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Questions and answers for tutors staff working with group work and with individual work. For step-through guidance for staff, please see Guides For Particular Modules.
On this page:
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In the case of group work, how do I lock a group - stop it from being editable but keep it viewable - at the deadline?
In cases of large cohorts where every student is a Group Administrator, it would be very time-consuming for a departmental staff member to change settings on an individual basis. So instead, the convenor or programme leader arranges for either a departmental MyPortfolio Administrator (if there is one) or otherwise somebody from ELE, to use a csv file to change students' role from Administrator to Member, and to check the Settings of the Group page so that after the deadline it is no longer editable by anyone with a Member role, but Assuming students have a Member role in their Group (i.e. they're not Administrators), then a staff Group Administrator should do the following to ensure that the Group pages will cease to be editable at that date and time, but the Members can continue to view and present their work:
- Go to the Group's About Page (by clicking the Group name wherever it appears as a link).
- Click Settings; a page of Group settings displays.
- Scroll down to the Editability section of the settings.
- Check, and if necessary edit, the End Date settings to reflect your deadline.
- If you make change, click Save Group (and you may wish to double check again).
In the case of students submitting individual work, how can I apply a deadline to the group accepting submissions?
The short answer is you can't - but what you can do is check the time and date of submission, which helpfully appears adjacent to every submission in the Submissions To This Group section of the group's About page.
I need to give more assessors access to a group.
ELE Digital Education can in theory do this using a spreadsheet, but in practice we find that other assessors have not never logged into MyPortfolio before, so the spreadsheet cannot find their accounts to associate with groups.
For this reason we ask the group Group Administrators remaining after the deadline to liaise with other assessors and give them access to the group as follows:
- Ensure other assessors have logged into MyPortfolio at least once, even if very briefly. That way their accounts are created and can be added.
- From the group's front page, somebody with a group Administrator role selects the link to Members (e.g. on the group's menu bar); the Members page displays.
- If the group was set up as Controlled (and if not, skip down a few points to 'If the group wasn't set up to be Controlled) then the Administrator has the option to Add Many Users At Once (see screenshot) - click this link; the Add Members page displays.
- Use Type the name (not the user ID) in the Search box to identify members (n.b. as above and note that they need to have logged into MyPortfolio at least once before.
- Click their names and add them from the Potential Members column to the Users To Be Added column.
- When you are ready, click Submit.
- If the group was wasn't set up not to be as Controlled, then the Group Administrator will not be able to add members in this way, and instead needs to invite the assessors either via . Instead, click Send Multiple Invitations (see screenshot) , in the same way and proceed as outlined above , but without the immediate results (the assessor will (for Add Many Users At Once). The assessor will then need to accept the invitation to join the group.
I'm an assessor - how can I find groups whose work I need to mark?
Assuming you have been given access to the group (see above):
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Students have access to their Group space during the marking period, but will not be able to edit it. This means that if you leave feedback on any given page, then depending on their settings, they will be able to see it.
What permissions or role
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should markers
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be given in MyPortfolio?
You'll have They will probably need a Group Administrator role, which enables you them to see all Pages, all Content, and the Reports. If you don't have this role, contact ELE.the department's teaching administrator.
How can I see who is in the Group?
Use the horizontal row of tabs under the Group name to navigate to Members - there you will find a list of contributors, along with other group Administrators (at the time of assessment these should be staff, not students) and possibly ELE staff.
How can I find my way round the Group space?
The fundamental thing to remember that everything you assess on MyPortfolio will be within one or more Pages (so you may not need to access Files - these are just the raw materials).
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- The Back button, top right of the screen. Caveat - be careful not to click the Edit button by mistake and if you do that, then click Cancel to return.
- The Groups link on the Mahara menu.
- The Group's name, wherever it appears as a link.
Is there a way to 'skim read' audiovisual material by increasing the playback speed?
If the media is on YouTube, then you can play at x1.5 or x2 as follows:
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If you find ways to change the playback speed in other media, let us know.
What can students see while I'm marking?
Students continue to be able to view their group's MyPortfolio space, but cannot edit it.
This means that if you comment on Pages (using the Place feedback link), students will be able to see this, for example.
How can I give feedback or comments on a Page?
You may have agreed to give feedback outside MyPortfolio. If not, read on.
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How can you tell if Feedback is moderated? If the Page owner has enabled moderation for Feedback, commenters are alerted to this under the Make public checkbox.
Blocked or invisible content? Some content seems to be missing - is it me?
Blanks space where you're expecting to see something? One likely reason is your web browser's security settings; the other is that the block is retracted. Read on for troubleshooting instructions.
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Retractable blocks - where used, if these have been set to retract by default, then that's another reason content might be hidden. If you see a title with an adjacent arrowhead icon, click the icon and the block will be revealed (unless it's already revealed - in which case it will retract).
How can I judge how well a group is working together?
- Asking.
- Comments ('Feedback', in MyPortfolio language) on Pages.
- If you can see cross-referencing between pages created by different students, this may be an indication that students are paying attention to each other and integrating each others' work.
- Requiring students produce weekly reports or logs may reveal if they are dividing the labour equitably.
- Set deadlines for draft work, before the actual submission date.
- Reports - more on these in a separate section.
What is the difference between 'Group pages' and 'Pages shared to the group'?
'Group pages' have been created within a group context and are owned and editable by all members.
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Students were given guidance to copy all Pages as Group Pages - but it wasn't an explicit requirement.
How can I find out which student has contributed to which bit of work?
- MyPortfolio Group Reports are quite rudimentary but may shed some light. Assuming these have been enabled from the start (by a Group Administrator, in the Group's Settings) they can be accessed via the Reports link in the Group menu (horizontal menu under the Group name).
- Pages may have comments ('Feedback') from group members underneath, which will give some indication of how different members have influenced the work.
- If students have been required to produce an account of who did what and when e.g. as weekly logs or reports, these will be revealing, and have the advantage of including offline work.
- While the work is ongoing, tutors and PGTAs can ask.
What do the Reports tell me?
It's important to note that unlike a wiki, MyPortfolio doesn't keep a history of edits (the UCL wiki was considered for this group project but MyPortfolio had other more compelling benefits). So while MyPortfolio offers some reports, it does not distinguish contributions to Group pages.
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- Pages shared with this group: List of all the pages that people have shared with this group.
- Shared by: Displays the author of the page.
- Members involved: shows the group members who have commented on the pages publicly.
- Non-members involved: shows the users who have commented on the pages publicly but are not members of the group.
- Next to each person who commented on a page is the count for the number of comments they have left on that page.
- The total count for the comments by members and non-members is displayed.
- Pages owned by this group: List of all the pages that were created within the group.
Can I see an individual student's report, like on Moodle?
Administrators can provide you with this, but only in exceptional circumstances.
Find out more
- If what you're looking for isn't here in these Questions & Answers, let ELE know.
- Talk to ELE - the support team can be reached via 020 3549 5678 (internal: 65678) or email ele@ucl.ac.uk.
- You can contact your Faculty's E-Learning Facilitator. For SLASH, it's Mira Vogel on 020 3549 5197 (internal: 65197) - but she may take longer to get back in touch than the support team above.
- Guides at the UCL MyPortfolio Resource Centre
- Mahara (the software we call MyPortfolio) has its own guides and support forums.
- Search YouTube - somebody may have recorded a screencast of what you are looking for.