Posted on

Submitting Student Work in Moodle Assignment

The Moodle Assignment is a great way to collect student work and reply with many types of private feedback. You can:

In addition to online assignments, you can suggest students scan or photograph handwritten work or objects they create. 

Pros: All student work is time stamped and submitted in one place. It ties to the Moodle grade book and provides a way to give students private feedback.

Cons:  If you are expecting students to upload audio or video, the files of longer than a couple of minutes will be too large. Look at other options for those multimedia projects. Such options include VoiceThread, FlipGrid, and YouTube. You can have students use Moodle to submit a link to multiple projects created outside of Moodle.

Expert: Sharon Strauss

Posted on

Chinese Propaganda Posters

Introduction

This primary source packet features Chinese propaganda posters from the 1920s and 1930s. It is designed to be used by students who read Chinese and those who do not; the included guiding questions provide avenues for analysis even for those unfamiliar with the language. Potential pedagogical goals could include visual analysis, exploring the intersections of politics and art, and examining unfamiliar objects. Materials may be of interest to those working in visual studies, East Asian languages and cultures,  and art. 

Packet contents: 

List of Primary Sources

qian nian de “wu sa”! 前年的‘五卅’！, HC2016-574, 1927

Shanghai gong hui zu zhi tong yi wei yuan hui tu hua te kan, di si qi 上海工會組織統一委員會圖畫特刊, 第四期, HC2016-598, Ca. 1927

Shanghai gong hui zu zhi tong yi wei yuan hui tu hua te kan 上海工會組織統一委員會圖畫特刊, HC2016-575, Ca. 1927

da dao xin di guo zhu yi zou gou Gongchandang 打倒新帝國主義走狗共產黨, HC2016-573, Ca. 1930

da dao ya po zhen zheng nong gong de Gongchandang! 打倒壓迫真正農工的共產黨!, HC2016-599, Ca. 1927

Gongchandang shi xin di guo zhu yi de zou gou! 共產黨是新帝國主義的走狗！, HC2016-590, Ca. 1930


These posters and others (24 total) are from the posters of the William Warder Cadbury collection. The full William Warder Cadbury collection, which includes these posters and Cadbury’s papers, are held in Haverford Quaker & Special Collections.

Questions to Consider

The following material can help frame a meaningful discussion for students examining these items

Even without the ability to read Chinese, there is a great deal of information that we can infer from the imagery on this poster. Consider the following as you look at each poster:

Figures (people) in the poster:

  • How many figures are visible? 
  • What position are the figures in? Is this significant? How and why?
  • What size are each of the figures in relation to each other? Is this significant? How and why? 
  • What are the figures wearing? Describe their clothing (shoes as well) and what this indicates about each figure? 
  • What are the figures holding in their hands? What does this tell you about the activities of each of these figures? 

Setting of the poster:

  • What do you notice about the setting of the poster? Can you tell where this takes place? 
  • What “props” are used and for what purpose? 

Words:

  • Even if you cannot read Chinese, what do you notice about the words in this poster? What does this indicate to you in terms of meaning? Think about:
    • Location of words
    • Size of words
    • Color of words

Color and medium:

  • What colors are employed in this poster and for what purpose? Think about: 
    • Blood
    • Flags
  • Can you tell what medium this poster is on? (hint: look at the item record) What about the quality of the image–with a larger format digital image to examine, what might you be able to notice about the work of art? [example: poster means what, exactly?]

Other:

  • Where might a poster like this be found?
  • Who is the intended audience of such a poster?
  • What do you think is the message of this poster? 
Posted on

Close Reading Using Annotation Tools

Introduction

Collaborative annotation tools can engage a group of students in discussion around a common resource. Annotations and threaded conversations can shape class discussion agendas, or serve as discussions in their own right. By using browser-based tools, group annotation can engage students around a single resource or collection. Students can also produce public-facing critical editions of texts, visual sources, or other media.

