Using Aspire Reading Lists and NILE LTI Integration

Contents

What is Aspire? 2

Using Aspire 2

Getting started 2

Setting up your profile 2

Setting up your toolbar 3

Bookmarking resources 3

Bookmarking a book using records from NELSON 3

Bookmarking an electronic journal article 4

Bookmarking a website 5

Your Bookmarks 5

Create a list 8

Creating sections 9

Populating your lists 10

Adding notes and pages 10

Editing an existing list 11

Publishing a list 11

Top tips for quality lists 12

List structure 12

List resources 12

Further help 12

Aspire LTI integration with NILE 13

What is Aspire LTI? 13

Important Note 13

Adding your reading lists in NILE 13

Updating your reading list from within NILE 14

Creating a new list 15

What is Aspire?

Aspire is a piece of software that you can use to create online reading lists with links direct through to the electronic full text (e-books, e-journals, websites, videos) or to items on the library catalogue. You can also structure your lists thematically or annotate your lists with notes for students. You can also use Aspire LTI integration (see the end of this guide) to interweave your weekly or themed readings into the relevant sections of your module on NILE.

Using Aspire

Getting started

Setting up your profile

  1. Complete your details on the ‘Tell us about yourself’ form.

  1. You need to ensure that your profile is set to public so that students are able to view your lists.
  2. Click Save to complete your profile.

Setting up your toolbar

Successful use of the software depends upon setting up a shortcut on the browser toolbar of your computer.

1.  Go to My Bookmarks.

2.  Click on the Install Bookmark Button in the top right corner.

3.  The system will detect which browser you are using and will provide the appropriate on-screen instructions for installing the Bookmark tool for that browser. You will only need to do this once on each computer you use.

Bookmarking resources

You are now ready to bookmark resources, after which we will go on to set up and create reading lists.

Bookmarking a book using records from NELSON

1.  Go NELSON: http://nelson.northampton.ac.uk. Find the item you want and click on the title to display the Full Record.

2.  Click on the Add to My Bookmarks button on your browser toolbar.

3.  You are shown a screen containing bibliographic information of the item. Check, add or amend details (including Resource Type) and notes as necessary before clicking Create.

4.  You have now successfully created a bookmark, which will appear in your My Bookmarks section.

You can add e-books to your bookmarks from NELSON. Note that there is not a category for e-books in Resource Type. You will need to check that the Online Resource checkbox is ticked. You might also want to write ‘e-book’ in the notes section.

You can also add books using the records on bookseller’s websites, e.g. Amazon. If we have the book in stock it is best to add the item from NELSON.

If we do not currently stock the book in the library then adding the book to your list and publishing the list will automatically send the list for a “library review” enabling new items to be identified and purchased. Alternatively request the book via along with a note of what module the book is for and we will then purchase the book and add it to your reading list.

Bookmarking an electronic journal article

1.  Locate the article online via NELSON or the library’s subscription databases (e.g. Emerald, EBSCO, etc).

2.  Follow through to the full text version of the article and click Add to bookmarks.

3.  You will be presented with a screen containing details of the article.

4.  Check the information in your bookmark and add or amend details as necessary. Note that with journals, Aspire adds a second tab ‘Is part of journal’. This needs checking before clicking Create.

5.  You have now successfully created a bookmark, which will appear in your My Bookmarks section.

Bookmarking a website

1.  Locate the webpage online and click Add to bookmarks.

2.  You will be presented with a screen containing details of the webpage.

3.  Check the information in your bookmark and add or amend details as necessary, before pressing Create at the bottom of the screen.

4.  This item has now been added to your My Bookmarks section.

Copyright-cleared articles and chapters (up to 10% of the total book) can be linked to your Aspire reading list. If you require a scanned article/chapter, please use the digitisation request form or contact .

Your Bookmarks

  1. To find the items you have bookmarked, you need to return to Aspire (either embedded in your NILE site or directly via http://readinglists.northampton.ac.uk)
  2. Click on My Bookmarks to see all the resources you have bookmarked.
  3. You can sort these alphabetically by Title using the arrows at the top of each column or search using the Search box.

  1. To view the full record for an item click on the Title. Clicking on a print book will also display the library availability.
  1. It is possible to directly view the full text of electronic resources; however the viewer must be logged in with their University Login. Clicking on the DOI link or Find my reference will take the viewer to the article.

Create a list

Now that you have bookmarked some items you need to create a list to attach them to.

1.  Go to My Lists and click on the Create a New List button.

2.  Type your list name into the List name field and complete the additional fields (i.e. year, anticipated student numbers and description).

3.  You now need to add the module code by linking your list to the module hierarchy. To do this click on Select Hierarchy. Then type in your module code. Select your module code and click Save. This step is important as it is used to pull your list through to NILE your reading list within your NILE site.

4.  Click OK and decide if you are the list owner or select another user if appropriate.

5.  You can now populate your new list with your bookmarked items as outlined in a later next section.

Creating sections

It is advisable to create sections within your lists, which can be used to help signpost students to resources and will be useful when integrating your reading list with your NILE site.

