Improving the virtual environment supports a wide range of projects that ensure our students have access to online resources that enhance their learning.
Shaping Anatomical Sciences Education for the Future - £18,460 in 2011/12; £5,680 in 2012/13
The Anatomical Sciences Laboratory relocated to Southampton General Hospital in 2009. It is felt by students that the technology in the laboratory is the biggest limiting factor in providing the full benefits available from our online learning resources. This project will upgrade the audio-visual technology, wireless computing, hardware devices and software in the Laboratory and allow the Faculty to progress four key developments for Anatomical Sciences:
- Develop a faculty owned curriculum innovation module called Building the Human Body, available to students outside of medicine
- Extend anatomy teaching into clinical years of the medical curriculum (in years 3-5) and increase lab based teaching time
- Build a new partnership with health provider Gesundheit Nordhessen Holding (based in Kassel) which will allow German students to be taught in Southampton for part of their course
- A National Student Neuroanatomy Competition to be held at The Centre in 2013, which will see students from different medical schools in the UK come to Southampton to use our laboratory and compete.
Extended Workstation Opening Hours - £7,500 in 2011/12 and 2012/13
The purpose of this project is to extend the opening hours of a suite of workstation rooms during the vacation periods between terms 1, 2, and 3. 4 workstation rooms in Building 25 will be open daily between 09:00 and 21:00.
The aim of this is to enable students to continue to study and complete research and assessment during traditional ‘closure’ periods. We recognise that many students remain at the University during these times. We want to ensure that those who chose to do so are appropriately supported.
In order to achieve this, the funding will be used to provide dedicated security presence during the ‘non-standard’ hours, to ensure that students have safe access to these rooms.
E-books for the library - £218,000
The Student Centredness Fund has enabled us to purchase electronic books to support teaching and learning in the University. The purchases enhanced the student experience by significantly improving the breadth and depth of the library collections, bringing benefit to the students and indeed the whole community by offering improved flexibility in use and access.
Backfiles for electronic journals - £218,000
The Student Centredness Funding has been invested in backfiles of electronic journals held at the University. These cover a range of disciplines and will replace printed issues and in many cases will augment existing holdings either by adding some years to the start of an existing run, and in some packages by adding titles which are not currently available in the university library.
Electronic journals will mean material is available at all times of the day and night, irrespective of the availability and location of library buildings. It is also easier to search electronic resources, making it easier for students to identify and obtain relevant information.
Browse the library catalogues
SUSSED Portal - £150,000
The SUSSED portal has a key role in ensuring easy and coordinated access to the wide range of resources available to support students. Each year the Student Centredness Fund has invested in the development of SUSSED, enabling iSolutions to create a web-based, one-stop shop for the services you need, accessible from wherever you are.
SUSSED provides students with an online focal point from which they can more easily access other online University resources, keep up to date with University announcements and also engage in online group activity via SUSSED Groups which provides news, discussion and file sharing.
Sharepoint - £150,000
We are dedicated to providing online environments for students and staff with increasingly sophisticated digital behaviour, and help them learn how to use social and collaborative tools in a professional, safe and productive way. The University Sharepoint 2010 project aims to deliver a ‘Beta’ (development) environment to fulfil these aims and enhance the user experience.
Tactical Wi-Fi - £81,000
In response to student feedback, The Student Centredness Fund has enabled us to improve wireless coverage in locations most requested by students. It will also enable the implementation of the international Eduroam service, greatly improving the authentication process on the University wireless service, and allow University members Wi-Fi access at other participating educational institutions across the world.
Bloodhound Online - £48,000
The BLOODHOUND Supersonic Car Project is aimed at using a 1000mph land speed record attempt to stimulate interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in schools, colleges and higher education. The uniqueness of BLOODHOUND is that the engineering data underpinning the car can be shared universally in an open access way so that it can be used in education at all levels.
BLOODHOUND is an Open Data project at its core. This aligns with the University of Southampton’s leadership in this area, and the aim of the BLOODHOUND Online project is to leverage our expertise in order to bring BLOODHOUND into the University in a concrete way, develop the Open Educational Resources agenda at Southampton, and to improve our education, outreach and visibility.
Find out more about Bloodhound Online and Open data at Southampton
Live @edu - Collaboration and Communication - £24,000
Live @edu provides an enhanced collaboration service for students. The implementation of Live@edu will provide students with:
- access to a rich (industry standard) portfolio of applications that will help the student cohort due to its pervasive presence in the workplace
- up-to-date technology and services offered by Microsoft Live@edu, which will bridge the gap between the university and the business world, giving students a feel of the kinds of skills and tools they will be required to use on a daily basis in the work environment. Mastering these skills and tools at an earlier stage will improve the students’ fluency and encourage creativity of expression in the future, and give them a competitive edge as they enter the job market
- a large increase in capacity for students' email and personal filestore
- access to email, documents, contacts and calendars from a variety of devices, including PC, Mac, Windows Phone, iPhone, and Android.
Open Data Competition - £750
The Open Data Application Competition is designed to encourage students to think about how to use publicly available data and how to make that data more usable to enhance its value. The competition is designed to interact with the University of Southampton Open Data initiative and to enhance the selection of available apps.
Find out more about Open Data at Southampton
Other Virtual Environments include:
- Southampton Learning Environment Governance
- E-Learning
