Category Archives: Blackboard

Blackboard

WS22 Teaching with podcasts/screencasts

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Facilitors: Dr Faiq Waghid, Donna Lewis and Sonwabo Jongile, Centre for Innovative Educational Technology (CIET)

Dates and venue:

  • 7th of June 2018, 13.00-15.00, Centre for eLearning (CPT)
  • 14th of June 2018, 13.30-15.30, lab 303 IT Centre (BV)

Workshop description:

As CPUT aims to foster innovative educational practices, there has been much interest in the adoption of blended modes of delivery by academic staff. In support of these aims, the Centre for Innovative Educational Technologies (CIET) invites you to attend its second workshop on the use of podcasting/screencasting to support your existing pedagogy. The focus of this workshop is to provide a rationale and possible impetus for the use of podcasts/screencasts to support your teaching and students learning. We make reference to examples of how podcasting/screencasting has been used within the CPUT context to support different learning needs, using software and tools available to all CPUT staff. Additionally, practical guidance will be provided to support all staff members wishing to delve into the creation of podcast/screencasts. If you are interested please book your place using our online booking system the following link. We look forward to engaging with you in this workshop.

For more questions please contact Dr Faiq Waghid at waghidf@cput.ac.za

 

 

WS3 Mastering Online Assignments: commenting, marking, rubrics and originality reports (hands-on)

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Facilitators: Antoinette Van Deventer, Mavie Mavela and Sonwabo Jongile, Centre for Innovative Educational Technology

Dates and location:

  • 10th of May 2018, 13.oo-15.00, e-Learning Centre, District Six campus
  • 17th of May 2018, 13.30-15.30, IT center, Bellville campus (repeat)

 Workshop description:

In this workshop we will focus on two main areas on our LMS Blackboard: Online Assignments and the Plagiarism prevention tool, Safe Assign. We will first look at the creation and submission of online assignments, as well as how you as the lecturer will do the marking of the assignments online, by making use of Blackboard’s inline marking tools (commenting tools) and the interactive rubric (grading form).

Secondly we will be focusing on the SafeAssign tool which is built into the Online Assignment Tool. SafeAssign is a plagiarism prevention service that allows you to protect the originality of work and ensure a fair playing ground for all of your students. SafeAssign prevents plagiarism by detecting unoriginal content in student papers within your existing teaching and learning environment. SafeAssign can also further deter plagiarism by creating opportunities to educate students on proper attribution and citations while properly leveraging the wealth of information at their disposal.

To book your place please use our online booking system.

WS5 Using Respondus to create online assessments

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Facilitators:

WS1: Antoinette Van Deventer & Donna Lewis, CIET
WS 2: Mavi Mavela and Sonwabo Jongile, CIET

Date and location:

  • 12th of April 2018, 13.00-15.00, Centre for e-Learning, Cape Town – (note the change in starting time!)
  • 19th of April 2018, 13.30-15.30, Lab303, IT centre, Bellville (repeat)

Workshop description:
Respondus is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams that can be printed to paper or published directly to Blackboard Learn. Exams can be created offline using a familiar Windows environment, or moved from one LMS to another. Whether you are a veteran of online testing or relatively new to it, Respondus will save you hours on each assessement – be it formative or summative. In this training course, you will discover how Respondus can help you create quality assessments that can be added to your LMS or stand alone. You will explore the various ways to create Respondus files, the tools that are available to you to add quality to your assessments, and the different ways you can deliver your Respondus quiz. We will show you how to install the software, create questions directly in Respondus or import an existing quiz from Word or Excel. We will show you how the integration with Blackboard works and how to release test to your students. Practical tips around online assessment will round up the training.



For background information on designing online assessment please have a look at the recordings of our previous seminars:  http://www.cput.ac.za/blogs/edutech/2018/03/13/ws21-designing-online-exams/




To book you place please use our online booking system.

