Awards Success For USW Digital Resources
USW has been recognised for its excellence in media education at a national awards ceremony.
The CADARN Learning Portal launched its awards to recognise high-quality educational media from higher education institutions across Wales, with the honours presented on Thursday, September 22 at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.
Heledd Hardy, Course Leader in Media Production Bilingual, won ‘Most Effective Educational Tool’ for her digital publication ‘Syniad i’r Sgrîn’, funded by Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol with support from USW’s Welsh Unit.
Heledd said: “I’m very pleased to receive this award from CADARN for best online educational resource. Producing the interactive and motivational e-book to inspire people to make films was a great opportunity to develop an electronic resource that offers training and practical assistance for students, practitioners and those interested in the field.
“Thanks to the support of the team and the initial commission from The Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, the project has managed to do this. It was a fantastic experience to bring together my industry experience, knowledge of film-making and visual interpretation together to produce the book.
“To have an original Welsh text for learners is encouraging. The aim is for the resource to be widely used by anyone interested in making creative visual content. The e-book will also be translated into English and used as an online learning tool for the University.”
The team’s second entry in the same category was awarded Highly Commended: the ‘Gwasgariad a gwyriad safonol’ animation was created for the Welsh interactive book ‘Dulliau Ymchwil’ (Research Methods), directed by Llŷr Roberts, funded by the Welsh Unit and Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol; the animation work was created by Barry Richards from the original book by Business School lecturer Rami Djebarni.
Meanwhile, The iTunes U team submitted two entries to the ‘Best External Entry’ category, taking the top prize with the video and animation ‘Flowcharting 1: decisions, processing and looping’, which was created for USW’s iTunes U course: ‘Basics of Computer Programming, with Raspberry Pi’ by Barry Richards, Jacqui Neale, and computing student Matthew Gall.
Sue Burnett, Team Leader, Facilitation & Publishing, said: “I’m delighted that our iTunes U team has had this recognition for two of our resources, particularly against such high-quality competition.
“I’m fortunate to work with such a talented core team, and to have the goodwill and efforts from our professional and academic colleagues across the University. The success of USW on iTunes U in developing, publishing and sharing free, open, educational resources worldwide is truly a team effort.”
In its role, supporting and stimulating the production of online and open educational media across its partnership of Welsh universities, CADARN held the event to acknowledge, celebrate and promote the creative and pioneering work undertaken by teaching staff in higher education to produce educational media, and encourage some new productions along the way.
The winners in each category received a trophy and funding of up to £500 towards a future educational media production. The CADARN Learning Portal will also promote the productions on its website and across numerous media.
A panel of distinguished judges – Tom Bartlett, CADARN Learning Portal project manager; Julian Ellis, head of QAA Wales; Fflur Elin, NUS Wales president; Nia Parry, TV presenter, producer and teacher; Peter Swanson, aero and chemical engineer, lecturer MRAeS, FIChemE; Mark Williams, MP and Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats – chose the winners.
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