Category: Digital Technologies

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Canvas training now available: Book a session now

Canvas logo

You can now book onto one hour webinars which will cover the core functionality and exciting new features of Canvas, providing colleagues with the skills and knowledge to set up their Canvas courses ready for the 2020/21 academic year. All sessions are available to book on Elements.

You can find details of sessions below and further information and resources are available at services.ncl.ac.uk/digitallearning/canvas/colleagues/ (including answers to Canvas FAQs) and on NUConnect. 

Get Started 

Canvas Fundamentals

A one hour introduction suitable for all staff.

Begin your Canvas journey with this workshop which will explain how to navigate the key areas of Canvas and how to utilise Canvas to provide engaging learning materials and communicate with students.

Sign up to Canvas Fundamentals.

Canvas PS session 

For Professional Service colleagues who will be responsible for supporting Canvas in their academic unit.

Sign up to the Canvas PS session.

Find out more with these webinars

Assignments

You will learn about:

  • How students interact with Canvas when submitting assignments.
  • The Canvas Assignment tool and Turnitin Assignments and the differences between them.
  • How to decide what the most appropriate option will be for the assignment(s) you are setting up.

Sign up to Canvas Assignments.

Quizzes

 You will learn:

  • How students interact with Canvas when completing quizzes.
  • How to use the powerful quizzes functionality within Canvas. You will see the wide range of question types available and the extensive feedback made possible by the Canvas Rich Content Editor.

Sign up to Canvas Quizzes.

More dates to come

We know that the demands on colleagues mean that many may not be able to engage with the training opportunities at this time. The team will be offering a comprehensive programme of webinars throughout the summer, so we hope that if you wish to participate in a webinar you will be able to do so at a time that fits with all your other commitments.  

You can also find out more about the range of self help resources available on the Canvas website.

For any queries get in touch at Canvas@ncl.ac.uk

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Latest Update on Transition to canvas

As many of you know, the University will be moving to Canvas on the 1 August 2020 and all use of Blackboard will end on the 31st July.

We know colleagues across the University are working incredibly hard at the moment to implement the remote delivery and assessment of the University’s programmes. We have therefore postponed the start of the workshops for colleagues in academic units from this week, until after the Easter break.

The way we are delivering this support is also changing. The face-to-face workshops we had intended to deliver will not now take place. These will be replaced by a programme of shorter webinars, supported by a range of online resources. We have arranged these webinars so that in total, there will be the same number of spaces available on webinars as we had planned to deliver in face-to-face workshops. As with the face-to-face workshops, there is no requirement to attend these webinars if your preference is to get familiar with Canvas via the other online resources we are providing.

We know that the demands on colleagues means that many will not be able to engage with the training opportunities at this time. We will be offering a comprehensive programme of webinars throughout the summer, so that if you wish to participate in a webinar you will be able to do so at a time that fits with all your other commitments.

If you are unable to attend a webinar, you also have access to the Canvas Online Orientation Course available on the dashboard when you log in to Canvas. This has been designed by University colleagues to support you in using the key features and tools in Canvas and there are a number of self-check quizzes for you to check your understanding as you work through each section.

If you have any queries please contact the Canvas implementation team.

 

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Support for online marking

Books and a computer screen

There are an extensive range of new resources available on the Digital Learning Website to support you with setting up assignments and marking online.

These include screencasts and TEL Guides that you can work through in your own time, as well as daily webinars and drop ins, if you would prefer some real time support.

A number of resources cover how to get started with Turnitin and how to get the most out of the marking tools in Turnitin Feedback Studio. There’s a summary of what’s available below.

The website also includes support for other tools including Blackboard Tests, Numbas and how to use Recap assignment folders for presentations.

Turntin

Getting started with marking online

For colleagues who want to find out:

  • How to access the Turnitin assignment
  • How to use the main marking tools including bubble comments, inline comments, feedback summary and audio feedback.

Support available

Making use of the additional tools in Turnitin

As well as the tools outlined above you might also be interested in additional marking tools including:

Quick Marks

Comment libraries that can help speed up your marking.

Support available

Rubrics

Rubrics can help the marker provide consistency in marking, and will help students clearly understand what is required to improve on future assignments.

Have a question about marking online?

