This is the Round-up for the Fast-E Project Bobbie & I have been doing.

1. FCET Staff Away Days Breakdown of Fast-E Rapid innovation in the use of emerging technologies to enhance educational practice 2009-10 Dr Bobbie Fletcher & NiaWearn Games Technology Group

2. Initial issues, Aim & objectives Big files Lots of students Corruptible media (cd's / dvd's) Lots of waste Consistency issues with marking Students not picking up feedback, then complaining Why games is a good example Big assignments Lots of different, complex hand ins

3. Initial Case study (1st Semester) Digital Marking 1A – 2 lecturers, 107 assignments each Via Dropbox & Excel Used the digital copy they hand in anyway e-mailed feedback Crude by effective The Digital Marking was easier & quicker then normal method of marking Also used Forums & Nings (for the first time for Assessment) -Mixed Results

4. Fast-EFeedback, Assessment and Submission Totally-Electronically Aims Create a process by which the Games Technology assessments are assessed and feedback received by the students electronically, eliminating any paper process. Speed up the process of marking and deliver feedback in a timely and consistent manner Reduce the environmental impact of assessments and feedback

5. Fast-e Breakdown Submission Elected to use existing Blackboard methods of submission Integrated System - students familiar with them Assessment & Marking Digital only Devices to combat the HCI issues of marking digitally (biggest complaint when discussion digital marking) Feedback Blackboard via MyGrades or E-mail

6. Submission Dropbox Crude but: No limits on file size, or file type No link to Grademark No Receipt - does bug out 2 Part Submission confuses our students Can Bug out with large files Assignment Not 100% dependable Takes more file types, technically no limit on file sizes but does bug out with big ones Slightly convoluted but does work with Grade mark No Receipt Turn it in Great for text (Pdfor Doc, not Docx) Needs at least 20 written words Great if lots of people are marking the same assignment- rubrics etc are lovely Gives a receipt but limited usage in Games.

7. Assessment Rubrics on Turn it in or Building spreadsheets in Grade Center or Sharing a Excel Spreadsheet between x amount of people

8. Marking Devices Sony E-Reader pdf & docx - least amount of faff No video but does do Mps3 No other types of files Very nice to read Annotations are a lie Amazon Kindle pdfs work properly after an upgrade (previously needed converting to a e-book) Nice to read Needs an Amazon account to work No annotation

9. Marking Devices Cont 32GB Ipod Touch was stolen from our office =( (wasn't all that useful anyway) IPad Needs an ITunes account to even switch on works well with pdfs but they need to be downloaded via stanazaapp's Nice to read from but doesn't do docs Can do video & audio – but very funny on codecs and overall not that useful

10. Marking Devices roundup Nothing we found could do annotations that were useful Netbooks are nice for portability but small screens don't help with HCI issues. One method to have 2 devices One for reading One connected to GradeCenterfor Feedback & Marks I suspect in between writing this and presenting it a firmware update somewhere will have changed everything. Everything exists on vague vapors from the future.

11. Assessment Needs to think differently in some cases: How will they break it (and they will) What could go wrong (and it will) Other issues Data Protection Copyright Issues Plagiarism Big complex multi-part files are always going to be an issue. (Text is super easy) We'd love to have our own version of YouTube or something stable for assessment/

12. Feedback Grade Center = My Grades Comments on each section appear as feedback Enable it for students to view at your leisure Build Spreadsheets into BlackBoard Grade Center - No one gets lost - Great for consistency - Easy to send (download and e-mail) Complex marking structures, percentages etc = handy to have a PhD in Mathematical Modeling TurnItIn - they pick up comments – (not tried the new version) No one has complained so far about not getting feedback On average they're getting better feedback, and more of it.

13. Other Digital marking stuff Not strictly part of Fast-E but highlights other methods we're doing: 3D work marked on Forums & Nings (not any more - too expensive and hard to control) Works great – and under uni control Fosters competition (and complaints) Time Consuming Needs a lot of supervision Some students really seem to like it Works well in combination with a spreadsheet Grade Center (but doesn't everything)

14. Case Study for Intro to Games Audio Engines Submission Cock-Up - Assignment =( - Turn it in =) Too large, sometimes Bugged people out No second attempts (locked out tutors too) Marking - none of the devices fit for purpose - brightness & text size issues (some fixed now) Setting up Grade Center like excel =) Using Grade Center for Feedback (My Grades Tool Button) =)

15. Things we have learnt We did have some tiny admin issues with the External GradeCenter& Blackboard are ace - and we can use them a lot more - does take time to set up, but once it's there it's there. Wonderful ways of keeping consistency - as we lean on part time lecturers more and more then this is key Students can, and will, break everything - they are the best people to test these kinds of things Nothing is perfect, there is no easy solution, Don't believe the hype

16. The Serene Calm of C160 Now