WS21 Designing online exams

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Facilitators:

Seminar 1: Daniela Gachago, Faiq Waghid, Eunice Ivala (CIET) and Bronwyn Swartz (Engineering), CPUT

Seminar 2: Alan Cliff, CILT, UCT

Dates, time and location:

Seminar 1: 15th of March, 13.30-15,30, Centre for eLearning, Cape Town campus

Seminar 2: 22nd of March, 13.30-15.30, online (Blackboard Collaborate)

Seminar description

Recently there has been a significant increase of interest in online assessment at CPUT due to campus closure but also as a response to large student numbers and in general to provide more flexibility to students. However, lecturers who have ventured into online assessment soon realise that it is not simple to design online exams that are meaningful and test students on the appropriate cognitive levels. These two seminars will offer you an opportunity to engage with lecturers and staff developers’ experiences on how to best design for and implement online exams. We will address questions such as:

  •  ‘Doing assessment’ online – is it a case of transferring face-to-face assessment to an online environment?
  •   The affordances and challenges of online assessment – a continuum from formative to summative assessment?
  •   Online assessment practices – what is the purpose?   what formats are there? how do I grade online exams? how do I give feedback?
  • Academic integrity: How do you deal with issues of academic integrity when students write exams off campus? What options are there to create safe and authentic contexts for online exams on and off campus, such as the Respondus Lockdown browser or the Respondus Monitor?

Seminar one, in which Bronwyn Swartz (link to recording) will share her insight and practical experience on designing and deploying assessments on Blackboard in a numbers based subject, but also to assess research, and in more theoretical or even practical courses, will be held at the Centre for eLearning, while seminar 2, which will be facilitated by Alan Cliff from UCT, will be done online using Blackboard Collaborate.

To book your place please use our online booking system.

For more information please email gachagod@cput.ac.za 

Workshop resources:

Bronwyn’s presentation (recorded on YouTube, 30 mins)

Alan and Sam’s presentation (recorded Blackboard Collaborate presentation, app. 1 hour 15 mins)

CPUT guide on online assessment (Blackboard Collaborate recording, 1 hour 12 mins)

WS18: Self and Peer Assessment- promoting student engagement and active learning

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Facilitator: Sonwabo Jongile, Centre for Innovative Educational Technology (CIET)

Date and venue

  • 12th of October 2017, 13.30-15.30, eLearning Centre, Cape Town campus
 
Description of workshop
 
During this workshop we will focus on the Peer Assessment tool in Blackboard. According to the Oxford dictionary, peer assessment refers to the “evaluation of scientific, academic, or professional work by others in the same field.” In the higher education context, peer assessment refers to student-driven assessment. Peer and self assessment promotes student engagement and active learning as it allows students  to review, evaluate and learn from their own work and that of their peers. This way, active learning takes place in a form of social constructionism – the joint construction of knowledge through discourse. Furthermore, this practice allows students to co-design and engage with criteria/rubrics set up in collaboration with their lecturers and apply it when assessing and making decisions about their own and their peers’ work.
 
In this workshop we will first discuss the types of peer assessments available on Blackboard and secondly, the challenges in relation to each peer assessment type selection. Finally, using the Peer Assessment tool we will create a peer assessment area and set up a rubric to which students will make use of as criteria for evaluating the responses.
To book your place please use our online booking system.

WS16: Adaptive learning – are we ready ?

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Facilitator: Sakkie Smit, Centre for Innovative Educational Technology

Date and time: 21st of September 2017, 13.30-15.30

Location: Centre for eLearning, training venue, Cape Town campus or Blackboard Collaborate (online)

Seminar description

Adaptive learning technologies, according to EDUCAUSE, “dynamically adjust to the level or type of course content based on an individual’s abilities or skill attainment, in ways that accelerate a learner’s performance with both automated and instructor interventions.” Enabled by machine learning/artificial intelligence, these technologies can adapt to a student in real time, providing both instructors and students with actionable data. The goal is to accurately and logically move students through a learning path, empowering active learning, targeting at-risk student populations, and assessing factors affecting completion and student success. Advocates for adaptive learning believe that it can be a solution for the “iron triangle” of educational challenges: cost, access, and quality.

Are we ready for Adaptive Learning? Let us come together for an interactive discussion.

To book your place please use our online booking system.

