Technologies supported by the LX.lab

Canvas is the Learning Management System used at UTS. Here are some useful links to help you get started with using Canvas.

• UTS Canvas
• LX resources:
  • Planning your Canvas course
  • Building your Canvas course
  • Communicating in Canvas
  • Examples of good practice in Canvas sites

Turnitin is the UTS plagiarism detection software and feedback tool. Students submit work to Turnitin via a portal embedded in Canvas. The work is then checked for originality against global databases. Browse our resources for Turnitin for more information on how to use this tool:

• LX Resources
  • Set up a Turnitin Assignment in Canvas
  • Access and interpret a Turnitin Similarity Report

The Feedback Studio is an additional component of Turnitin. Feedback Studio provides tools to streamline and speed up marking and feedback processes. More information about the Feedback Studio is available on the Turnitin website.

• Feedback Studio navigation

REVIEW acts as a framework for assessing student work. REVIEW does not allow for student submissions, so it can be used to assess presentations, group projects, and other tasks that are not in written format. REVIEW can be used for group marking, and setting up rubrics against learning objectives and graduate attributes. It can also provide students with longitudinal improvements over the duration of their studies.

Canvas Quizzes is the quiz functionality in Canvas that allows for the creation of tests (of either a formative or summative nature) which can be scheduled and opened and closed automatically. There are a selection of different question inputs available and a number of these can be marked automatically. It is also possible to provide automatic feedback to individual question selections. Questions are retained and can be used again at a later time. It is also possible to set questions in randomising banks.

Useful links

• LX resource: Quizzes in Canvas 

Microsoft Teams allows students to collaborate in real time via a variety of different functions including asynchronous and synchronous document editing and writing, chat, calendar invites and outlook integration, staff and student directory search, file sharing, video calls and collaborative whiteboard features.

A consultation with the LX.lab team is recommended prior to using Teams for your subject.

Useful links

• LX resource: Using Microsoft Teams for teaching

Microsoft Office 365 is the supported productivity suite at UTS. Although other technologies may offer productivity suites, Microsoft Office is known to store data and information according to legislation. This suite includes all Microsoft Office products such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more. These tools also integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Teams and Canvas.

Canvas Collaborations allows students to collaborate on Microsoft Office tools such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. This kind of collaboration is only available to allocated groups within Canvas. The feature will be coming into Canvas soon.

SPARKPlus (commonly called SPARK) is web-based self-and-peer assessment tool that is mainly used to assess individual contributions towards group assessment tasks. Students are able to rate the performance of everyone in their group, and provide written feedback on the performance of others. Staff can use the reporting features in SPARK to to monitor for and investigate instances of free-riding and other behaviours that commonly occur during group work. SPARK also contains less commonly used features that allow for benchmarking of a product or performance, multiple assessment of a product or performance, and multi-step multiple choice quizzing.

Mentimeter is UTS’s official polling tool. It allows users to create interactive online activities using a wide variety of question types to make your classrooms, meetings and events more productive, engaging. These activities can be used in both face-to-face and online environments to increase engagement, collaboration and reflection as well as gauge understanding and opinion. 

H5P facilitates the easy creation of accessible and interactive content in Canvas subject sites which can be used to test students’ understanding. A wide variety of activity types are available, ranging from ‘Drag and Drop’ to immersive and interactive ‘Virtual Tours (360).’

Useful links

• LX resource: Creating interactivity with H5P

Kaltura is the university’s supported video and audio platform. Kaltura Capture can be used to make screen and webcam recordings, or upload video files directly.

Like an ‘in-house YouTube’, once media files are uploaded to Kaltura they’re available to use in any subject. Kaltura also provides a captioning service.

Kaltura media can be embedded on pages in Canvas where the text editor is available. The media appears as a block, which can be surrounded with text, images, and other assets.

Useful links

• LX resource: Creating and managing videos

Zoom is a widely used videoconferencing tool. It allows for screen sharing, along with the use of breakout rooms and a digital whiteboard. Special care has been taken to configure this tool at UTS to prevent access by unauthorised users and to make sure that screen names are retained to prevent inappropriate conduct.

Useful links

• UTS Zoom
• LX resource: Using Zoom for teaching

Microsoft Teams includes the ability to run video conferencing and online tutorials. Unlike Zoom, Teams allows for ongoing discussion and chat after meetings have concluded.

A consultation with the LX.lab team is recommended prior to using Teams for your subject.

Useful links

• LX resource: Using Microsoft Teams for teaching

ProctorU is a proctoring service that is typically applied to the quiz functionality in Canvas to enable invigilated online exams. Any exams using ProctorU are scheduled via SAU Exams team. ProctorU allows for exams to be either live invigilated by a human proctor or using AI invigilation to track behaviours. Incidents are then managed by SAU exams team. ProctorU can be set up to allow for a range of different resources to be used by students during an exam (i.e., allowing for a text book in an open book exam). Students will need a webcam, microphone and to download the ProctorU browser extension before taking a ProctorU invigilated exam.

Useful links:

• LX resource: Set up ProctorU to access settings

Portfolium is an online portfolio platform where staff and students can curate their profile with achievements, projects, competencies in a portfolio and use this to showcase their skills to their peers and potential employers.

Portfolium will be undergoing changes in 2022, which will provide a different student learning experience in 2023. Keep an eye on our resource below for updates.

Useful links:

LX resource: Using Portfolium for teaching

AccountingPod is an educational technology platform embedded within Canvas. The integration supports the learning of cloud-based accounting information-system platforms such as Xero.

AccountingPod lets students experience this through realistic scenarios and personalised feedback.

Cengage is a publications platform with an LTI to integrate with learning management systems. The LTI allows access to ebooks and two subject management tools, Mindtap and Webassign. The tools enable academics to link their subjects to an ebook and its media and activities such as quizzes and assignments.

Coviu telehealth platform is a purpose-built software for healthcare consultations.

Edstem is a platform that supports computer programming subjects. It provides browser-based workspaces for students to enter equations and run code with no need for setting up additional software or virtual machines. Teachers can set up lessons including quizzes, embedded workspaces, code examples, and analytics. The platform is cloud-based and supports most programming languages, including C/C++, C#, Go, Java, Ruby, Swift, Python, Haskell, VB, Julia, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, Octave, R, and Fortran.

MyPlacement is a tool focused on assigning students to work placements as part of their learning. The tool is largely used by Health and Education for students going on practicals.