A little while ago we started a small reading group for colleagues in the Learning and Teaching Development Service to share ideas and discuss current issues and publications related to learning and teaching in Higher Education.
We set ourselves a couple of parameters to encourage engagement, as we had tried a journal club previously to not a great deal of success.
This time we decided to limit ourselves:
to things that could be read or digested in around less than half an hour
to try too keep the readings short and digestible
to keep the discussion sessions to 30 minutes
to use small groups for discussion of themes, impressions etc
Listened to Inventions in Sound: where the poet Raymond Antrobus explored the art of translating sound for the eye, looking at the poetic possibilities of closed captions.
Our next group will explore microcredentials by looking at the recent QAA quality compass paper – which way for micro credentials.
This will be the first meeting of a slightly expanded group which includes colleagues from FMS TEL .
We have one person running the group for 6 months (Me!) and I look after collating suggestions which come in from anyone who wants to suggest something. I try to have a range of different types of materials and cover a range of learning and teaching related viewpoints as our group has people who work in policy, practice, pedagogy, quality assurance, data and governance, professional development and all the intersections thereof.
Last time we listened to a radio programme about closed captions, which really made me think about how we approach captioning in HE. Some great ideas resulted from the session and it certainly got us talking!
The E-Assessment in Mathematical Sciences (EAMS) conference, takes place between 16th and 27th June 2025.
Organised by the team behind our Numbas e-assessment system, the conference aims to bring together researchers and practitioners with an interest in e-assessment for mathematics and the sciences. It will consist of a mix of presentations of new techniques, and pedagogic research, as well as workshops where you can get hands-on with leading e-assessment software.
EAMS 2025 is an entirely online conference, with a mix of live sessions and web-based activities, and plenty of opportunity for discussion and collaboration.
Before the conference starts, there will be a programme of optional training workshops available for participants to get hands-on with state-of-the-art maths e-assessment software.
Live talks will take place over Zoom at 9:30 and 15:30 BST (UTC +1) each weekday, with recordings available later. The online format and longer timescale allow participants to engage more deeply with the material presented.
The call for talk and workshop proposals is currently open. If you have some research or an innovative technique related to mathematical e-assessment that you would like to present, then please submit an abstract at eams.ncl.ac.uk/call-for-speakers by 2nd May.
We’re actively seeking to increase the diversity of our attendees and speakers, and particularly encourage speakers from groups under-represented in previous editions of EAMS to submit proposals.
Multiple Attempts is a feature which supports formative auto-marked Inspera digital exams. Module teams can now allow their students to take practice auto-marked Inspera exams repeatedly, either by having students submit as many times as they wish, or by setting a defined number of retakes. Please be aware there is no option to lock down an exam using Multiple Attempts.
Multiple Attempts can help students to learn rapidly and understand topics by allowing them to practice until answers are correct. This can also allow for a dynamic and effective learning experience.
Students can:
Improve their understanding of the topic by practicing multiple times
Increase their confidence by identifying and correcting mistakes
Prepare more effectively for exams by identifying improvement areas
Multiple Attempts can currently only be used with Inspera digital exams which are using automatically marked questions. The feature can also be used with pre-defined feedback. Pre-defined feedback is recommended if using multiple attempts, as this allows students to improve their understanding of the exam content.
Setting up Multiple Attempts
Within the Deliver Tab on Inspera, you will need to edit the exam settings and click ‘Enable Multiple Attempts’.
You will then be prompted to set a maximum number of attempts. If wishing students to have an unlimited number of attempts, click ‘Unlimited Attempts’.
Under ‘Setting final result’, choose the most appropriate option for your exam which will be applicable as part of your student feedback. Options are:
Highest: The highest score achieved among all attempts will be the final result.
Average: The average score obtained across all attempts will be calculated and used as the final result.
Latest: The most recent score from the student’s attempts will be the final result.
Student feedback when using Multiple Attempts
When using Multiple Attempts, feedback should be set to be released to students immediately after each test attempt. Feedback which is immediate enables students to see full details of their attempt instantly and work on this for the next attempt.
As we approach the Semester 2 (24/25) question set deadline on 7th March 2025, the Digital Exams Team are sharing another post about question set functionality in Inspera.
You may also wish to check out our first blog post from Semester 1: Question Set Functionality in Inspera Digital Exams – Part 1. This first post covers a lot of the functionality around making your questions and enabling functions such as randomisation, random pulling and candidate selected questions. In this new post, we will cover some of the other functionalities available. These include:
How to share question sets with colleagues,
Accessing and printing PDF copies of the question set,
Duplicating your question set.
