1. Managed Learning and Assessment Environments A strategic approach for the provision of Transnational Education
Dr Ray Stoneham
Professor Mayur Patel
Faculty of Architecture, Computing and Humanities University of Greenwich

2. Transnational Education (TNE)
An integral and expanding part of UK higher education provision.
Over 80% of UK universities are engaged in some form of TNE
Distance learning
Partnerships
Branch campus arrangements
University of Greenwich is the 5th largest provider

3. The context Computing Provision
2000+ students at 30 centres around the world
20 Greenwich academics
50+ academics at the centres
30+ administrators at the centres
3 Collaborations Office administrators
1 Head of Department
4 External examiners
1 Manager
1 BIG HEADACHE

4. Alternative solutions
Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) offer
Structured delivery of content
Interaction between students and tutors
Formative assessment (Quizzes, peer support and interaction)
Summative assessment (coursework, group work)
VLEs are not Managed Learning and Assessment Environments
Different departments and institutions have different solutions
File systems (VPN, CD ROM, Memory sticks) supported by
Moodle with SharePoint or other Content Management System
Bespoke systems

5. The CIS solution
A strategic approach using a bespoke Collaborations Intranet
Started in 2009 – improved every year
Authenticated by the University portal
Role based
Student
Centre academic
Centre administrator
Greenwich academic
Greenwich administrator
Head of Department
External examiner
Access controlled
Student only sees their own work
Centre only accesses students and work at their centre
Certain functions restricted to administrative staff
Workflows enforced, with automated notifications

6. Moodle/SharePoint/Email Collaborations Intranet
Workflow
Moodle/SharePoint/
Collaborations Intranet
Students submit work to Moodle
Work is marked and confirmed by each centre
Coordinator informed by
Coordinator moderates
Collabs Office informed by
Scripts to moderate are downloaded from Moodle to SharePoint
Staff moderate on SharePoint
Marks collated via marksheets
Collabs office enters marks manually
External Examiner has a SharePoint view
Students get feedback via Moodle
Documents manually moved around
Students submit work to Collabs Intranet
Work is marked and confirmed by each centre
Coordinator informed by
Coordinator moderates
Collabs Office informed by
Collabs Office enters marks using barcode
Approved by External Examiner
Approved by HoD
Centres informed by
Students get feedback from Collabs Intranet
Log of previous and current years in one place and searchable across student – history
Supported by Link Tutor Visit Pack (collection of various documents)

7. Collaborations Intranet
Student submissions
Moodle
Collaborations Intranet
Upload link in a module shell
Set up individually
Deadline in GMT
Range of file types can be submitted
Students delete unwanted uploads to resubmit
Upload link on a submissions page
Deadline midnight local time
Due dates set from a database
Deliberately restricted to PDF, with optional ZIP
Upload as many times as wanted – last before deadline is marked

8. Marking of submissions
Moodle/SharePoint
Collaborations Intranet
Late submissions as separate upload
Gradebook can be used
Downloads for SharePoint
Download issues hamper marking offline
No overview
Late submissions highlighted
Download all as a ZIP
Can be marked offline and feedback and grades uploaded
Overview of where the Centre is in terms of marking
Visual information of where marking/moderation is in terms of workload by centre/staff

9. Collaborations Intranet
Plagiarism checking
Moodle
Collaborations Intranet
Checked by TurnItIn
Integrated with marking
Checked by TurnItIn
Centre creates a year/Term specific folder in Turnitin and submits assessments – Moderators have access to these folders
Percentage match of all uploads must be commented on by the centre
Easy reporting of possible assessment offences

10. Moderation of submissions
Moodle/SharePoint
Collaborations Intranet
Manual process
Managed by admin staff
No overview
Sample size enforced
Grades can be changed individually or for the whole cohort.
Feedback for each centre as well as general feedback
Overview available for admin and managers

11. Collaborations Intranet
Examinations
Moodle
Collaborations Intranet
Out of scope and all manual
Requires storage of scripts locally
Exam booklets are provided electronically and are unique to each site and term
All exam scripts are marked, scanned and uploaded
Samples are moderated
Feedback for each centre as well as general feedback
Overview available for admin and managers

12. Collaborations Intranet
Admin processes
Moodle
Collaborations Intranet
Manual processes
Managed by admin staff
Barcodes for transferring grades to MIS (Banner)
Exception reports
Progress reports
Upload of invigilation lists
Upload of centre documentation
Management of approved staff at the centres

13. Centre Module Monitoring Reports
Moodle
Collaborations Intranet
Manual processes
Managed by admin staff
Generated automatically from the data
Includes all the feedback for all the coursework and exams for a centre in one place
Includes statistical analysis
Released to centres when approved by the HoD

14. External Examiner processes
Moodle/SharePoint
Collaborations Intranet
Manual processes
Access to SharePoint storage per module
View samples
View feedback
View Centre Module Monitoring Reports
View statistics
View reports across years
Provide comments on modules or centres

15. Collaborations Intranet
Final processes
Moodle
Collaborations Intranet
Manual processes
Managed by admin staff
Students get feedback from Moodle one module at a time
Head of Department approves feedback and grades
Centres can then access all the feedback for their centre
Students can then access all their feedback
Settings changed to add next academic year and/or term

16. The evaluation from the centres
Usability
Easy to use
All necessary information in one location
Reasonably easy for new staff to follow
Guides are available
Handy week by week teaching material provided by Greenwich but delivered by the centres
Look up Student Details and Uploads/Exams
All documents submitted online
Coursework marking
Download all submitted coursework as zip file
Release of marksheets worked very well.
Issues raised
(Main issue) VPN needed for Accessing Assessment Hub is extremely slow and unreliable
Some minor glitches with downloading ZIP files from the assessment hub

17. Future plans
Wiki for sharing resources between centres and Greenwich and to encourage collaboration
Integrating Turnitin with the Collaborations Intranet
Integrating a meeting facility – WebCast, Drum, SKYPE, etc.
Provision of a Project Supervision and Management System to support 60 credit projects