News in brief, 11 February 2019
Published: 7 February 2019
A weekly round-up of news across the University
Town and Gown landmark agreement
Earlier this month, the University signed an agreement with Glasgow City Council, asserting the depth of our civic commitment and committing to using the policy expertise of academics to help ensure public policy in the city is based on the best possible evidence.
Along with partners in each of the city’s further and higher education institutions, the University signed the landmark agreement offering support and advice across a range of policy areas, including inclusive growth, widening participation and internationalisation.
Professor Neal Juster, Senior Vice-Principal, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the City, ensuring that public policy in Glasgow is based on the best possible evidence and advice – and in areas like innovation, inclusive growth, housing and public health, our universities and colleges have a fantastic range of expertise which the City can benefit from. As a University and as a wider sector, we are determined to play a full and active role in the public life of the city, recognising that when the Glasgow prospers, so do our colleges and universities, and vice versa."
DJ's staff Christmas party raises £4,280
Derek Johnston's famous annual staff Christmas Party raised £4280 for the Make a Wish Foundation. Since his first party in 2012, Derek - or DJ - as he is usually known - has raised a grand total of £27,944 for Make a Wish and Cash for Kids charities.
He said: "I'd like to thank all the staff and external partners for their support over the years and also thank the Ferguson Bequest for their support for this event."
This year's party os on Friday, 13 December, so save the date.
Royal Statistical Society honours Professor Marian Scott
Marian Scott, Professor of Environmental Statistics, has received the Barnett award in the RSS's 2019 Honours List.
Professor Scott has innovated statistical techniques applied to environmental issues such as radioactivity, water quality and air pollution. Her impactful work delivers statistically-sound evidence supporting environmental science, policy, regulation and management. More information here.
She said:“I am delighted and honoured to receive the Barnett award. Statistics and statistical models help us better understand and track changes in our environment, whether we are considering air or water quality, the loss of biodiversity, or extreme events in our weather. I have been hugely fortunate in working together with ecologists, environmental scientists, geographers, chemists and physicists, as well as other colleagues in statistics, to help quantify our changing environment, something that is vitally important to us all.”
Free online course created to help better understand and prevent suicide
A new, free online course has been developed to allow healthcare professionals, and those working with at-risk or vulnerable individuals, to gain a better understanding of suicide and ways to prevent it. The University of Glasgow-developed course, delivered on FutureLearn – called "Understanding Suicide and Suicide Prevention Strategies in a Global Context" – allows users to learn about the complex set of factors linked to suicide and explores suicide prevention strategies.
The online course opened for enrolments on 7 February to coincide with Time to Talk Day 2018 — a day dedicated to having a national conversation about mental health in the UK. The course will commence on 4 March 2019.
To enrol: www.futurelearn.com/courses/suicide-prevention
Zoom is UofG's new virtual classoom tool
Zoom is a 3rd-party, cloud-based video conferencing service used to facilitate virtual classrooms for blended and online learning which supports Mac, Windows, Linux, Chromebooks, iOS and Android. A virtual classroom can be used to hold webinars (virtual seminars) or online meetings.. This means that you can currently host a virtual meeting, and record your session, locally or in the cloud.
Log in at: https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/.
Find out more
https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/leads/staff/telt/telttech/#/virtualclassroom(zoom)
Using Zoom with Moodle
There is a Moodle plug-in for Zoom which you can find in your course with editing on and by selecting ‘add an activity or resource’. Zoom is at the bottom of the Activity list
Zoom Client
The Zoom client which you can use to host and attend meetings is available from the staff desktops software centre. You can also download it from the Zoom landing pages top menu.
Training
Comprehensive training is available from a link on the Zoom home page or you can get started now from https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/sections/201728913-Joining-Starting
Support
Support is available by contacting the IT helpdesk in the first instance.
First published: 7 February 2019