WS13 Analytics for Learn: Increasing Throughput and Success (hands-on)

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Facilitators: Prof Izak Van der Zyl, Faculty of Informatics and Design, and Sonwabo Jongile, Centre for Innovative Educational Technology (CIET), CPUT

Date and location: 

  • 27th of July 2017, 13.30-15.30, Centre for eLearning, Cape Town campus

Seminar description

There has been a spate of learning analytics interventions in global higher education. This is coupled with the rise and significance of big data in the wider economic context, but also in tertiary environments. The analysis of big (complex) data offers quantitative, statistical and algorithmic means to aid decision making in organisations, for whichever purposes. Broadly, analytics aims to identify meaningful or otherwise useful patterns, ideas or solutions that can support the way an organisation performs its core function(s).

In this seminar, Izak will provide a critical overview of the notion and practice of Learning Analytics and what it may offer in a constrained higher education environment, with a particular focus on what it can reveal about your learners.

Furthermore Sonwabo will do a short demonstration of the Retention Centre on Blackboard, which offers lecturers an easy way of discovering at-risk students. The four main rules use for identification pertain to grades, online attendance, levels of activities and missed deadlines. Blackboard also provides a simple way of communicating with these students.

To book your place for this workshop please use our online booking system.

WS 8 Making the Grade Centre and Retention Centre work for you

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Facilitators: Antoinette van Deventer and Jody Boltney, CIET

Date and location: 

  • 4th of May 2017, 13.30-15.30, Centre for e-Learning, Cape Town
  • 11th of May 2017, 13.30-15.30, lab 303, IT centre, Bellville

Workshop description

During this workshop we will focus on two tools in Blackboard: The Grade Centre and the Retention Centre. You will learn how to create, organise and manage columns in the Grade Centre for your various marked assessments; how to upload and download marks between Blackboard and Excel as well as creating Calculated Columns like the Weighted Marks Column.

The Retention Centre provides an easy way for you to discover which students in your course are at risk. Based on default rules and rules you create, students’ engagement and participation are visually displayed, quickly alerting you to students potentially at-risk. From the Retention Centre you can communicate with struggling students and help them take immediate action for improvement. You can also keep track of patterns over time. The Retention Centre features can be used immediately – no setup required. You can create new rules, edit existing rules, and delete rules by clicking on the Customise button. You can create as many rules as you need.

To book your place for this workshop please use our online booking system.

 

WS5 Using Respondus to create online assessments

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Facilitators: Antoinette Van Deventer & Jody Boltney, CIET

Date and location:

  • 16th of March 2017, 13.30-15.30, Centre for e-Learning, Cape Town
  • 23rd of March 2017, 13.30-15.30, Lab303, IT centre, Bellville (repeat)

Workshop description:

Respondus is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams that can be printed to paper or published directly to Blackboard Learn. Exams can be created offline using a familiar Windows environment, or moved from one LMS to another. Whether you are a veteran of online testing or relatively new to it, Respondus will save you hours on each project. In this training course, you will discover how Respondus can help you create quality assessments that can be added to your LMS or stand alone. You will explore the various ways to create Respondus files, the tools that are available to you to add quality to your assessments, and the different ways you can deliver your Respondus quiz. We will show you how to install the software, create questions directly in Respondus or import an existing quiz from Word or Excel. We will show you how the integration with Blackboard works and how to release test to your students. Practical tips around online assessment will round up the training.

To book your place please use our online booking system.

WS3 Mastering Online Assignments: commenting, marking, rubrics and originality reports (hands-on)

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Facilitators: Jody Boltney and Antoinette Van Deventer, Centre for Innovative Educational Technology

Dates and location:

  • 23rd of Feb, 13.30-15.30, IT center, Bellville campus
  • 2nd of March, 13.30-15.30, e-Learning Centre, Cape Town campus (repeat)

 Workshop description:

In this workshop we will focus on 2 main areas on our LMS Blackboard: Online Assignments and the Plagiarism prevention tool, Safe Assign. We will first look at the creation and submission of online assignments, as well as how you as the lecturer will do the marking of the assignments online, by making use of Blackboard’s inline marking tools (commenting tools) and the interactive rubric (grading form). Secondly we will be focusing on the SafeAssign tool which is built into the Online Assignment Tool. SafeAssign is a plagiarism prevention service that allows you to protect the originality of work and ensure a fair playing ground for all of your students. SafeAssign prevents plagiarism by detecting unoriginal content in student papers within your existing teaching and learning environment. SafeAssign can also further deter plagiarism by creating opportunities to educate students on proper attribution and citations while properly leveraging the wealth of information at their disposal.