MyUnihub/MyLearning/Oasisplus Workshop UniHelp

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1 Overview of Teams MyUnihub/MyLearning/Oasisplus Workshop UniHelp Learning Resources Helpdesk Team (UniHelp) You form the front line in supporting the students in their use of all supported online technologies. You will deal with all face to face queries. Quscient WebHelpdesk Working alongside you, Quscient WebHelpdesk provide remote front line support via web site and telephone. WebHelpdesk The WebHelpdesk, also based in Sheppard Library, provide second line support to Quscient WebHelpdesk. e-learning Support Team The e-learning support team provide second line support for all e-learning issues. The e-learning team can be reached by and by telephone. CCSS CCSS provide third line support, supporting all the underlying infrastructure in the University. Only the e-learning Support Team contact CCSS should any issue warrant it. Overview of all the systems and how they integrate with each other MyUnihub forms the heart of most students access to online resources. As a Single Sign-On, this gives students access to Misis, MyLearning (Oasisplus) and a number of other resources. It is not exclusive though as there are other systems which may not be integrated. In this workshop we are focusing on MyLearning (or Oasisplus). MyLearning (Oasisplus), is the University s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is the place where the students access things like their lecture notes, take online assessments and submit essay assignments, amongst many other things. We ll look at more of these things later. It s important that students have prompt access to this. How students gain access: The Misis/MyUnihub (Oasisplus) Relationship 1a. Students are automatically enrolled by a process which takes student enrollment data from Misis, the Student Database, which identifies which modules they are studying and enrolls them onto the corresponding MyLearning modules. It is critical, therefore that the students Misis data is accurate and up to date at all times. You can check this data via Misis Core or Misis Self Service. If you check via Misis Core, you can change enrollment data or ask an authorised data administrator to carry out the function for you. Once enrollment data has been invoked, it may take until 8pm of the same day for the data to be updated on MyLearning for the student to gain access to a module. You must allow this time. 1b. Some students may exceptionally have been granted access to a module space on the VLE which is not part of the automated process. If they do not have access to the module space, and raise a query, you may not necessarily find a record of it on Misis either. In such cases, you may need to refer to the e-learning team. 1c. Re-sit students are also automatically enrolled but this is dependent on their Misis record being correctly updated with a Next Sit date which is within the current term. If no Next Sit date is recorded or is out of date or is one term or more ahead of the current term, the student will not gain access. 1d. Holds and Withdrawals. A Hold is University tool for providing sanctions against students who have transgressed the University s proper procedures. If a student, for example, fails to pay Fees, they are not allowed to continue their studies and are denied access to the University s critical computing systems that facilitate their progress. There are various grades of Hold, some of which will suspend students access to MyUnihub and therefore MyLearning. These are displayed on the

2 student s Misis record. A Withdrawn student is also suspended access to MyUnihub/MyLearning. Check Academic Standing on Misis record. 2. Logging In. Students log in to MyUnihub, click on MyLearning list of modules. This then takes them into the VLE, initially displaying the Course List. This course list may display more than their MyLearning list of modules. It also shows that it provides a generic route into the VLE course list. If a module is missing from this Course list, which is on the Student s Misis record, and it doesn t resolve itself by the automated process by 8pm, please refer to the e-learning team. Turnitin Turnitin is an enhanced Assignment Drop-box. It is plugged in to all modules in MyLearning (Oasisplus), though it may not necessarily be switched on/set up. It is an external web based tool which is set up by academic staff for receiving students essays and assignments and forms the central tool for the University s e-assessment strategy. It is also the tool that generates the most queries by students and staff. This tool will be covered in more detail in a separate workshop. In this workshop we will simply be looking at identifying and locating the availability of this tool. Turnitin assignments should not be confused with MyLearning (Oasisplus) assignments. Sometimes, both facilities may be visible which may confuse students. It is for the tutor to direct the students appropriately to the correct assignment drop box which has been set up for the specified task. MyLearning / Oasisplus assignment drop box assignments may be used in preference to Turnitin when non-standard assignment artefacts such as zip files or file sizes greater than 20MB need to be submitted. MyLearning (Oasisplus) MyGrades Tool/ Grade Book The MyLearning MyGrades tool is the place where students can see their grades and possibly some feedback processes from the tutor. The MyGrades tool information is derived from the Tutor s Grade Book tool, which is a spreadsheet type page showing all the students grades. The students view in MyGrades shows a personalised view and so is confidential to each student. Turnitin Grade Mark When a tutor marks a student s essay with Turnitin s Grade Mark tools, and provides a grade, that grade is immediately transmitted back to the MyLearning MyGrades tool, and the student can see it, sometimes prematurely, if the tutor has not turned off the grade release for that assignment, causing much anxiety. More on these issues in the Turnitin workshop. Other Supported e-learning Technologies You should also be aware of other e-learning technologies being operated at the University. The following are supported: 1. Middlesex Wikis: about half a dozen modules per year use Middlesex Wikis for group assignment work, totalling about 1,000 students. This is supported by the e-learning support team. 2. Pebblepad: This is Middlesex s e-portfolio system, which is a student centred web based platform. Students use this for producing personal work portfolios. Approximately 1,500 students use eportfolios. This is supported by the e-learning support team. 3. Unsupported Technologies. Some individual members of staff may have set up networks which are not centrally supported. If you are aware of any of these and you know they are not supported, you cannot provide support for them. If you are not aware of a particular system and whether it is or is not supported, please refer to the e-learning support team for further advice.

