Students share pictures

Keywords: Peer assessment, group assignment

Activity/Activities:  Database

Description: The teacher wants students to share pictures containing descriptive text (as a datacard) so that students and the teacher can comment on each other’s pictures on the same datacard. The teacher grades the work.  


Solution: Use a database. From the 'Add an activity or resource' button, add 'Database', name it, and save it using the 'Save and display' button. Go to the 'Template' tab and choose the readymade template ‘Preset with three image container and text field’. Click on the hypertext in the text box with the text ‘Please create some below or choose a predefined set to get started'. Add the possibility to comment (Edit settings → entries → allow comments on entries.) See more about database.  

Note:  

  • Groups and grouping required. See more about groups and grouping.
  • Easy to implement and easy to use.
  • Use for all the participants in the course, not for small groups.  
  • Can be used as a gallery


Alternatives: discussion forum  (add title/phrase that links to this case description)



Students share files in database form

Keywords: Peer assessment, group assignment

Activity/Activities:  Database

Description: The teacher wants students to share file(s) including descriptive text (as a datacard). Students and the teacher add comments on the same datacard, and the teacher grades the work.

Solution: Add 'Database' from the list that appears on clicking the 'Add an activity or resource' button, name it and save it using the 'Save and display' button.  Choose ‘Create a new field’, and add as many fields as you need, one at a time. Remember that you must at least name the field so as to create it. Make templates for single view and list view (Template tab → Single template and Template tab → List template). First, click a field name and then click inside the template in the location you want a field to be placed. Save the template. Add the possibility to comment (Edit settings → entries → allow comments on entries). See more about database.


Note:  

  • Groups and grouping needed. See more about groups and grouping.
  • Making and editing templates is a little complicated.
  • Easy-to-use for students.  
  • To make the database anonymous, remove the username field from the template.

Alternatives: discussion forum, workshop  


Students comment on each other’s text or pictures within their own group

Keywords: Peer assessment, group assignment

Activity/Activities:  Database

Lisää kuva

Description: The teacher wants students to fill many different kinds of fields (like datacard), and the students need to see all the cards as well as to add comments.  

Solution: Add a database activity/resource.  ‘Create a new field’ and add all the fields you need, one by one. Make templates for single view and list view (see the example above). First, click on a field name and then click inside the template in the place you want a field to be. Save the template. Add the possibility to comment (Edit settings → entries → allow comments on entries). 


Edit database → common module settings, and choose 'Separated groups' from 'Group mode'. (Groups must be made and students added to the groups). Now, the student can see the entries of their own group, and they can comment within their own group. The list view can be edited. See more about database.

Note:

  • Groups and grouping required. See more about groups and grouping.
  • Making and editing templates is a little more complicated.
  • Easy-to-use for students.

Alternatives: discussion forum (use separated groups)


Groups share their work in database format, and other groups comment on the work

Keywords: Peer assessment, group assignment

Activity/Activities:  Database

Description: The teacher wants groups to share their work in a database format, and other groups comment on it.  

One group member represents their group and fills out a database card for the whole group (text or pictures) that is added to the database. The representative also saves the comments of the group into the database.


Solution: Add database activity/resource. ‘Create a new field’ and add all the fields you need, one by one. Make templates for single view and list view (see the example 'Students share files in database form' above). First, click a field name, and then click inside the template in the location you want the field to be placed. Save the template. Add the possibility to comment (Edit settings → entries → allow comments on entries).  Do not use any kind of group mode in 'Common module settings'. You can add a field to ask the names of all group members in the database view.  See more about database.

The teacher manually grades the other group members in gradebook.   

Note:

  • Making and editing templates is a little more complicated.
  • Use is not very intuitive.
  • No group settings are available.  
  • Group submission is not possible.  

Alternatives: workshop, discussion forum


Groups share videos and give peer feedback  

Keywords: Peer assessment, group assignment

Activity/Activities: Panopto, Forum 

Description: Project teams create short videos and give feedback to other teams.

Solution: Student teams create videos with Panopto (see the Panopto instructions). The teacher can create a shared Panopto folder where students save their videos. This folder can be added to a MyCourses page with a Panopto block (see picture). Student teams give feedback to each other in Forum (see Using Forum for peer assessment). 