Pedagogical Possibilities

  • Engaging group discussion around a common text through threaded conversations
  • Connecting a common text to other web-based resources via hypertext and linking
  • Annotating visual resources in synchronous or asynchronous settings
  • Incorporating other voices into classroom discussion (community partners, other scholars, remote students, students in other classes, etc.)

Tools

Hypothes.is

Hypothes.is is an excellent browser-based tool for group annotation. A Chrome browser extension makes annotating any web page quick and easy. You can also add a bookmarklet for any web browser. Students can annotate any web page, or any PDF or EPUB file that is available on the web. If you have a PDF scan of an article, you can share that via a Box or Google Drive link (or anywhere that the file can be viewed in a web browser) so your students can read and add annotations. Hypothes.is is ideal for textual sources available on the web.

Google Jamboard

Jamboard is an app within Haverford’s institutional suite of Google applications (“G Suite”) that serves as a digital whiteboard. Because multiple participants can open and work in the same “Jam,” it is possible to load an image or group of images to the board and mark it up with a variety of colors and drawing tools, or even import other related images via Google Image search. It is possible to create a new Jam independent of the physical Jamboard, and thus can be used in both hybrid and online-only classroom formats. This is a particularly useful tool for marking up visual sources.

Omeka+Neatline

Omeka is a content management system primarily used for building digital collections and exhibits. Neatline, a plugin for Omeka that is primarily used for mapping, also creates opportunities for annotating images, since a static image can also be used as a map background. These annotated sources can be published to the web for a public audience. Within a Neatline exhibit, students can embed images and media within annotations, use hypertext to link annotations to each other or to other sources, and control the visibility of annotations based on user input. This tool is ideal for sharing individually and collaboratively-produced annotated images with the public.

Examples

The Hypothes.is website has several illustrative examples of the tool being used in a classroom setting.

This Jam was produced during a text markup exercise to introduce text encoding in TEI.

This Neatline exhibit is a digital critical edition of Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica,” collaboratively annotated by students in a writing seminar. This annotated version of a 1968 Ebony magazine article titled “What To Do If Arrested” is another excellent example of Neatline’s capabilities.

Potential Assignments/Classroom Activities

Some potential activities involving these tools are listed with recommended duration or lead time:

  • Weekly reading assignments with asynchronous annotations and comment threads can establish topic discussions for class meetings. Students can also link out to additional resources and embed external media in their annotations to create a digital critical edition of an existing text online. (daily or weekly, one library instruction session recommended)
  • Group annotation of a photograph or other visual media in the Jamboard app with live discussion during or after (daily or weekly, one library instruction session recommended)
  • Individually or collaboratively annotated images in Neatline published to the web for public view (at least 4 weeks with at least one library instruction session introducing the tool)

Posted on

Formative assessments and low stakes quizzes in Moodle

You can use an ungraded Moodle Quiz as a way to check in with your students before or during a unit to see areas that need clarification or discussion. The Quiz tool also can also be set to allow students to take a particular assessment multiple times, and lets you give feedback about each reply—often automatically, depending on the type of question. 

Pros:  Students can take the quiz as many times as you allow. Through automated feedback, you can show students why a response is right or wrong–or give any other sort of feedback that you wish. Once you create questions, you can reuse them for interlaced exercises and future classes.

Cons: There is a bit of a learning curve on understanding how to set up a quiz. However, once you learn the concepts, you can use the quiz for both formative and summative assessments. Note that while Questionnaires in Moodle can be anonymous, Quizzes cannot.

Expert:  Sharon Strauss

Posted on

Timed Evaluations in Moodle

You can deliver just about any kind of timed written test that you might want via Moodle using the quiz module (see this helpful video to learn how). In the quiz setting, set the desired time limit, the number of attempts allowed, and question behavior. Then add your quiz questions, including automated feedback when appropriate. See this helpful video and also these written instructions on quiz settings and quiz questions.

