Changes in Graduate Grading Schema

Posted on by cookel

Earlier in the year, the Institute Curriculum Committee (ICC) approved changes to the grading scale used for graduate courses. This unfortunately means that any courses created for Fall 2020 created before the announcement, have an out-dated schema. We explored the possibility of having Blackboard run a backend database query to correct the schema but the addition of additional rows in the schema in each course offering made this approach impractical.

This outcome means that most Fall 2020 graduate courses need their grading schema’s updated to reflect the new grading system. To help you correct the schema in your courses we have prepared these instructions.

 

Meet the Brightspace Pilot Faculty!

Posted on by zakrzewskit

Meet the Brightspace Faculty Champions!

Brightspace is generating a lot of interest with almost 60 faculty volunteering to pilot courses in Brightspace this fall. Due to the nature of our phased implementation, LIT could support approximately 20 (we wish everyone could support everyone!). Pilot faculty were selected from volunteers with input from the Senate Academic Instruction Subcommittee and department chairs. Certain pilot faculty will serve as Brightspace champions this spring – as a trusted colleague, willing to answer basic Brightspace questions and direct colleagues to LIT for additional help. Meet your Brightspace champions:

  • Applied Math: Mel Henriksen
  • Architecture: Troy Peters
  • Biological Engineering: David Simpson
  • Civil Engineering: Anuja Kamat
  • Computer Science & Networking: Sunjae Park
  • Construction Management: Fope Bademosi,
  • Electrical Engineering: Marisha Rawlins,
  • Humanities & Social Sciences: Kristen Rosero 
  • Industrial Design: Derek Cascio
  • Interior Design: Sylvia Masters
  • Management: Michael Mozill
  • Mechanical Engineering: Tony Duva
  • Sciences: Andrew Seredinski

A full list of all Brightspace pilot faculty, many who may be teaching sections of the same course, also includes: Aran Bercu, Swati Kelkar, Marko Milosevic, Gary Simundza, Emma Smith-Zbarsky, and Mami Wentworth, Jennifer Gaugler, Greg Logan, Anne-Catrin Schultz, John Cribbs, Hari Naganthan, Aaron Carpenter, Ella Howard, Megan Kensington, Nick Ortolino, Cindy Stevens, and Mike Tylinski.

When Can All Faculty Check Out Brightspace?

All faculty teaching this fall can log into Wentworth.brightspace.com with your Wentworth credentials. Use your sandbox to experiment with features and functionality.

We invite you to complete the Level 1 and Level 2 self-paced training modules in Brightspace to learn how to navigate and use common features. Find the training under “MyCourses” and scroll over to “Self-Paced”.

Brightspace home page showing "my courses" and "self-paced" options

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can also access resources and subscription training including live and recorded training sessions and regular live Q & A sessions for instructors at https://community.brightspace.com – register using your Wentworth email address (this is critical for you to have access to subscription training). Once you have an active account in the Brightspace Community, click on

the Learning Center link in the navbar at the top of the page. Next, click on the big blue subscription training button on the right side of the page. The subscription training site will appear and you can access any of the training for the entirety of our contract with Brightspace.

Look for LIT hosted synchronous hands on workshops starting in October. We’ll advertise them later this month. Contact lit@wit.edu to consult with an instructional designer.

Unification of LIT and WIT Online

Posted on by zakrzewskit

We are excited to share an organizational realignment to unify the WIT Online and Learning Innovation &Technology Teams within Technology Services. Please continue using the current communications channels this fall to contact LIT lit@wit.edu for full-time and WIT Online online@wit.edu for part-time course support.

The realignment supports the strategic focus areas of High-Value Learning and Transformative Student Experience to deliver the modern teaching and learning experiences that all students (undergraduate, graduate, non-degree seeking and non-traditional) have come to expect from a university.

Passionate, talented members of both teams share commonalities in a mission to foster student-centric, interactive, experiential learning across in-person, hybrid, online and dual/Hyflex course delivery modes enabled by a digital learning ecosystem hub. Synergies across the teams present many opportunities to expand faculty professional development, consult toward the achievement of learning outcomes at the course and curricular levels, foster faculty collaborations, and fuel innovative teaching and learning practices.

Organizing this new unified team within Technology Services also provides opportunities for additional synergies drawn from adjacencies with the Digital Transformation, Tech Spot, and Media Support teams, which help us promote a one-stop experience for faculty and students to enhance the teaching and learning outcomes at Wentworth.

We also welcome Josh Luckens, an instructional designer who joined the team in August. Josh is a creative educator with 12+ years in course design and curriculum development as a teacher, writer and editor, and learning experience designer. Most recently, he designed and managed model diplomacy summits for young adults from across the world at Knovva Academy. His previous work includes instructional design for Signet Education, Outward Bound, and the Leadership Institute for Development, Education & Research. He has also taught English and theatre at the high school and middle school levels, designed education programs for a variety of educational travel companies, and served as a Fulbright fellow in Colombia. He is a Massachusetts licensed teacher, a fluent Spanish speaker, and a theatre director and actor. Josh holds an MA in Theatre Education from Emerson College and a BA from Vassar College, where he completed an Interdisciplinary Concentration in Judaic Studies.

This new team will be led by Tes Zakrzewski Ed.D., Director of Learning Innovation & Technology. Your feedback will inform the shape this unified team takes over the next few months, so please feel free to contact Tes Zakrzewski (zakrzewskit@wit.edu) with your input, ideas, and needs.

Fall 2020 Faculty Workshops

Posted on by zakrzewskit

LIT and WIT Online look forward to cross-disciplinary conversations and sharing in the workshops to start the fall 2020 term:

Contact Learning Innovation & Technology at lit@wit.edu for support getting your courses ready:

  • Accessible syllabus template and new accessibility features in your Bb course
  • Course copy, merge, and readiness checklist
  • Academic Technology Toolkit and time-saving strategies
  • Course pain points or areas you get a lot of student questions we may be able to help minimize

Use Gradescope to Save Time Grading

Posted on by zakrzewskit

What is Gradescope?

Gradescope is an online grading platform used to grade homework, quizzes, group projects, and exams. It reduces grading time, increases grading consistency, and provides statistical summary for every assignment. Gradescope helps you seamlessly administer and grade all of your assessments, whether online or in-class. Save time grading and get a clear picture of how your students are doing. With Gradescope, students receive faster and more detailed feedback on their work, and instructors can see detailed assignment and question analytics.

Possible Uses

  • Gradescope supports variable-length assignments (problem sets & projects) and fixed-template assignments (worksheets, quizzes, exams, bubble Sheets similar to Scantron).
  • Grade paper-based, digital, and code/programming assignments in half the time.
  • Quick, flexible grading with the option of providing detailed feedback to students
  • Gain valuable insight on the progress of your students with rubric-level statistics.
  • Deliver Feedback instantly to students
  • Answer Groups & AI-assisted Grading. Grade groups of similar answers at once.

Attend a Wentworth Specific Workshop to Get Started

Sign In

First sign into either Blackboard Learn or Brightspace and launch Gradescope. This will ensure the correct role is assigned. Any subsequent login from the direct Gradescope url will provide the correct level of access. In Blackboard Learn you can access Gradescope through the Tools Menu. In Brightspace, you can access Gradescope by adding an existing activity and selecting external learning tools.

Resources

Please take a moment to view the following resources provided by Gradescope:

Contact lit@wit.edu for more information.