Next Collabo-break Session, 28 March, midday – GSBS 5 Days of Twitter

We are delighted that Elizabeth McGlone (Learning Technologist, GSBS) will be joining us for our next Collabo-break session where we will be finding our more about the, now annual, GSBS 5 Days of Twitter event which is running from 26 March.

The event has been designed to help participants explore twitter and  get comfortable with communicating through it. A series of daily activities will help people to set up accounts, find and follow people and explore the potential of using twitter as a learning and teaching tool.

So if you’ve always wondered what twitter can do for you, why not join us next Wednesday, 28 March at midday to find our more.  You can join the session here.

In the mean time you can follow @GSBSlearntech for updates and more information and the event hashtag #GSBS5DoT

Digital Assessment and Feedback – new community, resources and staff

This post is by Rachael Magennis, Learning Technologist, Academic Development.  Rachael joined the Academic Development Team in December along with Steven Fraser. Rachael and Steven are providing dedicated supported around digital assessment and feedback.

In this post I want to introduce our new  Digital Assessment and Feedback community area in GCULearn

Whether you’re new to GCU or a long standing member, creating submissions and giving feedback on line for the first time can be daunting. To get you on track, our Digital Assessment and Feedback Community (or A&F for short) contains all the information and resources on all topics to do with submission and Feedback.

In line with our Assessment and Feedback Policy, we wanted to create guides on key assessment areas, including;

• Using the Grade Centre
• Using Turnitin
• Rubrics and other grading forms
• Using Wikis and Blogs and e Portfolios
• Using Audio Feedback for easier submission
• Incorporating social media and other alternative online tools for feedback.
• Getting to grips with our video conferencing tool BlackBoard Ultra as an alternative to face to face feedback.

To accommodate the university target of  100% of online submission (of suitable course work) by the end of Trimester B,  Steven and I will be working with staff to make the transition from paper to online.  To demonstrate how really simple it is, we are running a number of CDP events where you can ask us anything and everything surrounding A & F.

So if you really feel swamped – remember to attend our drop ins, read our handy guides and most importantly, experiment and trial the tools on GCU Learn before hand!

As we build content over the next couple of weeks, we would love you (yes, you) to contribute to our Community. We believe that collaboration and sharing good practice is the cornerstone of learning; so if you have any examples of using assessment and feedback online, add your comments on our sharing practice board.

If you are interested in sharing your practice, for example by developing a case study, then please contact me ( rachael.magennis@gcu.ac.uk_  or Steven (steven.fraser@gcu.ac.uk_)  and we’ll work with you to develop one.

All GCU staff can access the community by simply putting “digital” in the search box in the Communities tab in GCULearn and then self enrolling onto the “Digital Assessment and Feedback Hub”.

If there are any additional support needs you can think of relating to assessment and feedback, then feel free to share in the comments below too.