Nigel Gibson R13 March 2006

eTMAs – Where they are at each stage Objective: To help colleagues internalise the stages involved in the eTMA

process. Overview:

The movement of eTMAs is analogous with the paper system and it might help to think of it as such. Students complete and “post” the assignments directly onto a computer at Milton Keynes. Tutors download the assignments, synonymous with the postman arriving, mark them and then post them back onto the computer at Walton Hall.

NB Steps marked in Orange are carried out on the Internet, steps marked in Blue are carried out on the PC and do not require an Internet connection to complete. Step 1 The postman arrives

eTMAs are collected from the eTMA screen on TutorHome. This screen shot shows a list of assignments for collection. The area circled in red is the key part. Make sure that “file type” is set to “Self Extract”, press “Select All” and each of the checkboxes in the light blue column will be populated with a tick. Then press “Collect”. The web site will click and beep and whirr as the file is created and it will then offer a file to save. Save this to the Downloads folder of the eTMAs folder on your PC’s C:\ drive (this should have set this up as directed in the eTMA training manual). Log out of TutorHome now and close the Internet connection if appropriate – the next stages take place on the PC rather than the Internet.

Nigel Gibson R13 March 2006

Step 2 Opening the envelopes

Use Windows Explorer to find the C:\etmas\download folder. The downloaded files will be shown and the “date modified” will indicate the latest file – the filename is made up of the year – month – date – time so this is also a useful check. Double click the file.

Click “Ok”.

Nigel Gibson R13 March 2006

Step 3 Marking

Open the OU File Handler and select the appropriate course and TMA number and press “Display”. Double click on the student’s name and this will open the PT3 entry dialogue.

Select TMA to view and open the TMA files. Follow the faculty specific instructions to mark the assignment and complete the PT3. Step 4 Putting them back in an envelope

When the assignments are marked select the “View Zip Window” icon. In the column headed “Zip?” tick the check boxes next to the assignments to zip – if an assignment has already been zipped this will be shown, i.e. this accommodates marking and returning assignments in batches. The file handler will prompt for the appropriate place to save the zipped file – one file will be created containing all the assignments being zipped in this operation – select the returns sub-folder of the eTMAs folder.

Nigel Gibson R13 March 2006

Step 5 Posting them back to Walton Hall

Reconnect to the Internet and sign in to TutorHome, go to the eTMA page and select “return TMAs”.

This will prompt for the file to return, press Browse and select the file in the C:\etmas\returns folder. Select Return TMA(s) and watch the machine whiz and whir again. NB Select “Regrade” only if the TMAs have already been uploaded once and this is a regarded paper – a note of the reason must be shown on the PT3 or Assignment Handling will make contact before changing the student’s recorded mark. When the file has been successfully uploaded a confirmation screen listing the student details and the mark awarded will be displayed. The process is complete.