WebLearn unavailable on 12 February 2013 7-9am

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Adam Marshall

It is planned to upgrade WebLearn to version 2.8-ox4.2 on Tuesday 12 February 2013 7-9am. There will be no service during this period. Sorry for the short notice.

This bugfix release will address problems with the SES tool.

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Turnitin and the avoidance of plagiarism

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Adam Marshall

IT Services supports the use of Turnitin, the plagiarism awareness software, and provides training and help materials for academic and administrative staff. Turnitin User Group meetings take place each term, with the next on Tuesday 12 March, 2:00 – 4:00. Places can be booked using the IT Services website.

Information about the use of Turnitin:

Turnitin support sites in WebLearn:

  • The Plagiarism support site provides helpful information, including a link to the Turnitin Oxford blog.
  • The Turnitin User Group site hosts a mailing list (tii-community@weblearn.ox.ac.uk) and provides links to audio recordings of previous talks at User Group meetings. The User Group is open for any staff member to join by clicking on the link provided on the home page. This will automatically subscribe you to the mailing list.

Courses at IT Services: Training courses on the avoidance of plagiarism and the use of Turnitin are provided each term including three hour sessions and short sessions at lunch time. The courses are listed on the IT Services website – click on ‘P’ for ‘plagiarism’. Most of the courses are designed for staff members. There is one course for students, which is offered once per term in the regular course schedule, but can also be offered on request in departments or colleges (minimum 10 students): Plagiarism – How to avoid it (for students). Students have been informed about this course in the Student Newsletter.

Please contact the IT Services Help desk if you wish to request a Turnitin instructor account, or have any other questions.

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WebLearn and Turnitin: Apr 2012 – Oct 2012

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Adam Marshall

I forgot to post this last October, better late than never!

The headline news is that Old WebLearn (aka Bodington) is no more: it was decommissioned on 18th September and its demise seems to have cause very little impact indeed.

Whilst one WebLearn system steps back out of the spotlight so the other moves forward. After a great deal of effort and many delays due to QA issues, (New) WebLearn was moved to v2.8-ox1 at the end of May and is now up to 2.8-ox3. Many improvements have been made and details are given at the end of this document, however, some of the highlights are

  • OXAM tool
  • Brand new much-improved integration between WebLearn and Turnitin, (this was not without issue but most of the problems were quickly solved)
  • Create sites from template

Other work in this period includes the paid-for project to provide an enhanced web service interfaces for the Blavatnik School Of Government (BSG) as part of their project to provide their students with an iPad App interface to their learning material; the provision of a web services API to the Resources tool (paid for by Medical Sciences) and preparatory work on the JISC-funded OXCAP project (see below).

We continue to experience reliability issues but such problems are usually restricted to one of the 3 WebLearn nodes. These issues are generally caused by WebLearn’s search module, however, this module is due to be completely replaced in time for next year.

There are 3 pilots of Turnitin-related software services: Assignments 2 tool in WebLearn and PeerMark and GradeMark which are 2 tools available on the Turnitin website (submit.ac.uk).

Training and Guidance

There are 4 new WebLearn “Bytes”  courses, these are lunchtime sessions about Assignments, Resources, Surveys and Site Info.

Projects

The OXAM Migration project formally finished at Christmas – the software is has passed user acceptance testing and is now live. The old OXAM service has been turned off. (The new WebLearn tool replicates and improves upon the incumbent OXAM service.)

Funding for a Student Enrolment System (SES) III project has been obtained and work will start in December. This project will further improve the SES tool within WebLearn in the areas of user interface, searching, course administration and mapping courses to Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework.

OxCAP Phase II started (in January 2012) and will run until March 2013. This is a JISC funded initiative to expose data (as a public XML feed) about graduate training courses at Oxford. OxCAP II addresses local needs: the project will develop an internal protected feed, improvements to the SES tool WebLearn tool which will allow a search of all graduate skills training courses at Oxford to be performed, a Share Point site for entering courses data and a JavaScript library to allow display on institutional websites. This project offers a solution to a problem that students (and staff) have been demanding for a while now; this project has the explicit backing of the PVC for Education and the Registrar.

Progress has been a little slower than hoped for but so far data from most of the training providers exists and is stored in Oxford Open Data (OOD) and XCRI-CAP XML feeds are being generated. Data entered into Share Point is not yet being consumed by OOD and the SES tool needs to be updated. The updated SES tool complete with a collation of all graduate training should go live on 18 December 2012.

