DL&T Signposts

Turnitin

There are a few behavioural nuances in the updated Turnitin, as follows:

1. Setting the Feedback Release Date

feedback release date

Setting this DOES NOT automatically hide the Grade Centre column in Blackboard, which means when you begin marking work students will be able to see their grades immediately. You will therefore need to manually hide the column in the grade centre. Information about how to do this can be found on the DL&T website: Preventing students from seeing their grades in Blackboard – DLaT Hub (dmu.ac.uk)

Similarly, when you want to reveal grades and feedback to students you will have to manually show the columns in the grade centre using the same process as detailed in the link above.

2. If you edit or change any of the settings in a new Turnitin submission link it will automatically re-show the hidden column in Grade Centre. So if you make any changes to a Turnitin submission make sure you go back into the Grade Centre and manually hide the column again.

E.g. Column is hidden for Assignment 1

hidden column

I then changed the instructions in the Assignment 1 Turnitin submission settings.

turnitin panel

Returning into the Grade Centre, the Assignment 1 column is now visible to students. So I will need to hide it again.

grade centre

3. Using Groups for marking in Turnitin.

When setting up groups in Blackboard to be used for allocated marking in Turnitin you must ensure that the Groups are set to be ‘visible to students’.

visible to student button

If they are not visible to students, the group will not be displayed in Turnitin. More details about setting up groups for marking in Turnitin can be found on the DL&T website: Using Groups to apportion marking across a module team when using Turnitin – DLaT Hub (dmu.ac.uk)

DL&T staff support drop-in sessions

For a number of years, Digital Learning and Teaching (formerly CELT) has provided a twice weekly drop-in session for colleagues from all over the university to swing by to ask any quick questions, raise queries, or just have a general chat about Digital Learning and Teaching enabled practise.

In recent times, these sessions have been facilitated virtually in Microsoft Teams; but from now onwards the Thursday morning sessions will revert to face to face.

The new venue is the Centre for Academic Innovation and Teaching Excellence’s training room in the Eric Wood building – room number EW2.03.

As usual, sessions will run from 10am-11am and there is no agenda or schedule – just a friendly space to drop by and talk with a couple of the Digital Learning and Teaching Consultants as you may require.

Note that the Wednesday afternoon sessions will remain online for the foreseeable future. Link to join a Wednesday afternoon virtual drop-in.

DL&T Signposts

Changes to the CELT team

This might be old news to some. The CELT team have undergone a slight re-branding. We are now part of the Centre for Academic Innovation and Teaching Excellence (CAITE). We are no longer CELT, we are the Digital Learning and Teaching team (DL&T). Our working remit has not changed – it’s business as usual – and I (Rob Weale) remain your faculty support contact for all things digital teaching and learning. My role title has also changed – I’m now a Digital Teaching and Learning Consultant. I have changed office – but still located in Edith Murphy (EM2.22). If you need a reminder as to what my remit covers – read this.

Given that we will be changing our VLE for next year – from September 2023 – (see below) I’m looking forward to working with you all in exploring how best to utilise the new VLE for your specific teaching, learning and assessment requirements.

New VLE

We will be changing to a new VLE in September 2023. The system is called Bright Space and it is provided by a company called D2L. For more info see: DMU to launch new Virtual Learning Environment (sharepoint.com)

We will keep you updated with info about the roll out, training & development, and support.

Changes to Turnitin

The way that we are able to access and set Turnitin assignments in Blackboard has changed. We have provided information about the changes to Turnitin and additional resources to support your use of Turnitin.

Also, having created a Turnitin submission link, an adaptive release message will appear with the link – you can ignore this message. The link will be available to all students on the module.

Online drop-in sessions.

The Digital Learning and Teaching team continue to provide virtual staff drop-in sessions twice weekly (Wednesday 2 – 3 pm and Thursday 10 – 11 am) to support all aspects of your use of learning technologies.  Members of the Digital Learning and Teaching team will be available to consult in this Teams meeting space.

Note: if you access this Teams area outside of the scheduled drop-in times – there will be no one there.

Introduction to learning technologies at DMU for new HLS staff

A reminder that any new academic staff (who have not yet done so) are advised to attend the following central training sessions about the use of technologies for teaching, learning and assessment.

  • Introduction to ELT at DMU
  • DMU Replay overview
  • Introduction to Turnitin
  • Intro to teaching in Teams

These sessions can be booked via the My Development tile on the DMU Hub (https://dmuhub.dmu.ac.uk)

If you are unable to attend these sessions, Rob is running some extra sessions. The dates, times and booking can be found via the following links:

Introduction to learning technologies at DMU for new HLS staff

Introduction to Turnitin

Introduction to recording with DMU Replay

Introduction to online teaching in Microsoft Teams

Rob is also running the following sessions for HLS staff, if interested:

Creating rich media resources with DMU Replay

Scenario-based learning via technology

Open Educational Resources (OER)

ELT Signposts

Introduction to learning technologies at DMU for new HLS staff

Any new academic staff (who have not yet done so) are advised to attend the following central training sessions about the use of technologies for teaching, learning and assessment.

