Author Archives: brendaa

Using the Syllabus in Canvas

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CanvasThe Syllabus in Canvas can be used to post a link to your syllabus or to display the content of your syllabus.  In addition, the syllabus page displays a schedule of assignments, a link to the course calendar and, grades by weight, if you weight your grades. Any course assignment or event will automatically be listed in the bottom half of the Syllabus page with the undated items appearing at the bottom. Changes to these dated events can be made in both the Assignments and Calendar features and will be automatically updated in the Syllabus. The sample syllabus below contains faculty contact information, links to the course overview and policies and a list of assignments and class events.

Sample Course Syllabus

Sample Course Syllabus

The syllabus description is where you can post your course description, a brief introduction, class guidelines, weekly reminders, and other important information. You can copy content from Word documents directly into the Rich Content Editor or create original content inside of the Rich Content Editor. You can also link to your Syllabus by uploading it into Course Files as a PDF and linking it in the content selector. Canvas will automatically create a preview of your document so your students don’t have to download it before reading it.

More information about using the syllabus may be found in the Canvas Guide on the Syllabus or from this video:

https://vimeo.com/78942602

If you have questions about using the Syllabus in Canvas or need additional assistance, please contact Instructional Technology at instcom@stedwards.edu.

Getting Started with Canvas

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CanvasAre you planning to switch from Blackboard to Canvas this fall?  We’re here to help!

Workshops are scheduled throughout the month of August:

 

Monday, August 10 1:00pm – 2:30pm Introduction to Canvas Library 115
Tues., August 11 10:00am – 11:30am Introduction to Canvas Library 115
Thurs., August 13 10:00am – 11:30am Assessment & Grades Library 115
Tues., August 18 5:30pm – 7:00pm Introduction to Canvas Library 115
Weds., August 19 1:00pm – 2:30pm Introduction to Canvas JBWS 361
Weds., August 19 2:30pm – 4:00pm Assessment & Grades JBWS 361
Friday, August 21 10:00am – 11:30am Assessment & Grades Library 115

If you can’t make a workshop or need additional assistance, please schedule a one-on-one appointment with any of the Instructional Technology staff by emailing instcom@stedwards.edu or calling 512-464-8804.

We also have curated lots of Canvas resources online in our Canvas Training Center .  The Canvas Community also has the answer to just about any question you might have about Canvas.

Faculty Recognition Ceremony and Faculty Gathering

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FacultyCeremonyImage_300Please join us for this new event, which combines the faculty awards presentation (formerly part of the Honors Night program) and the final faculty gathering of the 2014-2015 academic year.

Thursday, April 30
4:00 – 6:00 pm
Mabee Ballroom

The program will open at 4:00 p.m. with the recognition ceremony. The ceremony will be immediately followed by a reception with food, wine, other drinks, and the music of St. Edward’s Jazz Band, “Steady.”

Those individuals who will be recognized include:

  • the Distinguished Teaching Awards and Outstanding Teaching Award for Adjunct Faculty  recipients and finalists;
  • the Distinguished Teaching Career Award recipient;
  • the Hudspeth Award for Innovative Instruction recipient and finalist;
  • the Outstanding Undergraduate Faculty Advisor Award recipient;
  • those who were promoted and/or tenured;
  • the 2015-16 Innovation Fellows;
  • the 2015 Technology for Innovative Learning & Teaching Pilot Project Grant recipients;
  • those who have piloted new technologies on behalf of the university in the 2014-2015 academic year;
  • the 2015 Presidential Excellence Research Grant recipients:
  • and those who have applied for grants, both external and internal.

Please join us in celebrating your colleagues’ accomplishments!

This gathering is sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Department of Instructional Technology, the Office of Sponsored Programs, and the Office of Institutional Assessment.

Update from the Learning Management System Evaluation Task Force

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The Learning Management System (LMS) Evaluation Task Force has been communicating to faculty and students about Canvas and Blackboard through events on campus and gathering information about the current use of the LMS.

