How the community have been using Talis Elevate: Dr Jon Chandler, University College London
Dr Jon Chandler joined us for a webinar to talk about his use of Talis Elevate in the first semester of the 2020/1 academic year.
He used Talis Elevate in two higher level seminars in the History Department at UCL. Each has 10-15 students, working closely with sources to develop research questions. Jon has primarily used Talis Elevate to link the asynchronous activity (their reading of the sources), with the synchronous seminar activity (where they discuss the sources).
Jon asks students to focus closely on sources, read through and explain a section with a comment in Talis Elevate. This provides a selection of passages to discuss further during teaching time, which then leads into their essay on the topic. It gives students continual feedback, giving them input and the opportunity to ask questions along the way, allows them to build on their analysis.
His courses are more engaging using Talis Elevate this way, Jon told us. It means he can pose questions and jump in when things need to be considered more closely. “Previously I wouldn’t have spotted where things had been missed, but now I’m informed ahead of synchronous sessions and can adjust teaching accordingly.”
It also empowers his students to be more confident and find the answers they need. Jon suggests students pose at least one question per source in order for them to discuss it in the seminar. This is a good way of getting students involved and allowing them to shape the course and the discussion. Jon told us it also allows him to identify what sections students aren’t understanding ahead of teaching so he can prepare more information.
Jon also explains how Talis Elevate has allowed more communication between him and students, and how it has encouraged more collaboration between students both in product and in live seminars. You can find out more by watching the video below.
Thanks very much to Jon for sharing her experience of Talis Elevate. To see more Talis Elevate academic user stories, click here.
If you’d like to learn more about the ways other academics are using Talis Elevate, join our community discussion group on Microsoft Teams. Sign up here.
