Bespoke Training

1 Comment / Blackboard, Camtasia, Collaborate, Training, Turnitin /

At the Technology Enhanced Learning unit we run a range of training workshops for academic staff. However, we understand that sometimes you might like to attend but can\’t make the particular time on offer. Sometimes you might need some training on an area not covered in our workshops.

If either of these apply to you, you are welcome to request one-to-one or small group training from one of our Academic Learning Technologists. This can cover topics from our workshops, or be tailored to your individual requirements. We also can arrange team-based workshops by request.

Systems that we support:

  • Blackboard
  • Turnitin
  • Pebblepad
  • Camtasia
  • Collaborate Virtual Classroom
  • Medial for video assessment

Topics that we can cover:

  • Learning design
  • Mobile and blended learning
  • Online assessment
  • Online accessibility

If you are interested, please email TEL@worc.ac.uk with details of your training needs and we will get back to you.

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Join the TEL Ideas Exchange

1 Comment / Blackboard, Camtasia, Conferences, Training, Turnitin /

The TEL Ideas Exchange group brings together colleagues from all schools with an interest in technology enhanced learning to promote and disseminate best practice. After a very successful initial launch by invitation in May, we are are now extending the opportunity to all academic colleagues to participate in the group.

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Newsletters

There is another meeting coming up in November. If you are interested in taking part, please email TEL@worc.ac.uk and we will provide full details.

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Sharing Turnitin Rubrics with Colleagues

1 Comment / Turnitin /

If you have used rubrics in Turnitin, you will know that they don\’t work in quite the same way as other files. This is most apparent when trying to access or use a rubric file uploaded by a colleague.

Some things to bear in mind:

  • Rubrics are linked to the user\’s account rather than to the module that they are uploaded to. Therefore, if two tutors have access to a module and one tutor uploads a rubric, the other tutor will not be able to edit the rubric file. To the second tutor it will be displayed as \’Other Instructor\’s Rubric\’.
  • However, all staff with tutor access will be able to access the rubric for marking – once uploaded, the rubric does not need to be re-shared.
  • Once a user has uploaded a rubric, it will forever be linked to their Blackboard account, ready for redeployment.

Staff commonly share rubrics that they have created by emailing the rubric (.rbc) files to colleagues. While this is perfectly acceptable practice, it can be problematic when the owner of the rubric is not available due to sickness, holiday, working commitments etc.

Therefore it is a good idea to set up a shared area where your team can store commonly used rubrics. This could be a folder on the O drive, or a shared folder in OneDrive. Find out how to use shared OneDrive folders.

Please note that it is not possible to open or edit .rbc files using standard applications. This must be done within the Rubric Manager on Turnitin.

More information about exporting and importing rubrics can be found in our Turnitin guide.

If you have any questions about the use of rubrics please contact the Technology Enhanced Learning Unit at tel@worc.ac.uk

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Footprint

Finding your Feet with Files

1 Comment / Blackboard /

Filing. I know. Snoozefest right? But getting to know the Files area on your Blackboard modules can be incredibly useful. Bear with me.

Locating the Files Area

The files area can be found in the side menu under Course Management. Click on Files and then on the module code (TEST2_BRIA1 in the image below).

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This will take you into the files area, which shows all uploaded documents and folders in a list. By clicking on any of the headings you can sort files by this criteria. Clicking once will sort in ascending order. Clicking twice will sort by descending order. This function is particularly useful for viewing all files of a certain type (e.g. identifying all of the PowerPoint files), or for locating the most recently edited or largest documents.

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Removing Unwanted Files

Each Blackboard course area is set up with a standard 500MB of storage space. It is a good idea to regularly audit the files stored on your course areas.

If you copy content over from year to year, you may end up storing files that you no longer need. You may be storing several older versions of the same document. You may even want to remove a particularly large file that is using up a lot of space and replace it with a compressed version.

This is a two step process however. First you need to remove the file from the relevant course area. If you do this, it will still remain stored on the module, taking up valuable space.

To remove files completely, you need to go to the Files area, select the unwanted files using the tick boxes and click Delete. Once you have confirmed the deletion, the file will be totally removed from the module.

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Be sure to perform both steps, as removing documents only from the files area will result in a broken link remaining in the content area.

Downloading Files

Often staff need to download some or all of the files from a Blackboard module. Luckily this is a simple thing to do.

  1. Go to the course files area
  2. Select the files that you require. Alternatively you can select all files by clicking the tickbox next to \’File Type\’.
  3. Select \’Download Package\’. This will download the files as a zipped folder.

From this area it is also possible to copy or move files, however, this is best to do from the content area. We will show you how to do this in our next post.

If you have any questions, please contact us at TEL@worc.ac.uk

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Blackboard Scheduled Downtime

Leave a Comment / Blackboard /

We are pleased to announce that Blackboard, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment is moving to a managed hosting Software as a Service (SaaS) deployment method this August. 

There are many benefits to making this change including:

  • A reliable, scalable and robust infrastructure
  • Improved performance, giving a better user experience.
  • Zero or minimal downtime including scheduled maintenance and annual upgrades
  • Ability to deliver continuous updates including new features or enhancements
  • Quicker resolution of any technical issues, bug fixes, etc.
  • Access to facilitate new integrations

These changes will not affect the end user experience and you don’t need to do anything with your modules and organisations – these will all be transferred centrally, however there will be a period of downtime from 8pm on Friday 9th August until midday on Monday 12th August while the transition is carried out.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any issues or questions with regard to this please contact tel@worc.ac.uk.

