Technology-enhanced Learning
Technology Enhanced Learning for Partners
Collaborative partners normally have access to QMU’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 - The Hub
The Hub provides a set of educational tools to facilitate learning, communication, collaboration and assessment often called a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). You can use the Hub to complement face to face learning, for instance by uploading additional resources such as videos, or by setting formative assessment exercises. The Hub can be very important for supporting students who are based at a distance or studying part-time.
At QMU we utilise Blackboard Learn 9.1, 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 Hub 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 Hub 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
How to get the Hub set up for your programme:
Staff and students 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 Hub 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. The decision about whether to use the Hub depends on the amount of time that the partner can commit to both training and on-going maintenance.
Resources and guides for using the Hub
Online Marking – Turnitin: GradeMark
To facilitate online marking at QMU, we have integrated Turnitin GradeMark as part of our Hub experience. 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 the Hub.
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.
QMU’s Collaborations Administration team will add submission drop boxes and a plagiarism checker tool to each of the Hub module areas. QMU’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 - Pebblepad
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