Come along to an online drop in session, happening everyday, to speak to a member of the team. We can help with questions about the application of any of the tools and approaches to support remote delivery of teaching and assessment.

You can also send your questions to LTDS@ncl.ac.uk or to the IT Service Desk.

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Access Canvas and book on to the first phase of Canvas training now

Canvas logo

All Learning and Teaching colleagues can now log in to Canvas, our new Virtual Learning Environment, which will be replacing Blackboard from 1st August 2020. This is an exciting milestone as we transition to Canvas and with access to a personal sandbox (practice) course and an online Canvas Orientation course, colleagues have an early opportunity to familiarise themselves with the platform.  

How do you get access? 

Go to https://canvas.ncl.ac.uk and log in with your nid@newcastle.ac.uk account. Once you have access you will see your personal sandbox (practice) course and the Canvas Orientation course on your Canvas dashboard. Please do not use Internet Explorer as this browser is not supported by Canvas. 

What training and support is available? 

To support you with the transition from Blackboard to Canvas and to help you to get the most out of Canvas, a comprehensive suite of training has been developed including Canvas Fundamentals, Professional Service sessions, Assignments and Quizzes and more. 

Sessions taking place throughout April-June are now available to book. There will be further sessions released in March to run from July 2020 onwards.  

If you are based at our London, Malaysia or Singapore campuses and are unable to attend face to face training sessions in Newcastle, we are working with colleagues at each campus to organise suitable sessions, which will be communicated to you shortly.  

Further information regarding PGR access to training will also be communicated soon. 

In addition to training, the following support is available: 

  • Access to the 24/7 help from Canvas. This is a fantastic resource and is available to all staff and students. You can contact Canvas via live chat, from within the platform, phone or email for all of your ‘How do I’ questions. 
  • The online Canvas Orientation course accessed from the Canvas dashboard. This has been designed to support you in using the key features and tools in Canvas and there are a number of self-check quizzes for you to check your understanding as you work through each section.  
  • A comprehensive library of Canvas step-by-step guides and video tutorials. These can all be accessed via the digital learning website or the Canvas Community or from the Help Menu within Canvas. 
  • The digital learning website. This is a key source of information with answers to FAQs, upcoming events and project timelines. 

If you have any queries about any of this information or would like to speak with a member of the project team, please contact canvas@ncl.ac.uk. 

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New Digital Learning Website

Student working on laptop

We are excited to announce the launch of a new Digital Learning website go.ncl.ac.uk/digitallearning

This new site brings together the digital learning activities taking place across the University, providing you with information, step by step guides and ideas to help you to get the most out of digital technologies for learning, teaching and assessment.  

Visit the site to find out about: 

Canvas– the University’s exciting new Virtual Learning Environment replacing Blackboard from 1st August 2020. Staff and students can find project updates, information about the support available, answers to FAQs and upcoming events. 

TEL Services, lots of information about our centrally supported technologies and systems, digital exams and access to TEL guides providing you with step by step instructions. 

Blended Learning, if you want to explore online educational materials and collaborative learning opportunities with traditional face-to-face delivery, visit these pages for inspiration and support. 

We will be continuing to update the site with resources so please let us know if there is anything else you would like to see that can support you in your role. Get in touch at LTDS@ncl.ac.uk. 

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Canvas Roadshow Events – 20th-22nd January 2020

Canvas logo

Have you heard Canvas is coming to Newcastle?

Canvas is the University’s new Virtual Learning Environment replacing Blackboard from August 2020. This Roadshow event will showcase this new platform and the benefits it offers to students and colleagues.

This is your opportunity to meet Canvas colleagues who will be on-site for this event, see live demonstrations of the fantastic features Canvas provides and get involved in discussions with the Canvas and Newcastle University Project team.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions during the sessions, but if you wish you can also pre-submit any questions you would like the teams to answer by emailing canvas@ncl.ac.uk.

Some of the sessions are tailored to specific audiences so please sign up to the most appropriate session for you.  Please register now to attend.

The lntroduction to Canvas sessions will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. You can access the livestreaming links below:

Introduction to Canvas, 20th January 2020 10:00-11:00
Introduction to Canvas, 21st January 2020 9.30-10:30  
Introduction to Canvas, 21st January 2020 14:00-15:00
Introduction to Canvas, 22nd January 2020 10:00-11:00

We really look forward to seeing you at one of these events.​

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Canvas december update

Canvas logo

The project team have been busy over the last couple of weeks and early adopters of Canvas have now been confirmed. The team have started delivering training to make sure that early adopters get the most out of this new University Virtual Learning Environment which will launch across the whole University for the 2020/21 academic year.

