LMS Weekly Update: Upcoming Changes on Appointments and Grading Final Exams

Posted on Friday, April 17th, 2020

Update on the LMS Faculty Support

Message from Michel Marcheterre, Digital Learning Environment Strategist, about the Appointments Upcoming Changes.

As we settle in this new way of providing support, I’m happy to announce that our support team is growing. With the additional support specialists, it allows us to make some changes to the way we deliver support through appointments.

As of Monday, April 20th, 2020:

  • Appointments will be for 25 minutes maximum. Our extra capacity allows us to spend more time with you.
  • We still ask that you limit yourself to one appointment per day. If you require more time, our support specialist will, at the end of your appointment, establish a strategy to provide you the help you need.
  • We ask you to please cancel an appointment ASAP if you can’t make it.
  • When you book an appointment, you will not be able to select which support specialist helps you – the system will assign your appointment to the next available support specialist.

You can schedule an appointment by clicking here.

You can still get help by emailing brightspace@algonquincollege.com. When you email us, make sure to use descriptive subjects (avoid generic titles like “Help!”, “Problem” or “Brightspace”).

Common Quiz Questions Asked AFTER the Exam Week

 

  • My final exam has questions I need to manually grade. How do I grade them? Many quiz question types will be graded automatically, as long as you have provided the answer key. In some cases, you may need to manually grade a quiz. Here are the recommended steps.
  • I have students who claim they have completed the exam, but did not get to submit it. How do I see and grade their attempts? When a learner takes a quiz, but fails to submit it, Brightspace shows no submission or grade. The learner’s quiz becomes an “attempt in progress.” You can search for the attempt and then submit it by “impersonating” the learner so that the quiz can be graded.
  • Some of my students could not take the exam when it was scheduled for the entire class. How do I reopen the exam only for those students? You will need to use the Special Access options, from the Restrictions tab. Click here to learn how to do it.
  • What do I do if my students have completed the exam, but I don’t see their grades in the Gradebook? Go to Activities/Quizzes and edit the quiz. Check if you have a Grade item associated with the quiz, on the Assessment tab. If not, create one using the Add Grade Item link. In addition to this, make sure that the Allow automatic export to grades option is checked off.
  • I need to hide the Final Calculated grade column. How do I do it? Click here for details.
  • I need to hide the grades until I finish grading the exam for all students. What is the best way to do it? Make the quiz inactive (from Activities/Quizzes, edit the quiz and hide it from the Restrictions tab) AND hide the gradebook item, as well. Go to Grades/ Enter Grades view, click on the chevron for the title of the column and choose Edit. From the Restrictions tab check off the Hide from Users option.

GOOD to KNOW! Displaying how the final grade is calculated will actually give away the hidden grades. From Grades, click on the Settings option and then on the Org Unit Display Options tab. Make sure that the Display how final grade was calculated to users is not checked off.

  • My final exam is graded and students can view their grades, but now I would like my students to have access to the exam questions and their answers. The submission view settings determine how students see their completed quizzes. Click here to learn how to show quiz results using submission views.

Zoom Security Changes

As already advertised by ITS, two features will become Zoom defaults as of Monday, April 20th – Password Protection and Waiting Rooms. These settings apply to all meetings scheduled through Outlook, Brightspace, and the web portal. The password, which is auto-generated and will display when you are setting up the meeting, will be embedded in the Brightspace link to join the session, and does not need to be shared, as long as students access the session through Brightspace.

For all other questions or inquiries regarding these Zoom changes, please contact ITS at 613-727-4723 x5555 or 5555@algonquincollege.com.


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