Category: Other

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Reading group in LTDS

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

Over the past few groups we have:

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!

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New on Inspera: Grader navigation

You can now choose to mark per student or per question:

Within new Grade navigation, Graders can choose to mark submissions per student submission or per submitted question:

Important Note: For Graders who’ve been using Inspera prior to academic year 2026-7, please note that the marking per student (called ‘Marking by Candidate’ within Inspera) gives you the most similar Grading experience to that which you’ll be already familiar with. However when moving to a different student the system will automatically select their first question. Previously, navigating between student would not change the selected question.

Marking per student: ‘Mark by candidate’ enables graders to move between students using the search/drop-down feature (showing a list of all students) or by using the ‘next’ blue arrow button on the right, which will move to the next student:

Mark by candidate option

Please note: if you are moving between students, the question currently viewed will automatically show for the next student i.e. if viewing Student X Question 1, and you press the blue ‘next’ button you’ll be viewing Student Y Question 1. Important Note: if the next student has not answered the current question, the marking flow will divert to the next available question. This can occur for exams using Candidate Selected Questions.

To navigate using questions submitted by your selected student, use the search/drop-down (showing a list of all questions) or by using the next arrow button on the right, which will move to the next question:

all questions marking option

Marking per question: When marking by question, the Grader will first select the question they want to mark and then navigate through the candidates who submitted that question. Turn this on within the marking drop down:

The question information will display on the left, before the candidate selection. All the questions that were submitted (by at least one student) are listed and can be navigated using the drop down arrows:

When marking by question, the Grader will select the question they want to mark and then navigate through the students who submitted that question. 

If the Grader selects a question and only certain students submitted that question, then only those students will be listed within ‘all candidates’ to the right hand side. When clicking on next/previous candidate, the Grader will move to the next student who submitted the pre-selected question.

Queries are welcomed to Inspera@ncl.ac.uk

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New Guidance for Running Formative and Mock Digital Exams in Inspera

For colleagues who are considering using Inspera Assessment to deliver formative or mock digital exams, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new support resource: Using Inspera for Formative or Mock Digital Exams.

This new website has been created to help colleagues confidently plan, set up, and deliver their own formative or mock assessments using Inspera.

Formative and mock exams can play an important role in supporting student success. They provide students with an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the digital exam environment, practise assessment formats, and build confidence ahead of summative assessments. They can also help identify and resolve any technical or procedural issues before a high-stakes exam takes place.

What you’ll find on the website

The guide brings together practical information and advice, including:

  • Inspera features that support formative and mock exams
  • The benefits of running formative and mock assessments
  • Step-by-step guidance on setting up formative or mock exams in Inspera
  • Key considerations and responsibilities when hosting your own Inspera assessment
  • Frequently Asked Questions

Whether you’re planning a simple practice test or an opportunity for students to experience the digital exam environment before a summative exam, the website provides the information and guidance you need to get started.

We encourage colleagues who are interested in using Inspera for formative or mock assessments to explore the new resource and consider how these activities can support assessment preparation and enhance the student experience.

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Inspera Customer Story

In this post we will share a recent customer story that Inspera created alongside our Inspera Digital Exam Co-Leads, Maddie and Kimberly.

Customer Story

At the 2026 International e-Assessment Awards in London, Newcastle University was the winner of the Best University Digital Assessment Programme.

The recognition marked a major milestone in a journey that began in the 2021/22 academic year. What started as a rapid response to pandemic-era take-home testing has evolved into a fully invigilated, campus-wide digital exam operation that rivals traditional paper-based testing.

You can read the full customer story on the Inspera website.

Inspera and Newcastle University Logos
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Migrating Canvas Classic quiz to Canvas New quiz

Canvas has informed us that they will no longer develop or improve Classic Quizzes and recommend using New Quizzes instead. Although there is currently no confirmed date for the removal of Classic Quizzes, we also recommend making the transition to New Quizzes where possible, particularly for any new quizzes you create.

You can identify whether a quiz is Classic or New by looking at the rocket icon next to the quiz name:

· A solid rocket icon indicates a New Quiz.

· An outlined rocket icon indicates a Classic Quiz.

· A greyed-out icon indicates that the quiz is not published.

A screenshot of the three icons for New Quiz, Classic Quiz and Unpublished Quiz

To help you understand the differences between Classic and New Quizzes, please see the feature comparison table.

If, after reviewing the features, you feel your Classic Quiz is suitable for moving to New Quizzes, Canvas provides a straightforward migration option. Please see the guidance on how to migrate a Canvas quiz to New Quizzes.

If you have reviewed the New Quizzes features and do not feel that your quiz can currently be migrated, please get in touch via LTDS@newcastle.ac.uk to arrange a Teams call to discuss your requirements and the options available.

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Canvas Assignments: SpeedGrader improvements

Improvements have been released to Canvas assignments that use SpeedGrader and Rubrics. Visually it will look slightly different, but all previous functionalities will remain, with some additional features available.

Guidance for how to use these can be found on Canvas Assignment page of the Learning and Teaching website

Details of the improved functionalities are as follows:

SpeedGrader

The Document Viewer will load much faster, which is particularly beneficial to modules with large cohorts of students, where there is a long list of assignment submissions.

When navigating through the submissions via the drop-down menu, an eye icon will appear to indicate which submission you are currently looking at in the Doc Viewer.

The assignment submission status now appears in SpeedGrader, allowing you to flag a submission as Excused, Late, Extended etc.