Website: www.uwtel.co.uk | Twitter: @UW_TEL

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Summer Workshops

Leave a Comment / Blackboard, Collaborate, Training, Turnitin /

The Technology Enhanced Learning Unit will be running a series of workshops over the summer period.

Courses covered will be a mixture of our most popular regular courses, as well as some exciting new offerings, including making Blackboard more accessible, incorporating blended learning into your delivery, and an introduction to Medial, the University\’s new tool for video assessment.

Courses on offer are:

  • 04/07/2019 – Using Quizzes, Tests and Surveys in Blackboard – 14:15-16:00 EE1101
  • 11/07/2019 – Running an Online Session in Collaborate – 10:30-12:00 Virtual Classroom (link will be emailed)
  • 16/07/2019 – Using Blackboard for Blended and Mobile Learning – 09:45-11:30 EE2011
  • 16/07/2019 – Medial Video Assessment – 13:00-14:00 EEG031
  • 19/07/2019 – Blackboard Made Simple – 09:30-11:15 EEG023 (PC)
  • 19/07/2019 – Designing Accessible Courses – 10:00-12:00 EEG031
  • 23/07/2019 – Setting Up and Using Turnitin Online Assignments – 10:30-12:00 EEG031 (PC)
  • 24/07/2019 – Camtasia – 09:30-11:15 EEG031 (PC)

We will also be running sessions for ASU staff as an introduction to Blackboard and Turnitin. These sessions will give staff an overview of how the systems work and how to resolve simple issues. Workshops will be arranged directly with ASU teams.

For more information and to sign up, visit the Staff Development page.

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Blackboard Rollover

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2019/20 modules are now live on Blackboard! Please be aware that there are a couple of changes this year:

All staff will need to enrol on their modules this year

Due to GDPR and data security reasons, staff are not being auto-enrolled onto modules. You will need to complete a form to enrol onto your modules, which can be found on the logged in staff portal (pictured). Please get the module leader\’s permission (unless, of course, you are the module leader) and allow 24 hours for access to be granted.

For more information, see our previous blog post regarding this.

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Things will look a little different

The TEL Unit have developed a new Blackboard template in consultation with a focus group of university staff. Pages now include guidance and tips for staff, which students are unable to see.

Read more about the new template here.

Transferring content

As ever, modules will be empty and you will need to transfer content from the 2018/19 instance of the module. Do not transfer the Assessment page as this needs to be set up afresh each year.

Instructions for transferring content can be found here.

If you have any queries, please contanct the TEL Unit at TEL@worc.ac.uk

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New Blackboard Template

4 Comments / Uncategorized /

Based on feedback from users, we have made some changes to the standard template for Blackboard courses to improve clarity and usability for staff and students alike. This means that when you open Blackboard in September you will see some changes to how the tabs are laid out.

The module template now contains guidance on what should go on each page.

Only staff can see this content – this is invisible to students (try the Student Preview to see this in action) so should not be edited. Once you have set up your course area for the new academic year, you can delete this information if you wish. 

The Assessment tab has been separated out so as to be more easily identified. All assignments and information relating to them should be included on this tab. For information about which would be the best system to use for your assignment, see our handy flow chart. For information about setting up assignments see our guidance on using Blackboard and Turnitin for assessment.

Don\’t forget to edit the welcome message to include the name of the module leader and a contact email (see how to edit your welcome message here). 

For more advice about your Blackboard modules:

If you have any queries, contact the Technology Enhanced Learning Unit at TEL@worc.ac.uk

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Maze

VLE Review Launch: What do You think of Blackboard?

Leave a Comment / Blackboard, VLE Review /

The official review of the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) has now begun!

The first step is to assess our current system. We need to find out what staff like and don\’t like about it, what could be improved and whether users would like to see the inclusion of any additional functionality. This can then be used as a benchmark to help us decide the direction of the VLE review project.

We would be extremely grateful if you could complete this short survey which should take no more than 5 minutes.

For further information about the VLE review, please see the VLE Review page of our website.

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Blackboard Collaborate Workshop

Leave a Comment / Blackboard, Collaborate, Training /

Running an Online Session in Collaborate – 3rd April 2019, 13:45 – 15:00

Blackboard Collaborate is an online virtual classroom and meeting space which allows users to connect via audio, see each other via webcams, use a chat tool, collaborate on documents and view presentations as well as other features. Available as a plugin on all Blackboard modules, Collaborate is invaluable for engaging with students who are unable to come onto campus due to other commitments or travel problems. Some courses have used collaborate to increase student engagement by allowing students to engage remotely if they wish. Other applications include:

  • Tutorials
  • Delivering lectures on snow days
  • Facilitating guest speakers

The best way to get to know a new tool is by using it, so this session will be delivered online using the Collaborate virtual classroom. Guidance on best practice will be discussed and participants will be able to experience the interactive features this tool has to offer. There will also be a chance for discussion and questions.

If you are interested in attending either of these sessions, you can sign up via the Staff Development Workshops Page.

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