Dear All

This has proven to be a very interesting subject, with wide and varied
responses.  It is good to see that our thought processes and road has
been trodden by others.

Thank you all for the feedback so far - perhaps we won't end up with
square wheels!


Wendy Bell
Principal Administrator & Project Coordinator
eLearning Portal Support
Academic Registry
Rm111, 3 Ellison Terrace
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST
Tel: 0191 243 7473
Email:[log in to unmask]
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hepplestone,
Stuart
Sent: 03 May 2007 14:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF ASSIGNMENTS

At Sheffield Hallam we have a growing number of staff asking students to
submit their work through Blackboard, as well as returning feedback and
marks to students using the native Assignment functionality (we are
running Blackboard 7.1). However, even though staff have commented on
its usefulness as a process - flexibility of submission, speeding up the
return of feedback - they also comment on two key limitations - the
repetitive process of uploading feedback to the Blackboard Gradebook,
and the lack of receipting of student submissions.

Rather than develop a separate system to meet demands for a robust and
scalable tool, in consultation with Blackboard Inc. we undertook a
project to scope out and develop a new Building Block which will improve
the way student assignments are processed and enhance the way feedback
can be provided. This tool builds on the natural benefits of the native
Blackboard Assignment functionality - storing student work centrally in
the Gradebook, and tracking student submissions. It supports online
feedback through batch uploading student marks with file attachments
(even for hard copy submissions) to the Blackboard Gradebook, and
feedback on group assignments can be provided to each individual in the
group, rather than one per group. Students are encouraged to engage with
their written feedback by submitting a reflective account on key
learning points in order to ativate the release of their mark. The
system also provides detailed receipts for student assignment
submissions (for online or, in some cases hardcopy, submission). Where
students submit an assignment as a group (Assignments can be linked to
Group Pages), all members of that group are automatically emailed with a
confirmation of the submission.

We do not single out online submission of coursework for specific
policies, it is subject to our general coursework policies. We encourage
staff to use a set of good practice guidelines based on experience that
we update regularly - this helps staff set up Assignments in Blackboard
effectively as well as giving appropriate and supportive instructions to
students submitting work. 

Students respond positively, and are increasingly demanding the ability
submit their work and receive feedback online. From the results of two
recent surveys we have conducted at the University, around student
expectations of a supportive e-learning environment and enhancements
they would like to see made to their existing Blackboard sites to
improve their online learning experience, students respond in favour of
the usefulness and flexibility of online submission and electronic
feedback and expect to be able to use this in their modules.

We are currently looking at streamlining the process of developing and
writing feedback electronically, and investigating the possible range of
methods for reviewing and marking student work on-screen.

Along with a colleague, I will be presenting on our work around online
assignment submission and online feedback at the CAA Conference at
Loughborough in July.

Thanks
Stuart
__________________
Stuart Hepplestone
Lecturer in Curriculum Innovation | Sheffield Hallam University |
Learning and Teaching Institute | Adsetts Centre | City Campus | Howard
Street | Sheffield S1 1WB | tel 0114 225 4744

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wendy Bell
Sent: 30 April 2007 14:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF ASSIGNMENTS

Northumbria University is currently reviewing a project looking at
electronic submission of assignments, marking online and its impact
across the board with students, academics, external markers etc.

We are running Blackboard version7.0 and receive a daily snapshot from
SITS. Our user base is circa 35,000 with 2,500 available course sites.

I would be interested to hear how others are doing this.
What tools are you using?
What protocols did you put in place?
How has it been received by staff and students

Feedback would be most welcome.

Regards

Wendy

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