Supporting Quality Assurance and Enhancement: Promoting Paperless Approaches to Collaborative Quality Procedure

Cobham, David

Jacques, Kevin

English

University of Lincoln Institutional Repository

The Pervasive Use of Blackboard to Support Quality Assurance and Enhancement: Promoting Paperless Approaches to Collaborative Quality Procedures Context • University of Lincoln implemented Blackboard as the de facto institutional standard VLE from September 2008 • The School of Computer Science (SoCS) was one of two Schools who used Blackboard as pilot users from September 2007 • SoCS Head of School David Cobham appointed Kevin Jacques as Blackboard Champion to drive use  Initial Policy Implementation • ‘Minimum Standard’ set of pages and styles for the provision of materials to students through Bb sites to present a consistent student view • Use of Institutional Content Store (Study Materials) for all learning materials ‘linked to’ from Bb sites (aids reuse) • Key policy documents appear on all Bb sites but are only stored once in Content Store (Admin) making version control easy • Wholly electronic submission of student work from 2008 through Grade Centre (Gradebook)  Second Stage Enhancements • All student feedback recorded in Bb Grade Centre • Mark recording for all modules of study happens through Grade Centre (download mechanism is used to export data into UoL Student Management System) • Initiation of ‘Level Sites’ to engage with students at higher level than Modules also in Bb • Wide use of Role to allow permission setting on global documentation folders   Bb as a Catalyst for Change • Bb adopts a Module – Delivery Year naming convention for sites • SoCS realised that this maps well with our traditional use of Module Boxes as a means to store Quality Assurance evidence • Bb Discussion Boards are also available at the Module – Delivery Year level so dialogue between staff members around assessment setting can also be stored  QA Initiatives • External Examiner Engagement – All EE’s are Bb users for UoL – Each assigned as Instructors on modules for which they have responsibility – All EE moderation (verification) is done through Bb and can therefore be done remotely – this includes moderation of student work – Discussion Boards within Module sites record approval mechanisms for the whole assessment approval cycle (setting, moderating, revision) – Assignment documentation is pre-stored in Bb assessments (but kept ‘unavailable’ until approved so students only see final versions)  QA Initiatives • Students – Module evaluation now done through Bb survey for each module (twice per academic year) • SoCS Staff – All feedback to students however must be recorded in Grade Centre – Recording of statistical data and reflections on student performance and evaluations all done through Discussion boards • The only paper used in ALL of our QA is the EE module sign-off form at the end of each cycle Demonstration and Q&A Contacts • David Cobham – Head of School – Lincoln School of Computer Science – dcobham@lincoln.ac.uk  • Kevin Jacques – Director of Teaching and Learning – Lincoln School of Computer Science – kjacques@lincoln.ac.uk 

Supporting quality assurance and enhancement: promoting paperless approaches to collaborative quality procedures

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University of Lincoln Institutional Repository