdown next to your name in the top-right, and then choose 'Switch role to...'.
On the next screen, you can choose 'Student' from the list options. This will take you back to your module so that you can view it as if you were a student (rather than an editing teacher) and you will now clearly see which sections are visible. Any invisible sections or resources will simply not display at all!
To exit student view and return to your normal role, simply click the dropdown next to your name again, and choose 'Return to my normal role', as shown below.
I hope this post will help you with checking your module page and ensure all the right sections are visible to your students.


Ego And The Enemy is out now.
Central Standard Time is out now.
DROGAS Light drops on February 10th.
Loyalty Is Royalty is coming soon.
Headnod Suite drops on February 24th.
Kingtucky: Break Loops & B-Sides drops on January 29th.
Video: Oh No x Tristate - G.T.D.
Molotov drops on February 17th.
The Iceberg drops on February 24th.
Same Moon, Same Sun is coming soon.
All proceeds go towards raising money to build clean water wells and facilities in Uganda and Kenya, in association with Rockwell Foundation and Well Aware.
The Past Is Always Present In The Future is out now.
RISE UP! is coming soon.
Ego and the Enemy drops on January 27th.
Rap Album Two drops on February 17th.
Return Of The Cool is out now.
Same Moon Same Sun drops on January 30th.
For Mark, Your Son is out now.
Being You Is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often drops on February 10th.
The duo returns with their second volume.
Egyptian Merchandise is out now.
I guess DROGAS Light is back on. February 10th.
Riots On Fashion Avenue drops on February 10th.
Freddy v. Jason is coming soon.
Audio: Your Old Droog - G.K.A.C.
PACKS is set to drop on March 10th.
Chill, dummy drops on January 27th.
3 Dimensional Prescriptions drops on January 13th.
Fin drops on February 3rd.
Central Standard Time drops on January 27th.
Fay Grim will be released on January 27th.
A re-working of De La's "Stake Is High". A self-titled release is set for January 13th.
We talk about the best tv shows, movies and music in 2016.
Do What Thou Wilt is out now.
The Past Is Always Present In The Future drops on January 6th.
From Harry's Rogues Playlist Vol. 2.


More Democrats are lining up behind "Medicare for All" as the midterm elections approach, but the idea under different names has been proposed repeatedly since 1942, as shown in the timeline outlined in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons by Jeremy Snavely.
"The last 75 years have seen exponential growth in government interference in American medicine. The result has been soaring costs and decreased quality and access," he writes.
The Wagner-Murray-Dingell bill, providing for comprehensive health insurance under Social Security, was introduced in 1943. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), now celebrating its 75th anniversary, was founded to defeat this bill.
The incremental approach was adopted when Wagner-Murray-Dingell failed. As federal funding was provided for various programs, federal controls followed. Not long after Medicare was adopted in 1965, the federal government was dictating quality standards, criteria for medical necessity, the type of insurance that employers had to offer, Medicare price caps and controls, and methods of medical record-keeping, as Mr. Snavely details.
These measures generally worked to the disadvantage of independent practitioners. The Clinton Health Security Act, defeated in part thanks to AAPS v. Clinton, would have virtually outlawed private payment for medical services. Obama's Affordable Care Act imposed mandates that outlawed affordable health insurance coverage for those not qualifying for premium subsidies. The Trump Administration is now increasing options outside of ACA-controlled plans, Mr. Snavely notes.
More controls continue to be imposed on Medicare, such as ICD-10 coding requirements and more data sharing, and penalties have been greatly increased.
"As we close this time-line, the old becomes new again," Mr. Snavely concludes.


Our digital world is transforming our physical architecture and how we inhabit, think, and behave within it. The seamless integration of emerging media, interactive content, cinematic storytelling, performance and architecture can engage culture in new conversations. These smart, artful, meaningful, useful and playful spaces that could potentially change the way we think and behave. Innovations in design, culture and technology empower us to explore the spaces in between words, things, objects and thoughts.
This is a lecture that wonders about the emerging field of interactive architecture, what it is and what it could be.
Tali Krakowsky is the founder of Apologue, Inc., dedicated to the creation of immersive environments that seamlessly integrate new media, storytelling and physical space. Committed to a highly multi-disciplinary and collaborative methodology, Krakowsky has imagined and created interactive spaces for clients such as CHANEL, Victoria's Secret, BMW, the Museum of Modern Art, IBM, Frank Gehry, HBO and Van Cleef & Arpels. She is a frequent speaker and writer on the topics of design, technology, and architecture, and is also a curator and moderator of global, cross-disciplinary events that focus on facilitating conversations amongst professionals around the science and fiction of immersive design.