We are also pleased to announce that the Canvas team will be here on the 20-22 January delivering a number of roadshows giving  you the chance to see the new opportunities that Canvas brings and ask any questions that you might have. We are looking forward to sharing more details about this in the next couple of weeks. To find out more about the transition to Canvas please visit the Digital Learning Website If you have any questions or would like to invite the project team to speak to colleagues in your school/service, please email canvas@ncl.ac.uk

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Canvas update

Canvas logo

Since we announced that Canvas will be replacing Blackboard as the University’s Virtual Learning Environment from the 2020-21 academic year, the project team have been busy attending a range of Faculty and School meetings to update colleagues on the plan for the coming months. These will continue throughout November and December to ensure we communicate with as many people as possible.

This week, the Canvas team will be on site to finalise the project plan and start work on the implementation of the system and data migration. This will be followed up next week with another onsite visit during which colleagues in LTDS, NUIT and the FMS TEL team who will be designing and delivering the training for staff and students will receive three days of intensive training from the Canvas training team.

To find out more about the transition to Canvas please visit the Canvas project site. If you have any questions or would like to invite the project team to speak to colleagues in your school/service, then please email canvas@ncl.ac.uk

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Recent updates to ePortfolio

To improve functionality, and in line with staff and student requests, there have been some recent updates to the ePortfolio system.

Graduate Framework

The new Graduate Framework was embedded in ePortfolio for the start of this academic year, and is now the default skill set for taught students. Students can link blog posts (reflections/evidence) to attributes of the Framework. Students can download their information as a PDF, including a summary of number of posts by graduate attribute. The old Graduate Skills Framework is still available for those who have used it previously.

Supervision Groups

Supervision Groups are used to support projects, placements and other activities. Supervisors can communicate with groups of students, whilst students share reflections and updates with just the supervisors in a safe environment for non-collaborative work.

The groups now support multiple supervisors following requests for this. In addition, the interfaces for Supervision Groups and sharing portfolio content have been simplified and made more efficient.

Placement Support

The Placements sub-system for ePortfolio supports access by external supervisors as well as students and staff. It includes rubric-based assessment, custom forms, automated form scheduling, and 3-way file sharing. This went live in 2018/19 for PGCE programmes and additional programmes are using it in 2019/20.

There have been numerous enhancements based on requests from different placement schemes, including additional options for rubric-based assessment, CSV downloads of form data, admin notes, and quick links to create record meetings.

Other Changes

There have been various other enhancements/bug fixes in ePortfolio, including:

Meeting records – now includes a duration (requested for Admin recording of meetings and avoiding overlapping events).

Accessibility – you may notice some changes, including darker colours for buttons in order to meet accessibility colour contrast requirements.

Various changes – to support switching to a new institutional data feed, which is more efficient and sustainable.

If you would like to know more about any of these changes, or would like to know more about utilising new functionality, please contact Sam Flowers in LTDS.  

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WebPA Replacement: Buddycheck Pilot

There is a need to replace WebPA as the University’s VLE integrated tool for peer evaluation of group work contribution. WebPA is open source and this leaves the University vulnerable to system failure with a lack of technical support. There have been a number of bugs and stability issues impacting on the usability and reliability of WebPA that have caused disruption for staff and students.

The viability of a number of options has been considered in order identify a product that has high usability i.e. has a simple workflow for setting up and managing an evaluation, and that offers as a minimum the same functionality that is available in WebPA. Buddycheck has been identified as an option that meets these essential requirements and offers VLE integration. Buddycheck has a simple workflow for setting up evaluations and allows customisation of questions, rubrics, terminology and default settings.

Buddycheck is being piloted during Semester One 2019/20. A number of Semester One modules have signed up to take part but there may be capacity to support more. If you are interested in taking part in this pilot please contact LTDS@ncl.ac.uk with details of the group assessment.

WebPA will remain available in Blackboard until the end of 2019/20 and users will be supported by LTDS, however the intention is that it will not be available once the University moves to Canvas at the beginning of 2020/21.