Tag Archives: Succeed

eLearning Forum

e-Learning Forum, Electronic Marking, Succeed, ,

The next meeting of the eLearning Forum will be on 23rd January in the Enterprise Zone from 12.30 – 14.00. Lunch will be provided. The topic for the forum is electronic marking and will discuss the three ways this can be done at Stirling:

(i) A method that allows the downloading of the submissions in Succeed, marking usning Word (comment/track-changes) and finally a mechanism to return the marked work to the students.

(ii) Turnitin’s GradeMark tool (available when using Turnitin)

(iii) Succeed’s Crocodoc tool (part of the Succeed Assignment Tool)

Note that method (i) allows for offline marking whereas (ii) and (iii) require an internet connection.

As lunch is being provided we need to know who is planning on coming along. Please let Kirsteen Young (via email) if you wish to attend: kirsteen.young@stir.ac.uk

Encouraging your students to fill in the MEQ

MEQ, Succeed,

As the end of the Autumn semester approaches, chances are you’ll be wanting to make sure that your students complete their end-of-module feedback questionnaire, the Module Evaluation Questionnaire (MEQ). You have several tools at your disposal to try and ensure you get the maximum number of returns:

  • Remind the students to complete the MEQ via a course Announcement – see Creating an Announcement.
  • Remind just those students who haven’t completed it by email – find out who they are by going to the Grade Centre, locating the column associated with the MEQ and then looking for the double dash. This indicates no submission for that student. The green tick shows they have completed the MEQ, the blue clock shows they are in progress now (as shown below).

    meq

  • Base the release of certain items in the module on the condition that the students have completed the MEQ (using Adaptive Release). This could include example past papers in the run up to the exam, or you could make the link to your Listen Again page dependent upon students having completed the MEQ. This video guide from Blackboard On Demand will show you how to set up Adaptive Release criteria:
    http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r9/movies/Bb9_Adaptive_Release_Create_Simple_Rule.htm

Finally, the guide on how you as a tutor access the MEQ data, download it from Succeed and run it through the specially developed Excel Add-In to produce a report in Word is available on the Succeed Help Pages:
http://www.stir.ac.uk/media/schools/is/documents/succeeddocuments/18_meq.pdf

Guide to Setting up Turnitin Assignments in Succeed

Succeed, Turnitin,

With the Spring Semester now not too far away and new module spaces for Succeed modules will be being created in the next few weeks, thoughts turn towards assignment submission. If your students need to use Turnitin to submit their assignments or to check their assignments prior to making a submission then you’ll need to set up a Turnitin Assignment area in Succeed. This guide will help you do this:

http://www.stir.ac.uk/media/schools/is/documents/succeeddocuments/turnitinuk.pdf

MEQ Panel

MEQ, Succeed,

Staff will have spotted the new ‘Module Evaluation Questionnaire’ (MEQ) panel in Succeed:

MEQ Panel for Staff

The main purpose of adding this to Succeed is to try and increase the response from the students for MEQs. For students, the panel lists for each individual their open, unanswered MEQs:

MEQ Panel for Students

One link for each unanswered MEQ. Clicking on the link takes the student directly to the MEQ for the module from where it is easily submitted.

This panel also illustrates a feature that we will get with the community system we have purchased to enhance Succeed (when the system is upgraded with the new features). The feature is the ability to show a panel to only those individuals that need to see it. With the community system this panel would not appear for staff at all. Presently it has to be specially programmed to do nothing, bar display a message, when present for staff — far more sensible not to display at all. The community system should be available next semester.

Add Video to your Discussions

Succeed, ,

Succeed’s Discussions Tool supports the addition of video messages. All you need is a YouTube (Google) account and some means of recording yourself (such as a webcam) and you can add video messages to the Discussions Tool. Click the Record from Webcam button in the formatting toolbar whilst creating you message:

record_from_webcam

This opens up a recording window. Log into your YouTube (Google) account. You may be asked to grant permission for Succeed to use your YouTube (Google) account. Agree to this and then you will be to make the recording of your message through your webcam. Click Upload and the file is uploaded to your YouTube (Google) account and then either embedded or a thumbnail link to it is placed in your Discussions Posting, whichever you choose.