The SIPA project works with academic and administrative staff members across the university to investigate assessment and feedback practices and to invite user input. The project promotes and supports the use of the external Turnitin plagiarism detection and prevention service and allied products GradeMark (online marking and annotations) and PeerMark (student peer marking and assessment). Turnitin is integrated into the WebLearn Assignments tool (version 1) and the newly Assignments2 tool which is being piloted. Version 2.8-ox3 of WebLearn switched to completely new Turnitin integration code in WebLearn – this code has many improvements: it now submits work using the account of the person that set up the assignment, multiple attachments  and resubmissions are now possible, whether to place submissions into the Turnitin repository.

New WebLearn Features

In addition to that mentioned above.

  • Big improvements to Sign-up tool based on user feedback (categories, change organiser, auto create groups, prevent withdrawing when closed, better export (compatible with OXCORT)
  • Many improvements to the Forums tool (including better user interface (UI), photos of author)
  • Improved webservices interface which can be exploited by Mobile Oxford
  • New Profile tool with Social networking facilities
  • New improved Email Sender tool (replaces Mailtool)
  • Improved wiki UI
  • Improved tool permissions ‘widget’
  • SES tool bug fixes
  • Short URLs
  • Site templates facility – it will be possible to base a new site upon a selection made from a choice of templates each tailored for a specific situation and each containing their own help and guidance.


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WebLearn and Turnitin Report: Oct 2012 – Jan 2013

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Adam Marshall

Old WebLearn (aka Bodington) really is no more now: it was decommissioned on 18th September and finally turned off during the week of 14 January 2013.

There were over 17,000 separate logins to (new) WebLearn on the first day of term. Note, these are not all unique users.

(New) WebLearn was moved to v2.8-ox4 at the start of the new year, the highlights are

  • OXCAP work is nearing completion and much of the work has gone live. The SES tool now holds graduate training from most graduate training providers – there have been a few teething problems and we hope to rectify all of these by the end of Feb.
  • Brand new search back-end based on SOLR: site names, site descriptions and reading lists now indexed. Resources permitting, many more improvements could be made in the future.
  • Turnitin and OXAM bug fixes.
  • Performance issues that were evident during Michaelmas 2012 should now (hopefully) cease

The 3 pilots of Turnitin-related software services: Assignments 2 tool in WebLearn and PeerMark and GradeMark which are 2 tools available on the Turnitin website (submit.ac.uk) continue.

Training and Guidance

3 of the 4 new WebLearn “Bytes”  courses have now been run – blog posts have been made about each. A 5th (about the Tests tool) has been scheduled. Numbers were low and we will attempt to publicise more widely next time. All next term’s course dates have been published.

The new 3-hour course WebLearn: Assessment and Feedback is running as from HT 2013.

There have now been more that 300 “WebLearn Blog” posts .

Projects

The OXAM Migration project formally finished at Christmas – the software has passed user acceptance testing and is now live. The old OXAM service has been turned off. (The new WebLearn tool replicates and improves upon the incumbent OXAM service.)

Work on the Student Enrolment System (SES) III project will now start in mid-February. This project will further improve the SES tool within WebLearn in the areas of user interface, searching, course administration and mapping courses to Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework.

OxCAP Phase II (started in January 2012) is nearing completion. This is a JISC funded initiative to expose data (as a public XML feed) about graduate training courses at Oxford and has the explicit backing of the PVC for Education and the Registrar. See above.

The SIPA project works with academic and administrative staff members across the university to investigate assessment and feedback practices and to invite user input. Since the pilot of Assignments2 tool began, iParadigms have started rewriting the Sakai – Turnitin integration code. This means the pilot is aiming at a moving target which somewhat complicates matters. There has not been much interest in PeerMark or GradeMark.

During 2011-12 the DIGE (Student Digital Experience) project was carried out at Oxford.  Staff and student feedback about WebLearn was captured including some suggestions for improvement in terms of usability, site design and maintenance, and access to learning materials. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the feedback, a WebLearn Student Experience (WLSE) project was conducted which focused on enhancing the Student WebLearn experience.  From September to December 2012, the project collected and prioritised student input and set out to address the following points in the Executive Summary of the DIGE Report.

  1. enhancing the user interface and user experience (ES5a);
  2. overhauling and redesigning their sites in the system (ES5b).

Although specific suggestions emerged about particular departmental WebLearn sites, the focus of the project was on generic suggestions to enhance WebLearn as a central service.  The following questions guided the empirical work:

  1. How is WebLearn perceived and experienced by students in terms of the layout of the user interface, structure of the sites, and navigation?
  2. What do students think of the way in which teachers use WebLearn to support their learning?
  3. How do students themselves use WebLearn in their learning?
  4. What improvements would students like to see in WebLearn?

Findings and recommendations will be released during Hilary 2013.