  • Introduction to ELT at DMU
  • DMU Replay overview
  • Introduction to Turnitin
  • Intro to teaching in Teams

These sessions can be booked via the My Development tile on the DMU Hub (https://dmuhub.dmu.ac.uk)

If you are unable to attend these sessions, Rob Weale is running some extra sessions. The dates, times and booking for each session can be found via the following links:

Introduction to learning technologies at DMU for new HLS staff

Introduction to online teaching in Microsoft Teams

Introduction to Turnitin

Introduction to recording with DMU Replay

ELT Signposts

From June 30th 2021 we will no longer have access to Blackboard Collaborate for synchronous teaching or for access to recordings. Please ensure that any recordings required for future or existing teaching have been moved to DMU Replay (and a Panopto link added to your Blackboard shell) before this date. There is guidance for staff downloading recordings from Blackboard Collaborate and moving them to DMU Replay available on the CELT hub at this link.

After 30th June 2021 all synchronous teaching will take place on Microsoft Teams. If guidance is required to support your use of Teams for teaching sessions please sign up to one of the workshops advertised on the DMU hub. To book a place on these workshops please go to the My Development page in the DMU Hub and select Browse Catalogue (in the options on the right), and then select Enhancing learning through technology. The ‘Introduction to teaching in teams’ workshop is available throughout the summer, is highly recommended and an excellent starting point.

The VLE review project board are undertaking a short survey to identify how Teams is being used for teaching and how you may like to use it in the future. The Working with Teams survey is available here and we would be grateful if you would take the time to complete the 6 questions.

For clarity, it is only Blackboard Collaborate that will be switched off from June 30th, the Blackboard VLE will not change and remains our primary digital tool for learning and teaching.

ELT Signposts

Are you ready to deliver your synchronous teaching in Teams?

We have a range of training sessions available for booking through the DMUhub. Of particular interest will be the Energise and engage students in a live online session in MS Teams.

To book a place on these courses please go to the My Development page in the DMU Hub and select Browse Catalogue (in the options on the right) and then select Enhancing learning through technology.

Top tips to support your use of our learning technologies.

Your CELT team are producing weekly posts to support your use of the learning technologies.
The first article can be found at this link.

Peer support and guidance.

We have set up a Yammer community for us to discuss ideas, solve problems and provide support for users of our learning technologies.
This link will take you to the new staff Yammer community.

Online exams support and guidance.

Support is available on the CELT hub to help setting up and managing online exams in Blackboard.
Guidance for setting up a practice exam for your students is available at this link.
Guidance for setting up and managing the actual examination is available at this link.

Augmented reality and photospheres for teaching and learning.

As part of our current work on technology-based education resources, we would like to invite you to a presentation and discussion session, which will provide an overview of the projects currently in progress.

The session will demonstrate how Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Photospheres (Immersive Panoramas) can be used to create digital learning tools to enhance the higher education learning experience. There will be an opportunity for Q & A to explore which areas of your curriculum might benefit from these technologies.

We have 3 sessions: Monday 26th April, 12:00-13:00, Tuesday 27th April, 11:30-12:30 and Tuesday 27th April, 14:00-15:00

Please book your place using the online booking form.
We will send out the Microsoft Teams meeting one week before the sessions.

For more information, please visit the CELT website at, CELT – Current Academic Innovation Projects – CELT Hub (dmu.ac.uk)

ELT Signposts

Important Information

I’ve been asked to share the following information from ITMS:

ITMS are undertaking planned maintenance work on Blackboard during Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th January 2021.

Blackboard will be unavailable to staff and students on Monday 4th January when we anticipate maintenance activity to be completed. The service may require additional work which could extend into Tuesday 5th January. We are asking teaching staff to plan around these dates to minimise impact on teaching.

This work is a priority to ensure Blackboard remains supported, secured, and well maintained. Due to end of term assessments and the University closure for the Christmas it is not possible to complete the upgrade before this date.

ITMS appreciates your co-operation while this essential maintenance is completed.

 

ELT Signposts

Online sessions using Blackboard Collaborate

The ITMS service desk have noted that they have been getting a lot of queries from students who are not able to find the correct Collaborate meeting room link for their timetabled sessions.  It seems that many are going into the Course Room without looking at the other options.

ITMS have asked if academic staff could check that there are clear instructions for students about where to find their collaborate session links.

Note: The Course Room can be locked, which will prevent students from mistakenly logging in to this room. Click the Course Room options button and select Lock course room from the menu.

lock course room option

The timetabled sessions will be unaffected by locking the course room.

ELT Signposts

Teaching at a distance information and support

CELT have updated our Remote teaching technology and pedagogy training and support materials to include even more comprehensive information about teaching, learning and assessment at a distance.

https://celt.our.dmu.ac.uk/celt/remote-teaching-2/

New policy guidelines for the use of recording

DMU has recently published some new policy guidelines concerning Data Protection dos and don’ts for synchronous and asynchronous recording. It is important that all academic staff who are or will be recording synchronous and/or asynchronous content, read this.

https://www.dmu.ac.uk/academic/centre-academic-innovation/staff-support-for-remote-teaching/data-protection-guidelines.aspx

Training and Development sessions for HLS staff

Rob Weale is running some faculty-based training and development sessions online in August and September. As follows (click the session title to see info and book a place):

Introduction to learning technologies at DMU for new HLS staff

Introduction to Blackboard Collaborate

Introduction to recording with DMU Replay

NOTE: There is an online learning technology induction for new staff at DMU which new staff should be signposted to:

https://celt.our.dmu.ac.uk/new-staff-learning-technology-induction/