3 Responsibilities of e-learning team The e-learning team provide the central support for all user groups of the VLE systems. The e-learning team provide second line support for students behind you, the Unihelp team, the Quscient WebHelpdesk and the WebHelpdesk. The e- Learning team provide first line support to academic staff and liaise with them regularly and problem solve live issues as they arise. Responsibilities of Academic Staff Academic staff are responsible for the design content of their MyLearning (Oasisplus) modules. They are responsible for the entire content. This consists of uploading of materials, placing and organising icons and links which access those materials, including Turnitin assignments. Academics are also responsible for communicating with their students effectively to guide them on how to access these resources and materials. Typical structure of online content There is no such thing as a typical structure! However, you will learn how to recognise and navigate around most modules content by the visual cues which the designers (the academic staff) provide, such as calling a folder Assessments for where assessments or assignments might have been placed. Materials are often thrown onto the module s home page is a disorganised manner, without a disciplined structure. As such, most recently created or loaded items, may often be found as icons at the bottom of folder pages. The standard icon set used by most academics can usually be identified by orange folder icons. There are two other icon sets which you may come to notice the old Oasis icon set predominates in Business School modules and there is a custom icon set which is being used in Distance Learning programmes. The menu on the left is called the Inventory and is a place where most usergenerated materials are stored. The staff view and the student view of the left menu are very different; the module tutor sees a designer view or instructor view whilst the student sees the student view, and these have corresponding menu items. The tutor controls how much of the menu is visible to the students. The tools on the left menu may consist of: Announcements, Assessments, Assignments, Calendar, Discussions, Goals, Learning Modules, Mail, Media Library, Roster, Syllabus, Web Links, Who s Online, Chat (which doesn t work). My Tools: My Grades, My Files, My Progress, see figure 1. Figure 1 - Left Menu Inventory Figure 2 shows a typical home page with the standard icon set. Orange folders represent folder links to further pages of stuff. The yellow icons which look like A4 sheets of paper represent single documents of whatever format, usually Word documents. The icon at bottom-right represents a Turnitin Assignment icon. There are many other icons which you will learn to recognise, including Learning modules (which are another way to organise materials just like folder pages), web links, and discussion boards. Searching through Learning Modules structure can be just as fiddly as looking through a messy folder page, except they are in a list format! Some things to note: Announcements: there are often obsolete announcements visible to the students. Most academic staff are very lazy when it comes to maintaining and keeping fresh their module spaces and don t bother deleting things which no longer apply. Old announcements in the Announcements inventory are a sure fire indicator of the state of the materials in the module. A possible reason for the failure to maintain and remove old announcements is that the