Others

The WebLearn team have had 3 presentations accepted at the Euro Sakai conference in Paris. Jill Fresen and Fawei Geng have had their paper “Derivation of electronic course templates for use in higher education” published in the ALT Journal “Research In Learning Technology”. Isn’t that nice.

 

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Byte sized Site Management (Site Info) tool

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Jill Fresen

Questions and Answers that emerged from the WebLearn Bytes – Site Management (Site Info) session on 22 January 2013: (some points venture into other tools, not only the Site Info tool…)

Q: Can you use WebLearn for student peer review?
A: Yes: use either the Forums (Discussions) tool for all students to be able to view and comment on all essays (they submit their essay as an attachment); or use the Assignments tool (grant the access role permissions to read/mark assignments) [Note added 24 Oct 2017: the Assignments tool now offers a ‘peer review’ option, so use that feature and ignore the previous comment about permissions]. Both tools are ‘group aware’, and both can be set to open/close at predetermined dates and times.

Q: Can you use WebLearn for peer review of conference papers when organising a conference?
A: You can use the Resources tool for document sharing, but anonymity is not possible. You can use the Email Archive (mailing list) and Email Sender tools to communicate with site participants (the latter tool is group aware).

Q: How do you add the Reading List tool?
A: The Reading List is not a standard tool such as other tools that are added via Site Info > Edit Tools. The Reading List is a type of resource, and is added into a folder in Resources, using the Add > Add Reading List option.

Q: How can I find out who my Local WebLearn Coordinator is?
A: Go to the WebLearn Guidance site (https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/info) and find the List of Local WebLearn Coordinators in the “Getting started” box.

HINTS AND TIPS:

  • Clarify the purpose of your WebLearn space – there are many good tools for sharing and they are easy to use, but students need to be encouraged to participate. “If you build it, they won’t necessarily come!”
  • Clarify expectations of your own involvement in communication tools, and what you expect of your students.
  • Consider providing a forum discussion or chat area for your students to conduct their own informal, unmoderated discussions. (The WebLean Student Experience project found this to be a need expressed by students.)
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WebLearn unavailable on 22 January 2013 7-9am

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Adam Marshall

It is planned to upgrade WebLearn to version 2.8-ox4.1 on Tuesday 22 January 2013 7-9am. There will be no service during this period. Sorry for the short notice.

This bug fix release will address problems with the SES tool.

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Research into Effective Site Templates

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Adam Marshall

The following paper written by Jill Fresen, Fawei Geng and erstwhile WebLearn team Academic Visitor Robin Hill, was published in the Journal of ALT: Research in Learning Technology at the end of last year.

Derivation of electronic course templates for use in higher education

Robin K. Hill, Jill W. Fresen, Fawei Geng

Abstract

Lecturers in higher education often consider the incorporation of web technologies into their teaching practice. Partially structured and populated course site templates could aid them in getting started with creating and deploying webbased materials and activities to enrich the teaching and learning experience. Discussions among instructional technology support staff and lecturers reveal a paucity of robust specifications for possible course site features that could comprise a template. An attempted mapping from the teaching task as understood by the instructor to the envisaged course website properties proves elusive. We conclude that the idea of an initial state for a course site, embodied in a template, remains useful and should be developed not according to a formula but with careful attention to the context and existing pedagogical practice. Any course template provided for the use of lecturers should be enhanced with supporting instructions and examples of how it may be adapted for their particular purposes.Keywords: course template; learning platform; pedagogical dimensions; course site properties

(Published: 17 December 2012)

Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20: 18665 – http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.18665

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WebLearn upgraded to version 2.8-ox4 on 8 January 2013

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Adam Marshall

New WebLearn was upgraded on 8th January 2013 to version 2.8-ox4. For more detailed information please looked at the detailed release notes.

Improvements

  • Brand new Search tool: site names, site descriptions and reading lists now indexed
  • Many improvements to Student Enrolment System (SES) / Oxford Course Advertising Project (OXCAP):
    • most of the University’s graduate training opportunities are now discoverable from within the SES tool with links for booking – this functionality should now replace the old ‘Skills Hub’
    • new more informative module information page
    • improved ‘Browse by Department’ page
  • OXAM search results now sorted by papercode first and year of study second

Bug Fixes

  • OXAM tool second and subsequent pages now not blank when conducting an Advanced Search
  • Assignments tool
    • Turnitin reports now returned for assignments whose title contain non aplhanumeric characters
    • Turnitin reports now returned for sites containing external users with the maintain and contribute roles
  • Performance issues that were evident during Michaelmas 2012 should now cease
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WebLearn and Plagiarism Courses Hilary Term 2013

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Adam Marshall

WebLearn and Plagiarism Courses – Hilary Term 2013

A variety of taught courses are offered by IT Services free of charge, to support the use of WebLearn and the plagiarism awareness software Turnitin. Course books for the formal courses (3-hour sessions) can be downloaded for self study. Places are limited and bookings are required. Click on the links provided to book a place, or for further information. Bookings open 30 days in advance, but you can express an interest in a course and receive a reminder to book when booking opens.