Although this is a great way to add a human element to the Discussions Tool in Succeed, it is worth bearing in mind that all the videos you record are potentially viewable through YouTube and so it is not a suitable medium for discussing all topics, and neither is it a suitable medium to provide students with feedback on their work. It can, however, brighten up your online discussions. It may also be a way to bring short recordings from specialists or experts in the field into the discussions forum.

Plagiarism Quiz

Succeed, Turnitin, ,

A plagiarism quiz has been developed with the Stirling Management School. This includes seven questions covering topics presented in The Little Book of Plagiarism and The Little Book of Academic Misconduct. Students are allowed to view the books whilst answering the questions and the quiz can be set to allow multiple attempts with no time limit. If a student answers incorrectly they are given feedback that directs them to where in the little book they will find the answer.

The trial in the Stirling Management School involved advising students that they would not be able to submit their assignment in Turnitin unless they achieved at least 80% in the quiz. This served two purposes, ensuring students were aware of the guidelines regarding plagiarism and academic misconduct and also keeping a record of students who had been informed about these topics.

Student representative:

“I think it was a good idea, far better than just a list of the university’s policy on plagiarism with a tick box to accept the conditions.

It actually got students thinking about what plagiarism really is. There were a few students that were stressing out about it, but again, these were the people who left it till 10 minutes before the deadline to submit it.

Some of the questions were a bit vague, but then again it’s an important issue that students need to be aware of.”

The questions are now being reviewed to make them a little clearer and improve the feedback given for each response.

If you are interested in :

  • Using the quiz
  • Adapting the quiz for your own needs
  • Creating something similar
  • Releasing content to students based on test results

…then speak to your e-learning representative: http://www.stir.ac.uk/is/staff/about/teams/aldt.

Adding other staff to your Succeed modules

Succeed,

With requests starting to come in to set up Succeed modules for the Spring 2014 semester, now might be a good time for a reminder that if you need your academic colleagues to be able to access your Succeed modules you can add them yourself (assuming you have the role of Instructor in your module, which is likely if you are running it!). This guide on the IS web site details how to add other staff to your Succeed module as Instructors:
http://www.stir.ac.uk/media/schools/is/documents/succeeddocuments/adding_instructors.pdf

Please do not add students to your Succeed modules in this way. They need to go through the proper administrative enrolment and module registration procedures.

Mac users – Grade Centre disappearing scroll bars

Succeed, , ,

The scrollbars in OS X Mountain Lion and Lion are hidden until activated by use, this is the new default behaviour that works very well if you primarily use a trackpad with your Mac.

Set Scroll Bars to Display All the Time in Mac OS X

This will return scroll bar behaviour to that which existed in Mac OS 10.6 and prior, that is, being always visible:

  • Launch System Preferences from the Apple menu
  • Click on General
  • Look for ‘Show scroll bars’ and select the radio button next to ‘Always’

Scrollbars are instantly visible with this change.

macpic

These settings work in OS X 10.7, 10.8, and beyond. Expect this to be the new standard as iOS and OS X continue to share more features.

Test Access Log

Succeed, , ,

A useful new feature in Succeed is the Test Access Log. This allows an instructor  to determine whether a student run into problems during a test.  Previously it was very difficult to verify reports of problems during a test but the Test Access Log provides detailed information on the student’s interactions. For full details see the Blackboard help pages:

https://help.blackboard.com/en-us/Learn/9.1_SP_12_and_SP_13/Instructor/000_Product_Updates/SP13_New_Features/Test_Access_Log

Opening links from Succeed in a new window

Succeed,

If you are linking from your Succeed module to an external web site, it’s best to set the link to open in a new browser window. This is especially true when linking to a web site whose address begins http:// and not https://. Succeed runs on https:// (secure protocol) and if you try and set up a link in the same browser window to a regular http:// web page then your browser may reject this as being what is called ‘mixed content’, which could potentially cause a security risk (for example, phishing). The default setting when adding a link through the > Build Content > Web Link option is for the link to open in a new window, and we recommend you leave this setting in place for all links.