Digication Kora Courses FAQ

Yes, all institutions will need to adopt Kora after the transition period. You do not need to switch to Kora immediately, and nothing will change for your community automatically.

What is the transition period?

The transition period will allow time for administrators, faculty and students to become familiar with Kora. Organizations must transition fully to Kora by September 1, 2024.

How long will “classic” be available?

Classic courses and related data will not be deleted or removed but you won’t be able to create new Classic courses after September 1, 2024.

NEW IMPLEMENTATION

I’m new to Digication, should I start with Kora or Classic?

If you are new to Digication and Kora is available to you, we recommend that you start with Kora so you and your users won’t have to learn Digication twice.

What kind of training and support will be available?

New documentation, video training and web-based training will be available to help schools transition to using Kora Courses.

Digication Kora Documentation and Support

We are always happy to answer your questions at support@digication.com!

TRANSITION FROM CLASSIC COURSES

Can we allow a subset of faculty to use Kora while the rest use Classic?

Yes. You’ll be able to grant Kora access to specific faculty members. You can also use Kora on a course by course basis.

Will I be able to have courses in Classic and Kora at the same time?

You will be able to use both Classic and Kora courses at the same time in your system.
A course cannot have Kora and Classic enabled at the same time.

Is it possible to change an existing course from Classic to Kora, or from Kora to Classic?

No. Due to how differently Classic and Kora courses are structured, once a course has been created it is not possible to switch between the two.

Can I use Kora in just one section of a multiple section course?

Yes! If administrators or faculty have multiple sections of a course, and would like to try Kora in just one of the sections, that is possible.

Will I be able to import existing rubrics from Classic to Kora?

Yes. You will be able to import existing rubrics from Classic courses into Kora courses.

Will I be able to import existing outcomes from Classic to Kora?

Not yet. An import outcome feature will be available during the summer of 2023.

Will I be able to import existing assignments from Classic to Kora?

No. The assignment structure and options have been re-designed and are not directly compatible between Classic and Kora.

Will I need to build assignments from scratch in Kora?

You will initially need to build your assignments & activities from scratch in Kora, but building assignments in Kora is a straightforward process.

Will we be able to batch copy assignments to one or more courses at the same time?

Not yet. Admins will have the ability to batch copy assignments to one or more courses at the same time in Summer 2023.

Will I be able to import existing assessment results from Classic to Kora?

No. If you have a course that is already using classic, you may find it easier to continue using Classic until the end of a semester or the end-date of the course.

Will my students still be able to use ePortfolios they created before we started using Kora?

They will still be able to use their existing ePortfolios. If you create new assignments in Kora, students can add prompts / templates from the new assignments to their existing ePortfolios.

Will the existing ePortfolio templates still work in Kora?

Yes. Existing ePortfolio templates will be unchanged and will work in Kora Courses.

DASHBOARD

How does the Dashboard work with Kora Courses?

The dashboard will look familiar to current users of Digication but the new arrangement brings a helpful focus to assignments and activities, including due dates and completion status.

What is “My assignments and activities”?

This new module contains a list of all your assignments. From the list you can submit or review submissions, star or hide items to manage them, track due dates, communicate with others and perform grading and assessment.

What is “My Work”?

The “My Work” module replaces the “My ePortfolios” area and is where work and ePortfolios created by or shared with you can be found.

What is “Courses and Groups”?

“Courses and Groups” contains your Kora courses and groups arranged by category. If you have Classic courses they will be listed separately.

For users who have not upgraded to Kora, will they see “My Assignments and Activities” in the dashboard?

Users will see the “My Assignments and Activities” area once they have been added to Kora courses.

What will users see in their dashboards if they are using both classic and Kora?

If users have classic and Kora courses, they will see their Kora courses listed under My Courses & Groups. Classic courses will be listed separately.

If I have upgraded to Kora, but I’m not using any assignments or courses, what will show in “My Assignments and Activities”?

For users who have Kora enabled but are not yet added to any courses, their “My Assignments and Activities” area will have an ‘empty’ view, with a graphical placeholder.

What do students see when they first start using Kora?

If a user has a student account, they will see the empty view of “My Assignments and Activities” and a link which will allow them to create new Work.

What do faculty see when they first start using Kora?

If a user has a faculty account, they will see the empty view of “My Assignments and Activities” , and they will see links to create either new Work or a new Course or Group.

Can I turn off the new “My Assignments and Activities” in the dashboard?

Administrators can override the “My Assignments and Activities” module for their campus during the transition period. Individuals cannot turn off the “My Assignments and Activities” module for themselves.

COURSES & GROUPS

How do Courses & Groups work in Kora?

We offer Course, Community and Assessment group options, and we’ve added the ability to define additional custom course types.

What course components are available?

We’ve arranged the course components under new headings - Home, Assignments, and People.

How can I give feedback on assignment submissions?

We’ve added the ability to use Conversations in Assignments as well as traditional grading options and rubrics.

How do you connect a template to the course in Kora?

In an assignment, you can choose any existing templates you’d like to use. You will also be able to continue saving / sharing templates the same way that you have before, by adjusting the template settings and adding the desired course(s).

Do I have to use courses and groups?

You do not have to use courses and groups, but doing so allows you to take advantage of tools that enable you to assess and grade student work more efficiently and increase opportunities for social pedagogy.

ASSIGNMENTS & ACTIVITIES

In Kora, do I have to use assignments & activities in order for my students to create ePortfolios?

Using assignments & activities is easier for you and your students:

Students will see the assignments as soon as they log in. It is almost impossible to “forget” something is due!
Students will get notifications and reminders.
Students can create with one click from prompts or templates in your assignments & activities.
Faculty can easily message students as a group. This is especially useful to contact all students who haven’t submitted their work.
Faculty can contact individuals as well as groups of students.
Faculty browsing through student submissions is much easier
Faculty grading and/or assessment student submissions is more efficient

What are the benefits of having assignment categories?

Categories allow all the stakeholders to contextualize the type of work they’re working on. For example, if an instructor wants students to keep a digital journal of a research project, oftentimes it’s confusing to both the instructor and students if it’s called an ePortfolio.

How will outcomes and rubrics be connected to courses and assignments?

In Kora one can create any number of outcome collections. Each collection can be used for different programs or system-wide outcomes, such as “General Education” or “Nursing”. It’s very easy to attach these outcomes to assignments and use them to create reports to track performance over time.

How do students see the assignment instructions from the ‘My Assignments & Activities’ page?

The assignment description is visible in the “My Assignments & Activities” page. However, if you have prompts, they will only show up when a student is working on their respective pages.

If I am using a template already that has multiple pages and detailed instructions, why should I use assignments?

Assignments allow faculty to assess and grade student work more efficiently, and increase opportunities for social pedagogy. Assignments allow students to submit their work without worrying about it being published or shared.

Do students always create a new ePortfolio from each assignment? Would they end up with a huge number of ePortfolios?

No! Students can add to existing ePortfolios or create new work in response to assignments.

Can students complete a new assignment by continuing their existing ePortfolio?

Yes! Faculty can easily create prompts that students can add to an existing ePortfolio with one click.

Why do students have to submit their work to me? How’s that different from sharing and publishing?

Submitting work to an assignment creates an archived copy of a student's work for review with less effort for both students and faculty. Submitting to an assignment in Kora does not require work to be shared or published.

OUTCOMES & ASSESSMENT

How do outcomes & assessment work in Kora?

In Kora one can create any number of outcome collections. Each outcome can be used with one or more rubrics. Each collection can be used for different programs or system-wide outcomes, such as general education. It’s very easy to attach these outcomes to assignments and as people submit work you can track them and use them to create reports based on different filters.

How does Kora handle system wide outcomes and course level outcomes?

