Tag: OAKS

Dear TLT
Dear TLT

Dear TLT: What Happens to a Student’s Work in OAKS if She Drops and Later Re-Enrolls?

Chris Meshanko

Dear TLT,

Two weeks ago, a student dropped one of my courses, and as expected, she was removed from my OAKS course–including all of her Dropbox submissions. Yesterday, I was notified that she would be re-enrolling in my course. Were her work and grades permanently deleted or will they be restored when she is re-enrolled in my OAKS course? Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

Professor Ross Geller
Paleontology

Dear Professor Geller,

This is a great question! OAKS archives all students’ work and grades, even if they drop or withdraw, so in a situation like yours, both will be fully restored.

Please contact your instructional technologist, if you have additional questions or concerns, and check out our upcoming training sessions at http://tlt.eventbrite.com.

Best regards,

TLT

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Did you know?
Assessment

DID YOU KNOW…YOU CAN BLIND-GRADE QUIZ ESSAYS IN OAKS?

Mendi Benigni

DID YOU KNOW? BLIND GRADING IN OAKS

I just learned that the OAKS Quizzes tool allows you to grade short answer, essay, or long answer questions without knowing which student wrote them.  This blind grading feature is something that has evidently been around for awhile but is so nicely hidden most users wouldn’t even know to look for it and is a great way to help remove grading bias.

  1. To blind grade a quiz begin by clicking on Grade > Quizzes from the upper navigation.
  2. Next to the appropriate quiz click Grade from the dropdown arrow.
  3. Click the Questions tab
  4. Click Blind Marking
  5. Click on the first question to grade
  6. Read the response and type in a grade and feedback
  7. You can navigate between student responses using the arrows at the top
  8. When finished click Save  then repeat the process for any other questions.

Images of the above directions

 

Dear TLT
Assessment, Dear TLT, TLT

Can I grade one OAKS Dropbox Assignment using two rubrics?

Mendi Benigni

DEAR TLTDear TLT,

I have an assignment that has two components but produces one grade.  I’d like to use a different OAKS rubric to evaluate each component.  Is it possible to do this within one OAKS Dropbox so that there is only one grade in the grade book?  I really want to keep them as one assignment.

Sincerely,

Karen HB
Health and Human Performance

 

Dear Karen,

The answer is yes and no.  The OAKS Dropbox allows the instructor to attach multiple OAKS rubrics to one assignment and use both of them to interactively grade the work.  However, it will only automatically load the calculated score from the first rubric.  As you can see from the screenshot below, only Rubric 1’s score has been entered into the Score area for the assignment.

Two graded rubrics with the score from the first one transferred
Two rubrics added and graded. Notice only the first rubric score transferred automatically to the assignment score.

 

 

You will just need to manually enter the appropriate grade into the Score area, based on the outcome of the two rubrics.

The other option to consider would be to create only one rubric in OAKS that has two Criteria Groups.  Group 1 is for the first component of the assignment and Group 2 is for the second part.  The benefit of using the groups is the you can use different scoring levels per section.  Note: this may not produce the same outcome as the two rubrics so be sure to test this before applying it to a live assignment.

Multipgroup rubric

Sincerely,

TLT

instructional technology, Productivity, Teaching Advice, Tech Generation, TLT

Start your semester off right!

leea5

Starting a new semester can be daunting but let us help you with our Start of Semester Checklist!  This checklist gives you a list view of important tasks to complete to make sure your semester starts off smoothly, it also tells you how to complete most tasks.  Some of the tasks and include: Verifying your course shell has been created, confirming your course start date, enrolling non-students into your course, cross listing, and building course content and student enrollment.  Let us make it easier for you, click on our checklist!

 

Start of Semester Checklist 

 

Dear TLT
Dear TLT, Web 2.0

Dear TLT: How do I Capture a Long Distance Recording of a Guest Speaker?

Chris Meshanko

Dear TLT,

I would like my colleague, in Ohio, to speak to my class about his research on wormholes. Unfortunately, he’s not very tech savvy. Is there a way to record him without him having to use a computer or camcorder–perhaps over the phone? Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Professor Richard “Dick” Solomon
Physics

Dear Professor Solomon,

Welcome to CofC! Rumor has it that you and your family traveled a great distance to join us 🙂 To record your colleague, over the phone, we recommend VoiceThread–a web-based, content delivery application that allows users to assemble and narrate media-rich presentations that can be easily shared with others. What sets VoiceThread apart, from other online content delivery tools, is that it permits viewers to comment on the content being shared–perfect for confirming understanding and encouraging discussion. And, not only do we have a site license for faculty and students, but VoiceThread is also integrated into OAKS.

To get started, view our detailed tutorial and contact your colleague to arrange a date and time to record him, preferably on his office landline. Next, Create a new VoiceThread presentation–be sure to add a Title and upload an image via Add Media (e.g., a wormhole). To initiate the call, Edit the VoiceThread and click on Comment. Open the commenting options (above the timeline) and click on Phone Comment (see image below).

Enter your colleague’s ten-digit phone number and click Call Me (see image below). VoiceThread will call him, within thirty seconds, and invite him to comment. When your colleague hangs up, his comments will be processed and automatically added to the slide.

Add a few discussion slides/prompts after your colleague’s comments and share the VoiceThread with your students.