When using Sections to mark, the process of selection the section has been improved. It is less fiddley to click on the right section, as the section menu remains visible until you click apply. It is also possible to look at multiple sections at the same time.

Detailed information can be found on How do I use SpeedGrader with Performance and Usability Upgrades.

Enhanced Rubrics

Canvas Rubrics have a few improvements that will help with the usability when creating rubrics and marking submissions.

It is now possible to alter how the rubric is viewed. There is the classic view you will be familiar with, alternatively you can choose to have the rubric displayed horizontally or vertically.

You can now import and export Rubrics, including exporting completed rubrics, that have been used to mark assignments.

Rubrics can be created and stored in draft status, and you can archive old rubrics when they are no longer required.

Further information can be found on the Canvas Enhanced Rubrics guidance.

Student Assignment Enhancements  

There are also improvements to the students view when submitting an assignment. As before, the submission page clearly displays the due date, the link to the Assignment Brief (which is added when the assignment is set up), the number of allowed attempts and the rubric is visible if one has been attached. A new feature is the Progress status bar, which will update when the student has submitted their assignment and then again when feedback has been released. When the student is looking at their Grades and Feedback, if a Rubric has been used, this will be displayed by default, clearly indicating the levels the student has attained against each criterion.

Up to date guidance on these improvements are available on the ASK website and more details can be found on What is Assignment Enhancements?

If you have any queries or need further guidance, please contact ltds@newcastle.ac.uk.  

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Inspera Digital Exams – New Digital Drawing Tool Available

Introduction

Inspera have developed a new digital drawing tool which has increased functionality beyond the existing drawing tool. In terms of what is new, the new tool allows you to enable the drawing tool at a question level, rather than at a test level. Colleagues can choose what questions they wish to enable the drawing tool on for their students to use in their Inspera digital exam.

The new Digital Drawing Tool is now available to use on Inspera as of Friday 27th February 2026.

Within this blog post you can find out how you can enable the new drawing tool on your Inspera exam questions in your question sets and the functionality available within the tool.

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Inspera Digital Exams: Allow Listed Resources Best Practice

What is allow listing?

Within Inspera, the standard exam set up is a secure locked-down exam environment where students are only able to access their Inspera Digital exam. They are unable to access internet search engines, their own notes or other applications.

Web pages and PDF documents can be ‘allow listed‘ so that they can be accessed securely within an Inspera Digital Exam. Allow listing of web pages or documents is completed while creating your Question Set.

The resources (when allow listed) are made available for students in locked down Inspera Digital Exams. A network filter ensures students are not able to navigate away from the page specified. All links, except allow listed resources, are blocked. 

This blog post has been created to share some best practice around allow listing use in order to ensure the best experience for our students.

Continue reading “Inspera Digital Exams: Allow Listed Resources Best Practice”
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Inspera: Sharing Best Practice Event 2025

Introduction

Colleagues in the Inspera Digital Exams Team of the Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) invited colleagues from Inspera Assessment to visit Newcastle University for the third year in a row to host an on campus event with our users.

Fiona Orel and Ishan Kolhatkar visited Newcastle on Wednesday 5th November for this year’s ‘Inspera: Sharing Best Practice’ Event.

Our Inspera users were invited to come along to find out updates about using Inspera at Newcastle and upcoming features on the Inspera roadmap. The event is a great opportunity for colleagues to learn about how they can enhance their use of Inspera and ensure best practice. The Inspera Digital Exams Team arranged for some demonstrations on features and functionality listed in the agenda below.

The agenda included:

  • Welcome and Introduction – An update from the Inspera Digital Exams Team and update from Inspera Assessment around their Roadmap
  • Inspera demonstration – Rubrics Functionality, Manually Marked Multiple Attempts Assessments and Feedback Release Features
  • Questions and Discussion – Colleagues submitted their questions for Inspera to answer.
Continue reading “Inspera: Sharing Best Practice Event 2025”
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Update: ‘Attendance’ is now ‘On campus engagement’ in NULA

We’d like to share an important update about how student engagement data is presented in NULA. The metric previously labelled ‘Attendance’ has now been renamed to ‘On campus engagement’.

This change is now live in the system.

Why we’ve made this change

The ‘Attendance’ metric in NULA shows a student’s engagement across all in-person, timetabled sessions available to them in their active modules — including both monitored and non-monitored activities.

Because this metric reflects more than just formal attendance, we felt that ‘On campus engagement’ better captures the full picture of a student’s participation in scheduled learning opportunities.

What this means for staff and students

Students will notice only a label change — from ‘Attendance’ to ‘On campus engagement’. There are no changes to the underlying data or calculations.

We’ve updated this terminology consistently across:

We’ve also expanded our messaging to students to make it clear that the on campus engagement metric is not a formal attendance record and will not impact academic records.

What this looks like

In the student interface:

In the staff interface:

Supporting student understanding

We will be communicating this update through our student channels, but if students come to you with questions, please feel free to use or adapt the message below:

Your ‘on campus engagement’ in NULA shows the opportunities available to you to take part in all timetabled events in your active modules. This gives you a clearer picture of your overall engagement and can help you notice any gaps so you can make informed choices about how you learn.

Please note that ‘on campus engagement’ data in NULA is not your formal attendance record and will not impact your academic record.

The system is designed to give you real-time insights that support your learning and any conversations with your personal tutor or support teams. It is not used in a punitive way.

If something does not look as expected, it may be due to data processing delays or how activities have been recorded.

For more information, please visit the NULA pages on the Academic Skills Kit website.