For more information, see detailed instructions.

Note: 

  • Creating groups and groupings is recommended but not necessary in MyCourses
  • Ensure that only course participants can see the student videos in MyCourses (see detailed instructions). 

Alternatives:

  • Workshop activity in MyCourses
  • Students can record their videos with other software and save them to Panopto, or simply share a link to their video in the MyCourses Forum.  

Using Forum for peer assessment

Keywords: Peer assessment, group work, group settings

Activity/Activities: Forum

Description: The teacher presents a question to which students can answer and discuss in groups.

Solution: Choosing 'Simple discussion', the teacher posts a question to which only students can answer. 'Simple discussion' does not give access to 'Separate groups'; for this, use 'Standard forum' instead. In 'Group mode' (in 'Common module settings'), the properties concerning the groups and grouping can be chosen.

With 'Separate groups', the teacher can choose a new discussion for all course participants or for a selected group only. If a topic for a particular group is chosen, only the members of this group can see the discussion.

With 'Visible groups', all students can see each other's posts, names and group work, but discussion is restricted to their own group only. The teacher can, however, see all discussions regardless of the selected group mode. The teacher can add a comment to all groups by first selecting 'All participants' and then 'Add a new discussion topic', and, if necessary, set a common discussion area for all discussions.


Note: You can create a joint discussion area for all or groups, and creating one for each group separately is not necessary.

Alternative solutions: Workshop


General group discussion in Forum

Keywords: Group work, general discussion, group settings

Activity/Activities: Forum

Description: The representative of a group posts a document to all groups, and all groups can comment it.

Solution: In this case, it is easier not to use the group mode. Instead, set 'Group mode' to 'No groups'. Also, set the group settings to 'Visible groups' and 'For general use'.

Alternative solution: Chat, workshop



Ideas with Forum

Keywords: Related activities

Activity/Activities:  Forum

Description: Why should I use Forum instead of other activities?

Solution: Forum can be used for discussions between the teacher and the students. It works especially well with discussions, reviews and group work, and attaching media, such as pictures and videos, to group discussions is also possible. The discussions on Forum can be reviewed by the teacher, or as a peer-review tool either by individuals or by groups.

Students can have discussions and be involved in the forum, which may even evolve into something beyond the theme of the lecture and raise a topic of its own. The teacher may need to encourage discussion, help with topics and shape ideas. The teacher could also let students initiate discussion topics and thus see what topics generally need further exploration.


Grading group work

Keywords: Grading, Aggregate type, Follow up activities

Activity/Activities: Forum


Description: How should I grade or assess group work in Forum?

Solution: The grading scale is customizable and the grades are recorded in the grade book. You can set 'Aggregate type' to decide how this grading in the grade book is combined with grades from other activities in the final grading. In 'Grade to pass', you can restrict access so that a student will not be able to access a follow-up activity until they have obtained a required grade or rating in the forum.

By default, only a teacher can rate the activity, although students can be given permission to do so too (see Forum permissions). Peer review (link?) can be a useful form to activate students to discuss and examine each other's work.

Note: See Ratings (link?) for an explanation of aggregate types and which one is best for you.


Grading group work with the help of Turnitin's similarity report

Keywords: Group assignment, Turnitin

Activity/Activities: Turnitin assignment

Description: The teacher grades group assignments with a number scale with the help of Turnitin's similarity reports (group assignments are compared to each other as well as to other sources). Every group member gets a mark. 

Solution See detailed instructions

Peer and/or self review in Turnitin assignment activity

Keywords: Peer assessment, Self-assessment, Peer annotation

Activity/Activities: Turnitin assignment

Description: Each student submits a paper and then reviews a certain number of other papers written by their peers.  A peer review can include open or multiple-choice questions. Peers can also comment on a paper (using the annotation feature). Papers for a review can be distributed automatically or manually, or students can select the papers they review. Students can also be asked to review their own paper (self review). A teacher can assess both papers and peer reviews. An option: a teacher can see Turnitin similarity reports of papers (which are not available for peers).

Solution See detailed instructions how to add a peer review into Turnitin assignment

Alternatives: Workshop