{"id":9800,"date":"2019-02-19T06:43:19","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T19:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sydney.edu.au\/education-portfolio\/ei\/teaching@sydney\/?p=9800"},"modified":"2020-02-28T16:00:48","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T05:00:48","slug":"start-this-semester-off-with-sres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/start-this-semester-off-with-sres\/","title":{"rendered":"Start this semester off with SRES"},"content":{"rendered":"

While there\u2019s admittedly a lot that you can do in an Excel spreadsheet (like<\/a> pulling together different sources of information with vlookup, late penalties based on date subtraction, etc.<\/a>), ask yourself the following questions: “Can Excel store files (photos, pdfs, etc.)? Can it get live information from tutors during class? Will I have time to pull together all of my Excel spreadsheets (or is it just another task to add to my ‘things to do later’ list)?<\/em>”<\/p>\n

The answer is, “unfortunately, no!<\/em>”<\/p>\n

One of the biggest drawbacks of a spreadsheet is that it\u2019s hard to store information in a single location. In the past, I\u2019d have a few spreadsheets containing marks and attendance lists from tutors or demonstrators. While this might sound manageable for a small class, imagine you\u2019re teaching a class of 300+ students, have 20 tutorials plus up to 5 lab sessions running each week and have to update the attendance list on a weekly basis to account for students who have missed a lab session\u2014maintaining a set of spreadsheets can quickly become impossible!<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the alternative? The Student Relationship Engagement System (SRES)! It\u2019s an online database\u2014you can think of it as a spreadsheet that can store any type of data\u2014that is a serious contender for “best teaching tool you\u2019ve (n)ever used”.<\/p>\n

Why should you start using the SRES?<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s a fantastic tool to personalise your interactions with students\u2014you can learn more about what the SRES can do<\/a> and also check out some of the amazing ways academics have used it in their teaching<\/a>. If you\u2019ve been thinking about how you might give your emails that personal touch or get to know your new students a bit better, now is a great time to think about getting into the SRES.<\/p>\n

You can start off as simple as you like\u2014when I first started, my SRES list was just an attendance list that I could easily share with my tutors and demonstrators\u2014and build up your list gradually. If you can put data into a spreadsheet, working in SRES really isn\u2019t any harder!<\/p>\n

How do you get started?<\/h2>\n

One of the best things about the SRES is that you don\u2019t need much to get started\u2014you only need to request administrator access<\/a> and log in<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re in the SRES, you can add as little or as much information as you\u2019d like – and a lot of the information is readily available. At the start of semester, I typically create a new ‘list’ (which is the SRES-equivalent of an online spreadsheet), sync in Canvas data, and make a short survey to get to know my students better.<\/p>\n

Create a new list<\/h3>\n
\nhttp:\/\/sydney.edu.au\/education-portfolio\/ei\/teaching@sydney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/1.-List-Creation.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ask the SRES to draw in Canvas data (e.g. enrolments)<\/h3>\n
http:\/\/sydney.edu.au\/education-portfolio\/ei\/teaching@sydney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2.-Canvas-Connect.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Make a short survey to ask my students for photos and to tell me about themselves<\/h3>\n
http:\/\/sydney.edu.au\/education-portfolio\/ei\/teaching@sydney\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/3.-Portal.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Personalise the learning experience for students<\/h2>\n

Setting up a good basic SRES list now will make it a lot easier to build it into a resource that you\u2019ll want to keep using throughout the semester. As the semester goes on, you can use this information to:<\/p>\n