You can override the time setting for individual groups or individual students (for instance, those who might have an accommodation letter). If a student loses power and/or connectivity during a test, and thus times out, you can clear out a student’s attempt and let them start again.

Pros:  Moodle is available for all students. This tool easily integrates with the Moodle gradebook and allows for automatic grading on some question types. Questions can be reused in other courses, either by peer teachers or other courses you teach–allowing you to build up a question bank over years.

Cons: Students with slow or intermittent connectivity will be disadvantaged by timed tests taken online. Complicated for you and for you and your students, if students need to upload images of written work. 

Expert:  Sharon Strauss

Posted on

Evaluation and Feedback in Moodle

Description

If you want to give grades or feedback to your students privately, Moodle is a great tool–especially when you cannot just hand back a paper copy of an assignment in class. The Moodle gradebook lets you see and update all student grade information at once. However, students see only their own information.

You can set up a gradebook to match the grading scheme in your syllabus. SUNY Potsdam has great instructions for setting up your gradebook. In addition to calculating numerical totals, you can use the gradebook to give feedback comments or just note that an assignment was completed. 

Note: Moodle activities are automatically included in the gradebook if you select the grade option for that activity in the settings.

Pros: Tool is widely available, with appropriate access privileges already set up in Moodle

Cons:  Gradebook is a little awkward for the instructor to use. “Handwritten” notes are possible, but only with a lot of effort.

Expert:  Sharon Strauss

Posted on

Cited Reference Searching

Researchers regularly find more sources by looking at the footnotes in an article or book. But these references will always be older than the publication you have in hand.

Citation indexes are set up to search for sources cited in the footnotes of journal articles and other publications as soon as they become available.  This searching allows you to find newer titles that cite the books and articles you already know are key for your topic.  By relying on connections between authors rather than subject words and by moving forward in time, citation searching can open up new avenues of research.

It can be especially valuable for revealing interdisciplinary connections and for topics that are under-researched.  Overall, it gives you a sense of the larger conversation researchers engage in as they advance arguments, provide new evidence and build consensus.

Watch this video to see cited reference searches in Web of Science and Google Scholar. 

Using Web of Science together with Google Scholar provides both journal article and book results.  Check with a librarian for additional cited reference databases in specific subject areas. 

Web of Science B H S

Search Tips

  • Start with the Cited Reference Search tab
  • Choose co-authors with less common names to avoid many irrelevant entries
  • Shorten the author’s first name with * –  Example: Arendt H* rather than Hannah
  • Don’t search the Cited Work field.  Use the Author and the Cited Year(s) 
  • Open More Settings and remove the academic domain/s that don’t relate
  • Many pages of results?  Search in the box on the left with a further keyword/s or limit to a relevant Web of Science subject Category
  • Sort results for the most useful choices: Date, Times Cited, Usage (in the database), Usage Last 180 Days

Google Scholar

Search Tips

  • Enter the title of the article or book in quotation marks
  • Go to the Cited by [no.] link to find the publications that cite your chosen title
  • Check the Search within Citing Article box to focus your results on a specific keyword
Web of ScienceGoogle Scholar
SubjectsFull coverage-Includes social sciences and humanitiesGreater coverage than WoS of the humanities + scholarship in languages other than English
PublicationsIndexes journals onlyIndexes books and reports as well as journals and magazines
QualityResults=Peer reviewed scholarly journal articlesResults=Everything on the web.  You need to filter for reliability.  
QuantityGiven the focus on scholarly journal articles, the number of citations are naturally fewerHigher numbers of citations than WoS
CurrencyNew articles added daily (Mon.-Fri.)Updated every other day
AnalysisOffers many tools for analyzing the development of research in specific fields including the “next generation of scholarship.” Use the Times Cited column to see newer scholarship that references the journal articles you have just identified as potential sources in your citation search.Very limited search interface and does not offer the tools for analysis and reports provided by WoS

Need More Information?

Created June 17, 2020