Delivering Curriculum Online CDN has just launched a new Resource Bank of guides for Online/Blended Delivery. They have worked closely with the sector to create a core set of useful guides in the following five areas to support delivery for the upcoming academic year: Designing for Online/Blended Delivery Preparing Materials Education for All Managing the Online Space Formative Assessment and Feedback For each area, they have chosen two primary resources that covers relevant and practical information in a very concise format (10-15 minutes). If you want to dive deeper, there are two longer reads (around 1 hour). Finally, they have chosen a single longer resource – either an online course or significant read to explore an area in more detail. Check out the Online/Blended Delivery Resource Bank here Take a moment and listen to Kenji Lamb, Digital and Innovation Lead, provide a two-minute introduction to the online/blended delivery section of the resource bank:

We’re thrilled to share some innovative news that’s set to make teaching and learning even more dynamic at West College Scotland. You can now tap into a shared library of open educational resources powered by the H5P OER Hub — a growing collection of high-quality, interactive content created by educators from around the world. Whether you’re looking for engaging quizzes, interactive videos, or activities to inspire your students, this shared library is packed with ready-to-use materials that can save you time and spark fresh ideas in your teaching practice. Best of all, this is easily accessible and available at no extra cost. What’s in It for You? • Explore a vibrant catalogue of interactive teaching and learning content from the global education community. • Save time on prep by integrating ready-made activities straight into your courses. • Innovate your teaching with interactive resources that enhance student engagement. How to Access the Shared Resources Getting started is quick and straightforward: Find content inside the editor: Whenever you create or edit H5P content you’ll see a “Get Shared Content” option. Browse and select Select that option to browse the shared library, search for resources relevant to your subject, and insert them directly into your course. This new shared library is an exciting leap forward in making high-quality teaching materials more accessible and collaborative for our educators. Jump in, explore, and let it inspire your next great lesson!

Digital learning supports blended delivery, flexible study routes, and inclusive practice. The updates to Articulate 360 introduces several practical improvements, with Rise 360 offering particularly useful enhancements that align well with everyday FE teaching needs. Below are the key updates, with a particular focus on enhancements within Rise 360 Manage Blocks — Faster Updates and Smarter Reuse Updating online learning materials can be time-consuming, especially when courses need adapted for different cohorts or delivery modes. The new Manage Blocks  feature allows you to select, move, duplicate, or reorganise multiple content blocks in one action, rather than editing content block by block. This makes it easier to keep materials up to date while maintaining consistency across courses. Try this in Rise: Open a lesson, select Manage Blocks, highlight several blocks, and drag them into a new order or copy them into another lesson. AI-Generated Captions — Currently Unavailable, but One to Watch You may notice that Rise 360 now includes AI-generated captioning tools designed to automatically create captions for video content. At present, these AI features are not yet available to use. Once accessible, this functionality has strong potential to: Reduce the time required to caption videos Support accessibility expectations more efficiently Improve consistency across digital learning materials For now, captions will continue to be created using existing methods. However, this update signals a positive direction for future accessibility support. AI Image Generation — Currently Unavailable, but Promising Rise 360 also includes enhanced AI image generation tools , allowing authors to create subject-specific visuals directly within the platform. At present, we’re not able to use these AI image generation features  within our institutional setup. In the future, this could support FE staff by: Creating contextualised visuals for vocational subjects Reducing reliance on generic stock imagery Quickly tailoring visuals to learner cohorts and subject areas Although unavailable at the moment, this feature highlights how AI could support more relevant and engaging learning design.  AI in Articulate 360 — Not Available Yet, but Worth Watching Articulate is increasingly embedding AI across its tools. At present, AI functionality is not yet available. As these features become available, they could: Speed up content creation and updating Support accessibility and inclusive design Help adapt materials for different learner needs For now, this is best viewed as a future opportunity rather than a current capability. In Summary The latest Rise 360 updates focus on saving time, improving flexibility, and strengthening accessibility  — These enhancements offer realistic, practical ways to improve digital learning design without increasing lecturer workload. As we continue to develop digital learning across West College Scotland, it’s worth keeping in mind that accessibility is essential for some, but useful for all .

ClickView ClickView is a video content resource that supports teaching and learning by providing access to curriculum-aligned videos and free-to-air TV. With ClickView you can: search for relevant content, save broadcasts from free-to-air television, upload and store your own video content, create interactive videos for formative assessment, and share content by embedding videos within MS Teams and Moodle. Access ClickView Platform and Guides ClickView Help Guide Click to view our guide to ClickView: Video Content Resource. ClickView Platform Click to access ClickView and login using your office 365 account. Captioning Tool This video explains the new auto-captioning release.

How to log on to your West College Scotland Office 365 account. Office 365 - Logging on Office 365 is Microsoft's brand name for the collective tools that we all know and love, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as some new tools like Forms, Microsoft Teams and Class Notebook. Using the online tools you can collaborate and communicate seamlessly with colleagues, as well as using the familiar desktop versions to create great looking content. Sign in to Office 365 Visit https://www.office.com Sign in with your Username @wcs.ac.uk e.g. patsmith@wcs.ac.uk . Enter your normal password and you're in! 365 Tools Logging On Teams Outlook OneDrive OneNote Word Excel PowerPoint Sway

Zoom Looking for a way to meet each other remotely or bring a full class together? Try out Zoom! Zoom is a video communications tool, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing. You should make sure any meetings held are set to private not public and, as always, don’t click on any links unless you’re 100% certain who you got the link from and where it goes. It shouldn’t be used for file transfer, data transfer or chat facilities as these forms of data are not covered by GDPR and the chat function goes public for anyone to see. Security… is paramount. There’s been some negative press which the CEO of Zoom has indicated have mainly been rectified now. Do ensure when the meeting is created it’s not in ‘open’ or ‘public’ format as you risk security and being trolled. Also, there are many images of Zoom on twitter where the public ID was visible so it’s always good to be mindful of that too. Why use Zoom rather than any other platform? Zoom is ideal for classrooms or meetings up to 100 people at any one time. Although stable and produces great quality video calls, the free version has a 40 minute limit. You can however set up other 40 minute sessions straight afterwards. You can easily present a PowerPoint, or any application on your computer while talking. https://zoom.us/about You can choose to record sessions, collaborate on projects, and share or annotate on one another's screens, all with one easy-to-use platform. Zoom offers quality video, audio, and a wireless screen-sharing performance across Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Blackberry, Zoom Rooms, and H. Many of you may already be using Zoom. If not, come and join the community! Jisc have issued this YouTube guide (skip the ads at the start) If students don’t have IT kit or broadband, don’t worry as you can join the meeting/class from a simple phone connection: Usually invitations are distributed by email invitation but the bare details (meeting ID number and numeric password) can go out on SMS The invited party dials a London number (+44 (0) 20 3695 0088) The voice prompt requests the meeting ID number followed by # They add a further # if they are not the meeting organiser – there’s guidance from the voice prompts They then join the meeting on the phone enjoy! If you have difficulties with this, please click on the link below to contact the Digital Strategy group. General - WCS Digital Strategy Group