2 Canvas updates

Canvas instructors,

 

You might have a student or two in your Canvas class that is not on your Class-Web roster. From what I’m told, it’s the product of something called a drop-delete (not a regular student drop). District ITS is aware of this and will be working with Canvas to remove (or deactivate) these students.

 

Also, last week, I sent an email saying you have 24x7 phone and email support through Canvas. The email support part was a mistake on Canvas’ part. Therefore, you only have phone support with them, NOT email support. The toll-free telephone number is 1-844-600-4956. It is also listed in the Help menu in Canvas.

 

Scott

Additional Canvas drop-ins

Canvas instructors,

 

This is a reminder that there will be drop-in training from 1-2 p.m. today in the TLC (Room 2410). In addition, three more drop-in sessions have been added:

 

Jan. 25, 1-2 p.m.

Jan. 26, 10-11 a.m.

Feb. 1, 2-2:30 p.m.

 

These sessions are intended to answer your questions about Canvas; they are not beginner workshops. Those beginner workshops will be announced later. If you can come to any of the sessions, feel free to stop by, or better yet, register on the Staff Development Workshops page. While on the workshops page, you can also register for Web accessibility training on how to make content accessible to students with disabilities. Those workshops take place Feb. 1 from 12:30-2 and Feb. 7 from 12-1:30.

 

Scott

 

 

Final Spring Canvas reminders

Spring 2017 Canvas instructors,

 

Information/reminders prior to the start of the Spring semester:

 

1. View Canvas beginning-of-semester faculty notes. There are a bit too many of these to fit into this email.
   
   
2. You can get 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. This contact info is also in the Help menu in Canvas.
   
   
3. Publish your courses by the beginning of the day Tuesday so students can access them. If you are not teaching an online or hybrid course and want to wait longer to publish your courses, that’s up to you. To publish your course, go to the course home page, and click Publish.
   
   
4. If you want to upload Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations into Blackboard, please adhere to these updated instructions on how to make them accessible to students with disabilities:
   
   Creating an accessible Word document for the web
   Creating an accessible PowerPoint presentation for the web
   
   
5. The Regular Effective Contact Guidelines, approved by the LPC Academic Senate, state that all Distance Education courses, whether fully online or hybrid, must demonstrate regular effective contact with student. For hybrids, this contact is required not only during on-campus meetings, but it is also required online.
   
   
6. The LPC DE Committee has developed recommendations, along with answers to frequently asked questions, that are intended to aid instructors—particularly new instructors—in determining how many students to add and when to add those students near the beginning of the semester. View the recommendations and FAQs.
   
   
7. Here is LPC’s DE drop policy:
   
   The instructor may drop students who miss the first meeting of a course. The first meeting of online or hybrid Distance Education courses is the first day of the class as specified in the class schedule listing.  For these courses, instructors may drop students who do not log into their Blackboard course and/or complete indicated activities by the third day of classes. DE instructors may drop students if they have not submitted work and/or accessed the class for two consecutive weeks. For Summer courses, DE instructors may drop students if they have not submitted work and/or accessed the class for one week.

 

 

Good luck with your courses!

Scott

 

Final Spring Blackboard reminders

Spring 2017 Blackboard instructors,

 

Information/reminders prior to the start of the Spring semester:

 

1. Please address all of your Blackboard issues to Jeff Sperry as I focus on the Canvas launch. Jeff is working temporarily on a part-time basis until around 2 each day, Monday through Thursday until Feb. 16. His number is 424-1655.
   
   
2. Make your courses available to students by the beginning of the day Tuesday. If you are not teaching an online or hybrid course and want to wait longer to make your courses available, that’s up to you. To make courses available, go into a course, and click Control Panel - Customization - Properties, and for Make Course Available, click Yes, then click Submit.
   
