Students’ voice on digital resources
Members of the E-Learning Unit recently attended a presentation given by Igor Gavran, Education 
Officer for the QMUL Students’ Union on the results of their annual survey. This year the focus was on digital resources in taught courses and focused particularly on accessibility, student use of plagiarism checkers and availability of Q-Review recordings. The findings emphasised students’ desire to have access to tools such as plagiarism checkers and called for consistent use of Q-Review among taught programs. We recommend you analyse the results by reading the presentation’s findings here and if you would like to further discuss the findings with Igor, you can do so by clicking here.
Learner Dashboards and you
QMplus features an array of tools to help students keep on top of their studies in their QMplus Dashboard. This includes reminders of upcoming assessment due dates, noticeboard items and a to-do list. But how can this tool be optimised to create a rich pedagogical experience for students? Dr Liz Bennett, Director of Teaching and Learning at University of Huddersfield recently hosted an online webinar about her research into use of Learner Dashboards to support student engagement. You can view a recording of this fascinating session here.
It’s that time of year…
Assessment has been a significant focus for two of our events this month. On the 24th of May, the E-
Learning Unit hosted an assessment workshop to discuss best practice in using specific features in QMplus for assessment. This workshop focused particularly on Turnitin, using Rubrics, Blind Marking and managing the Gradebook with large cohorts. From the feedback and discussion in the session, we will be planning next steps and will communicate these with you in the coming months.
Also this month, Gill and our new learning technologist Liam Atwood held a session at the School of Geography’s planning away day in Olympic Park. In this event, they discussed ways for incorporating more digital methods into assessment practices to enhance the experience of academics and students alike. If your school would like to talk about this or arrange a session, please get in touch here.
QMplus update to Moodle 3.4
Our annual QMplus upgrade process is currently ongoing. We would like to remind all users that QMplus will be unavailable on Monday 9th of July from 07:00 – 14:00 (TBC). We would also like to thank all community testers who have actively tested the new system with us and suggested any improvements or highlighted errors.
Restrict the file types that your students can submit
Do you only want your students to submit only Microsoft Word documents for their assignment? Are you tired of getting submissions in Apple Pages formats that you can’t open? Coming in the QMplus upgrade in July is the ability to control the files that students can upload as an assignment. Read more.
What are our users asking via The Helpdesk?
We’ve picked out a few of the most frequently asked questions for May, updated our guidance material and have a couple of tips for you. Click here.
Staff development opportunities in May
In May we are running the following workshops:
- ELU 001 – Getting Started with QMplus – Thurs 7 June, 14-16; IT Training Room, Whitechapel
Please see our online booking system for more information about the sessions we run and to book yourself a place.
Drop-ins and Book a Learning Technologist
Our staff drop-in sessions continue to run every Tuesday and Thursday from 1-2pm on the Mile End campus for any member of staff who needs help with their use of technology in their teaching.
If you’d like to discuss something in more detail, appointments are available through our Book a Learning Technologist service. Book a one hour appointment with a member of the team to discuss your use of technology in more detail.
