Overview

Background

MVM’s main medical UG programme - Undergraduate Medicine (MBChB) - is currently in the first year of transitioning their assessed portfolio to PebblePad with marking and feedback delivered online via the PebblePad/Turnitin integration. The adoption of PebblePad has been as a mechanism to improve online assessment and feedback, and is very much a part of TEL assessment and feedback programme of project work.

Academic year 2014/15 concentrated on trailing the online portfolio with Year 1 undergraduate assignments which included ~250 students - this alone has been the biggest single uptake of PebblePad and, while successful, has been a big task ensuring coordination of key dates, engagement of key stakeholder etc.

Scaling this migration to all five years of the MBChB programme for the 2015 academic year (starting in June 2015 for Year 4) means ~1,200 students submitting a total of approx. 10,000 assignments throughout this academic year. The Programme Owner sees that the Apps Project Management support will greatly improve the likelihood of a successful roll out.

Scope

PebblePad3 is the latest version of PebblePad which comprises Pebble+ and ATLAS. Students will submit their submissions in PebblePad, markers will mark the submissions and make their comments available in PebblePad.  Students work will be moderated and the marks in PebblePad will be exported to EEMeC.  Students’ marks and feedback will be released on defined dates.

Years 1 and 2 will be a straightforward all year course. Years 3-5 are split into carousels and planning will take this into account.

In order to do this

• MVM will
  • set up PebblePad with workspaces and assignments
  • identify and set up markers in PebblePad
  • conduct training for year co-ordinators and markers
  • provide guidance for students
• Project manager will:
  • Coordinate the logistics for projects stakeholders/roles to ensure clear task management required for successful implementation of PebblePad migration for the rest of the 2014/15 academic year
  • Provide workflow and business process planning for scalable and efficient expansion into 2015/16.
  • Manage team communications, project team meetings, minutes, plans, milestones etc for the period to September 2015.

• Coordinate the four key user groups, with clear communication of roles and responsibilities for each group.

1. College office – portfolio management and assessment team, year co-ordinators
2. IS Skills – co-ordination of training and orientation
3. IS Helpline – for awareness and first line fix
4. LTW – PebblePad service management team

Note: Please note that MVM is to become known as the Edinburgh Medical School

Not in scope

Turnitin (TII) for marking – although used in year 1 there have been navigational and performance issues with TII integration  which MVM do not think are sustainable going forward with years 2-5 as the issues would be a major risk to the service failing. Also a PebblePad upgrade is likely in 2015/16 – at the last upgrade in 2013/14 the upgrade broke the TII integration and was not fixed for 3 months. Another issue is that TII also cannot anonymise the marking. MVM agreed the project going ahead using PebblePad and Pebble+. As Pebble+ is part of the PebblePad suite there will not be the integration issues PebblePad had with TII. Pebble+ also has the advantage over TTI of being easier to set up.It should be noted that Turnitin will be used for originality check only, after the submission has been marked.

Marking rubrics:  MVM confirmed that rubrics will not be required for years 1-5 under this project.

There is no use of Learn or Moodle in this project

Objectives & Deliverables

O1 Provide Initial Access to PebblePad by beginning of June 2015

D1 Access sub project completed

D2 Communications plan completed by end of April 15

O2 Training materials ready by beginning of June 2015

D3 Documentation created

D4 Training materials ready for training

O3 Each year prepared for submissions 7 days before submissions begin

D5 Markers identified, trained and set up in PebblePad

D6 Training of course organisers and markers completed

O4 Completion of courses

D7 Plan for 2015/16 (includes moderation, release of marks and feedback, record keeping and review etc)

Benefits of moving to PebblePad:

Improved Student Experience

• Undergraduate Portfolios assignments will be electronically marked and assessed using the PebblePad system. This will improve student feedback and submission, so is very much aligned with NSS results.
• Gives a consistent experience and process for both staff and students
• Electronic submission means students on peripheral attachments will no longer have to travel to the College Office at Chancellor's Building, Little France to hand in their assignments. It also means students in Little France area also do not have to hand in paper copies of assignments.
• Will enable faster delivery of marks and feedback and confirmed delivery of feedback to students - no longer dependent on students picking up feedback sheets from the College Office.

Improved Marking and Feedback Quality

• Ability to audit and assess quality and consistency of marking and feedback across all MBChB module assignments.

Supports College and University Strategy

• Fits with MVM elearning strategic review and paves the way for wider MVM adoption of central tools and cost savings
• Aligns with the strategic College drive to address student experience and satisfaction concerns and NSS results - if executed successfully

Success Criteria

• Students on years 1-5 are able to submit their assignments electronically through PebblePad
• Markers can easily mark submissions in PebblePad
• Students receive feedback and marks timeously