Sharing question sets with colleagues
There are a couple of ways you can share your question set content with other colleagues or your external examiners.
For other colleagues on your module team, you may find it useful to add them as a ‘contributor’ to your question set. This will allow them to view questions and preview them in Inspera. This is also particularly useful if you are creating the content together with another colleague.
How to add contributors to your question set:
Open Inspera (this can be done by clicking on your previous exam within Canvas assignment area)
Click on the Author tab
In the search bar type the question set name/module name
Find the question set you wish to print and click on the name to open this
Select the person icon icon (on the left hand side of the icons in the top right corner)
Search the person’s name and select them as a user from the drop down menu that appears
If you would like them to receive an email about this, please keep the ‘notify via e-mail’ box ticket
Click ‘Share’.
Please note: if you cannot find a user when searching for their name, it is likely that they have not accessed Inspera via Canvas yet, and therefore do not have an Inspera account. They would need to access Inspera via Canvas to activate this, and for their name to show in the list. There is guidance available on the self enrol Inspera guidance course on Canvas.
For external examiners, it is possible for you to add them as a contributor as well and ask them to access Inspera via Canvas. You may also wish to consider the option of downloading a PDF copy of the question set content from Inspera in order to share the question set content with them.
Accessing and printing question sets as PDFs
Within your question set in Inspera, it is possible to access and print your question set as a PDF. This could be to share a copy with External Examiners, or to create a paper copy if you are hosting a mock exam where you want a back up paper copy available just incase.
How to print your question set:
Open Inspera (this can be done by clicking on your previous exam within Canvas assignment area)
Click on the Author tab
In the search bar type the question set name/module name
Find the question set you wish to print and click on the name to open this
Select the print icon in the top right corner
On the right hand side click ‘download question set’
The download may take a minute or two to prepare, once ready select download now
The download will be in your downloads folder
Should you wish to change what is available on your PDF, you can use edit Settings. Once within the Print screen, drop down the settings bar.
Settings allow you to:
remove maximum marks
remove ‘documents’ or instruction pages
remove certain questions from the PDF (i.e. hide auto marked questions)
How to edit the PDF of your question set
You can edit your PDF using ABBY Finereader. You can familiarise yourself with the FineReader video guides, and detailed written user guides which have been shared by NUIT.
How to duplicate your question set
Once you have created a question set, you can re-use it. The Digital Exams Team recommend duplicating your Question Set and then editing, this means there’s a clear audit trail of the Question Set used in prior years.
How to duplicate your question set:
Open Inspera (this can be done by clicking on your previous exam within Canvas assignment area)
Click on the Author tab
In the search bar, type the Question Set name/module name (in this example a ‘demo’ Question Set is being searched for)
Find the question set you wish to duplicate and click into the tick box (on the left hand side)
An options bar appears along the bottom, click ‘duplicate’
A message will appear about the duplication, click ‘continue’
Click into this new ‘copy of’ question set
You can re-label the name of the question in the top left corner using the pencil icon.
You can now make any changes to the Question set for an upcoming exam.
Question set deadlines
Once the Module Leader has completed their Digital Exam Form to confirm the details about their Inspera Digital Exam, the next step is to start creating their question sets.
Question sets are created by the module team and shared with the Digital Exams Team via email to Digital.Exams@newcastle.ac.uk.
The question set deadlines for 2024/25 are detailed in the following table:
Semester
Question Set Deadline
Semester 1
15th November
Semester 2
7th March
Semester 1 August Resit (Semester 3)
17th April
Semester 2 August Resit (Semester 3)
8th July
A table with the question set deadlines for each semester.
Training webinars
The Digital Exams Team deliver a training webinar ‘Creating and managing exam questions in Inspera’ which colleagues can sign up to via the Elements training system. The training session covers an on-screen demo of setting up and adding questions to your question set.
What difficulties do students have accessing the material we provide?
How do students surmount those difficulties?
How do you improve the accessibility of your material?
We’re putting on an event to help answer those questions.
It’s important that all of our digital services are accessible to their users, whether they’re students or colleagues. The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations set out some legal requirements that we must meet.
But digital accessibility is a complex topic and many colleagues have found it hard to understand what they need to do to ensure their teaching material is accessible.
At our digital accessibility demo day, you can have a go at accessing university teaching material at a selection of stations simulating different access requirements and supports, including:
Screen reader
Speech to text
Keyboard-only interaction
Low vision
Low mobility
Magnification
Canvas Ally
We’ll have plenty of pointers to guidance and training opportunities to help you improve the accessibility of your material.