In addition to the system-wide outcomes; in each assignment, Faculty has the autonomy to add outcomes and rubrics for their course or group. These are tracked at the course level and won’t interfere with the system-wide outcomes.

How does Kora allow you to recognize unexpected outcomes and achievements?

Faculty can also add outcomes to recognize work that may accomplish goals not originally envisioned as being part of their assignment.

Are there any benefits to not allowing students to see their own assessment results?

Most instructors would likely choose to allow everyone to see their own assessment results. However, there may be certain use cases where this is not preferred.

How will program assessment work with Kora?

Program assessment will work very similarly in Kora as it does in Classic Courses. People will submit work to assignments which can then be sampled for further assessment.
Assignments can be tagged with system outcomes or filtered in other ways.

Can I sample work from both Kora and Classic courses?

Yes! You will be able to sample student work in assessment programs from both Classic and Kora courses at the same time.

GRADES & GRADEBOOK

What is grading like in Kora?

Faculty can view work, leave comments and enter grades for all students in the same interface

Grades will be saved to the LMS once the new LTI integration is available (expected Summer, 2023)

SOCIAL PEDAGOGY

How will students provide peer assessment and feedback?

On a per assignment basis, instructors can decide whether or not to prompt students to share their work with each other during the submission process. Students can view submissions that have been shared with each other and provide outcome based assessment and qualitative feedback using the Conversations feature.

How does peer assessment work?

Once shared, people can see each others’ work, provide assessment using rubrics and outcomes, and provide qualitative feedback using the Conversations feature.

Can people see each other’s grades?

Submitters will not be able to see each others’ grades or assessment results. They can share qualitative feedback through conversations and see assessment results by faculty and their peers if the assignment allows.

NOTIFICATIONS & REMINDERS

Will there be new Kora Notifications?

Existing notifications will not change much, but there will be some new Notifications that are specific to Kora Courses, such as reminders for assignments with due dates. These notifications will be available Summer 2023.

Can Faculty contact individual students as well as sending messages to groups?

Faculty will be able to generate notifications regarding assignments and activities that will appear on users’ dashboards and be included in the Notifications email updates (depending on users’ individual notification settings). These can be sent to individuals or to groups.

INTEGRATION (CSV,LTI, API)

If I am creating a course via the LTI integration in an LMS, will I have the option to choose whether the course will be in Classic or Kora?

There will be two different LTI options - one for Classic and the other for Kora courses. You won’t be deciding which kind of course to use on a course-by-course basis, but instead, which LTI integration(s) to make available for faculty to use.

Will we be able to test the LTI for Kora in the near future?

LTI integration for Kora courses will not be available immediately, but once it is, campuses will be able to test using Kora courses.

Will a Kora course in Digication (LTI 1.3) sync roster with the LMS?

Automatic roster sync will occur when connecting to Digication for the first time. After the first connection, the roster can be updated when faculty chooses to refresh the list, but it will not be automatic.

Will grades assigned in Kora end up in the LMS gradebook as well? Will assignments created in Kora end up in the LMS?

Yes, grades will be sent to the LMS gradebook. Assignments can be created in the LMS and then created in Digication by connecting to an external tool and following the prompts, or they can be connected to existing assignments in Digication.

Will we need to change our existing CSV import?

The existing CSV import will continue to work for importing Course and Registration information for Classic courses. As schools begin to use Kora courses, they will need to switch to or add imports that are processed with the new CSV importer, once that is available in summer 2023.

Will the existing CSV import still work? For how long?

Yes. The new CSV import will not be available immediately, but once it has been released, both CSV options will be available. Both options will remain available as long as we are supporting both Classic and Kora courses.

Will the existing API still work? For how long?

The existing API will continue to work for Classic courses only. In the future, we will have a new API that will work with Kora.

DOCUMENTATION

When will Digication release new documentation for Kora?

An initial set of new articles will be published when the public beta begins, in early April 2023 on https://support.digication.com. Additional articles will be added as needed.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TIMELINE

When is Digication Kora Courses available?

Do we have to switch to Kora?