Hi everyone,

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all so much for your incredible support over the past five years by reading my 'University News' posts on Moodle.

The University will now be using a new learning platform, Aula, and that means my Moodle posts will be no more, but don’t worry… you haven’t got rid of me just yet!!!

On the student portal, a BRAND NEW news page has been created especially for you where you will find news, features, opportunities and events, so I hope you will save the following link and keep visiting the page to see what’s going on:

https://livecoventryac.sharepoint.com/sites/students-news

Look out for the ‘further news’ and ‘opportunities and events’  sections where I will post frequent updates for you.

This is a new way of getting news to you, so do bear with me and also follow the Office of Teaching and Learning Twitter account @OTLCovUni where I will also post things of interest

Do spread the word and tell your fellow students. I will do my level best to make sure to keep you informed of as many things as I can which will enhance your student experience.

Keep smiling and stay safe!

Ali B

 

Message from the Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Latham.

We appreciate that you want as much information as possible about how we will welcome you back to campus in September. Thank you for your patience while we have worked out how we can do this, following advice and guidance from UK Government and public health officials.

I can now confirm that, subject to there being any changes in the government advice and guidance, this will be a blend of on-campus and online learning. We are currently working course by course to determine how your timetable will look from September. We hope to provide most courses with at least five hours of on-campus timetabled learning per student each week during each semester/block, with the remainder delivered online. Core elements of our plans include:

Blended learning – on-campus delivery will be carried out in line with government advice and guidance. Students will be taught in the same small groups (pods) for any on-campus activities e.g. tutorials, laboratories, studios, practical assessments etc. Online learning will be delivered on the Aula learning experience platform. It will be your choice whether to attend on-campus delivery initially or not; for international students this is subject to any Tier 4 visa requirements specified by the Home Office. We can offer a fully online route for most of our courses as long as there are no specific requirements for on-campus activity that cannot be managed online (e.g. laboratory, workshop, simulation sessions).

Campus management – we are putting a range of additional health and safety measures in place, including regular deep cleaning of facilities, hand sanitiser points, one-way systems, social distancing signage, queue management, booking systems for popular spaces and more. Timetables will be managed to avoid large gatherings of students and to minimise the number of days per week that commuting students will need to travel onto campus.

Student support services and facilities – all of our support services will continue to be available, either online or in person at a safe distance. Academic staff and the Students’ Union are planning welcome activities to ensure that there is a good mix of virtual and in-person social activities which follow the latest social distancing guidance.

Flexibility in our university-owned accommodation – the normal process for booking university-owned accommodation will apply; however, we have amended our ‘Licence to Occupy’ agreement, so that you can end your Licence to Occupy and the financial commitment that goes with it, if the campus has to close for a period of 21 consecutive days or more.

An explanation of our plans for the 2020-2021 academic year is available on our website, and detailed FAQs about the return to campus in September are on the Student Portal. We will continue to update these and keep you informed as we know more.

Stay safe and stay connected.

John

As a complementary part of our Teaching and Learning ecosystem, Coventry University has purchased a campus agreement to provide a Zoom business licence to all our staff and students.

 

All users will get access the following capabilities:

 

    Basic accounts will be updated to licensed users

    Unlimited minutes in meetings

    Zoom meetings up to 100 participants (default)

    Single sign-on (seamless login)

    Company branding (university logos)

    Custom emails (branded templates for invites etc.)

    Virtual Classroom and Breakout capabilities

    Improved Security

    Aula integration – coming soon

 

What does this mean for you?

 

All staff and students will be enabled for use of the service over the next two weeks.

 

If you have signed up to a basic or paid plan using your coventry.ac.uk or uni.coventry.ac.uk email address, then your account will be automatically merged into the main campus service. Your login will be changed to your current university username and password and an automated email will be sent to you when the account merge is complete.  

 

Any Zoom accounts that have been signed up with a personal email address and used for university business should cease.

 

What if I have paid for an existing subscription?

 

Those users that have paid for a personal subscription and signed up with a coventry.ac.uk or uni.coventry.ac.uk email address will be refunded automatically by Zoom to the original payment method, once your account is merged. This does not apply to Zoom accounts signed up with a personal email address.

 

When will Zoom be activated for all?

 

The configuration will take place over the next two weeks and you will receive an automated email to activate your account once the service is ready.

 

Will I lose access to my scheduled meetings and personal meeting number?

 

Zoom has advised that any scheduled meetings and customisations will be carried over, but IT Services are unable to confirm this guidance until the migration is completed. There may be some minor settings that you have to re-enable on your account profile page and some additional security requirements to protect your account going forward.

 

I don't want my account to be merged, what can I do?

 

Unfortunately, our licensed service uses our coventry.ac.uk and uni.coventry.ac.uk login credentials so you will no longer be able to use this address for a personal Zoom account. These will all be now owned by Coventry University and will be deactivated if you leave the university.

 

Does Zoom replace Microsoft Teams?

 

No, this is a complementary service to increase our capabilities and product portfolio only. You can choose to use either solution depending on your specific work or teaching and learning needs.

 

Microsoft Teams and Zoom features

You can download a detailed version of the features as a PDF

Security reminders

 

IT Services will never ask for your username and password. If you are unsure or suspicious of any behaviour as part of your Zoom migration, then please contact our IT Service Desk teams for assistance.

 

Zoom training guides

 

Please visit the Zoom Help Centre for free and interactive live training webinars daily along with Getting Started guides.

A Master’s student in Public Health and Nutrition is looking for volunteers to take part in her research project which looks at the things that influence your physical activity choices when studying at University.

The evidence suggests that there is a marked decline in physical activity during the course of studying for a degree which could be a likely contributor to later obesity.

The title of the study is ‘What are Coventry University students' perceptions of factors, including barriers and enablers, influencing their physical activity choices?'

Have you noticed that your exercise activity has lessened since you became a student and if so, would you be happy to be interviewed about it?

In line with the latest guidance on social distancing during the current pandemic, participant recruitment, as well as data collection, has to be undertaken online.

Students on all courses, except Sports Nutrition, are welcome to participate in this study.

If you would be willing to take part, please email Grace Tokor tokorg@uni.coventry.ac.uk

All answers and results from the interviews will be kept strictly confidential. The results will be supported in a research paper which will be made available to all participants on completion upon request.

 

Do you have a few moments to spare to help with some reasearch?

An MA Advertising & Marketing student is looking for approximately 200 participants for her dissertation project.

It has been approved by Ethics and is now live in OnlineSurveys.

The link for the survey is here: https://coventry.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/nike-digital-survey

The research is looking into the Nike App and customers engagement and brand repositioning.