Events included

  • Demonstrations from Instructure (Canvas) and Blackboard.  Both vendors spent a day on campus meeting with faculty and Task Force members.
    • Blackboard is developing a new cloud-based product called Blackboard Learn 2015 Premium with a new user interface, Ultra.  The Ultra interface is completely different from the existing Blackboard interface.  This product is still in development and is scheduled to be released in the 3rd Quarter of 2015.  You can view a recording of a webinar introducing this product at http://youtu.be/tLxKxHa34WU . The instructor view starts around minute 21:00.
    • Canvas staff demonstrated the product that 18 faculty at St. Edward’s are currently piloting.  The full list of Canvas pilots is available on this webpage: Canvas Pilots.  If you missed the demo and would like to look at Canvas, all faculty may log into Canvas at https://stedwards.instructure.com and experience Canvas.  Instructional Technology staff will also be happy to answer any questions about the use of Canvas.
  • Panel discussions from some of the 18 faculty piloting Canvas on March 3 and 24th. Some of their favorite things about Canvas included:
    • Attendance Tracking
    • Student notifications of announcements and updates via text messaging
    • Ease of linking to content, for example a PDF in the middle of a descriptive paragraph of text
    • The button for making the course available to students is easy to find

Information Gathering

  • Surveys to faculty and students piloting Canvas have been sent out asking faculty and students to rate features both on functionality and ease of use.
  • Gathering Data around Blackboard use.  In Spring 2015
    • 86% of contracted and 77% of contingent faculty use Blackboard to some extent
    • 985 courses are currently available
    • 15% of available courses are accepting assignments online
    • 8% of available courses are using discussions

LMS Evaluation Task Force Timeline

  • April 13: Final Survey to Canvas Pilot Faculty
  • April 24: LMS Evaluation Task Force recommendation to Mary Boyd, Vice President, Academic Affairs and Dave Waldron, Vice President, Information Technology
  • May 1: Decision by Mary Boyd and Dave Waldron

If a decision is made to move to Canvas, we will be migrating from Blackboard over the course of the next year. Extensive training, support and migration assistance will be available.  Faculty will have the opportunity to use Canvas starting Summer 2015, but Blackboard will remain available for course use until Summer 2016.

Tour St. Edward’s Courses in Canvas with Faculty

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Canvas course page for LMS Evaluation Task Force with courses and groups, grades and calendarInterested in how your colleagues are using Canvas?  Would you like to ask questions about the faculty experience using Canvas? Do you want to see a real course in Canvas?

As part of the Learning Management System (LMS) Task Force two panel discussions of Canvas will be held to allow the community to take a closer look at how Canvas is being used on campus. On March 3rd at 3:30 and on March 24th at 10:00 am a panel of St. Edward’s faculty who are piloting Canvas this semester will demonstrate their Canvas classes and discuss their experience with Canvas.  Both sessions will be held in Library 141.

We currently are piloting Canvas with 18 courses.  The full list of Canvas pilots is available on this webpage: Canvas Pilots. Faculty who are teaching these courses will

  • Show selected areas of their Canvas course
  • Share their experience developing their course
  • Contrast use of Canvas to Blackboard
  • Share student reaction to Canvas

Join us for an opportunity to see Canvas and provide feedback to the LMS Task Force.

What’s Next for Blackboard?

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BlackboardIf you missed the on campus demonstration last month of Blackboard’s planned cloud-based system, you have another opportunity to check out Blackboard’s plans for the future.  Blackboard will present a webinar “Learning in the Cloud – Why Cloud? Why Now?” on Thursday, February 26 at noon.

Register online at http://bbbb.blackboard.com/LearningInTheCloud.

This webinar will be presented by Greg Ritter, Director of Higher Education Solutions Management at Blackboard.  The webinar will focus on

  • The latest industry thinking on Cloud computing
  • Why IT and Academic Technology leaders are increasingly embracing the cloud
  • How your institution can move to and benefit from a Cloud deployment of Blackboard Learn

Attend Blackboard and Canvas Demonstrations to Have Input on Choice of Learning Management System

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Blackboard and Canvas Logos As part of St. Edward’s Learning Management System (LMS) Evaluation, the task force for LMS Evaluation  has invited two learning management system vendors–Blackboard (our current LMS) and Canvas by Instructure– to campus to demonstrate their products to the community. The Learning Management System (LMS) is an integral part of our learning ecosystem that aggregates, connects, and manages many aspects of the course-based learning experience. We urge all faculty to attend the demos and provide feedback to the task force as part of our evaluation process, so that we can choose the best system for the St. Edward’s University community. Both vendors will demonstrate their products twice during their campus visit to reach as many faculty as possible.

Blackboard

Blackboard will be demoing their latest release on Tuesday, January 27th in Fleck Hall 305.

