This post contains information aimed at Module Convenors and academic staff involved in overseeing assessment in modules on Blackboard.
The integration of assessment information between RISIS and Blackboard is scheduled to go live on Thursday 3rd January 2019. It applies to all summative assessments with a due date of Friday 1st February or later.
What is EMA Integration?
Integration will increase the accuracy and efficiency of assessment administration:
1. Sub modular marks that are recorded in Blackboard for summative assessments will be transferred directly to RISIS by Programme Administrators (This includes marks for Turnitin assignments.)
2. Assessment information held in RISIS will be used to automatically set up Blackboard assessments e.g. Blackboard assignments, blogs, journals and wikis. (This excludes the set up of Turnitin assignments. Programme Administrators will continue to set these up manually.)
What does it mean for academic staff?
There are no changes for academic staff in how assessments are marked. Your Programme Administrators will handle all of the Integration processes. Your Support Centre has been briefed and trained for the introduction of EMA Integration, and continued support will be provided by EMA staff and the TEL team.
Please continue to provide your Programme Administrators with the details of your assessments for the coming term to allow them to automate the technical administration of the assessments in Blackboard.
What will I see in Blackboard?
If you enter the Grade Centre for your module, you will see columns that allow marks to be transferred into RISIS. The titles of these are prefaced with [IC]. Do not edit or delete these.
For some assessment types, integration will automatically set up the submission point along with the column in the Grade Centre. These are:
- Blackboard Assignments,
- Blackboard Blogs, Journals & Wikis.
These assessments will always be set up in the section called ‘Assessment’ in the course menu. It is essential that you do not move or copy these to another area in the course.
If your Blackboard courses do not currently use a course menu item called ‘Assessment’ as the location for assignment submissions, we recommend renaming the existing submission area to ‘Assessment’. Further advice and guidance can be found at ‘What if my course menu does not have an Assessment area?‘
Further information and support
If you have any questions about integration:
- Blackboard Help for Staff site – EMA Help for Integration,
- EMA Integration: Frequently Asked Questions.
- EMA Programme website – Integration update.
Or talk to your Programme Administrator in the first instance. If they do not know the answer, they can raise a support ticket for colleagues in the TEL, RISIS or IT teams to answer the query.
You can find more support about how to undertake e-assessment on our EMA Help page.