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.

 

Register by 12/1 for Free, Local Event on Digital Pedagogy, January 5-6, 2016

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THATCamp Digital Pedagogy ATX logoJoin local and national faculty to network, share ideas, assignments, and techniques for integrating digital technologies into teaching and learning.  THATCamp Digital Pedagogy ATX 2016 seeks to bring together diverse participants to share ideas, issues and strategies around teaching and learning with digital tools and methods.  Registration is free, but space is limited and we request that you only register if you are actually planning to attend.  Find out more and register by December 1 here: http://dpatx.thatcamp.org/

St. Edward’s Office of Information Technology is co-sponsoring this event and several St. Edward’s faculty and staff have contributed to planning, including the logo designed by St. Edward’s University graphic design student Melany Klopp.  The event will be held in Austin, Texas at the University of Texas Libraries’ new Learning Commons on January 5-6, 2016 (just before the annual convention of the Modern Language Convention also in Austin).  THATCamps (The Humanities And Technology Camp) are unconferences that originated in the digital humanities community.  This one has been organized by a network of digital humanists in the Austin area.

Extracting Student Journal data from Blackboard

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Blackboard Journal ExportAt St. Edward’s University, a faculty member requested to extract student journal entries from Blackboard. After contacting Blackboard support and researching online, we were unable to find a simple solution to this issue. Our instructional technology staff then discovered a method to retrieve this data by parsing Blackboard data files found in the course archive. Special thanks to Ling Chen who found the journal entries embedded in an archived XML data file.

We were able to extract the student journal entries into an Excel file for the faculty member. Here are the instructions if others are interested in gaining access to the student journal entries.

Getting the XML file of student journal entries

  1. Archive your Blackboard course
  2. Open the zip file of the archive
  3. Look for the data file “res00013.dat” (this might be a different file name for you)

Parsing the XML file into Excel

Once the XML file is identified, the data can be parsed. I wrote a quick XML parser in the ColdFusion markup language to extract the XML, strip out the HTML tags(via a regular expression) and organize the data into an HTML table. That HTML table can then be copied and pasted into an excel file. There are likely more elegant solutions (via C, PHP or VB), but CFML was handy for us. Here is the file with the CFML and file directory structure: BbXMLParserCFML

Using our code to parse your own XML file

If you’d like to run this code on your own computer.

  1. Download a copy of ColdFusion server (free single seat license called a Developers License).
  2. Copy the “index.cfm” and the data folder to the wwwroot folder.
  3. Move the “res00013.dat file into the “data” folder and change the file extension from “.dat” to “.xml”
  4. change the data referenced in the <CFSET> tag to your XML file path.
  5. load the index.cfm page in your web browser.
  6. copy the HTML output into a blank Excel file.

 

As an FYI, here is the XML DOM for the Blackboard student journal file

XML meta data for Blackboard Student Journal

Faculty Development Opportunity: TLTR Pilot Project Grants

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The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable (TLTR) invites proposals for the Technology for Innovative Learning & Teaching Pilot Project Grants (TLTR Pilot Project Grants) for 2016-2017.

istock-collaboration-cluster-innovationThe TLTR will be awarding grants worth up to $5,000 to fund innovative teaching projects that incorporate new technologies and can be used as a model for other faculty. This year you may seek funding for specific technologies, conference costs, student research assistants, and other needs.

Note regarding combined proposals: If you plan to submit an Innovation Fellowship proposal in addition to a TLTR pilot project grant application, you need not complete the full TLTR proposal form. Rather, you need only to complete the abbreviated TLTR Pilot supplement to the Innovation Fellowship proposal form.

Pre-Proposals are due February 1, 2016. Instructional Technology staff will review pre-proposals to make sure the proposed pilot is feasible or necessary. Instructional Technology may recommend alternate technologies, confirm that the university already possesses proposed technologies, and give advice on the project budget.

Final Proposals are due by February 22, 2016. TLTR will not accept final proposals if a pre-proposal was not received and reviewed.3D_Teaching_400x266

More details and the Grant Proposal Guide are available on the TLTR website at http://think.stedwards.edu/tltr/pilotprojects.

If you have any questions about the Pilot Project Grants or would like to discuss possible projects, please contact either of the TLTR Co-Chairs:

Faculty Development Opportunity: Innovation Fellowships 2016-17

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The Office of Academic Affairs, the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Munday Library, and the Office of Instructional Technology of St. Edward’s University invite proposals from faculty for the 2016-17 Innovation Fellowship, Global Innovation Fellowship, and Diversity Innovation Fellowship.

