Canvas instructors,
My apologies for the length of this email, but I wanted to impart some important information.
1. Beginning Jan. 1, you can get any of your Canvas questions answered by calling or emailing Canvas directly. LPC has paid for an 18-month contract that gives students and faculty 24x7 access to Canvas. The toll-free phone number is 1-844-600-4956. The email address is support@instructure.com.
2. The Canvas training page on LPC’s Online Learning web site has lots of resources for instructors, including a link to the Canvas Instructor Guide should you need it.
3. The main Canvas page on the above web site has resources for students that you can link to from within your courses.
4. I will be out of the office beginning Dec. 21 and will return Jan. 4.
5. Make sure any images in your courses can be seen by students. If you did not participate in the cleanup service provided by Canvas, your images could be broken because of the migration from Blackboard. Even though you might see the images in your courses doesn’t mean that students can. Your images might be cached, or saved, on your computer. If you see broken images, obviously, neither you nor students will see them. If you see images just fine, check them by clearing the cache, or history, in your browser, and try to view them again. If the images are broken, you will need to add them back in. Another way to check is to copy the image URL, open a new tab in your browser, and paste that URL in there. If the URL is very long and/or contains the word “blackboard”, it’s broken. If the URL is brief and is in this format, it’s good: clpccd.instructure.com/courses/30/files/2345.
6. Students will be placed into your courses Jan. 5.
7. Those of you teaching online courses should email your students to let them know their courses are in Canvas, not Blackboard, and how to access them. They can get to the Canvas login page by going to the Online Learning web site (http://www.laspositascollege.edu/onlinelearning), or they can go there directly at clpccd.instructure.com.
8. You will need to publish your course before students can access it.
9. Since Canvas is cloud-based, bug fixes, enhancements, and new features can be easily added. Our system will be updated with them every three weeks. There’s a link on the Canvas training page, under Other important resources, called Canvas release notes that will keep you updated.
10. I am working on getting the CCC’s new web conferencing software, ConferZoom, integrated into Canvas. Hopefully, it will be ready soon.
11. Apps from major textbook publishers will be installed at the global level, so you won’t need to this in your course.
12. Some Canvas tips:
o If you need to move content from one course to another, use Import Content into this Course; do not use Copy this Course. Copying creates a new course that your students will not be able to access.
o Hide the navigation links in your course menu that you are not going to use. If you use Modules to present content, good links to hide include Files, Pages, and Quizzes.
o It’s good practice to group your assignments, particularly if you weight grades or drop the lowest score.
o If you used Journals in Blackboard, you can use Google Docs because Canvas doesn’t have a journals tool.
o If you have a merged course and are adding a Group Set into it, you’ll see an option to divide students by sections. Because of the way our Banner system merges section, you won’t be able to divide students.
13. Finally, I plan to post all of my Canvas-related emails to the LPC Online Learning updates blog as a reference for you to use, if needed.
Scott
