Dr Bobbie Fletcher & Nia Wearn

Games Technology Group

Breakdown of Fast-E Rapid innovation in the use of emerging technologies to enhance

educational practice 2009-10

FCET Staff Away Days

Initial issues, Aim & objectives

Big filesLots of studentsCorruptible media (cd's / dvd's)Lots of wasteConsistency issues with markingStudents not picking up feedback, then complaining

Why games is a good example    Big assignments    Lots of different, complex hand ins

Initial Case study (1st Semester)

Digital Marking 1A – 2 lecturers, 107 assignments each    Via Dropbox & Excel    Used the digital copy they hand in anyway    e-mailed feedback    Crude by effective

The Digital Marking was easier & quicker then normal method of marking

 Also used Forums & Nings (for the first time for Assessment)

-Mixed Results

Fast-EFeedback, Assessment and Submission Totally-Electronically

Aims1. Create a process by which the Games Technology

assessments are assessed and feedback received by the students electronically, eliminating any paper process.

2. Speed up the process of marking and deliver feedback in a timely and consistent manner

3. Reduce the environmental impact of assessments and feedback

Submission    Elected to use existing Blackboard methods of submission    Integrated System - students familiar with them Assessment & Marking    Digital only    Devices to combat the HCI issues of marking digitally    (biggest complaint when discussion digital marking)  Feedback        Blackboard via MyGrades or E-mail 

Fast-e Breakdown

Submission

Dropbox    Crude but:        No limits on file size, or file type        No link to Grademark        No Receipt - does bug out        2 Part Submission confuses our students        Can Bug out with large files     Assignment    Not 100% dependable    Takes more file types, technically no limit on file sizes but does bug out with big ones    Slightly convoluted but does work with Grade mark No Receipt Turn it in    Great for text (Pdf or Doc, not Docx)    Needs at least 20 written words    Great if lots of people are marking the same assignment- rubrics etc are lovely    Gives a receipt but limited usage in Games.

Assessment

Rubrics on Turn it in or  Building spreadsheets in Grade Center  or Sharing a Excel Spreadsheet between x amount of people

Marking Devices

Sony E-Reader    pdf & docx - least amount of faff    No video but does do Mps3    No other types of files    Very nice to read    Annotations are a lie Amazon Kindle    pdfs work properly after an upgrade (previously needed converting to a e-book)    Nice to read    Needs an Amazon account to work    No annotation

Marking Devices Cont

32GB Ipod Touch was stolen from our office =((wasn't all that useful anyway) IPad    Needs an ITunes account to even switch on    works well with pdfs but they need to be downloaded via stanaza app's    Nice to read from but doesn't do docs    Can do video & audio –

but very funny on codecs and overall not that useful

             

Marking Devices roundup

Nothing we found could do annotations that were useful     Netbooks are nice for portability but small screens don't

help with HCI issues. One method to have 2 devices

One for reading One connected to GradeCenter for Feedback & Marks

 I suspect in between writing this and presenting it a firmware

update somewhere will have changed everything. 

Everything exists on vague vapors from the future.

Assessment

Needs to think differently in some cases:    How will they break it (and they will)    What could go wrong (and it will)    Other issues        Data Protection        Copyright Issues        Plagiarism 

Big complex multi-part files are always going to be an issue.(Text is super easy)

 We'd love to have our own version of YouTube or something

stable for assessment/

Feedback

Grade Center = My GradesComments on each section appear as feedbackEnable it for students to view at your leisure

    Build Spreadsheets into BlackBoard Grade Center        - No one gets lost        - Great for consistency        - Easy to send (download and e-mail) Complex marking structures, percentages etc = handy to have a

PhD in Mathematical Modeling TurnItIn - they pick up comments – (not tried the new version) 

No one has complained so far about not getting feedbackOn average they're getting better feedback, and more of it.

Other Digital marking stuff

Not strictly part of Fast-E but highlights other methods we're doing: 3D work marked on Forums & Nings (not any more - too expensive and hard to control)    Works great – and under uni control    Fosters competition (and complaints)    Time Consuming    Needs a lot of supervision Some students really seem to like it 

Works well in combination with a spreadsheet Grade Center (but doesn't everything)

Submission Cock-Up    - Assignment =(      - Turn it in =)

Too large, sometimesBugged people out

No second attempts (locked out tutors too)

Marking - none of the devices fit for purpose - brightness & text size issues (some fixed now)

Setting up Grade Center like excel =)

Using Grade Center for Feedback (My Grades Tool Button) =)

Case Study for Intro to Games Audio Engines

Things we have learnt

We did have some tiny admin issues with the External 

GradeCenter & Blackboard are ace - and we can use them a lot more - does take time to set up, but once it's there it's there.

 Wonderful ways of keeping consistency - as we lean on part

time lecturers more and more then this is key 

Students can, and will, break everything - they are the best people to test these kinds of things

 Nothing is perfect, there is no easy solution, Don't believe

the hype

The Serene Calm of C160 Now