These fellowships will support faculty who need time, resources, and expertise to include pedagogical experimentation in their courses by providing a $1200 stipend, the opportunity to participate in the Summer 2016 Innovation Institute, May 16-27, 2016, and the opportunity to be part of a community of faculty fellows focused on pedagogical innovation.

We encourage applications that focus on a wide variety of pedagogical innovations and experimentation. This year there are two special types of innovation fellowships.  These fellows will engage with colleagues advocating in these areas on campus.  They are:

  • Digital-Learning-Styles-Present-A-Challenge-For-Online-EducatorsGlobal Innovation Fellows: These fellows will focus on global learning by increasing opportunities for students to make global connections in the classroom or as part of a study abroad experience.
  • Diversity Innovation Fellows: These fellows will focus on increasing opportunities for students to engage with questions of diversity, particularly with regard to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and/or sexuality, through course materials, assignments, and/or activities.

We also particularly encourage applications with a focus on:

  • Community-Based and Service Learning: Increasing opportunities for community-based or service learning and engagement;
  • Social Justice: Increasing opportunities for students to develop in ethical reasoning or engage with social justice problems as a means to clarifying their personal values, recognizing their responsibility to the world community, and/or acting to seek justice and peace;digital_learning_new
  • Digital Learning: Incorporating educational technologies that transform learning and prepare graduates to collaborate, communicate, create, and compete in the cloud for their community and career;
  • Use of Global Digital Classroom (GDC):       Using the GDC to connect students with scholars and/or students around the world, whether through guest lectures, collaborative assignments, and/or fully synchronized class(es);
  • High-Impact Practices: Incorporating high-impact practices to achieve university essential learning outcomes;
  • Authentic Student Research: Creating a research-rich curriculum, especially by embedding authentic research into courses;
  • Other strategies for improving student learning and success that utilize new or evidence-based teaching practices and require significant course redesign.

Proposals are due Monday, February 1, 2016.  For more information about the fellowship, the institute, and detailed instructions for applying, please visit: http://think.stedwards.edu/instructionaltechnology/innovationfellowship

If you have any questions about the Innovation Fellowship or would like to discuss possible projects, please contact:

Introduction to Qualtrics: A Tool for Building Online Surveys

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Qualtrics

 

Qualtrics is an online survey application for creating, distributing and analyzing survey data. Qualtrics may be used for:

      • Academic research
      • Course evaluation
      • Experiment design
      • Student and Alumni outreach
      • Program administration

 

Getting Started

To get started, you will need to check out the basic interface of Qualtrics, which will allow you to  browse the pre-made survey questions, create survey questions, adjust account settings and launch your survey.

Check out how to set up your own account and the introduction to Qualtrics from the St. Edward’s ITTraining YouTube Channel

Account Settings

Before you start creating your own survey, you might want to check out the Account Settings, which will allow you to change your password, change time zone or change language.

Account settings

Creating Questions

Once you set up your Account settings, you are ready to start creating your survey questions. The following page explains how to add, delete, copy and edit questions in your Survey Tab.

View the instructions on creating your Survey Questions

Collaboration

If you want to collaborate on the survey with your teammates, the Collaborate feature allows your teammates to access your survey and modify it if needed.

Collaborate on a survey with teammates

Libraries

Want to store your survey questions or need some survey ideas? Qualtrics offers My Library for your own questions as well as pre-made survey questions

My Library

If you have additional questions about surveys, research tools or using Qualtrics, please contact Instructional Technology at instcom@stedwards.edu.

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

 

Developing Lesson Plans for a Blank Canvas

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Texas CanvasCon Corpus Christi, TexasInstructional Technology staff,  Brenda Adrian, Joana Trimble Gandara, and Jenny Cha will be presenting at the 2015 Texas Canvas Con on November 5, 2015.  Drawing on our experience training faculty to use Canvas we’ll present on “Developing Lesson Plans for a Blank Canvas”.  This session will share the lesson plans we developed for our introductory Canvas workshops, including “Introduction to Canvas” and “Canvas Assessment and Grades”. We’ll discuss development of the workshops and how we adjusted them as we learned more about Canvas. We’ll share lessons learned and tips for training.

The Lesson Plans

Introduction to Canvas

Canvas Assessment and Grades

Let’s Talk: Updates from Instructional Technology

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Let's Talk graphic with word bubblesThere’s a lot going on with instructional technology this year. To help you keep track, below is a round up of what’s on our mind and how it might impact you. To ask questions, seek help, or share your thoughts, please email us at instcom@stedwards.edu or contact any instructional technology staff member. Continue reading →