TEU Update Jun 26 2025

Migration to new text-matching solution

Following the successful upgrades of Loop and Loop Reflect, we will now move to migrate to a new text-matching solution.

Turnitin Similarity is being introduced because the Ouriginal text-matching product is being deprecated and Turnitin Similarity is the alternative product which most closely mirrors it.

Testing is underway. Turnitin Similarity will commence rollout in August and from 1 September, Ouriginal will cease to operate.

Programme chairs should indicate to the Teaching Enhancement Unit (teaching.enhancement@dcu.ie) any major assessments they expect students on their programme to submit in August and which require text matching so the TEU can ensure Turnitin Similarity is properly configured for them.

Turnitin Similarity Training Session for Programme Chairs

As part of the migration to Turnitin Similarity from Ouriginal, we wish to invite programme chairs to an online training session on Wednesday, 27 August, from 2 – 3 p.m. Register via this link. This session will also be recorded.

Programme chairs are an important cohort of staff, who can help disseminate key information about Turnitin Similarity to colleagues who teach on their programme. 

Further information and resources about Turnitin Similarity will be made available in due course, as well as details of other training sessions for other groups of staff. Our first target for training is programme chairs. If you have any questions about Turnitin Similarity, please raise a ticket at DCU Help. 

New Loop features

Our final set of Loop feature enhancements which we wish to highlight to you centre around the Loop Quiz and Question Bank. The Quiz is a very versatile tool used by many colleagues to support both formative and summative assessment. Its many options to customise quizzes, and the many types of questions you can create are very positive elements which colleagues appreciate. These elements have been improved in the newest version of Loop, and include streamlined workflows, a new question type, improved ways of working with the Question Bank, and more.

Highlights:

• Use the improved Question Bank filtering options to quickly find and organise questions, making quiz creation more efficient
• The new ability to assign grades to specific quiz section allows for more granular feedback and performance analysis
• Using the new ‘Ordering’ question type will help make a quiz more engaging, by requiring students to drag-and-drop items in the correct sequence
• Tweaking questions has become easier with inline questions editing
   

The final ECIU CBL Community of Practice of this academic year will take place this afternoon Thursday June 26th at 2 p.m. Siska Simon from Technische Universität Hamburg will pose the problem of “Effective Group Formation in CBL”. Forming groups and helping them to work effectively together is a core aspect of CBL, and this topic will be a useful opportunity to share ideas.  As always, we will be adopting the very efficient Reflective Team Approach to ensure we respect the one-hour slot and, more importantly, generate lots of concrete ideas for the presenter to reflect on.

Looking forward to seeing you online at this link.

Theme: Teaching and Learning in Turbulent Times: Recognising Diversity and Promoting Inclusion

Dates: September 29th - October 3rd 2025

Modes: Series of In-Person and Online Events

Deadline for submissions: Extended to August 15th

This year’s Teaching and Learning Week, themed "Teaching and Learning in Turbulent Times: Recognising Diversity and Promoting Inclusion," encourages staff to share teaching and learning practices that critically engage with global challenges, acknowledge diverse perspectives, and actively promote inclusion.

We have invited keynote speaker Dr Jennifer Fraser, University Director of Student Partnership and Principal Lecturer at the University of Westminster, UK. Dr Jennifer Fraser led a comprehensive project to decolonise the curriculum at UoW. They will be joined by student Kelsea Costin to co-present the keynote and exemplify true student partnership.

For more information about topics of interest and how to get involved, please visit the Call for Contributions. If you are interested in sharing your work, please complete the form by Friday August 15th and a member of the Teaching Enhancement Unit will get back to you.

If you require assistance or guidance with teaching and learning or Loop related matters, avail of the below methods.

Support for technical issues
For Loop technical queries, go to help.dcu.ie. You can also attend one of our regular online Loop drop in clinics, details in the TEU calendar. The drop in clinics are particularly useful for more complex queries. The Loop Staff Support Page also provides a comprehensive range of resources on Loop and Zoom. For new users, the enrolment key for this page is ‘staff’. 

Advice on using technology for Teaching and Learning
If you are looking for advice on developing your teaching practice, including but not limited to the application of technology, please contact the TEU team teaching.enhancement@dcu.ie. We will endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible.

Consultancy request form
Interested in requesting a workshop or more extended consultation on a specific topic?  Use this consultancy request form.

TEU mailing list 
Going forward, the TEU newsletter and other updates will be issued to the academic staff mail group.  Anyone else who wishes to receive our communications, please click “Join Group” to be added to our mailing list. This is particularly important if you wish to receive updates on Loop related communications; professional development opportunities such as Advance HE supported journey, etc.