Teaching in Wolfvision Rooms

What is Wolfvision?

Wolfvision is new AV technology that has been installed in 1/3 of rooms across USW and has the potential to offer enriched student collaboration.

This page will explain what is new in the rooms, what you will need to bring, and how to utilise the new AV equipment step-by-step.

What do I need to know about a Wolfvision classroom?

There may not be a PC or Mac installed in the room; you must bring a portable device (laptop or tablet) and charger with you to the room;
The portable device must be connected to the USW network;
A touch panel screen is now installed on the lectern;
Enhanced microphones are installed;
Additional cameras have been installed;
Projector and screen are now controlled via the Wolfvision system. Some projector screens are manually operated.

Please contact IT Support +44(0) 1443 482882 if:

If you do not have a laptop or portable device - self service laptops are available on campus;
If you are unable to connect to USW WiFi.

What do I need to do before I enter my teaching room?

Before you go into your teaching room, it is recommended you do the following:

Read through the step-by-step guide below that applies to you;
Make sure you have your device (laptop etc.) with you and that it is fully charged or that you bring a charger with you to your sessions;
If you are going to be remoting students into your sessions, please make sure to set up your Teams meeting or Blackboard Collaborate for the session in advance and invite or send the link to your students.

Step by step guides

Present to students in room only

Present to students in the room and online

Wolfvision-enabled classroom support materials and colleague training opportunities

The staff support and training for staff to become familiar with the Wolfvision Hyflex system has moved from a 'drop-in' basis to 1-hour sessions run every week on all campus locations, which are now available through iTrent. These training opportunities have to be booked in advance so please note: if the minimum number of participants is not reached 24 hours before the scheduled time, the training will be cancelled.

Staff should log into iTrent and under 'Career and Development', and then 'Learning activities', search for "Wolfvision" and select an appropriate session.

FAQs

What is Hyflex?

Hybrid and Flexible (Hyflex) is the name given to an emerging style of teaching using a range of audio-visual technologies which can support 'mixed-mode' teaching styles where some students are in a physical teaching space and some are online.

For the start of the 2021/22 academic year we will be delivering teaching in a limited Hyflex way (i.e. enabling remote access for online learners) to enable access to international students unable to travel to USW due to COVID restrictions/quarantine periods. We are calling this approach ‘Hyflex-Light’.

USW has benefited from HEFCW funding to rollout specialist AV kit that supports hyflex activities. The new kit has been installed in a third of our whole estate and will be available for the start of the September 2021 term. This kit is called WolfVision.

An important change to the rooms with the new WolfVision kit is that they no longer have a desktop machine for you to present from so you will need to bring your own USW-managed device (e.g. Laptop, Tablet etc).

The new kit may require you to make some minor adjustments to planned learning activities.

Which rooms are Wolfvision rooms?

The WolfVision system has been installed in a range of General-Purpose Teaching (GPT) and 'specialist rooms' (e.g. music technology or games development) rooms and meeting rooms across all campus locations. These rooms were chosen by Faculties as the best fit for this system. Rooms will be clearly indicated in the timetabling system - a full list will be provided in a subsequent update.

Do I have to use a Wolfvision room?

If you’ve been timetabled in the room, you will have to use it. Most rooms will still use the traditional computer and projector technologies, but you may find yourself in one of the Wolfvision rooms, so it is important you understand what is different about these rooms.

Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching