This page details common student questions and details strategies you can use to alleviate the number of questions you receive via MyLO Discussion posts and emails.

QUESTION: Will lectures be recorded? Where are the recordings?

• Include the following information in your Unit Outline (perhaps under Details of Teaching Arrangements).
  • whether or not lecture recordings will be captured;
  • when recordings will be made available (usually within an hour of a face-to-face lecture ending);
  • how recordings will be made available (e.g. via Echo360); and
  • where students can access the recordings. Be specific about the location of recordings. ‘You can access recordings in MyLO’ is fairly vague. ‘You can access recordings from our unit MyLO site by selecting Content from the toolbar, then select Recordings from the Table of Contents‘ is far more specific.
• Ensure that your students can find the recordings easily in MyLO by placing the link/s in an obvious location and labelling the links/s clearly. Many templates include a specific folder in Content in which a link to the unit’s Echo360 section can be placed (for example, in a folder called Recordings). Alternatively, you might like to provide links to individual recordings when relevant, for example, in Module or Weekly pages in Content. Try to make the link names meaningful: by default, when you create a link to a Section or individual recording (Class), MyLO will use the link title, MyMedia Recordings (ALP). You may wish to change this to something like: Access recordings for this unit or Access this week’s lecture here.
• If you only intend to provide a link to a Section, instead of links to individual recordings, consider renaming your lecture recordings in your Echo360 Section, and placing them in a logical sequence.
• Many students request downloadable recordings: the setting to allow downloads is on by default but the option appears only if you give students access to the ‘list of all recordings’. Talk to your local support team for more information.

QUESTION: Why is there no sound in the lecture recording/why is there no recording this week?

• Get students in the classroom to remind you to take the microphone off mute and switch your radio microphone (if using)!
• Record with both the lectern microphone and radio microphone (where available). This is especially important if you tend to move around the room or away from the lectern.
• Have a back-up plan in place for recordings that lack quality (or any) sound, or for recordings that fail. For example, record the session with a small recording device.  and let students know what the plan is — i.e. let them know that if a recording fails for some reason a backup will be made available within (X) days.
• Check for past recordings that are high quality. They could be used as a back-up for failed lecture recording. You can download these from an old unit Section or share them from you Library to your unit’s Section. Your local support team may be able to help you edit out extraneous content to make a succinct, reusable recording.
• Consider flipping your approach and pre-recording a sequence of short lectures that are used across several iterations of your unit.
• If something does go wrong, let the students know as soon as possible via Announcement or Email. Let them know your back-up plan and when they can expect to see the replacement materials online.

QUESTION: What is the format of Assignment X?/ What is included in the word count? / How many pages? (etcetera)

• The most common student questions relate to assessment.
• Look through Discussion posts (or old emails) from past units to see if there are FAQs that you can address in advance. Include answers to these FAQs with the details of an Assessment Task. Many MyLO sites include an Assessments or Assessment Resources folder in Content that you can add this sort of information in the form of a PDF or web (HTML) page.
• If you have taught a few iterations of the unit (or similar units) you may be able to identify common spelling, grammatical, formatting or referencing errors that students should avoid. You may wish to provide examples of these and how to avoid them.
• If your assignment has specific formatting requirements, it is handy to provide a student guide together with other assignment details. Some staff have provided Word Documents as templates (e.g. with margins, styles and headings already set up).
• There are frequent requests for ‘exemplar’ assignments. A good-quality example of the writing genre and the format required may be useful to those unfamiliar with a certain approach to writing. There are many great, free resources on the web that may find it useful to provide links to.

QUESTION: What is included in the word count? Is there a  leeway on the word count?

• This is a very common question! Make it clear (in the Unit Outline and in any related Content folders in your MyLO site) exactly what is included in the word count, and the leeway (e.g. 10% under or over) that you may be willing to accept.

 QUESTION: How do I submit my assignment? Where can I submit my assignment?

