The Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning supports VIU faculty and students with learning technologies. There are many technologies available that could be used by instructors and students at VIU. On this page you can find information about the tools that CIEL staff can support you with using.
Supported Technologies
Tools in this group are institutional tools available to all current VIU employees. Current VIU students who have an active VIU Student Computer Account are able to access VIUTube, VIUBlogs and VIULearn. At this time, students are not eligible to create a Zoom account under VIU’s institutional license.
CIEL provides a wide range of support for VIU users working in these tools. You can find detailed self-help supports on our website for these tools. You can also open a support ticket by emailing learnsupport@viu.ca
VIULearn
VIULearn is VIU’s Learning Management System. Blank course spaces are automatically created for all academic, trades, and Professional Development courses. Students and the instructor of record are automatically enrolled. Within VIULearn, you can communicate with and create a learning path for your students. The following is a list of some of the things you can do in VIULearn.
- Post learning activities and assignments
- Gather student work
- Upload Documents
- Share links to resources and media
- Run quizzes or surveys
- Give students feedback and grades
- Have asynchronous online discussions
- Email your students
- Post Announcements
- Create groups
VIUTube
Accessible through the My Home or Course navigation bar in VIULearn.
VIUTube is VIU’s media streaming service. With VIUTube, instructors and students can:
- Upload videos
- Capture your screen and camera
- Share videos in a course or website
- Use the quiz feature to create interactive videos
Some ways that instructors use VIUTube include:
- Creating short, instructional videos on particularly difficult concepts.
- Recording lectures for students to view asynchronously.
- Creating welcome messages to post in VIULearn.
- Ask students to create a video as part of an assignment.
VIUBlogs
VIUBlogs is VIU’s WordPress platform. With VIUBlogs, you can:
- Create a course website, personal website, or blog
- Ask students to create online content on their own, or collaboratively
- Upload images or files to share with the VIU community or beyond
Zoom
Zoom provides a web-based video and audio conferencing system which allows real-time communication between instructors and students. VIU employees can use Zoom to:
- Conduct and record synchronous, online classes.
- Hold virtual office hours
- Host synchronous meetings with students or colleagues
All VIU employees can create their own Zoom account by going to Zoom and logging in with their VIU credentials.
iPeer
iPeer is a peer feedback platform created at UBC. Instructors at VIU who wish to have students give anonymous peer feedback to group members may wish to use this tool.
To request an account for iPeer, please contact learnsupport@viu.ca.
Other Technology
There may be tools beyond those directly supported by CIEL which you wish to use in your teaching. CIEL staff may be able to provide some limited support for these additional technologies. However, support requests from users needing help with supported tools will receive priority and we do not guarantee that we will be able to support any additional tools.
Limited support for uses directly related to teaching may be available for the following tools:
- Web Browsers (Chrome, Firefox, and Safari)
- Adobe Acrobat Pro
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft Teams
- GSuite (Classroom, Docs, Sheets, etc.)
- Video Conferencing Units (StarLeaf and LifeSize)
- VIU Classroom Technology (Projectors, document cameras etc.)
- Clickers or clicker alternatives (Socrative, Poll Everywhere, Turning Point etc.)
Requesting New Software at VIU
All new software requests at VIU are processed through the IT department. Please send any questions or requests regarding new software purchases or software licensing to ithelp@viu.ca.
Technology and Textbook Integrations with VIULearn
Integrations, extensions, plugins, cartridges, and online textbook integrations are common terms used by educational publishers to promote integration of VIULearn with their content delivery platforms. This is often achieved through the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) specification which allows these third-party applications to be accessed directly from within VIULearn.
LTI integrations allow a user, once logged into VIULearn, to access content, tools, or services without entering another username or password. Often the tool provider will request information from VIULearn to facilitate the integration. This information may include the student number, name, and email address. These are used to validate the students’ access to the tool but may be also collected and stored according to the vendors own privacy policy.
Integrations into VIULearn present a number of privacy, accessibility, and cost considerations. If you would like to request a new technology integration, we ask that you please fill out a New Learning Technology Integration Request Form.
Typically the review, approval, testing, and activation on the production system, will take 4-6 months to complete, assuming no issues are found.