WebLearn courses:

WebLearn: Fundamentals  Thursday 24 January 2:00 – 5:00 pm

or

 Tuesday 26 February 2:00 – 5:00 pm
WebLearn: Design and content

(formerly called ‘Making your site work’)

 Wednesday 6 February 9:15-12:15 am
WebLearn: Surveys Monday 11 February 2:00 – 5:00 pm
WebLearn: Assessment and feedback Monday 18 February 2:00 – 5:00 pm
WebLearn: Tools to support teaching and learning Monday 25 February 2:00 – 5:00 pm
WebLearn: Tools for creating interactive online resources Tuesday 26 February 12:30 – 13.30 pm

Plagiarism avoidance courses (Turnitin):

Plagiarism: Turnitin Fundamentals Monday 21 January 09:15 – 11:15 am
Plagiarism: WebLearn and Turnitin Monday 4 February 12:30 – 13.30 pm
Plagiarism: How to avoid it (for students) Thursday 14 February 09:15 – 11:15 am
Plagiarism: Interpreting Originality Reports using Turnitin Monday 18 February 12:30 – 13.30 pm

New! Byte-sized lunch time sessions:

These focus on one particular tool, with plenty of time for questions and discussion

WebLearn Bytes: Site Management Tuesday 22 January 12:30 – 13.30 pm
WebLearn Bytes: Assignments Tuesday 29 January 12:30 – 13.30 pm
WebLearn Bytes: Tests and Quizzes Tuesday 5 February 12:30 – 13.30 pm
WebLearn Bytes: Resources Tuesday 12 February 12:30 – 13.30 pm
WebLearn Bytes: Surveys Tuesday 5 March 12:30 – 13.30 pm

 

 

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WebLearn Student Experience Project

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Fawei Geng

Adapted from the project report by Joanna Wild and Fawei Geng

Introduction

From 1 October 2011 to 30 April 2012 the DIGE (Student Digital Experience) project was carried at Oxford.  In the project report,  staff and student feedback about WebLearn was captured including some suggestions for improvement in terms of usability, site design and maintenance, and access to learning materials.

In order to gain a deep understanding of the feedback, the WebLearn Student Experience (WLSE) project focused on enhancing the Student WebLearn experience.  From September to December 2012, the project collected and prioritised student input and set out to address the following points in the Executive Summary of the DIGE Report.

  1. enhancing the user interface and user experience (ES5a);
  2. overhauling and redesigning their sites in the system (ES5b).

Although specific suggestions were emerged about particular departmental WebLearn sites, the focus of the project was on generic suggestions to enhance WebLearn as a central service.

Guiding questions

This project investigated how students currently use WebLearn in support of their learning, i.e. it focused on gathering information about student behaviour in finding, navigating and interacting with their current WebLearn areas. The following questions guided the empirical work:

  1. How is WebLearn perceived and experienced by students in terms of the layout of the user interface, structure of the sites, and navigation?
  2. What do students think of the way in which teachers use WebLearn to support their learning?
  3. How do students themselves use WebLearn in their learning?
  4. What improvements would students like to see in WebLearn?

Methodology

This project took a qualitative research approach, gathering data from a small number of students to investigate their behaviour and preferences in using WebLearn, and gather their suggestions for enhancements. Information was collected from 14 undergraduates, taught postgraduates and research postgraduates with teaching responsibilities. We conducted 7 individual guided-walkthroughs, which combined a semi-structured interview with observation of how students actually use WebLearn. We also ran one workshop with 7 participants. The workshop used the Nominal Group Technique complemented by discussions to elicit a list of improvements that students would like to see implemented in WebLearn, depending on feasibility.

From the evidence collected, we generated two sets of recommendations:

  • To the WebLearn staff user community: best practice in designing WebLearn sites, based on student requirements;
  • To the WebLearn team: specific enhancements to and further development of the WebLearn software, based on student requirements.

Project team

  • Jill Fresen – WebLearn researcher
  • Fawei Geng – Project Manager
  • Adam Marshall – WebLearn Service Manager
  • Liz Masterman – Research & evaluation specialist
  • Joanna Wild – Researcher

The final project report including findings and recommendations

The final project report is available now.

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