As you prepare for teaching online this semester, remember that you can access support from The E-Learning Unit.  We thought we would pull together some information that could be useful right now on assessing in QMplus, running online seminars, and getting your QMplus areas ready…

Accessing Support for E-Learning

A reminder that you can get help with e-learning in any of the following ways…

• • Drop-in sessions – Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-2pm, access via our online support area on QMplus. 
  • Book a Learning Technologist (BALT) – book an hour with a member of the E-Learning Unit for a more in-depth discussion. 
  • Online workshops – See the course booking system for upcoming sessions.  Bespoke and small group sessions available on request, email us on elearning@qmul.ac.uk.  
  • IT Service Desk – Raise a ticket via helpdesk@qmul.ac.uk.  This is the best way to get help with technical issues. 
  • Self-directed guides –  our video guide channel covers a variety of the most popular topics and our help guides are cover all the technologies we support.
  • Self-directed courses – enrol yourself onto one of our courses on QMplus.  They are designed in bite-sized chunks, do the whole course or just pick the pieces that are most relevant for you. Examples include: Getting Started with QMplus and Getting Started with QMplus Quizzes.

We anticipate that demand will increase as we approach the start of teaching, so please bear with us.  We will monitor uptake closely and, capacity allowing, add further appointments/sessions as required. 

Assessments 

We can: 

• • Give you advice on which tools may be appropriate for your alternative assessments and how to set them up.
  • Check through your assessments to make sure they have been set up in the way you expected and students will be able to access them at the appropriate time (best requested via a helpdesk ticket).
  • Give advice on how to release grades and feedback effectively – also see our Grading and feedback guides 

Please raise a helpdesk ticket or attend a drop-in session for the above.

Upcoming workshops you may be interested in (book via the course booking system): 

• • Analytics on Student Engagement – 20th January 2021 11.00 – 12:00
  • QMplus Quizzes – Thursday 21st January 15:00 – 16:00
  • Assessing, marking and giving feedback for QMplus assignments – Friday 29th January 11:00 – 12:00
  • Enhancing Assessment Design (from the QM Academy) – Friday 12^th February 2021 14:00 – 15:00
  • Effective Feedback (from the QM Academy) – Friday 19^th February 14:00 – 15:00

Running Online Seminars 

You may have been planning to run your seminars and tutorials in person this semester but will now be delivering them remotely.  There are three main tools available for doing this: Blackboard Collaborate, Zoom and Teams.

If you are using Blackboard Collaborate for your seminars, then we are happy to support you. You can: 

• • Attend the online workshop “Run webinars with Blackboard Collaborate” – Monday 25th January 14:00 – 15:00
  • Watch our support videos 
  • Access our Blackboard Collaborate guides  

If you are using Zoom or Teams for seminars, support is provided by the consultants Curio who can offer training.  You can book a session with Curio until the end of January 2021 via: https://qmulacademy.curio.co/.  Support materials are available on the QM Academy website.

Regardless of the platform you use for online seminars, the following QM Academy workshop will help you run engaging sessions:

• • Interactivity in webinars – Friday 22nd January 14:00 – 15:00

Getting your QMplus Area Ready  

When preparing your QMplus course area for the upcoming semester, consider the following before it is made available to students:

• • Structure: Manage content via resource types such as: books, tabs, pages, etc., to ensure that the content is accessible, navigable and to optimise your module area’s loading time. 
  • Housekeeping:
    • Remove any old materials which are hidden. Content from previous years, which is not being used for the current semester, can be deleted. It can always be retrieved from the QMplus archive if necessary. Any empty topics can be removed to improve navigation.  
    • Remove any holding text (or hide topics which are upcoming and not yet fully populated with content). Module announcements published to topic 0 should be current or static text displayed instead. 
  • Student and Staff Access: Check that the course start date is set in the past (or disabled), that the course area is not hidden and that the number of enrolled students reflect what is expected. Check that any teaching staff have the appropriate role, add any new staff as necessary and update that information displayed in the Module Info Block as necessary. 
  • Nomenclature: Ensure that the full name, short name and course ID for the module area is correct. 
  • Course Templates and Previous Content: Your school may be using a new QMplus template this year, or you may have access to content that has been “rolled over” from last year.  If you need help with using templates or rolling over your old course please get in touch with us via one of the methods listed above.