March 2025 technology updates
27 February 2025Image: Mohamed Hassan on Pxhere
In our technology updates we announce the latest developments in UoA supported tools for teaching and learning.
FeedbackFruits
“Review as a Group” in Peer Review & Group Member Evaluation
Students can now complete peer reviews as a group, allowing one student to submit feedback on behalf of the group. This feature is available in the student collaboration options menu within Peer Review and Group Member Evaluation assignments.
Auto-publish grades
Instructors can now schedule grade publishing or select continuous updates as changes are made within an activity. These settings can be modified in the grading step.
Grading for non-participants
Instructors can now assign null grades (no grade) or an automatic grade of 0 for students who do not participate in an assignment.
View the release notes.
Figure 1: The collaboration option allows for one student to submit feedback on behalf of the group.
Figure 2: The publish grades setting enables a continuous update upon.
Figure 3: Non-participating students can now receive either null or 0.
H5P
Improved image handling
Users can now drag and drop images or paste images from the clipboard into the H5P authoring tool—eliminating the need for manual file uploads.
Figure 4: You can now drag and drop images into the H5P window.
View the H5P release notes.
Volume control for Live Engagement tools
All live tools (The Chase, Multipoll, Wordcloud, and Emoji Cloud) now include volume control for background music.
New word-cloud modes
Instructors can now choose between:
- Word Mode: Breaks sentences into individual words
- Sentence Mode: Keeps full sentences intact
Enhancements to “The Chase”
- Instructor Control: A new Finish Page button lets instructors end a page at any time.
- Multimedia Choice: Now supports videos, audio, and images as answer options.
- Leaderboard Update: When users achieve the same score, those who complete the activity faster will rank higher, with a new visual indicator on the results page.
Perusall
Peer review workflow enhancements
- Late submission flexibility: Instructors can allow late submissions with penalties, automatically assigning late reviewers to other late submissions.
- Customisable review requirements: Instructors can omit the instructor review period or remove the requirement for students to provide overall feedback on submissions.
- Enhanced grading view: Instructors can now see all overall feedback given by a student in the Grade Assignment view.
- Student review checklist: A new checklist ensures students complete all required peer review components (e.g., in-text comments, rubric completion).
Figure 5: Perusall peer review checklist.
View the Perusall release notes.
New assignment types
- Fishbowl assignments: Some students upload materials while others review them, fostering discussion without reciprocal reviews.
- Instructor review assignments: Instructors or TAs review student submissions using rubrics and in-text comments.
Reusable scoring templates and rubrics
- Scoring templates: Create preset scoring rules for different assignment types (e.g., video assignments vs. textbook readings). Changes made to a template automatically apply across linked assignments.
- Reusable rubrics: Import rubrics from the LMS or create rubrics that apply across multiple assignments without duplicating them. Manage rubrics in Settings > Scoring > Rubrics.
Figure 6: Perusall’s Scoring Template feature.
We hope these feature improvements will help you improve student engagement and gain insights into your cohort’s progress.
As always, should you have any questions or require assistance, seek support from IT Connect and Ranga Auaha Ako, Learning and Teaching Design Team. We’re here to help.
Disclaimer: The information in this blog post is accurate as of 27 February 2025. Please note that the features and updates mentioned above are based on available information at the time of writing, and there may have been further developments since then.
See also
Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) monthly forum
All staff at the University are invited to join the monthly forum. See the details for the Zoom link, agenda, and past recordings.