IDEAS

IVLE was upgraded to version 7.8 on Saturday, 1 July. This incremental upgrade, most likely the final ‘point’ upgrade before IVLE Version 8, features enhancements which may go unnoticed to the casual user.

• IVLE’s Search has an added academic year parameter.
• More options are available for unformatted text entries in the Library eReserves, as well as improved eReserves search and display.
• My Community sports new security options and a larger 30MB file size limit.
• The Project tool report is now more detailed.
• RSS feeds have been added to Announcements and Workbins.
• IVLE’s workspace interface has also been tweaked to improve usability.

These are among numerous changes, many of which were under the hood, that have been implemented in the current version.

NUS Module Blogs

In addition to those changes, IVLE is now the gateway to a brand new feature: NUS Module Blogs.

The blogs are shared among the lecturers teaching a module. Once any lecturer has created a blog for the module through IVLE, all lecturers for the module can post to the blog.

You can use the blog to:

• Post questions for students to respond (either in the comments or their own blogs)


• Continue discussions brought up during lecture/tutorial


• Point out online resources, elaborating on why they are useful or important


• Reflect on issues/topics concerning the module

Several NUS faculty staff have already started using their NUS Module Blogs:

• CH4251 Modern-Contemporary Chinese Thought 中國近現代思想


• EC3361 Labour Economics I


• EC4394 Behavioral Economics


• IT1801 Programming for Business

Other faculty staff have been using blogs for teaching and learning, on blogging platforms of their choice, prior to the launch of NUS Module Blogs:

• NM3216 Game Design 1 (formerly Gaming Culture 1)


• PH1101/EGEM1004 Reason & Persuasion

To create a blog for your module, click Module Blogs under Resources on the right sidebar. You will see a drop box with the list of all the modules you teach. Select the desired module and click Create. The module blogs that you have access to will appear on the IVLE Module Blogs page. If a blog that you did not create appears there, it means that a co-lecturer has already created a module blog for that module.

If you need help with using Community Server, the software which powers NUS Module Blogs, please visit Using NUS Module Blogs. The Module Blogs FAQ and other helpful resources are available there.

Read a previous IDEAS article on Module Blogs for the reasons you should blog. Also, read this issue's Faculty Voice, featuring Mr Alex Mitchell from the Faculty of Arts & Social Science. He has been using blogs as part of his curriculum for two semesters.