[Academic] FW: Re: New academic year and resit preparations

Wed Jul 15 14:35:45 BST 2020

Dear All

Please see email below from Brian McNeil which mentions the needs of disability students.  It is anticipated that the 24hrs students will have to complete the assessments should cover most needs.  Also students can do an oral examination if this helps.

This email is to check that that arrangements have been put into place for the disabled students for your assessment.  I would be grateful if you could advise if you require assistance with contacting the disabled students.

Thanks.

Catherine

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject:
Re: New academic year and resit preparations
Date:
Fri, 3 Jul 2020 18:33:14 +0100
From:
Brian <b.w.j.mcneil at strath.ac.uk><mailto:b.w.j.mcneil at strath.ac.uk>
To:
academic at phys.strath.ac.uk<mailto:academic at phys.strath.ac.uk> <academic at phys.strath.ac.uk><mailto:academic at phys.strath.ac.uk>, paul.edwards at strath.ac.uk<mailto:paul.edwards at strath.ac.uk>, bernhard.ersfeld <bernhard.ersfeld at strath.ac.uk><mailto:bernhard.ersfeld at strath.ac.uk>, jochen.bruckbauer at strath.ac.uk<mailto:jochen.bruckbauer at strath.ac.uk>, Jonathan Pritchard <jonathan.pritchard at strath.ac.uk><mailto:jonathan.pritchard at strath.ac.uk>, Robert Cameron <robert.p.cameron at strath.ac.uk><mailto:robert.p.cameron at strath.ac.uk>

Dear All,

Attached are 2 files containing information to help you prepare for the forthcoming resit diet of alternative assessments:

1) The number of students for each module who will be need to be assessed.

2) The student Registration numbers of those students with a disability for each module whose needs need to be taken into account.

The following was agreed at Teaching Committee:

  *    All resits will be on a Pass/Fail basis.
  *    All students in year 1 and 2 will do an online assessment via MyPlace within a 24 hr period. This should take students between 1-2 hours max to complete (10 Credits ~1 hr; 20 Credits ~2 hrs). The extra time required by some disabled students is easily accommodated within the 24 hr window.
  *    In years 3 - 5 where there are < 4 students, and if they all agree, they can take an oral assessment via Zoom, otherwise it should be online via MyPlace as for years 1 & 2. Oral assessments should be done up to a 30 minute max duration and should be moderated by another member of Academic staff. A written question or two could be supplied to the student beforehand for discussion, or a general discussion based on learning outcomes could be had - reasonably flexible.
  *   Please supply a pdf version of the online assessment questions for download to the students as well. This will allow them to download at the start of the assessment, complete and hopefully upload within the 24 hour period if they experience internet problems. It will also help reduce the internet-problem anxiety for them.
  *    Some disability students may benefit from taking an oral assessment if their needs require it. Please arrange this separately if the rest of the class is assessed online via MyPlace.

Once the assessment is ready on the module's MyPlace page (hidden from students!), please ensure you switch it to blue ('Complete') in the 'traffic lights' spreadsheet link in the email below. It will then be checked, in a lite-touch way to the usual written exams, but importantly to ensure it functions properly, and then if all is OK, given a blue in the 'Assessment checked' column. It should then be good-to-go for release to the students over the 24 hr assessment period.

The MyPlace "Physics Playground" gives information, examples of questions and online assessments: https://classes.myplace.strath.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=25066

We are waiting for Student Business to finalise the exam timetable and will communicate this as soon as it is released. As the online assessments are scheduled so that students can complete them within a 24hour period, it is hoped that Fridays will not be used as the 24 hour period would run into Saturday. Friday will only be used if they run out of options.

We will, no doubt, provide further details in due course. In the meantime, please try to get started with the assessment preparation as described above as soon as possible.
Thanks & Regards,

Brian.
On 02/07/2020 12:41, Brian wrote:
Dear All,

We have be asked by the University's Executive Team to provide information via Faculty on our progress towards teaching in the new academic year, with information required for each module being taught in Semester 1. This information is required on a weekly basis, so can you please update it by the end of business each Friday at the latest. To help make their lives simple, they want a 'Traffic Light' system as well, so that they can identify progress at a glance:

Red:             Urgent support required/being implemented
Amber:        Some challenges identified and additional monitoring in place
Green:         Progressing
Blue:            Complete

To enable all this an online spreadsheet has been generated with information for each Physics module. (I have included modules taught in Semester 2 only, but please just ignore these.) So, for those staff that are teaching in Semester 1, you should be able to access and edit the spreadsheet here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Er75ChMAvf5P2ExYsDD8qO70pcZqmyko6RsArTmTj2I/edit?usp=sharing<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fspreadsheets%2Fd%2F1Er75ChMAvf5P2ExYsDD8qO70pcZqmyko6RsArTmTj2I%2Fedit%3Fusp%3Dsharing&data=02%7C01%7Cphysics-hod%40strath.ac.uk%7Cb6ee5a8873874e11da3a08d828c12731%7C631e0763153347eba5cd0457bee5944e%7C0%7C0%7C637304157460251252&sdata=1notyNFM0BfdXC1Q9gWRfE4WuwAQ%2FjjuvB7R%2Fx2cdTM%3D&reserved=0>

Please do not share the link and only edit the modules that you teach.

I have started to populate PH387, which I teach, by way of example of what is required.

There is also similar information you can enter if you will have a resit assessment - more to follow on this shortly.

So, please start adding in the relevant information by end of tomorrow if possible please.

Thanks & regards,

Brian.

On 29/06/2020 16:15, Brian wrote:

Dear All,

We need to proceed in preparations for teaching in the the new academic year. This has been informed by the University's published plans that the first 2-3 weeks of Semester 1 will be presented predominantly online. The expectation is that we will then transition to a blended learning mode of delivery (mixture of online and on campus), over a 3-5-week period. Some flexibility exists on how we achieve this. I therefore ask that staff prepare for the first Semester as follows:

The normal timetable for online lecturer/student interaction is assumed to avoid timetabling clashes.

For non lab-based modules, it is advised that staff prepare pre-recorded lecture materials with audio voice PowerPoint over so that content can be put online. (See the Zoom and Video tabs on the MyPlace staff support pages: https://support.myplace.strath.ac.uk/display/MS/Staff+Support+Homepage). It is expected that scheduled lecture and tutorial slots will become mixed and some pre-recorded lecture material could be viewed by the students beforehand. It is best not to deliver a 50 minute monologue but rather split up your lectures into 10 - 15 minute segments with talked over worked examples and student discussions. Clearly, there are many variations. Some modules may require transcripts and/or subtitles to the pre-recorded material for those with disabilities. Details and guidance on how this can be done will be provided by Faculty in due course.

For the second 3-5 week phase of blended learning, small group tutorials on campus will be provided. It may be possible to combine this face-to-face interaction while simultaneously including online students. Clearly, the student numbers, timing etc will depend upon a number of factors and this is currently under development with guidance from Faculty and University.

All resits will be via online assessment on a Pass/Fail basis. For larger student numbers it should be possible to use the same methods as the recent diet of online assessments, and for smaller numbers (< 4 students) use a Zoom verbal assessment. Further details will follow.

Regards,

Brian.

--

-----------------------

Dr. Brian WJ McNeil

Department of Physics, SUPA & Cockcroft Institute

University of Strathclyde

107 Rottenrow East

Glasgow, G4 0NG

Scotland

Tel:    0141 548 4727

Fax:    0141 552 2891

The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC015263
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