Nestled within the University of Texas educational system, MD Anderson is one of the three original cancer centers as established by the National Cancer Act of 1971. The center is consistently highly ranked in cancer care internationally, and in the case of Sean Recchi, it was his choice in the treatment of his Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The initial cost of an examination and a treatment plan was $48,900, the same exorbitant cost that his mother-in-law Stephanie was asked to pay . And an additional $35,000 was needed after the doctors decided that Sean's rapidly failing condition needed urgent care . Yet the Recchis had to wait ninety minutes in the reception area until MD Anderson could confirm Sean's check had been cleared.
The total cost was $83,900 . The number appeared after 344 lines had printed across eight pages of Recchi's hospital bill. The numerical codes, the strange Latin sounding medications, and all the acronyms seemed extreme for his treatment and initial doses of chemotherapy. As elucidated in a recent article in Time Magazine, author Steven Brill uses Recchi's case as symptomatic of the larger issues of medical bills and the incentives both hospitals and physicians are lured towards.
The ninety minutes the Recchis had to wait is indicative of the growing gap between hospitals and patients. The hospital, as an institution with limited resources, had to withhold treatment from Sean even though he was in visible pain. But if the hospital prides itself as a symbol of hope for the sick, then why does it have to rely on the bottom line? Why did the check matter so much? Did the institution weigh the risks of people like the Recchis not paying their bills versus the amount of human suffering that could occur? The economic model through which hospitals, insurance companies, and people pay into reveals uncomfortable assumptions of the American healthcare system, and Sean Recchi's case reveals a microcosm of its financial limitations.
On average, the U.S. spends approximately 2.5 times more on healthcare than most Western developed nations. In 2010, the U.S. spent $8,233 on health per person in contrast to Norway, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, which all spent less than $3000 per person . GDP, the gross domestic product, is the market value of all goods and services within a country. In 2010, the U.S. spent 17.6% of its GDP on healthcare, more than any other Western country . Such a high-rate investment in health services leads to the logical conclusion that the country would have state-of-the-art facilities, comprehensive diagnostic services, and an overall reduction in chronic illnesses and public health tragedies. But looking more closely at the 17 cents per dollar eaten up by this expenditure finds some uncomfortable truths .
One such truth is the notion of waste. According to some recent estimates, approximately $750 billion in excess come from a variety of factors including unnecessary testing, high administrative costs, and a lack of proper prevention methods . This health care system has created a network of doctors and providers, each with competing specialists and highly variable payment plans. Moreover, newer legislation and policy will further entangle taxpayers and policymakers. Even with Obamacare, insurance companies and legislators will find loopholes to manipulate. This confusion results in a whole range of unnecessary expenditures that will rise over time.
The issue is further complicated in the framework of basic economics, particularly the notion that we, as rational beings, work in our own self-interest in a world of limited time and resources. This could also apply to large-scale corporations and business. The hospital has limited resources, in that the doctors, medications, staff, and overheads all cost a significant sum. Moreover, these institutions need a viable and sustainable way to survive. But Recchi's case seems a little extravagant, considering that the hospital had a 26% profit margin in 2010 . The bottom line seemed to have pushed this agent to pursue its best interest and keep Recchi waiting so that the payment could be authorized and all parties be reimbursed.
Such practices portray the American healthcare system as having a dubious relationship with business and profit. Health insurance companies spend millions on lobbying for provisions in health care bills. Recently, America's Health Insurance Plans, the primary trade group for insurance companies, stepped up its lobbying efforts after the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a 2.2% reduction in payments. These cuts would affect almost all of the 14 million senior citizens who use the service. As a result, the American Hospital Association has devised an effort to stop this by employing television ads and having a spur of studies that support Medicaid expansion. Thousands of calls have been made, a grassroots effort to convince seniors to call congressmen has been employed, and even a social media campaign using Twitter, Facebook, and television advertisements has been implemented .
At the end of the day, the modern doctor is very different from the Hippocratic ideal of Greek mythology. He or she cannot possibly provide equal services to all those who come knocking on his or her door. With increasing insurance costs and issues with compensation, doctors will have to make difficult decisions regarding their care and their patients. Recchi's case is only symbolic of the constraints that modern medicine has within a system that focuses so much on profit. We can only hope that institutions like MD Anderson can find a better way of working with people like Recchi to alleviate their pain and not compromise their financial wellbeing at the same time.
Varun Moktan is a junior majoring in English Language and Literature at the George Washington University. He currently helps with research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University Hospital, and will be attending medical school in the fall of 2014. Follow The Triple Helix Online on Twitter and join us on Facebook.


Excitement levels are running pretty high at my house at the moment.
A little package popped through my door the other day. It had travelled all the way from America containing this magazine and it made me woop a little woop and dance a little jig. Well, maybe not literally, but I definitely did squeak a bit.
The reason for my mouse impression was the realisation that what I held in my hands was a little bit of fantasy dreamland made real. Because this magazine, good ladies and gentlemen (should there be any gentlemen reading) contains a step by step tutorial written by my very own self. Can you believe it?
Look, here it is. Printed on proper paper with pages that turn and everything.
Look, that's my little face and my actual name. It's dream-like to see it, but don't pinch me, I don't want to wake up!
The tutorial shows you how to make a Casserole Cover, which you can adapt to suit your own dish size and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. It's a sort of cozy to keep the contents warm, perfect for transporting a warming treat to a friend or to take to a dinner party.
The magazine, Hobby Farm Home is only available in American as far as I'm aware and so if you live in that land of plenty and would like to make your own cover, you can pick up a copy of the May/June issue in the shops now.
For those of you in other parts of the world, I don't think the magazine is available online unfortunately, but the good news is you don't have to miss out entirely. I also made a little pot holder to match the casserole cover and the instructions to make that are online.
I hope you enjoy the tutorials if you try them, in the meantime, I'm going to go and see if I can calm down. Excited jigs take it out of you!
too cute! and congrats on being published!!!!
Congratulations! I've never seen this magazine over here but I will take a look for it.
Exciting! It is so lovely to see your name in print! Congratulations!
I would squeak too ! Well done you, no wonder you're so excited.. You've gone international !
Congratulations, Sandra! And look how CUTE it is too! You deserve it, girl. How exciting!
Oh my gosh....that's SO exciting! I'm so happy for you! And, that casserole cover and pot holder are beyond adorable! I love them! I didn't know this magazine had things like this in it. I'll definitely have to check it out next time I'm at the store. Keep on dancin' and squeekin'....this is awesome!
Holey moley! Congrats! So well deserved!
Enjoy showing it off to everybody!!
Arrrrgh, you're famous!!! How exciting, you clever bean! Lots and lots of congratulations.
I do love the 'living in a small village in England' bit!
A casserole cover too - what a good idea, I've never heard of such a thing.
Congratulations, that's fantastic. And a really lovely make. Your success is very well deserved Sandra, and it must be wonderful indeed to see yourself in print. Well done!
Congratulations on being published Sandra and the casserole cover looks amazing! Enjoy the rest of your week.
Yay! your face is in a magazine woop! Well done this is so exciting. Also I'm catching up on posts and I'm beyond excited for crochet corner, I just picked up a crochet hook in a thrift shop for a couple of cents and have been thinking about trying to learn!
Why wouldn't you be in print? Magazines need stuff to print and you have the talent to create a pattern. Why should they not want what you offer? Don't be too grateful - they need you. It's not a favour or a miracle it's just work at the end of the day.
Congratulations, and what a beautiful project! As soon as I read this I emailed a friend in the US - she is going to send the issue to me - as soon as she's finished making hers!
Lol! Well done you! And well deserved, the project looks faby.
How exciting..... well done you :-) Both items look wonderfully yummy.
Congratulations on being published, how exciting!! Your patterns are beautiful.
Congratulations Sandra! A proud and wonderful achievement.
Yay!! Clever you! - how exciting!
So brilliant - how amazing is that? Well done Sandra, the article looks brilliant!!
Whoop, whoop! Seriously well done missus :) May it be the first of many!
I love that magazine and used to subscribe until i had to cut my budget even more. I may have to buy that issue though! It is a great magazine. I can't believe it...I know someone famous!!!! Several actually...Helen Phillips and Alicia Paulson....oh, and Susan Anderson. I'm not sure that just reading and commenting on famous person's blogs actually counts as "knowing" them but I'm puffed for you!
Wow! that is SO COOL!!!! Congratulations! I know hot to spot talent! LOL! You go girl! This is just the beginning!


Any good places to have a drink/meal near Yorkville?
How to make butter chicken using premade sauce?
Any place in GTA serve the famous Ghost chili Pepper?
Poll: How many tubs of ice cream do you have in your freezer?
any info/recommend on the single-serve coffee makers?
where to get hokkaido biscuit?
Star Trek Enterprise Pizza wheel, do any retailers in Toronto carry them?
Why products from Compliments are cheap?
Rice Cookers: Induction vs Electric? Pressure vs Regular?


The moment I saw this stitch in one of old knitting books I visualized it in Fine Silk. I started swatching as soon as I got to the ball of Fine Silk I have in my stash. The swatch turned out so delicate, almost like a spider web.
With just 6 stitches by 8 rows repeat the pattern is fairly easy to work with. There are no purl stitches and it's absolutely reversible.
Cast on a multiple of 6 stitches. Add 2 selvage stitches.
Row 1 (right side): *k1, yo, SSK, k1, k2tog, yo*, repeat from * to * to end.
Row 2 (wrong side): *yo, double vertical decrease, yo, SSK, yo, k1*, repeat from * to * to end.
Row 3 (right side): *k1, yo, SSK, k1, k2tog, yo*, repeat from * to * to end.
Row 4 (wrong side): *k1, yo, double vertical decrease, yo, k2*, repeat from * to * to end.
Row 5 (right side): *k1, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, SSK*, repeat from * to * to end.
Row 6 (wrong side): *SSK, yo, k1, yo, double vertical decrease, yo*, repeat from * to * to end.
Row 7 (right side): *k1, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, SSK*, repeat from * to * to end.
Row 8 (wrong side): *yo, k3, yo, double vertical decrease*, repeat from * to * to end.
Repeat rows 1-8 as necessary for completing your project.
You can also work according to the chart. Pattern repeat is marked by red frame.