Tag Archives: canvas

What’s the Best Web Browser to Use with Canvas?

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web-browsersAlthough Canvas officially works on all of the latest releases of Chrome, Safari, Firefox and IE, there are a couple of instances in which Safari or Firefox may not be the best choice. Which browsers does Canvas support? in the Canvas Community is regularly updated with the latest browsers supported.  We recommend having the latest version of at least two browsers installed on your computer. For Canvas, Chrome should be one of those browsers.

Below are two known issues with Safari and Firefox.

Safari Issue with Student Turnitin Submissions

If students attempting to submit a Turnitin assignment are prompted to enter their login and password, they should switch browsers from Safari to Chrome or Firefox.  Turnitin requires the use of browser cookies and some versions of Safari may not be set up correctly.  If students want to continue using Safari, they should

1. Click on the “Safari” menu and select “Preferences.”
2. Click on the “Privacy” tab.
3. Set “Block Cookies and other website data” to “Never”

Note: You may need to close and then re-open your browser window, clear your browser cache, and/or log out and back into Canvas for these settings to take affect. After you are finished using Turnitin, you may revert your privacy settings.

Firefox Issue with Online Grading Using Speedgrader and Crocodoc

If an instructor is using the online commenting tools with Canvas’ Speedgrader (Crocodoc), there is a known issue that Firefox may not save the last comment.  Since comments are automatically saved, you may not notice that the last comment entered is not saved when you navigate to the next student’s assignment submission.  We recommend using Chrome when grading online.

General Faculty Meeting 2016 Technology Update

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Global Learning Ecosystem--now without Blackboard

Global Learning Ecosystem–now without Blackboard

Rebecca Frost Davis, Director of Instructional and Emerging Technology gave an update to faculty at the general faculty meeting on Tuesday, August 23, 2016.  Since she was one in a long parade of speakers, this blog posts shares that update in written form, as well as links to items covered.

Global Learning Ecosystem

We think of ourselves as part of a global learning ecosystem—students learn in and out of the classroom, on and off campus, locally, globally, face-to-face and online. The same is true of us–faculty, staff, and administrators at St. Edward’s University. And the real kicker, the ecosystem is constantly changing. Some changes we drive, like discontinuing use of Blackboard, and some change is thrust upon us. Both our graduates and our colleagues need resilience to deal with all of this change. In the Office of Information Technology, we’ve been focusing on developing internal processes of adapting to that change by experimenting, gathering data, and iterating. In other words, we are using research to drive change. So, what do we know from that experience, and what changes can you expect when you enter the classroom next week? Continue reading →

TurnItIn Assignments in Canvas

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canvasturnitinThe TurnItIn LTI integration with Canvas allows you to use the TurnItIn plagiarism service to check your student’s writing assignments for originality against a large database of internet sources. When creating assignments in Canvas using TurnItIn, there are some important limitations to keep in mind:

  • You cannot restrict student submission types. By default Turnitin always allows students to submit their assignment as a text entry or upload any supported file type. Supported file types are: .txt, .doc/.docx, .ppt/.pptx, .ps, .pdf, .rtf, .html, .wp, .hwp, .odt/.ods/.odp
  • Students cannot submit multiple file uploads.
  • If you want to use a Canvas rubric for the assignment, you must add the rubric before setting the External Tool submission type. Create the assignment with any other submission type, save the assignment, add the rubric, and then edit the assignment to select the External Tool.
  • You cannot use Turnitin with group assignments.
  • You cannot have more than one ‘Assign to’ dates.
  • The TurnItIn Assignment details will not be viewable while in Student View mode.

As you watch the video on how to create a TurnItIn Assignment in Canvas, keep in mind and make note of the following best practices: Continue reading →

Viewing Your Current Courses in Canvas

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Is your Canvas Dashboard and Canvas Course List too crowded?  Are Fall 2015 classes obscuring your Spring 2016 courses? Do you have problems finding your current courses?