People from LTDS, NUIT and the Disability Interest Group will be there to offer support and answer any questions you may have about digital accessibility.
Time and location
The event will take place 13:00 – 15:00 on Wednesday 5th March 2025, in the Boiler House.
The Boiler House is in the middle of campus, between the Armstrong Building and the Student Union. Access is step-free.
There’s no presentation as part of the session – just drop in and talk to one of the facilitators.
In Spring 2025, there will be some updates to Canvas SpeedGrader. This update makes SpeedGrader faster and more stable, while keeping the interface easy to use. The grading process you know will stay the same, but with some improvements behind the scenes.
Previously, courses with large cohorts or assignments with large file submissions experienced frustratingly slow loading times. This update aims to enhance SpeedGrader’s performance, making navigation quicker and more efficient.
In addition to performance updates, there will be minor interface changes to assist with navigation. Although small, these changes will help with the usability of SpeedGrader. After these changes, the interface will still have the familiar SpeedGrader feel.
Let’s dive into the changes made to Canvas SpeedGrader…
Sections Selector Dropdown
The section selector now has a streamlined interface, making it easier to navigate between different class sections. Previously, filtering by section required more steps. With the new Sections Selector Dropdown, you can quickly filter submissions by section.
In the Student Dropdown List, you’ll now see a Sections header. Under ‘Showing,’ you’ll find the current section that the list is filtered to (point 1).
To apply a new section filter, click on the Section filter (point 2). A dropdown list will then appear, as shown below:
In the dropdown list, you’ll see all the sections associated with the assignment. A tick mark will indicate the section currently applied as the filter (point 3).
To choose a new section filter, click on the name of the desired section (point 4).
No Submission Alerts
The alert for assignments without submissions has been enhanced to be more prominent and visually clear.
Previously, this would be indicated with the assignment showing as blank in the DocViewer. It is now clearly indicated that there is no submission.
You can see in the below (point 1), this is now clearly displayed in the DocViewer.
Grade Status Selector
Changing the status of a submission is now easier with a new dropdown box. However, it’s generally not recommended to use this feature, as our assignment statuses are tracked via the NESS system.
Previously, this status was managed by a pencil icon located in the top corner of the marking pane in SpeedGrader.
To change a submission status, click on the dropdown box and selected the appropriate status.
This is demonstrated in point 1 below:
Rubrics
Rubrics are now consistently displayed in the new traditional (grid) view. This view is very similar to the rubrics you’re used to marking with, though there are some minor changes.
The Instructor score is now displayed at the top of the rubric, making it easier to see while marking an assignment (point 1).
Providing feedback for rubric criteria is now easier with the feedback entry box clearly displayed (point 2). Previously, you had to access this feature via a button. Having the feedback option readily available encourages more frequent addition of comments to rubric criteria.
Media Attachments
Uploading and managing media attachments in submission comments is now more intuitive, thanks to an improved dialogue and a more straightforward deletion process.
Deleting an attachment has been made more intuitive with the introduction of a rubbish bin icon, replacing the previous red ‘x’ button (point 1). This change not only modernises the interface but also makes the deletion process clearer and more user-friendly. The rubbish bin icon is universally recognised, ensuring that users can easily identify and use this function without confusion.
On November 6th we came together as a community to celebrate the achievement of 198 colleagues across our university who gained Advance, HE Fellowship recognition (D1-D4) during the 2023/24 academic year. This milestone reflects a significant increase from 161 colleagues in 2022/23 and demonstrates the growing engagement and commitment of our staff to advancing teaching excellence.
At the heart of this achievement is a collective dedication to providing an outstanding educational experience for our students. Reflecting on and refining practice to align with relevant pedagogies underscores the values we uphold as an institution. As Sarah Graham, HaSS Dean of Education, remarked:
“It’s really positive to see this growth in recognition. As a community, it’s important that we keep spreading the word and raising the profile to support more colleagues in achieving recognition.”
The flexibility and inclusivity of the Professional Standards Framework (PSF) enables colleagues across diverse roles – academics, technicians, professional services and central services staff to achieve recognition. Notably, we celebrated the success of education managers, technicians, and colleagues from the Library, Careers, and LTDS. Their contributions enrich the fabric of our learning and teaching culture, further aligning us with the wider sector’s standards.
