Using CampusPress for assessment (Staff Guide)

You may wish to use CampusPress for formative or summative assessments. This page explains how to temporarily prevent students from editing their work during the assessment period, and offers suggestions on how best to provide feedback.

How to lock sites to prevent editing during marking

To temporarily prevent students from editing their sites, you should turn on post moderation. This setting means that any posts or pages updated or added by students will not be published until you grant permission. This setting must be changed manually by the teacher. It can be changed back again when the assessment period is over.

1. Log into CampusPress at http://showcase.lse.ac.uk and navigate to the dashboard of your course via My Sites > My Class Blogs > [Select your class from the dropdown] > Dashboard

Click to see a screenshot

Open

2. In the menu on the left click My Class > Settings to access the menu that controls what students can do and see on their sites.

Click to see a screenshot

Open

3. Scroll down to Moderation On Student Blogs and tick I must approve all posts.

4. While this box is ticked, all editing options will be removed from student sites for their posts. If a student tries to add a new post or page they will see that the ‘Publish’ button has changed to say ‘Submit for Review’

5. When marking is completed, navigate to Moderation On Student Blogs again and remove the tick from the moderation box. Students will again be able to update and add new posts or pages again.

How to grant extensions to individual students

Sometimes, you may wish to allow a student to edit or submit work after you have disabled editing for all students. To do this you will need to manually make an exception for that student by giving them extra permissions within their own site.

Allow students to add a new post or page after the submission deadline

If a student has not yet begun to make their page(s) or post(s) before the cut-off deadline they will still be able to submit a new post or page using the ‘Submit for Review’ option. You can then allow publication if an extension has been granted. (Note: In cases where a student needs to be able to access and edit existing material from anywhere on their site you will need to allow editing access instead. See instructions below on how to allow students to edit material after the submission deadline.)

To check if any students have submitted work after the deadline:

1. In the menu on the left on your class dashboard, navigate to Dashboard > Reader

2. Scroll down to My Class and look for the tab marked ‘Pending’. An indicator beside it will tell you how many posts or pages have been submitted for review.

3. Click Publish to allow the post or page to be posted to the student’s site where you can then view it in the same way as any other student submission.

Allow students to edit an existing post or page after the submission deadline

Where a student has already begun work on a post or page, or where they need to edit any existing material on their site after you have turned on moderation, you will need to temporarily grant them special privileges on their own site.

1. Log into CampusPress at http://showcase.lse.ac.uk and navigate to the dashboard of your course via My Sites > My Class Blogs > [Select your class from the dropdown] > Dashboard

2. In the menu on the left, click My Class > Student Blogs

3. Find the student requiring an extension and click the Dashboard link on their card to be taken to the administration area for their student site.

4. In the menu on the left of the student site dashboard, which you have just opened, click Users > All Users. Double check that you are on the student site and not the class site when you do this.

5. Click the tick box next to the student’s name to select them. (They should be the only student listed on this site).

6. At the bottom of the user list find the ‘Change role to…’ dropdown and select ‘Administrator’. Then click Change.

7. This student will now be able to edit their existing posts for as long as they have ‘administrator’ status. You will be able to see when they have edited a post from its timestamp.

8. Once the extension window has passed, repeat these steps to revert the student to ‘student’ status on their site.

How to provide student feedback for CampusPress assessments using Moodle

In some cases, you may wish to record student grades and provide feedback for CampusPress student sites through Moodle. This can be useful for keeping all student data in one place, and making it easier for students to find their marks. To do this:

1. Set up a Moodle assignment in the usual way. (Assignment set-up guide (individual and group) )

2. In the Submission Types setting on the Moodle assignment, make sure Online Text is enabled. This is the easiest way to allow students to link to their CampusPress sites - they will be able to enter text directly into a text box instead of having to upload a file.

3. Advise students to submit a link to their CampusPress site to the correct Moodle assignment portal. Make sure to tell them whether you want a link to the whole site or to a specific post or set of posts.

4. After the students have submitted, you can find their links on the right-hand side of the marking area. Click ‘Grade’ as you would on any submission, ignore the main screen (which will generate a blank white PDF) and you will find the link to the students' site in the right-hand column.

5. Click the link the student has provided to open their site. Make sure to open it in a new tab window, so that you can still add your grades and comments in Moodle. (The easiest way to do this is to hold down Ctrl when clicking the link. On a Mac, hold Cmd and click.)

6. Add comments and feedback as you would for any other assignment in Moodle.