You can customize the active courses you want to show in your Course list and Dashboard. Courses you want to show in the Courses drop-down menu or Dashboard are called favorite courses. You can favorite any published course that appears in the My Courses section on the course list page. When no courses are favorited, the courses list automatically displays up to 12 courses alphabetically in the drop-down menu.

To favorite your current semester courses and remove old courses from the list, click on Courses (1) from the Global Menu.  Click on the “All Courses” link (2) at the bottom of the list of courses.

Courses menu with All Courses indicated with 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the All Courses display, click on the “Star” to the left of the courses you want to appear in your Course List and Dashboard.  If you no longer want to see a course in your list, click on the “Star” to unfavorite the course.
List of courses with stars to the left of each course

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Canvas Guide to using the new Canvas Dashboard explains all of the features of the Dashboard.

For more information on using Canvas, please contact Instructional Technology at instcom@stedwards.edu.

Canvas Commons: Where Educators Find and Share Teaching Resources

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Canvas-Logo

What is Canvas Commons?

Commons is a community that allows you to share your course content or access others’ shared course content. You can import and export Canvas pages, modules or the entire course.

  • Share course materials among faculty who are teaching the same course.
  • You can create a personal learning object repository
  • Build a course from scratch by using the shared materials from other Canvas users.

Continue reading →

Canvas Commons for Qualtrics

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q_logo_vertical

Qualtrics is a research survey software that allows survey data collection and provides an analysis platform  to meet research needs. St. Edward’s now offers a Qualtrics self-paced online course on the Canvas Commons. The course gives students instructions to get started with Qualtrics, set up their own survey, distribute the survey and collect and analyze data.

If you wish to add the Canvas Qualtrics course as part of your course or if you simply wish to learn about the software, you can 1.) request to add students to take the self-paced course, 2.) take the course without registering or 3.) import the course into your own course

 

To request your students to be added to the self-paced course:
Send a request e-mail to lchen1@stedwards.edu with a list of student email addresses.

To take the course:
The course is open for public, you do not need to be a Canvas user to access this information. Go to the course URL here.

To import the course into your own course:
Canvas allows the training course to be imported into your course. Once you are logged in to your Canvas account, go to the Commons Tab and search for “Qualtrics Training”

Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 2.35.48 PM
To import the Qualtrics common into your own course, follow the instructions here

Start of the Semester Checklist for Canvas

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Clipboard with checkmarks and Canvas logoWelcome back to the Spring 2016 semester!  Did too much holiday cheer wipe out your memories of those start of the semester tasks you need to do in Canvas?  Is this your first semester teaching in Canvas? Here are a few things to check as you set your courses up for the semester.  Remember that Turnitin Assignments will need to be set up again as the integration with Canvas has changed.

 

 

checkbox_no  Make your course available to students.

  • Publish your course by clicking on the “Publish” button in the upper right menu of the Home page
  • Check the Start and End Dates for your classes. By default, students cannot view classes outside of those dates, even if the course is published.  Go to the Course Settings to check and change the dates. Click on the “Update Course Details” button to save the changes.

checkbox_no Rename your course to add the semester and year.

checkbox_no Send a message to your students.

checkbox_no Combine multiple sections of a course.

checkbox_no Add TA’s

  • Go to the People link in the course menu and select “+People”.  Enter the TA(s) email address and click on “Add”.

checkbox_no Import Content from another Canvas course

  • Go to Course Settings for the Spring 2016 course and click on the button to “Import Content into Course”
  • Under Content Type select “Copy a Canvas Course”
  • Search for the course name
  • Choose “All Content” unless you want to only copy over specific content or want to exclude Announcements created in your prior class.  Note that Announcements from the prior semester are automatically included in an “All Content” import.  These announcements will be available to students in the current course unless you delete them from Announcements. If you have announcements we recommend choosing “Select Specific Content” and not importing announcements.
  • Click on “Import”

Check box Add Assignments

  • When you add an assignment  it is also automatically added to “Assignments”, “Calendar”, “Syllabus” and “Grades”
  • Turnitin Assignments are now created by selecting the Submission Type “External Tool”

Check box Meet with Instructional Technology

  • We’re available to help you design your Canvas course, setup your grades, learn how to use new tools such as web conferencing or lecture capture, and to answer questions.  Contact us at instcom@stedwards.edu.