  • 9:30-11:00 AM Open Faculty/Staff/Student demonstration – teaching and learning tools
  • 2:00-3:30 PM Open Faculty/Staff/Student demonstration – teaching and learning tools

Canvas

Canvas demos will take place on Wednesday, February 4 in Library 141.

  • 9:30-11:00 Open Faculty/Staff/Student demonstration and Q and A
  • 1:00-2:30 Open Faculty/Staff/Student demonstration and Q and A

We will collect input at the sessions by anonymous feedback form, as well as by an anonymous online survey. You may also contact any member of the LMS Task Force to share your input on this process. To find out more about the evaluation process and see the list of task force members, please see this announcement, “Learning Management System Evaluation Task Force Named.”

Blackboard Unavailable Dec. 18th Due to Upgrade

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BlackboardOn December 18th, 2014 we will be upgrading Blackboard to the April 2014 Release. This new version of Blackboard retains the current look and feel while adding several new and enhanced features including web-based or inline grading, a true student preview mode, enhanced calendar functionality, enhanced discussions, and date management for course copied materials. Our current version of Blackboard, Service Pack 11, is out of support so we are taking this opportunity to upgrade to the newest, stable release of Blackboard. Blackboard will be unavailable all day on Thursday, December 18th while we upgrade.

A summary of new and enhanced features is below. Instructional videos and links to detailed instructions may be found at “What’s New in Blackboard“.  The Faculty Resource Center staff will be happy to meet with you before the upgrade to show you these features on our test server. Please contact us if you have questions about using these features.

Inline Assignment Grading

Instructors are now able to view, comment on and grade assignments “inline”, i.e. in the web browser, rather than having to download them to a computer for grading. Files that have been submitted electronically to Blackboard, may be displayed in the inline viewer and annotated directly within the browser. The tools available for annotation are: Comment, Draw, Highlight, Text and Strikeout. See the detailed instructions on using Inline Grading.

Enhanced Calendar

The calendar now displays a consolidated view of all course calendar events for a user.  Instructors can use the calendar course tool as a primary way of managing and communicating the schedule of events and assignments in the course. The calendar supports due dates, if set, for gradable items and repeating events, such as class meeting times. Clicking on calendar items allows an instructor to view or edit the item, or grade attempts on the associated item. See the detailed instructions on using the new Calendar.

Student Preview

There is now a built-in true student preview mode in every class. You can submit assignments, take tests and view grades as a student.  See the detailed instructions on using Student Preview.

Improved Discussions

The Thread Detail page is thoroughly redesigned yet maintains all of its existing functions. All of the posts in a thread are now visible at the same time on one page, thereby maintaining the context of posts and replies to one another. You can still collapse threads.  See examples of the new discussion layout.

Date Management

Use the Date Management tool to easily adjust all content and assignment dates in your course. Accessed via the Control Panel > Tools you can choose to adjust dates automatically or individually from one convenient location.  See detailed instructions on using the date management tool.

Freshmen Technology Survey

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What device do you prefer to access the web?How connected are the incoming freshmen?  What technology tools do they use?  What tools would they like to use?  Every summer Instructional Technology surveys incoming freshmen during Orientation.  Below are highlights from 590 or our incoming freshmen.  View this infographic of the 2014 Freshman Technology Survey Results to see the complete survey results.

  • Apple is clearly the choice for incoming students!  52% of students are bringing Mac laptops, 21 % have iPads, and 71% have iPhones.  This has been a growing trend over the last few years with 39% bringing Mac laptops last year and 62% bringing iPhones.
  • Students are increasingly using mobile devices to access email, with 68% checking email on their phone.  Only 2% did not have a smart phone and all reported having some type of phone.
  • The laptop is still the preferred method to access the web at 64% but 25% prefer to use their phone.
  • Facebook use is down (72% compared to 87% last year) but Twitter use remains at 53%.  Instagram is used by 74% and Snapchat by 65%. Less than 3% of the incoming freshmen report using none of these social media apps.
  • Email is still preferred 66% to 33% as the method for instructors to contact students.
  • Google services are widely used.  37% of students have used Google Docs, 60% prefer Chrome as their web browser, 55% use Google Drive for file storage and 81% have Gmail accounts.
  • 28%  have never read a book in digital format which is a lower percentage than the 42% that reported never reading an ebook last year.
  • 56% of the freshmen are interested in 3-D Printing, 41% in Google Glass, 30% in wearable technologies and 24% in drones.

Full 2014 Freshmen Technology Survey

FreshmanTechSurvey_thumb2

Click on the image to see the full infographic.