  1. To add a new section, drag the New Section button over to centre of the screen.
  1. You will then be prompted to name the section (e.g. Week 1 reading, Essential reading). You can also create sub-sections to give your list additional structure.
  1. Your reading list will now have a table of contents created from the sections you have included.

Populating your lists

  1. Your bookmarked items are on the right hand side of the screen. Simply drag them into the section you want to put them into on your reading list.
  2. You can set the importance of items and add notes (e.g. Read chapter 2). You can also edit or delete individual items from the list using the Edit/Remove link.
  1. You can move items between sections by clicking on and dragging the item. You can also add an item to several sections of one list by dragging the bookmarked item into each section it is required in.

Adding notes and pages

Notes can be added to an entire list, as well as the individual items. To do this click and drag the New Note button into the reading list area in whatever position you want the note to appear.

A New Page is similar to adding a new note, but in addition, once you have saved your list in draft or published your list, it also creates a bookmark so that you are able to add the note to other reading lists you own and if you choose to edit the text then all lists the page has been added to will be updated automatically.

Editing an existing list

1.  Go to My Lists, select the list you wish to edit and click on Edit and Edit list.

2.  You are now presented with your resource list, in editable form.

3.  Your bookmarks are on the right. This panel is used to both organise your resource list into sections and populate it with your bookmarked items.

4.  Indicates an item that you can drag across to your list.

5.  Sections can be re-arranged by moving them within the Table of Contents. To move a section within a list, click on [show] next to Table of Contents. Drag the icon next to the section title to the desired position and Save. Move the position of individual items by dragging the icon next to the resource title to the new position.

Publishing a list

The list is not available for to view until you publish it. Click on Publish at the top right of the page and Publish again.

You can also publish from the My Lists view.

The list can now be publically accessed through the Talis Aspire homepage by searching for the list title and by students via your NILE link.

Top tips for quality lists

List structure

·  Include a notes field with guidance on how students are expected to use the list.

·  Break lists down into manageable sections such as by: week, seminar, topic, etc.

·  Use consistent terminology in your annotations. Aspire uses the following labels to denote importance:

·  Essential (can replace terms such as core text, core reading, etc.)

Recommended (can replace terms such as further reading, further research, etc.)

Optional (can replace terms such as useful reading, etc.)

List resources

·  If possible, use NELSON and library databases for populating lists. These entries will show print and online availability and link to electronic full text, if we have it.

·  Be careful about book editions, there may be more than one available in our holdings. Choose the most recent unless you specifically want students to use an older edition.

·  Check NELSON for an e-book version and bookmark this as well as print. This negates students’ perceptions that there are not enough copies of books in the library. Beware though; the ebook record may not be listed next to the print record.

·  When bookmarking websites, annotate the list notes to direct the students to specific areas within the web pages.

Further help

Further help and guidance can be found on the Talis Aspire Support site: http://support.talisaspire.com/home. This includes a series of videos and tutorials designed to support your use of Talis Aspire.

If you have any further questions regarding Talis Aspire please get in touch with your academic librarian or .

Aspire LTI integration with NILE

What is Aspire LTI?

The Talis Aspire reading list software has inbuilt Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) meaning. This means that sections within reading lists can be embedded within NILE modules next to the corresponding course content.

For example a section on a reading list devoted to a particular topic, week or seminar, can now appear alongside the matching course content. Furthermore, reading lists can be updated from within NILE, rather than through the Aspire website.

Important Note

It is recommended that you use Firefox or Chrome as your Internet browser.

If you are off-campus you must log into the University portal service first. Log into http://www.northampton.ac.uk/staff and then into NILE.

Adding your reading lists in NILE

Navigate to the relevant part of your NILE module and click Tools, then Reading Lists.

Fill in the Create Reading List form as desired, including naming the list (e.g. Week 1 reading) and then click Submit.

Click on the Reading List item you have just created.

A confirmation will pop up. If you have an existing reading list, your reading list will appear within your NILE site with an ‘Add list section’ banner. You have the option of using the drop down to display the list in its entirety or select any of the sections already created. Click save.

If you don’t already have a reading list, you will be able to create one within NILE by following the Creating a new list section later in this guide.

You can repeat this process as many times as necessary within your NILE module.

Updating your reading list from within NILE

You can make amendments to your reading list without having to leave your NILE site. Click on the View list button e.g.

This presents the whole reading list. If you are logged into Aspire you will see that the edit button is available.

Please see the Editing an existing list section of this guide for more information.

For further help using NILE, please see the NILE help pages or contact:

Creating a new list

You can also create a new list from scratch within NILE. To do this, first follow the instructions in Adding Your Reading Lists in NILE section. However, this time when you click on the reading list item that you have created you will find that no list is automatically suggested and you can then create a new reading list using the instructions in the rest of this guide.

Alternatively to create a new reading list you can go directly to the Aspire interface: http://readinglists.northampton.ac.uk and sign in using your University staff login. You will still need to add your list to NILE following the steps above.

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