Tii News: June 2014
June 2014
Issues
- Duplicating an existing rubric and then editing and attempting to save the duplicate rubric results in an error. A work-around is detailed on this page. We are in contact with Turnitin’s Help Center to resolve this issue.
- Marks are sometimes accessible to students before the Post Date – ensure that students access marks and feedback at the correct time only. Students using the Blackboard Learn app receive notifications when marks are released.This is a known bug. A fix is currently being sought. Read on for an explanation of the problem and a workaround
- When you set up a Turnitin submission point, the Post Date is the date on which you allow students to view their marks and feedback (when using Grademark for online marking). When setting up the submission point, always choose ‘Yes’ for the Reveal grades to students only on post date? option (see picture). Normally, this ensures that students only see marks and feedback on the Post Date.
- Every time a submission point is set up, a column is automatically created in the Grade Centre
- To access the Grade Centre, go to the Control Panel, then click Grade Centre, you’ll then see the columns for the submission point(s)
- When marking online, using Grademark, marks (aka grades) that you enter on the script are passed back to the column in the Grade Centre
- When setting up the submission point, the function of the ‘reveal grades’ option is to keep any data in the column hidden from students until the Post Date
- A hidden column in the Grade Centre is signified by a circle with a diagonal line through it (see picture below)
- To ensure that marks are not released to students until the Post Date, always check that the corresponding column in the Grade Centre is hidden. This is especially important if any edits to the submission point were made after it was set up: submitting the edits negates the ‘reveal grades’ setting which means that in some cases, students will be able to access marks and feedback before the Post Date
- When the Post Date arrives, check in the Grade Centre that the column is un-hidden; if it remains hidden, in some cases, students will not be able to view their marks and feedback
- Marks given in Grademark sometimes are not passed through to the Grade Centre
- Usually, a mark entered onto the Grademark paper will be passed through to the Grade Centre in studentcentral; this transaction is handled via a ‘call’ between the Turnitin server and studentcentral
- Occasionally, the ‘call’ is interrupted and the mark is not passed to the Grade Centre
- The call to the server can be triggered again by you:
- In the Control Panel, click Course Tools, then click TurnitinUK Assignments
- Click ‘Sync Grades’, to the far right of the submission point link (see next picture)
I have been working in the Educational Technology field within Higher Education for eleven years. A big part of my job is finding new and innovative ways of integrating technology into current teaching and learning methodology. This can include assisting academic staff with Virtual Learning Environments/Learning Management Systems (Blackboard), implementing specific software packages, maximising current technologies and championing new ones. I find this profession both riveting and rewarding. I really enjoy life on the cutting edge, but I also enjoy being able to help staff achieve small and meaningful efficiencies; sometimes that makes all the difference.