• Check that you have set up an Assignment Submission Folder for collection of  the Assignment.
• Check that the Start, Due and End Dates for the Folder are correct: when folders are copied over from a past delivery of a unit, the old dates still apply.
• Though students can usually access the Assignments tool by selecting Assessments, then Assignments, from the MyLO toolbar, this may not be immediately obvious to them. You can easily include a direct link to an Assignment Submission Folder in a Module (folder) in Content, Announcement, Discussion post or HTML page using the Quicklinks tool.

QUESTION: Where is the grade/feedback for Assignment X? When will we get our grades?

• Provide an estimate of when students can expect to find their grades for each assignment and where they will find feedback in MyLO. If you don’t know in advance, tell students you will let them know as soon as possible. A good way of doing this is to send out an Announcement or Email shortly after the due date, thanking students for their submissions; advising them of when they can expect their feedback. Once you have completed marking and moderation, you may wish to alert students to the availability of their grades and feedback using the same method.
• Students may find it difficult to locate their Grades and Feedback, especially if they are new to online grading. The templates linked here include step-by-step instructions, including screenshots, to help your students locate their results: for assignments submitted to an Assignment Submission Folder; for a Quiz. 
• It is useful to keep grade delivery consistent across units in a program. Students who are used to going, say, the Grades tool for most of their units will be surprised not to find them there in other units.
• Check that you have published (Assignment Submission Folders) and/or made visible the relevant Grade Item.
• Students often report problems accessing marked-up feedback in Grademark/Feedback Studio. This post details some common technical issues to look out for when releasing Feedback Studio feedback.

QUESTION: Who wants to join my group?

• For units that have group work, you may find lots of students requesting group members in your class Discussion area. Don’t let these sorts of posts clog up your Discussion!
• Consider creating a separate Discussion area for students searching for group members.
• Alternatively, you can create Groups for students to sign-up to. You may wish to ask your local support team for assistance with this.

QUESTION: I can’t see X content item/Where is the link to X?

• There are a range of potential triggers for this question: the name of a link may not be clear; the item may be restricted with a Start or End date;  the item may only be available to a certain Group of students; the item may be in Draft mode; or the students need to complete an activity before they are given access to the item.
• Use the Descriptions attached to Content Modules (folders) or items to explain when or how students will be given access to content there. For example, ‘Remember: You will not see next week’s module until you have completed this week’s Quiz‘). If you use HTML Pages, place a warning (perhaps using one of the Attention objects included with the ICB Template) above a link that has restrictions applied.
• Keep filenames clear and logical, or rename the file once it is uploaded to a Module or HTML Page
• Keep your Content area well organised. Consider using Module (folder) names and Sub-modules (sub-folders) that make the structure and sequence of content clear. Many students appreciate content being organised by week or module.

QUESTION: When/where is the Online Tutorial/Web Conference?

• Online tutorials are not listed in the official UTAS timetable. Announcement advising when and how sessions times will be determined.  Some staff like to run a survey inviting students to nominated their preferred time (from a selection of three or four possibilities). Your local support team may be able to assist with this.
• Set up a Web-Conferencing folder and include a link to the Web Conferencing tool there. Your local support team may have a suite resources that they can bring in to your MyLO unit, to help students set up their computer/device before your first session begins.
• Choose an access method and stick with it: get students to access the Web Conferencing tool and click the Join Room button every time there is a session (this takes students to your unit’s 24-7 room); or set up a Session (with time and date parameters) for each class.

Teaching Merit Certificates recognise the valuable contributions made to student learning by UTAS staff.

Staff members can be nominated for a certificate by students and colleagues, or can choose to nominate themselves. Nominations are called for in May and October every year, with the next round of nominations closing on 31 October 2014.

Nominations can be made by completing this online form (requires a UTAS username and password). Staff members are generally notified of their nomination by November, with submissions due in February of the following year.

For dates and application information click here. For specific information about what makes a good Teaching Merit Certificate application, click here.

Teaching Merit Certificates count towards staff Teaching Performance Expectations (TPE). If you are interested in applying for a Teaching Merit Certificate, you may be interested in reading this interview with Dr Vitali Alexeev, a 2013 Teaching Merit Certificate recipient.