The event also highlighted the pivotal role of mentorship. Dr. Paul Hubbard, Chair of the Board of Studies, expressed gratitude to PSF mentors, including newly recognised colleagues stepping forward to support others. This spirit of mentorship strengthens our community, as mentors not only guide peers but also exemplify continuous professional development.
Special congratulations went to Ben Steel, this year’s recipient of the Dr. Phil Ansell Award for Mentoring, which honours exceptional support for colleagues pursuing Fellowship recognition.
Being recognised under one of the four categories of Fellowship is not the final destination and can be a springboard for ongoing contributions to our learning and teaching community. Opportunities include;
Participating in the 2024/25 University Learning and Teaching Conference on April 3rd, 2025.
Joining networks like Newcastle Educators or discipline-specific groups.
Sharing innovations by submitting case studies to the Case Studies of Effective Practice database.
If you would like any information about how to apply for a Advance HE Fellowship recognition, or anything discussed in this blog please do get in touch with the Academic Practice Team apt.lts@newcastle.ac.uk.
Proud moment for D1 Associate Fellow – Kolapo Odeniyi.
NU Med Education Day and Celebrating Success Event – 15th October 2024
During October 2024, Pro Vice Chancellor of Education, Professor Ruth Valentine, visited NU Med hosting an Education Day and a ‘Celebrating Success’ event for colleagues who have recently completed successful PSF applications. During the education day, Professor Valentine focused on the new University Education Strategy (Education for Life 2030+), and looked at how branch campuses can contribute to achieving its key objectives – Education for Life and other important education priorities moving forward.
The joint Education Day also provided an opportunity to strengthen connections between NUMed and NUIS colleagues, both for academic and PS teams.
Pic A NU Med colleagues attending the Education Day
The NU Med Garden Cafe hosted the celebration as the institution honored the achievements of staff members who excelled in their professional growth and development under the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). The event also recognised the invaluable contributions of mentors and those who completed the Advance HE External Examiner course. The event kicked off with an address by Professor Ruth Valentine, setting the tone for the celebrations. The event emphasised the importance of mentorship and professional development in fostering a thriving academic environment.
Recognition was given across several categories:
D3 Senior Fellows: A testament to their leadership and contribution to teaching and learning excellence.
D2 Fellows and D1 Associate Fellows: Acknowledged for their commitment to upholding and advancing professional teaching standards.
Advance HE External Examiner Course Graduates: Celebrating individuals who enhanced their expertise in quality assurance practices in higher education.
The event concluded with a lunch and networking session, providing a wonderful opportunity for the NUMed community to connect, reflect, and share best practices.
Over the last couple of months, Inspera have been making some updates to their Grade workspace. Graders may have noticed some name changes in the appearance or naming in the Grade area. Ahead of our Semester 1 assessment period, the Digital Exams Team wanted to share some information about the changes you will see.
To complete marking within Inspera, graders will use the different workspaces in the Grader workflow:
If a student accidentally deletes text in an essay question, there is an option to restore it using Snapshots. This Snapshot functionality is available for students during their live Inspera exams.
Snapshot is accessed via the test editor/option panel available to students on any essay question:
The icon to retrieve Snapshots which are available is a backwards arrow around a clock face: .
Once selected, students can retrieve previous versions of their work. A new snapshot is taken every 15 minutes and is saved in the browser memory. Snapshot use is available after 15 minutes of beginning work on an essay question. Navigating away from the question, and then returning to it would not disrupt the Snapshot. Snapshots are activated per question, so using this option could not revert any other question answers to an earlier instance.
Important note: As browser-based memory is used for this feature, exiting the Inspera exam or refreshing the browser will disable Snapshots. (Note: refresh is only available in non-locked down exams).
How does it work for students?
When students click the Snapshot button, a message like the one below will appear. The student will be advised to select a snapshot and then click continue. This will enable them to retrieve prior instances of their work. Students can click the icon and select a different snapshot if their first selection is not what they were searching for.
Next steps
For academic year 2024-25, Instructions will be available to exam invigilators, these can be shared with students if needed in their exam.
Instructions are also available for students to familiarise themselves with ahead of their exams via the ‘Instructions in Inspera’ tab on the Student Inspera ASK website
Over the summer there have been a series of updates to the SpeedGrader tool within Canvas to improve the ability to provide feedback.
In this blog post, we will highlight some of the key changes to the SpeedGrader and how you can utilise these changes in your courses.
Submission Comment Drafts
In SpeedGrader, after adding a submission comment, if this has not been saved, a Draft pill displays indicating that this comment has not been saved and a warning message is presented alerting the teacher that the comment has not been saved.
