TEU Update November 21 2024
The final ESD Ideas Exchange of the year will take place on Monday 2nd December at 1pm.
The venue will be DG10 in the Bea Orpen building.
For this session we'll be joined by Emma Coyle from the School of Chemical Sciences, who will discuss how she has integrated sustainability into her practice through innovative assessments.
We’ll also hear an update from the Government's ESD Forum and discuss the next round of SATLE funding for ESD related projects.
There will be tea and coffee and, given the 1pm start, feel free to bring some lunch.
Focus on assessment and feedback
The Loop Gradebook is an area of your Loop module page where you can combine and calculate overall student grades, if you have graded them in Loop Assignments, Loop Quizzes, or other types of Loop gradable activities. It’s a powerful feature that allows you to arrive at each student’s final grade for their coursework (continuous assessment) activities on your module.
Many of you will currently be grading or preparing to do so. Keep these tips in mind for grading on Loop.
- Keep your grade items hidden in the Gradebook while grading if you do not want students to see grades while you are still grading.
- Ensure that grade items in the Gradebook are weighted correctly and all weights add up to 1.0.
- Organise assignments, quizzes, and other graded activities into ‘Grade Categories’ (e.g., Exams, Participation, Weekly Quizzes), which makes it easier to view things, and helps students clearly see their coursework grade breakdown.
A comprehensive suite of resources on grading and Loop Gradebook are also available on the Loop Staff Support Page in the Assessment section—including a specific-purposes resource on Loop Gradebook.
Grades transfer to Banner
We are in the final stage of operationalising a grades transfer process between Loop and DCU’s new student information system, Banner. This will allow module coordinators to transfer students’ Loop Gradebook total to Banner as their coursework total. More information and guidance will follow in due course.
At the Community sessions, at 3 p.m. on the last Thursday of the month, participants follow the Reflective Team approach: a ‘Presenter’ illustrates a sticky issue and asks the “Team” for help with a specific question; the “Team” reflect on the case, sharing their own experiences, making suggestions for actions and concrete proposals to address the issue. This is a great learning opportunity and a chance to share experiences of CBL.
The next session will take place on 28th November 3 p.m. and will feature our TEU colleague Clare Gormley posing the question How can we make peer observation of CBL more appealing?
No need to register - just join at the above link on the appointed day and time.
If there is any issue you would like to present in a session next semester, please contact Martina Crehan (martina.crehan@dcu.ie).
If you require assistance or guidance with teaching and learning or Loop related matters, avail of the below methods.
Support for technical issues
For Loop technical queries, go to help.dcu.ie. You can also attend one of our regular online Loop drop in clinics, details in the TEU calendar. The drop in clinics are particularly useful for more complex queries. The Loop Staff Support Page also provides a comprehensive range of resources on Loop and Zoom. For new users, the enrolment key for this page is ‘staff’.
Advice on using technology for Teaching and Learning
If you are looking for advice on developing your teaching practice, including but not limited to the application of technology, please contact the TEU team teaching.enhancement@dcu.ie. We will endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible.
Consultancy request form
Interested in requesting a workshop or more extended consultation on a specific topic? Use this consultancy request form.
