Wednesday 07 February
New Course Template
The standard Learn.UQ course template has a new layout with embedded help prompts. The video below provides a walkthrough of the features in the new template. (11:42mins)
New Lecture Recording Features
The UQ Lecture Recording system, ECHO360, was upgraded to a new cloud-based solution in November 2017. For more information, view the Lecture Recording Enhancement 2017 project page. New features include:
- an instructor dashboard providing detailed stats regarding student activity and engagement with the material;
- a content management system to facilitate sharing of content between teaching staff, including tag and search functionality;
- improved personal contextual notes for students within the presentation;
- improved student bookmarking of content;
- improvements to the current peer to peer Q&A.
For additional information, refer to the Lecture Recording tool page.
Desktop Recording Tool PCAP
An updated version of the ECHO360 desktop recording tool PCAP is now available. PCAP includes functionality to capture your screen, webcam and audio with the recording published to ECHO360 so it can be accessed by students in the same way as a lecture recording. For additional information, refer to the Desktop Recording tool page.
New Learn.UQ Features
The Learn.UQ upgrade was completed by the Enterprise Support Operations and eLearning Systems and Support teams during the Summer Semester recess. For more information, view the Learn.UQ Upgrade 2017 project page. New features include:
Blackboard Assignment Submission Receipts
When submitting assignments students receive a confirmation number they can copy and save as proof of submission. The student Blackboard Assignment guide advises students that a confirmation number must be visible to indicate a successful submission, else they should retry or contact the coordinator immediately. Note, the receipt is visible on the screen but NOT emailed to the student as it is with Turnitin. In Grade Centre Teaching staff can retrieve a record of all confirmation numbers including submission attempts and withdrawn students. For step-by-step instructions refer to the Submission Receipts guide.
Email Non-submitters
Teaching staff can send email reminders to students who have not yet submitted assignments or completed other assessment items. Students receive a system generated email that lists the course, assignment and due date. For step-by-step instructions refer to the Reminder guide.
Change to Blackboard Assignment Annotation Tool
Box View, a new tool for document viewing and annotation (commenting), has been introduced for Blackboard Assignments. The previous tool, Crocodoc has been decommissioned by the vendor. Over 500, 000 legacy documents have been moved to Box View.
Box View offers similar functionality and user experience to Crocodoc. Note, drawing and strikeout are no longer available. For step-by-step instructions refer to the Comments and Highlighting guide.
Drag and Drop File Upload
Teaching staff and students can now drag files from their computer to the "hot spot" in the Attach Files area. The files are uploaded individually and there is an option to rename them.
Dropbox Integration
Students can now upload documents from their personal Dropbox account when submitting Blackboard Assignments.
New ePortfolio Features
The UQ ePortfolio system, Chalk&Wire was upgraded in January 2018. New features include:
Resubmission Request
This feature allows staff who are marking assessments to request students resubmit work. Students receive an email notification and the feedback. When the work is resubmitted the work is clearly labelled as a resubmission and the changes made by the student highlighted.
View an Overview of the Resubmission Request Feature (19:48 mins) webinar by Chalk&Wire for more information.
Shared Reports
Reports can now be saved to the new 'Report Library' to share with other staff. A staff member can select a report from the library, modify it to suit their needs, and save the new version. The eLearning team will be creating a set of reports to add to the Report Library to help staff administer assessment and analyse results.
For step-by-step instructions refer to the Save Report guide by Chalk&Wire.
New Kaltura Video Features
Kaltura is UQ's video server, it allows staff to upload videos directly to their course. Students can view the videos live from inside your course (streaming) or download them.
Kaltura can also be used by students to upload their video assignments to Learn.UQ.
Quiz Tool
The Quiz tool allows you to insert intermittent interactive quiz questions in your Kaltura videos. The final score is displayed to students at the end of the video and the results are automatically transferred to Grade Centre. For step-by-step instructions refer to the Create a Video Quiz guide.
Automatic Captioning
Computer generated captioning is now available in Kaltura, which has approximately 80% accuracy. Staff have the ability to edit these captions to make them more accurate or include additional information. Students can then select to display the captions when watching the video. Captioning is a simple way to improve the accessibility of your video content and it is recommended that staff enable this feature when they upload new videos. For step-by-step instructions refer to the Kaltura Computer Generated captions guide.
eLearning Workshops
The eLearning team is offering a range of practical workshops on eLearning tools during 2018. For a description of each workshop, dates and to register, visit the Staff Development / Teaching and Learning Technologies site. Upcoming workshops include:
- Learn.UQ Basics, 9:30am - noon, 12 February, St Lucia
- UQ Active Learning tools, 10:00am - noon, 16 February, St Lucia
- Turnitin, 10:00am - noon, 26 February, St Lucia
- Grade Centre, 2:00pm - 4:00pm, 27 February, St Lucia
ITaLI Workshops
- Coordinating Courses at UQ, 2:00pm - 4:00pm, 12 February, St Lucia
- Effective Lecturing, 2:00pm - 4:00pm, 14 February, St Lucia
- Small Group Teaching, 2:00pm - 4:00pm, 1 March, St Lucia
- Enhancing Teaching with Educational Technologies, 2:00pm - 4:00pm, 23 March, St Lucia
Request Support
If you are having an eLearning technical problem, you can log a job with the UQ Staff eLearning Helpdesk at the address above. To enable a timely response please be sure to include as much information as possible with your request.