We have several Introduction to Canvas trainings scheduled.  Sign up at bit.ly/SEUITTraining .

Canvas and Turnitin Changes for Spring 2016

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Turnitin

Turnitin Changes within Canvas

The process for adding Turnitin assignments to Canvas is changing beginning December 21, 2015.  Turnitin has changed the way that it integrates with Canvas, which means three important things:

  1. Instructors have to use a new process for setting up Turnitin-enabled assignments in Canvas for the Spring 2016 semester. It is recommended you do not copy any Turnitin assignments from previous semesters. The old method of creating Turnitin assignments will no longer work after December 21, 2015.  The new method involves more steps, but allows you full access to all of the Turnitin features including Grammar Checking. To set up Turnitin Assignments follow these instructions for setting up a Turnitin assignment or view the video below.
  2. Turnitin Originality Reports for assignments submitted to Canvas between Spring 2015 and Fall 2015 will no longer be available after December 21, 2015. If you want to retain these Originality Reports, you will need to download them individually per student for each assignment. This is important if you have student grade challenges or need copies for department assessment. While the Originality Report won’t be available after December 21, the students’ file submission (without the Originality Report) will still be available in Canvas.  Instructions for downloading Originality Reports:
      • Go to Grades in your Canvas class.  In the grade column for a Turnitin Assignment, click on the color-coded rectangle to load the Grade window.  Click again on the color-coded rectangle. This will load the Originality Report in a new window or tab.
      • In the Turnitin Document Viewer, click the printer icon, located towards the bottom left of the screen. 
      • Select “Download PDF of current view for printing.”
      • A popup window will come up, and after a short time there will be a link: “Click here to download your file.”
      • You can then save or open the report as a PDF file.

    Note: There is no way to bulk-download Originality Reports for all student submissions.

  3. Student instructions for viewing feedback via Turnitin’s GradeMark have also changed. Students will now access their GradeMark feedback via Assignments.  If you grade Turnitin submissions using the Speed Grader student instructions for viewing feedback will remain the same.

New Canvas User Interface

Global menu with Account selected and Logout highlightedOn December 21, 2015 we will also switch the Canvas user look and feel to the new Canvas interface which is more responsive on mobile devices. Here’s what you need to know:

  • The Global Navigation menu that currently runs across the top of Canvas is now a vertical menu on the left (see the image at the left).  Use the far left menu to access your Courses, Calendar, Inbox and Commons.
  • The Logout option is now located under the Account button.
  • The Course Navigation menu will be just to the right of the Global menu.
  • The Course Navigation menu also collapses on smaller screens, allowing for a more content-focused and responsive layout.
    Canvas logo with 3 lines to the right

Click on the 3 lines to the left of the course name to restore the course menu.

 

Inside Great St. Ed’s Courses: A Guided Tour of How They Work

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Please join Instructional Technology and the Center for Teaching Excellence for this event on

Thursday, November 12, 3:30 – 5:00 pm, Fleck 305

RSVP online

Canvas

Inside Great St. Ed’s Courses: A Guided Tour of How They Work

One of the advantages of digital course tools is that they allow us to archive and share our course design. For this panel, we asked a variety of faculty members whose pedagogy is  made visible through Canvas to show us the inner workings of their courses. Learn how they structure the semester’s work, facilitate ongoing student interaction inside and outside of class, provide timely feedback and grades, check students’ knowledge through quizzing, organize group activities, and deepen student engagement. Courses will be shared by:

  • Tricia Shepherd, Professor of Chemistry
  • Susie Brister, Adjunct Professor of Art
  • Carol Gee, Associate Professor of Mathematics
  • Casey Sherman, Assistant Professor of Mathematics,
  • Elisabeth Johnson, Associate Professor of Literacy
  • Grant H. Potts, Adjunct Professor of University Studies
  • Debra Zahay-Blatz, Professor of Marketing
  • Billy Earnest, Assistant Professor of Communication