Please contact your instructional technologist, if you have additional questions or concerns, and check out our upcoming training sessions at http://tlt.eventbrite.com.

Best regards,

TLT

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Dear TLT
Best Practices, Dear TLT, TLT

Dear TLT: Can I Embed a VoiceThread Lecture in OAKS Content?

Chris Meshanko

Dear TLT,

Is it possible to embed a VoiceThread lecture in OAKS content? I know my students access VoiceThread via the Multimedia Resources widget, to make comments, but what if my lecture is view only?

Sincerely,

Professor C. Connors
Genetic Biology

[hr]

Dear Professor Connors,

Great question! Yes, you can. To embed view-only VoiceThread lectures in OAKS content, follow these eight steps:

1.  Log into OAKS and open your course homepage. Click Access VoiceThread for this Course under the Multimedia Resources widget (on the right).

Homepage_-_10_3_ChrisMeshanko

2.  Hover over the VoiceThread that you want to embed and click Share.

3.  Click on the Basic tab and select Embed.

4.  Uncheck the Comment box, leaving and allow anyone to: View checked. Click Copy Embed Code.

5. Go back to OAKS, open Content, and select a module to store your lecture. Click Create a File.

6.  Enter a Title to name the file and click on the Insert Stuff icon.

7.  Click Enter Embed Code. Paste the embed code from VoiceThread and click Next.

8.  Make sure your VoiceThread displays properly and click Insert. Click Publish and exit.

Please contact your instructional technologist, if you have additional questions or concerns, and check out our upcoming training sessions at http://tlt.eventbrite.com.

Best regards,

TLT

 

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DEAR TLT
Dear TLT, TLT

Dear TLT: Can I use OAKS to give feedback to students even if they don’t upload into the Dropbox?

Mendi Benigni

Dear TLT:

I had my students turn in paper copies of a short assignment so that I can easily grade them.  Can I still use OAKS to give them the feedback on their assignments?

Thanks,
Dr. Vince Benigni

Communication Department

 

Dear Vince,

You sure can.  In our latest version of OAKS professors can now leave feedback even if a student doesn’t upload an assignment.

Just create the Dropbox in OAKS then follow the instructions below to submit feedback.
Animated gif of the OAKS Assignment Submission

 

Text-based instructions:

  1. Start by clicking on the assignment name as you normally would.
  2. Next to the Search For text box make sure that it says Hide Search Options.  If it doesn’t, click Show Search Options.  This should open up a greater search area.
  3. From the drop-down list choose Show Everyone then click the magnifying glass next to the search for text box.  This will now open up a list of all students in your class even though they have not submitted an assignment.
  4. Next to their name you should see Evaluate. Click on Evaluate.
  5. Now you can grade this assignment as you normally would. If you have given the assignment a numeric grade you can type that in.  You can also leave text-based feedback in the Feedback box. And lastly you can choose add a file to upload to add a comment file or the scanned paper with the feedback on it.
  6. When finished click Publish.
  7. The student will now be able to see their feedback on this assignment.
College of Charleston OAKS
TLT

New Course Display Feature in OAKS

Zach Hartje

A new feature is available in the OAKS My Courses widget that will make it easier to access your courses. You can now display courses by specific semesters, such as Spring 2015, and by your role (Instructor, Content Assistant, Student, etc). As a result, you’ll be able to find your current courses more quickly and easily. Please see screenshots below for examples of the new feature (note:  this feature will display differently depending on the number of semesters you have taught, thus there are two sets of screenshots below).  If you have any questions, please contact tlt@cofc.edu.

Screenshots for users with less than 10 terms (uses a drop-down feature).

  1. From the semester drop-down menu select a term.

mycoursesscreenshot1

 

  1. Only courses from selected semester will be displayed.

mycoursesscreenshot2

Screenshots for users with more than 10 terms (uses a button feature).

  1. Click the Select Semester button to select a term.

mycoursesscreenshot3

     2. From the pop-up window select desired term.

 mycoursesscreenshot4

  1. Only courses from selected semester will be displayed.

mycoursesscreenshot5

DEAR TLT
Dear TLT, TLT

Dear TLT: Why can’t my students post to my discussion board?

Mendi Benigni

Dear TLT,

I have created a discussion board in OAKS but none of my students can post to it?  What’s going on?

Sincerely,

Professor A. Van Helsing
Vampiric Studies

Dear Professor Van Helsing,

This is a common problem, especially for those who are new to the OAKS Discussion tool.  More than likely you have created a discussion FORUM but not a discussion TOPIC within that Forum.  Just like in the Content tool where you have to have at least one Module before you can add content, you have to have at least one Forum before you can add discussion topics.  A FORUM is just an organizational folder that holds the actual discussions.  The TOPIC is where the actual discussion takes place.  To fix this issue, just navigate to the Discussions area in your OAKS course and choose New > Topic.  Select the Forum in which the topic will reside and then place your instructions or discussion prompt in the Description area.

Once you’ve done this you will notice that the Topic is clickable whereas the Forum is not.  Your students can now post to your discussion.  Remember, you can add multiple Topics to one Forum so don’t think you have to create a new Forum every time.

If this does not resolve your problem then contact your TLT Instructional Technologist for assistance.

Sincerely,

TLT