Technology-enhanced Learning
Technology Enhanced Learning for Partners
Collaborative partners normally have access to ²Ï²Ñ±«â€™s electronic resources. It is important that partners discuss with their CAL the range of resources they might want to use. We encourage partners to explore these options and think about whether they would be helpful for their students. If additional training will be required, then this must be taken into account when negotiating the contract.
The most commonly used systems are described below:
Virtual Learning Environment - Canvas
QMU's virtual learning environment (VLE) provides a set of educational tools to facilitate learning, communication, collaboration and assessment. You can use the VLE to complement face to face learning, for instance by uploading additional resources such as videos, or by setting formative assessment exercises. The VLE can be very important for supporting students who are based at a distance or studying part-time.
At QMU we utilise Canvas, customised with specific building blocks to help tutors with structuring content that augments the teaching and learning of their programmes. Ordinarily each programme module will have its own area which the Partner’s Module Coordinator manages with their teaching team. Technical support and staff development is provided by the Technology Enhanced Learning team.
Within a module area, there are a number of tools available for tutors:
- Announcements
- Discussion Boards
- Embedding YouTube videos
- File upload
- Learning Resource Centre link
- Online Marking
- Plagiarism Checking Tool for students
- Peer assessment
- Tests
- Web links
Not all partners wish to use Canvas (some may have their own equivalent system). Access to Canvas is negotiated when the Memorandum of Agreement is signed.
For partners who do use Canvas, please note that staff and students will require an active QMU IT account; detailed information about account setup and maintenance can be found earlier in this manual (Access to IT accounts and electronic resources).
If you want individual module sites these can be set up by the Academic Administration Collaborations administration team. The Collaborations team will have details of the standard programme structure and will enrol students automatically on modules once they have matriculated. The VLE is connected to the student record system and will grant access to all students registered on the module. The named module co-ordinator (as recorded on SITS) will also have access.
If there is a problem with access your first port of call is to contact the Collaborations Administration team to check that the individual is correctly registered.
Note that once the sites are set up partners will need to run them and keep them up to date. This means that partners must commit to both training and on-going maintenance.
Resources and guides for using Canvas
Online Marking – Turnitin: GradeMark
To facilitate online marking at QMU, we have integrated Turnitin GradeMark to our VLE. This addition enables students to submit an electronic file for the marking, feedback and moderation to be completed by first the partner and then QMU Academic staff (and external examiners). The whole process is managed within Canvas.
Using GradeMark helps to speed up the moderation process and avoids sending hard copies of assignments from one marker to another. It can also help to make it clearer why marks were awarded and can guide markers to provide more useful and specific feedback to students.
²Ï²Ñ±«â€™s Collaborations Administration team will add submission drop boxes and a plagiarism checker tool to each module area. ²Ï²Ñ±«â€™s Collaborations Administration team requires partners to provide deadline time and dates for planned assessments at the beginning of each academic year
Resources and guides for using GradeMark
Plagiarism Checker – Turnitin: Originality Report
Turnitin is an online service which accepts students’ draft submissions electronically and compares them with over 800 million web pages and a range of electronic resources. It then returns an "Originality Report" highlighting instances of matches with the external sources which may indicate poor referencing. By using Turnitin, markers can very quickly identify text that has been cut and paste from a book or journal, as well as spotting cases where students copy each other’s essays.
Resources and guides for using Turnitin
Technical support and staff development is provided by the learning technologies team.
ePortfolio -
In many courses, especially those designed as continuing professional development, students have to compile portfolios of evidence relating to their practice. The traditional portfolio of a lever arch file stuffed with different documents is cumbersome both to compile and to mark. By using ePortfolio software this process can be made more manageable.
QMU licenses Pebble+ as its go to portfolio software. Students can use this collection to reflect on their learning process and submit these as part of an assessment or use it for personal development, in creating a CV and in preparation for an interview.
Further information on the use of ePortfolio
