Creating a Grading/Feedback Column for Offline Assessments

If you are wanting to use LearnUCS to give students grades and/or feedback for assessments taken offline, such as exams you will need to create a new Grade Centre column.

The video below shows how to create a new column that is not associated with an online submission process.

LearnUCS: Copy Quizzes from One Module to Another

Quizzes are a very useful tool in LearnUCS.  The more complex the quiz, the longer they take to make.

For lecturers that use quizzes, there are two quick and easy ways of copying quizzes from one module to another, meaning you do not need to remake them each time.

The video below shows the two processes to copy them, one if you only want to copy one quiz, and the other if you have multiple.

Tips for marking online (inline grading)

The following tips are to help with the inline grading in LearnUCS, if you have any questions, please email elevate@ucs.ac.uk or talk to your Course Administrator

Tip 1: The Room.

If you are planning to spend a period of time marking, we'd suggest you book a small meeting room (which contains a large screen), reserve a laptop and VGA cable from Waterfront Reception. You can plug the laptop into the large screen. This will also overcome the issues of trying to mark within an open planned office.

Tip 2: Maximize the space of the inline grading area.

When you look at the inline grading area, much of he screen is contains information you don't need at the time, including navigation areas. You can maximise the inline grading area as outlined in the video

If you have any questions, please email elevate@ucs.ac.uk or talk to your Course Administrator

Available support and development sessions: Learning Services

The Learning Services Team at UCS was created on the 1st August, 2014 with the aim of enhancing the way members of UCS are supported to develop appropriate skills and strategies to enable them to become a more effective learners.

This is achieved through various routes, including the provision of workshops. These workshops are designed around active and collaborative learning principles. The October 2014 workshop programme is outlined below, and you can register your place via the Learning Services Workshop Sessions area: http://ucslssessions.blogspot.co.uk

If you would like to discuss how one of more of these sessions might be useful for you, please email learningservices@ucs.ac.uk

13th: Enhancing your learning with social media
13th: Assignment planning
13th: Reading Journal Articles
14th: Dissertation planning
14th: Electronic is the new Black: Navigating ebooks at UCS
14th: Harvard Referencing
15th: Keeping your references organised with RefWorks
15th: "Too descriptive. Not enough critical analysis" An introduction to critical writing
15th: Enhancing your employability through managing your online presence
16th: Ways to design and develop effective presentations
16th: Literature Searching
17th: Developing your reflective practice
17th: How to get the most out of Learning Services
17th: Technologies to facilitate reflection

Staff Only: Technology Enhanced Learning

21st: Flipping your teaching model: the how and the why
21st: Getting more out of your LearnUCS module 22nd: (Staff) Using social media to become a connected educator
22nd: How clickers can change the way you teach
22nd: Monitoring student engagement and performance in your LearnUCS module
22nd: Creating talk over powerpoints and similar videos
23rd: Designing a group based learning activity
23rd: Getting started with objective testing (LearnUCS tests and MCQs in the optical mark reader)

---------------------
Image Source - with thanks: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Workshop_001.jpg

Content Rollover - 13/14 to 14/15

We will be releasing the new 2014/15 modules tomorrow, 12 August 2014.  Once these have been released academic staff can request access via their course administrator.

Once academic staff have access they can start to populate the modules with content.  This can be done in two ways, individual items can be copied from one module to another, or a bulk "module copy" can be completed.

The video below shows both of these routes for copying.

All 2014/15 modules are being created as "unavailable", meaning they need to be set to available before students can access them.  The end of the above video shows how to make a module available for students.

LearnUCS Supported Browsers

Following the recent upgrade to LearnUCS we are publishing Blackboard's minimum browser requirements.

As you will read below Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 is no longer supported, as well as the latest releases of Internet Explorer making some LearnUCS features difficult to use.  The Elevate team recommend using one of the 3 other browsers when accessing LearnUCS.

-----------------------------------

Supported Browsers

Four primary browsers for LearnUCS current release.

Automatically Updated Channel-based Browsers

The dates listed are the latest numbered patch release dates.

• Firefox® 28 (stable channel) from Mozilla (18 March 2014)
• Firefox 24 (ESR channel) from Mozilla (17 September 2013)
• Chrome™ 34 (stable channel) from Google (8 April 2014)

Traditionally Released Browsers

The dates listed are the original release dates for general availability.

• Safari® 7 from Apple (22 October 2013)
• Safari® 6 from Apple (25 July 2012)

Safari for Windows is unsupported. Apple's continued support for this browser is unclear, and Blackboard does not test it.

• Internet Explorer® 11 from Microsoft (17 October 2013 for Windows 8.1, 7 November 2013 for Windows 7)
• Internet Explorer 10 from Microsoft (26 October 2012 for Windows 8, 26 February 2013 for Windows 7)
• Internet Explorer 9 from Microsoft (14 March 2011)

Some configuration options for Internet Explorer might make some features of Blackboard Learn difficult to use. To learn more, see Internet Explorer Security Zones and Compatibility View topic in this section.

-----------------------------------

Please see this link for further information.

How to open a submission point

Below is a video showing how to open a submission point in LearnUCS:

The video shows the creation using standard settings, no anonymous or delegated markings options with the use of the UCS Grading Schema.

Opening a submission point with Delegated Marking

Below is a video showing how to open a submission point in LearnUCS including adding Delegated Marking:

The video shows the creation using standard settings, with delegated markings options with the use of the UCS Grading Schema.

Using student preview to submit an assignment

Using student preview to submit an assignment

LearnUCS has a new feature allowing you to enter a "Student Preview" mode, creating you a student account to test our your module.  This account is a real student account, meaning you can actually submit an assignment, using the same process the students use.  When you exit out of the Student Preview you are asked if you would like to save the data, if you choose to save the data you are able to find this in the Gradecentre and therefore grade the submission.

Below is a video showing the "Student Preview" mode and how you can submit an assessment.

Exiting Student Preview mode

Exiting Student Preview mode

When exiting Student Preview mode you are offered a choice to either save the data or not.  If you choose to save the data, when you next enter Student Preview the previous data would load.  Meaning if you had submitted a test, quiz or assessment, the system would remember that.

It is possible for you to submit an assignment as a student, then exit and save data.  You could then grade the submission using the inline grading tools, or upload feedback.  When you then next enter Student Preview you would be able to access the grade and/or feedback as a student would.

Below is a video showing exiting Student Preview with the option to save data.

Adding feedback and grades

Adding feedback and grades

The video below shows how to attach a feedback file and enter the grade in the Gradecentre.  The video uses the UCS Grading Schema on the 12point system.

Inline Grading

Inline Grading

The video below shows how to use the Inline Grading tool in LearnUCS.  Inline grading allows you to annotate feedback directly onto the students assignment submission.  No need to download the file, and therefore no need to manually upload the work back.

Creating and editing a blog entry

Creating and editing a blog entry

Below is a video showing how to access a blog, create and edit an entry.   This video is produced by Blackboard, therefore the look and feel along with some terminology with differ from LearnUCS.

Using the discussion boards

Using the discussion boards

Below is a video showing how to use the discussion boards. This video is produced by Blackboard, therefore the look and feel along with some terminology with differ from LearnUCS.

Releasing unratified results and feedback

Releasing unratified results and feedback

Below is a video showing how to release unratified results and feedback once ready.  There is also a PDF version here.