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Programme of talks released for international EAMS 2018 Conference 

The programme for the E-Assessment in Mathematical Sciences (EAMS) conference has been released, with speakers from across the globe presenting the latest developments in the field of maths e-assessment and offering a unique opportunity to get hands-on with software, whether you are a user, a developer, or just a bit interested!

The conference takes place over 3 days here at Newcastle University, between 28th and 30th August, and is being hosted by the e-learning unit in the School of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics.

Mohamad Jebara, CEO of the award-winning Australian platform MathSpace, will open the conference, focussing on the innovative ways that MathSpace adapts to learners. Other highlights of day one include longer talks by senior figures from Vretta and DigitalEd, both with origins in Canada, and updates from EAMS 2016 keynote speakers, our own Christian Lawson-Perfect and Chris Sangwin, the lead developers of Numbas and STACK, respectively.

Opening proceedings on day two, Paul Milner, development manager at National Numeracy, will discuss the technology behind the charity’s online platform, which aims to improve the everyday maths of the UK’s adult population. The day will continue with a series of lightning talks covering topics including blended learning, online exams, and applications to subjects including statistics, engineering, physics and chemistry.

Day three will follow a new format, with the opportunity to take part in a ‘sprint’ to collaborate on new developments, to document best practice or exchange ideas. The format and content will be responsive to the topics and discussions arising from the proceedings in the first two days.

The conference takes place in the Boiler House, which will also host the conference dinner on the Wednesday night. Registration is free for Newcastle University staff and you are welcome to drop in and out of the conference sessions, however please do register on the EAMS website.

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NUTELA weeding and seeding

The last NUTELA 3Ps (pizza, pop and practice) of this academic year took place last week . It’s been a productive year for the group and we are looking forward to arranging another exciting programme of sessions for next year.

Our excellent presenters showed everyone the new online reading lists system, gave tips about cleaning up Blackboard modules, as well as well as how to explore new ways of adding value with collaboration tools, groups and tests. There was time for attendees to ask lots of questions and give some of the technologies a go.

Special thanks to Paula Fitzpatrick and Stephen Harding from Digital Library Services and Rebecca Gill and Carol Summerside from LTDS for delivering such informative sessions.

We’ve included some resources  below but please feel free to get in touch with LTDS@ncl.ac.uk with any questions.

Online Reading Lists

Quick instructions for creating your own reading lists.

Blackboard Weeding and Seeding resources

Session presentation: Covering student feedback, Blackboard Baseline,  enhancement and mobile accessibility

Blackboard module checklist: A handy resource to help you consider whether your module meets the recommendations set out in the Blackboard Baseline.

Interested in NUTELA

We are always looking to engage with more members of staff and we have a mailing list which we use to keep people up to date with events and opportunities. Anyone who would like to sign up to the mailing list can email  nutelaops@newcastle.ac.uk

Also if there are any technologies that you would like to try or find out more about let us know. We can try to include these in our Pizza, Pop and Practice Programme next year.

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Teesside University Learning and Teaching Workshop: Minecraft as a teaching tool

If you’re interested in the use of games in learning and teaching sign up to this workshop exploring the use of Minecraft, particularly how it can be used in Biosciences.

The programme includes a keynote from Joel Mills,  Minecraft Mentor & Deputy Director of Learning & Teaching Enhancement, Hull University,  as well as lots of opportunities to use the software and trial the virtual field trip exercise.

Thursday 12th July 2018
10am-4pm
Teesside University

To find out more and book your place please visit http://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/whats_on/events_details.cfm?event_id=10172 

 

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Vice Chancellor’s Education Excellence Award Winners

Dr Simon Tate, Dr Alison Graham, School of Biomedical Sciences Professional Services Team and Dr Patrick Rosenkranz

The winners of 2018 Vice Chancellor’s Education Excellence Awards have now been announced after careful consideration of a number of excellent submissions.

Congratulations to Dr Alison Graham, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Dr Patrick Rosenkranz, School of Psychology and  Dr Simon Tate, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology for their outstanding achievements which resulted in them winning an  individual award.

A valued addition for 2018 was the introduction of the team award. Congratulations to the School of Biomedical Sciences Professional Services Team who won this all new award for their exceptional achievements when dealing with new challenges.

The winners have demonstrated a marked impact on the experience of students here at Newcastle University, with the panel commending the winners on a wide range of projects in which they have played an instrumental role. Professor Suzanne Cholerton, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Education highlighted the excellent achievements of all of the winners:

“The Vice-Chancellor’s Education Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding contributions to our students’ educational experience. The winners of the awards have demonstrated a sustained record of innovation and creativity in supporting students’ learning and shown exceptional dedication and commitment to support their students. Congratulations to the award winners on this well-deserved recognition.”

