We have several updates to our learning tools as we head into the Fall 2021 semester. All of these updates are live today unless otherwise noted. Be sure to review our July 2021 updates blog post as well for information on updates to Assignments, Grades, and Quizzes.
New Assignment Evaluation Experience
The interface available to you when grading Assignments in iCollege has been updated. Please review the Grade Assignments in iCollege Knowledge Base article for additional details.
New Brightspace Editor
A new toolbar is available when editing text in iCollege. This toolbar will display when creating Announcements, Discussion posts, Emails, Content, and most areas where an open text field is available. Please review the iCollege Text Editor Knowledge Base article for additional details.
TA and Instructor Enrollments
For Fall 2021, we are resuming the normal processes for TA and Instructor enrollments in iCollege. This means that any person who needs access to FERPA protected information (TA Graders, TA Full Access, or Instructors) in iCollege must be enrolled by either our nightly Banner processes or an iCollege administrator. TA Designers who help design but not grade courses can be enrolled into courses by Instructors. For additional information about these processes, please review the enrollment information on the CETLOE web site.
PlayPosit Interactive Video
PlayPosit, an interactive video tool, is now available in every course in iCollege. PlayPosit allows for in-video quizzing that passes to the iCollege gradebook. A variety of question types are available, and videos from a variety of sources like Kaltura and YouTube can be utilized. Please review the PlayPosit Essentials Knowledge Base article for additional information.
Fall Tool Pilots
We are continuing to offer access to two pilot tools for Fall 2021:
- Harmonize provides enhanced discussion capabilities that are not found in the iCollege Discussion Tool. The user interface for discussions provides a modern look and feel that is similar to what user experience with popular social media applications. It offers many of the social media-like features requested by faculty, includes milestone due dates, participation grading, and the ability to include code snippets which are not available in iCollege.
- FeedbackFruits’ Group Member Evaluation tool streamlines the way students assess their peers’ collaboration skills. The instructor specifies by which criteria students evaluate their peers’ contribution to group work. Additionally, instructors can require students to elaborate, by commenting on the feedback they provide their peers, thereby combining quantitative and qualitative feedback. Groups are automatically synced from iCollege and each student is automatically assigned. The built-in analytics allow instructors to instantly monitor students’ progress and the amount of time they spent giving feedback.
If you are interested in participating in either or both of these pilots, please submit the Fall 2021 Tool Pilot Participation survey. Please note that pilot participation is on a first come, first serve basis.
