SELT Evaluations and Wattle

This past week I learned several things about the evaluations which are used by the ANU to measure student satisfaction / dissatisfaction about courses they have just completed. Here are the two most important. 

1. There is a very helpful group of people on campus who get the evaluations ready for the students and the statistical information back to the lecturers. They have a website called Planning & Statistical Services Division If possible try and limit your contact with the staff over peak times as they are a small team. 
 
2. SELT evaluations are not automatic. 

Unless you request a SELT evaluation nothing will appear behind the Evaluations (SELT) block on your Wattle page. Just because the block is there does not mean that there is a SELT Evaluation set up! 

The following information was sent to me by the Evaluations Team: 

We require the completion of a SELT request form, with details of the course, who the teaching staff are, and which teaching questionnaire each lecturer/tutor would like to run.

The selection of questionnaires are available at: http://unistats.anu.edu.au/surveys/selt/instruments/

The request forms (either RTF or editable PDF) for SELT are available at: http://unistats.anu.edu.au/surveys/selt/academics/. The request form should list any auditing students, by Uni ID, in the ‘Additional Information”, as we have no central access to those details.

If you'd like more information, have a look through their website or email the Evaluations Team.
  

Sue.

Post script - also from the Evaluations Team:

You may like to consider the SELT processes within the context of the university’s policy (https://policies.anu.edu.au/ppl/document/ANUP_000469) and guidelines (https://policies.anu.edu.au/ppl/document/ANUP_000787).

Please note, over the course of the last six months, new a new survey and evaluations policy and procedure have passed through College consultation, ESQC, UEC and Academic Board. They now rests with the VC for approval and will supersede the current policy and guidelines. In the meantime, the content of the new policy and procedure can be accessed via UEC minutes 3/2013 from May 2013.

Checklist for new Wattle course sites

New Wattle course sites, whether they are created from a template or rolled over from a previous course site; all need a little attention prior to being used for active teaching.

A checklist which can be used as a guide to prepare Wattle courses prior to start of a new teaching session can be found on the CASS Intranet in the Education section under the heading Technology in education. Select Checklist for New Wattle course sites for a two page pdf.

As always, if you need help contact the CASS Education Development Studio who deal with Wattle in the College.

1 minute 44 seconds to cure the scroll-of-death?

This video by Jen Clevette of PWSD Educational Technology may have been around for a while but I have only just stumbled upon it. It is really clear, concise (only 1 minute 44 seconds) and covers a topic close to all our hearts – making the Wattle course page appear shorter and less cluttered… in other words curing the scroll-of-death.

The following images show my personal sandpit. It has piles of testing stuff in it and to see the whole thing I need to scroll down several times. This course is suffering from the scroll-of-death.

For the above my course Settings has Format set at Topics Format.

By changing Format to Collapsed Topics and saving the change my course now appears as below. (If you access the help for Format, Collapsed Topics does not appear. Not at all helpful!)

You’ll notice Topic Zero remains open but all the other topics have collapsed up to one line each. The content which used to be in the topics is still there, it is just hidden from view. Click on the Topic title or on the + sign on the right to open the topic, as I have done to Topic 2, shown below.

The video mentioned at the start of this post takes you this far.

If you find that you have no text headings against your topics, like my topics 5, 8 and 9 above, you will need to add them yourself. The images below use a different sandpit of mine and show how to change an existing text heading, but the same process applies when adding a new text heading.

Turn editing on, open the first topic, either by clicking the + or by clicking on the topic heading (which could be blank) and click on the edit icon to edit the course summary as shown below.

Uncheck the ‘use default section name’ and then enter a suitable ‘Section name’ and save the changes.

And that’s it.

Even if you need to set up the text headings for all your course topics you may find it makes your Wattle course more easily accessible for students and lecturers alike.  

One more thing…

If you apply this change to the format of your course during the teaching period, I suggest adding a note at the top of Topic zero telling people how to find their ‘lost’ or 'hidden' content. Something clear and easy to find at the very top of Topic zero, like…

Click on Topic headings to open and find content and activities.
Use the Class Discussion forum to comment on the new layout.





The look of Wattle depends on your browser

Your students may think there’s nothing on the wattle course… Your wattle course may look very different in the lecture theatre… What happened to all that content you loaded into your wattle site???

Internet Explorer



These images are of the same wattle course taken today Thursday 21/2/2013. The only difference is the top one is in Internet Explorer, the bottom one, displaying correctly, is in FireFox.

Firefox is the preferred browser for moodle which is the Learning Management System which underpins wattle. There are inconsistent display and editing errors which happen in Internet Explorer. Firefox does tend to be more stable. I don’t personally have much experience using Chrome or Safari, but I believe they are also more consistent than Internet Explorer.



FireFox

TIPS: using DLD and lecture theatre equipment

During this week’s AV equipment familiarisation, organised by George Lovrincevic, I was reminded of a number of useful and / or important things. Here is a selection which may interest you.

Would you like to do a ‘test run’ of using the Digital Lecture Delivery system?

Check the lecture theatre you are scheduled to use is free, then go in and test it out!

2013 Room Bookings http://timetable.anu.edu.au/bookings/ shows Room availability, location and equipment.

You would like an assisted ‘test run’ of the Digital Lecture Delivery system?

Contact the people who take care of the lecture spaces and other venues too http://itservices.anu.edu.au/teaching-and-learning-support/ or visit them at the Space Services desk & shopfront, Room G037 in the Copland Building #24 from Monday to Friday, 8am – 5pm.

Remember that the rooms and assistance are likely to be available during o-week, but from week 1 they will probably all be busy.

If something doesn’t work in the lecture theatre, what do I do?

Check the batteries and change if necessary. Each day the venues are supplied with batteries, but you may like to carry spares (AA and 9V) as the batteries often get stolen.

Every DLD enabled lecture space has a telephone, usually on the desk or the wall, with a great big sign next to it. Use the phone to call the extension number listed on the sign.

Expected response times when you call for help?

Depends on the problem – some can be fixed over the phone, some need a person to come out.

Especially during peak times like the start of semester, please be patient as there are 5 people servicing approx. 400 venues!!! (Now may be a good time to do that ‘test run’!)

Coffee / coke / tea / water…

all liquids must be placed on a separate table AWAY from all the equipment.

Accidents happen.

The main control panel cost around $12,000 (twelve thousand dollars) and can take between 1 and 10 days to repair.

Is the recording started automatically?

No.

Click on the Lecture recording icon on the desktop (the mac and the pc have the same icon, use whichever one you prefer).

Check the name, course code, venue and session offered by the system, change if necessary. This is important as it is how the recording is directed to your Wattle site.

Check that the audio bars across the screen are moving to show the microphone is working.

Press Start to start the recording.

Does the recording stop by itself?

After 2 hours and 55 minutes.

It is good practice to stop the recording (press the big Stop button) and logout when you have finished your lecture.

What gets recorded?

Almost everything that is shown on the big screen while DLD is recording. Pre-recorded movies (DVD, Blue ray, etc) and YouTube videos are not recorded.

Can I edit the recording?

No.

Can anyone edit the recording?

No.

A recorded lecture is not showing up in Wattle, what now?

Contact wattle.cass@anu.edu.au or wattle.support@anu.edu.au and list the following details:

Course code; lecturer name; lecture venue; lecture date and time; did you receive a confirmation email; were there any errors displayed on the venue computer.

Lost recordings are often caused by a difference between the proposed details and the actual details.

Once found, lecture recordings may take up to 4 hours to be reprocessed before going on to the Wattle site.

I trust you have found some of these reminders useful.

Sue