Continue reading “Vice Chancellor’s Education Excellence Award Winners”

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Student views on feedback forms

Group of students

To find out more a student intern, working with staff in LTDS,  evaluated existing feedback forms and gathered opinions from students to identify what works and what could be improved. The project considered a total of 66 forms from 19 different schools and included focus groups and interviews with individual students.

What did they find?

These are a few key findings and you can find full details in the project report.

Form Design

Have clear, separate sections showing:

  • Strengths and areas for improvement
  • Clear advice for future work

Only use tick boxes for objective areas of the marking criteria, such as grammar. When tick boxes were used for subjective areas, such as argument, students found this unhelpful.

Look at your feedback forms and consider whether these should be redesigned. Consult with the students in your school as part of the process.

Utilising the form

Type feedback, wherever possible.

Introduce structured opportunities to help students understand:

  • expectations of the marking criteria
  • the ways in which this is reflected in the feedback sheet

Discuss how you use marking sheets with your colleagues. Try to develop a consistent approach to:

  • the volume of feedback
  • the use of notes in margins

For more information get in touch with LTDS@ncl.ac.uk

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Celebrating even more success

Lisa Fishburn

Lisa Fishburn, Learning Enhancement and Technology Adviser, was also invited to the  Celebrating Success event as a result of her fantastic work with the School of Dental Sciences transforming 15 years of unmanageable Blackboard content into the accessible, consistent structure that is in place today.

The self named ‘crack task force’ of both dental academics, Lisa and colleagues in LTDS worked together to ensure that the changes had a hugely positive impact on both the student and staff experience.

Christopher O’Connor, Clinical Fellow in the School of Dental Sciences was the lead academic member of staff for this project and you can read about his experience in this blog post

For more information or if you have any questions about Blackboard get in touch with LTDS@ncl.ac.uk 

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UKAT Annual Conference 2018 – Workshop: Staff and Student perspectives of Personal Tutoring

Workshop: Staff and Student perspectives of Personal Tutoring – Gemma Taylor – University of Derby

MA dissertation research on personal tutoring with a small case study conducted between Jan and March 18 on a UG Programme. Consider student perspective on if the tutorial scheme was fit for purpose and if this enhances the student experience, and for staff to identify any training of changes. Improvement for EDI, widening participation, retention and support. Tutors are frontline for pastoral support; create sense of belonging with relationship with tutor; influence on student engagement; effect on satisfaction, wellbeing and retention rates; development of self-motivation. Continue reading “UKAT Annual Conference 2018 – Workshop: Staff and Student perspectives of Personal Tutoring”

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Celebrating 10 years of ReCap

Members of the ReCap Team at the Celebrating Success event

The ReCap team were invited to  last week’s Celebrating Success Event in recognition of their fantastic work, in collaboration with staff across the University, over the past 10 years.

Newcastle University has now been involved in lecture and event capture since 2007/08 which was a number of years before the majority of UK HEIs even began to consider the potential benefits of such a service.  From the outset the team involved envisioned a pervasive institutional service that would enhance student experience by providing supportive learning resources for all students and especially those with disability, international students and those whose circumstances make attendance at all lectures problematic. Continue reading “Celebrating 10 years of ReCap”

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The Future of Work: Stimulus Event

Students and staff in the Urban Sciences Building

Be bold, be brave and think about the new possibilities, words from Professor Julie Sanders set the tone for The Future of Work : Stimulus Event held on the 13th June. In an area that often results in fear and uncertainty, with much of the media focussing on loss of jobs as a result of AI developing at an ever increasing speed, it was refreshing to see this topic being tackled from such a positive perspective.

This approach was continued by Professor Suzanne Cholerton who outlined how the new Education Strategy embraced the challenges ahead and aimed to give our students an education for life in a world that we don’t yet know. A focus was placed on the strategy theme,  ‘developing students as the whole person by supporting and preparing them to shape the societies in which they will live and the professions they choose to enter’ and this focus was evident from other speakers throughout the day. An emphasis was placed on developing attributes, and thinking about how our graduates can engage creatively and critically with the digital environment. Continue reading “The Future of Work: Stimulus Event”

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Module Evaluation Results

How and when are results of Module Evaluations received by Academic Staff?

Each module should be evaluated every time it is delivered using the University’s module evaluation system, EvaSys. The results are usually sent to Academic staff via email in the form of PDF attachments, and this is done in one of two ways;

  1.  The survey is set up by local Professional Services staff to automatically send the PDF results upon closure of the survey. This option can be selected during the creation of the survey.
  2.  Local Professional Services staff manually send the results in PDF format from within the EvaSys system at an agreed time. This option can be used if the automatic dispatch is not selected during survey setup.

In both instances the timing of the surveys and the receipt of results should be agreed within the academic unit, paying particular attention to survey close times to allow for discussion of results with senior colleagues if required.

More information regarding Module and Stage Evaluations is available on our webpages

The Policy on Surveying and Responding to Student Opinion details who is entitled to see results of Module Evaluations.