4 tool is buggy and tutors have to contact the e-learning team to get them removed. Assessments are complicated. Issues include release of the quiz icon, start date and time revealing the link, proctor password, supervision, quiz or browser freezing mid-way through a quiz, results and feedback being released inappropriately, etc. Assignments: Not to be confused with Turnitin assignments! The MyLearning (Oasisplus) Assignment tool and the Turnitin Assignment tool both carry out the same basic function but are entirely different. The MyLearning (Oasisplus) Assignment tool is basic drop box mechanism with some useful features, for example, it can accept different file types such as Zip files. Turnitin can only accept single, text based documents, such as Word, txt, or PDF format documents. However it can detect plagiarism. The trouble is academics often leave both types of assignment tools showing, confusing the students. You need to be able to differentiate between the two and work out which one is relevant each time! In the MyLearning (Oasisplus) assignment tool, tutors can return the assignment with feedback as an attachment and students can make a further submission. Chat tool doesn t work! Mail Tool has nothing to do with the mdx.live accounts! It is local to the module only. It does however, receive Turnitin assignment receipts from Turnitin immediately when a student successfully submits an assignment. Figure 2 - Typical home page with standard icon set. Typical Problems (TPs) There could be a thousand different issues which may arise which you will learn how to deal with. As it is impossible to cover all of these, we will look at just a few examples.

5 TP1. There is no Turnitin icon when a student comes to submit their work. (Or, I am doing my project & want to check plagiarism but Turnitin does not show in my account.) Resolution: search for icon. If not reasonably found, refer student back to the module tutor/leader for further guidance. TP2. I m taking a quiz and my computer screen froze. Help! Resolution: Go to the student s computer with student. Ask the student to close all the browser windows down. Re-start with the same browser, log back in, go to the quiz icon and click the quiz icon. There will be an option to Continue assessment. Click button and continue from where they left off (unless they have run out of time). TP3. My friends can see their grade but I can t see mine! Resolution: the tutor may still be in the process of marking and has not yet reached the student s submission. The tutor may not have hidden the grade column correctly, exposing students grades whilst in the process of marking. This is a design flaw which may cause some students some distress. It is called Premature Release of Grade and Feedback. TP4. My tutor has told me which folder I can find document xyz but I went there and can t see it. - Resolution: The icon may be located elsewhere in the module or it may have been Hidden by the tutor or it may have been Selectively Released to a Target Audience, or by Date and the release date has not yet been reached. Try a brief search with the student present and if not found, refer the student back to the tutor/module leader. TP5. I ve found the quiz I need to take, but there s no link. (Or the quiz asks me for a password) - Resolution: The start of the quiz may not have been reached yet; hence the link has not yet become active. Student should be advised to read when the start date and time is and be ready to take the assessment then. If the quiz requires a password, this is because the quiz is required to be taken under strict or supervised conditions. Student should contact the tutor about this. TP6. I want to access my Middlesex Mail to contact my friend in Australia but it looks different. What s going on? Resolution: Identify which mail tool is being used. If using the MyLearning (Oasisplus) Mail tool, advise the students that this is not a mail tool for ing outside of the module space. For that, they should log in to their Mdx Live accounts, which is their recognised official account whilst at the University. TP7. My tutor has put a web link on but it doesn t work? Resolution: Please ask your tutor about this. It may be an out of date web link. TP8. I want to print off the web page but I can t make it work. Resolution: MyLearning (Oasisplus) works using Frames so you have to decide whether you want to print off the whole page or an individual frame. You can do this by, in Internet Explorer, right-clicking in the frame, selecting Print Preview, and selecting the option As Laid Out On Screen or Only The Selected Frame, then clicking on the Print icon. In Firefox, right click, select This Frame, then Print Frame. TP9. I m trying to upload an attachment to my Discussion posting but it doesn t let me. What am I doing wrong? Resolution: Which web browser are you using? Do you have Java installed? Attaching or uploading a document usually requires Java being successfully plugged in to the web browser. If it is faulty, the java applet does not launch and the icon for it does not appear. TP10. I cannot open my video feedback from my tutor. I click on the link but nothing happens. Resolution: Some media types, such as wmv, mpeg, mpg, avi, mov, and mp3, are not recognised by MyLearning (Oasisplus) as deliverable file types, and so it will render icons to these as nulls. It is also the case that, sometimes MyLearning (Oasisplus) can deliver some media types, but there is no media player plugged in to the browser being used, also resulting in a failed delivery of the media component. In either case, explore the issue and if you cannot engage the media, please refer the issue back to e- learning who can investigate further and advise the tutor accordingly. TP11. I cannot log in to MyHunihub. Resolution: The MyUnihub (Oasisplus) service may be down. Please contact the e- Learning Support team immediately. The e-learning support team will investigate and issue any notices as necessary. References: We have detailed documentation for staff on MyLearning (Oasisplus) here: