There have been updates and improvements to many of our services over the summer, including new tools and features.

New tools – Teams, Mentimeter, H5P

• Teams offers additional tools for communication and collaboration. This year, each unit has a Teams space, with staff and students enrolled.

• Mentimeter is online polling software that can be used for polls, quizzes and word clouds.

• H5P provides additional options for online quizzes and learning materials.

Re/Play

Re/Play has undergone major change over the summer.

• Record Now replaces the Ad Hoc Recorder to enable unscheduled recording in rooms with Re/Play boxes.

• Automated streaming can now be enabled from rooms equipped with Re/Play recording boxes – see our live streaming FAQS for more information (including how students view the stream in Blackboard).

• Mosaic is the new tool to record teaching (replacing the Desktop Recorder). Staff can download it onto their laptops. To request Mosaic in a teaching space (eg to record in a room without a Re/Play box), please contact the IT Service desk.

• The core software for Re/Play has also been upgraded, which means that the search and add presentation features have changed.

• The way that students view Re/Play content has also changed to a more user-friendly interface with a ’tiled’ view.

• Underpinning these software changes, there has been major work updating the architecture on which the service sits to improve service performance and better support new activities such as streaming.

Blackboard

• Improved text editor – key features include better copy-and-paste, improved editing from mobile devices, improved accessibility, display of computer code snippets, easy text wrapping around images.

• Reusable comments bank – a new feature will allow individual markers to maintain a bank of reusable comments.

• Blackboard also underwent major technical work to improve the service, including a move to a new SaaS model, new service architecture and a software upgrade.

Xerte

Xerte has also been upgraded to deliver accessibility improvements, enhancements to 12 existing page types, and new page types, including Interactive 360° images, hotspot questions, interactive videos and timelines.

A full list of tools and essential links for the start of term are also available.