Previously there was no clear indication that a comment had been submitted and this would lead to students not seeing comments/feedback in their assignments.
With this update, it is clear for a teacher to see the status of a submission comment.
You can see in the example below that the submission comment has not been submitted and we have a draft pill alongside our comment:
When we press submit on this comment, the draft pill disappears which means the comment is visible to the student:
Rich Content Editor (RCE) In Submission Comments
In SpeedGrader, some Rich Content Editor (RCE) features are available when using submission comments. The available RCE features include:
Heading
Bold
Italic
Underline
Font colour
Insert Hyperlink
Bullets
This allows teachers to style feedback and provide further resources via linking. In the example below, you can see a link is provided to further resources to assist the student:
This functionality is available at the top of the submission comments box as demonstrated below:
Equation Editor in Submission Comments
In SpeedGrader, an Equation Editor function has been added to the Rich Content Editor. This feature enables instructors to incorporate math equations into their submission comments.
In the below example, you can see the new equation editor function within the submission comments in SpeedGrader:
Randomise Students in Submission List
In SpeedGrader Settings, instructors now have the option to randomise the order of students within each submission status. This update helps mitigate grading fatigue and biases by ensuring a random sorting of students. Additionally, it enhances grading efficiency by maintaining this random order within submission statuses.
Below are step by step instructions on how to do this:
In the top left corner of the SpeedGrader, select the cog icon
From the dropdown menu select “Options”
Within SpeedGrader options, select “randomise students within a submission status”
Select the “Save settings” button
Please note that when the randomised students, the preference is saved as the default in the browser for the course. When logging in on another device, instructors must select the sort by options again.
In the last academic year, our cycle came to a close with the support of Resit and Deferral Digital Inspera exams. Overall, there were 103 Resit/Deferral Inspera exams which ran between 8-16 August, with 101 exams being held successfully on campus. The Digital Exams Team were delighted to see an increase in the use of content features for this period, showcasing the wide range of benefits Inspera can provide.
The removal of the minimum threshold for the August assessment period, (in 22-23 Inspera could only be used for Resits if a certain number of students were due to take the digital exam) saw a vast increase in the number of module teams using Inspera. We can confirm the removal of the minimum threshold was a success and all Inspera users can opt for a Resit in 24-25 if their Semester 1 and/or 2 assessment runs as an Inspera Digital Exam.
Inspera Training 24-25
Training for Semester 1 preparation is now available to book via the Newcastle University LMS. Please use the links below to book onto appropriate training as required:
Here are the important deadlines you need for the new academic year:
Deadlines for Semester 1 and 2 assessment periods
Task
Deadline
Deadline to complete the digital exam form for Semester 1
25 October 2024
Deadline to prepare question set in Inspera for Semester 1
15 November 2024
Digital exams: hard deadline to submit backup paper for digital exams to Exam Paper Portal for Semester 1
Within 2 working days of backup paper being sent to module team by LTDS, and no later than 6 December 2024
Deadline to complete the digital exam form for Semester 2
19 February 2025
Deadline to prepare question set in Inspera for Semester 2
8 March 2025
Digital exams: hard deadline to submit backup paper for digital exams to Exam Paper Portal for Semester 2
Within 2 working days of backup paper being sent to module team by LTDS, and no later than 11 April 2025
Deadlines for August assessment period
For Resits/Deferrals from Semester 1
Task
Deadline
Deadline to complete the digital exam form for the resit period exam (which was originally a Semester 1 exam)
17 March 2025
Deadline to prepare question set in Inspera
17 April 2025
Digital exams: hard deadline to submit backup paper for digital exams to Exam Paper Portal for the resit period
Within 2 working days of backup paper being sent to module team by LTDS
For Resits/Deferrals from Semester 2
Task
Deadline
Deadline to complete the digital exam form for the resit period exam (which was originally a Semester 2 exam)
1 July 2025
Deadline to prepare question set in Inspera
8 July 2025
Digital exams: hard deadline to submit backup paper for digital exams to Exam Paper Portal for the resit period
Within 2 working days of backup paper being sent to module team by LTDS
All information regarding deadlines for Inspera Digital Exams is also posted on the colleague facing website along with a wide range of helpful resources on all aspects of Inspera. Go to the Frequently Asked Questions section and deadline information can be found under ‘How should I prepare for an Inspera digital exam?’ and ‘Can I use Inspera for August assessment period exams?’.
Further Support for Students 24-25
ASK webpage
The Digital Exams Team have recently updated the student facing website which includes access to newly created demo exams for students to practice using Inspera.