   
3. If you want to upload Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations into Blackboard, please adhere to these updated instructions on how to make them accessible to students with disabilities:
   
   Creating an accessible Word document for the web
   Creating an accessible PowerPoint presentation for the web
   
   
4. The Regular Effective Contact Guidelines, approved by the LPC Academic Senate, state that all Distance Education courses, whether fully online or hybrid, must demonstrate regular effective contact with student. For hybrids, this contact is required not only during on-campus meetings, but it is also required online.
   
   
5. The LPC DE Committee has developed recommendations, along with answers to frequently asked questions, that are intended to aid instructors—particularly new instructors—in determining how many students to add and when to add those students near the beginning of the semester. View the recommendations and FAQs.
   
   
6. Do not confuse your students by having both the Messages and Send Email tools available. Messages is an internal email tool that resides in each class, while the Send Email tool routes email sent through Bb to students' and instructors' external email accounts. It is recommended that you only use one of the tools. To hide one of the tools, go to Tools, then click Hide Link next to the tool to hide from students.
   
   
7. If you use SafeAssign, after performing a course copy or moving an individual SafeAssignment to another course, an additional step is needed to activate the SafeAssignment in the new course. From the Control Panel, click Course Tools, then SafeAssign, then SafeAssign Items, then Synchronize This Course to establish the link between the SafeAssignment and the Central SafeAssign server.
   
   
8. LPC is launching a new online tutoring service called NetTutor. It is integrated into Canvas. When we establish access information for students outside of Canvas, we’ll let everyone know. View info about NetTutor .
   
   
9. Here is LPC’s DE drop policy:
   
   The instructor may drop students who miss the first meeting of a course. The first meeting of online or hybrid Distance Education courses is the first day of the class as specified in the class schedule listing.  For these courses, instructors may drop students who do not log into their Blackboard course and/or complete indicated activities by the third day of classes. DE instructors may drop students if they have not submitted work and/or accessed the class for two consecutive weeks. For Summer courses, DE instructors may drop students if they have not submitted work and/or accessed the class for one week.

 

 

Good luck with your courses!

Scott

 

Blackboard students inputted tonight

Blackboard instructors,

 

This is a reminder that students are scheduled to be inputted into their Bb courses overnight tonight.

 

Scott

Canvas and NetTutor

Canvas instructors,

 

Within your Canvas courses, you will notice a navigation item called NetTutor. LPC recently purchased a license to use this service, which is free to students and includes a wide variety of subject areas. It is used by many California Community Colleges and is the preferred service for the state’s Online Education Initiative. In conjunction with LPC’s Tutorial Center, we will be providing more information to you about NetTutor (how to publicize, how to encourage students to use it, etc.).

 

In the meantime, I have created a student page on the college’s Online Learning web site.

http://www.laspositascollege.edu/onlinelearning/tutoring.php

 

Scott

Canvas web accessibility checks

Canvas instructors,

 

As you know, everything you put into Canvas has to be ADA-compliant, or accessible to students with disabilities. With the return of Jeff Sperry to his old TLC position on a part-time, temporary basis, we have to opportunity to offer web accessibility checks of your Spring 2017 Canvas courses.

 

If you are interested in having Jeff do these checks, complete this short form, and he will perform this work with top priority going to DE courses. Keep in mind, though, that he will be doing other tasks in his 20-hour a week position for 6 weeks and might not get to everybody’s courses.

 

If you need to learn more about making your courses accessible in Canvas, go to the Intro to Canvas-LPC course, and see Unit 3: Legal Requirements.

 

Scott

Canvas drop-in training

Canvas instructors,

 

Happy New Year! The first 4 drop-in training sessions with LPC Canvas faculty mentor/trainers have been scheduled for the next 2 weeks. Feel free to sign up for a session or just stop by the Teaching and Learning Center (Room 2410) for any help or training you need with Canvas. Here is the schedule:

 

Jan. 10, 10-11 a.m.

Jan. 12, 2-3 p.m.

Jan. 17, 3:30-4:30 p.m.

Jan. 18, 1-3 p.m.

 

More drop-in sessions, appointments, and workshops will be announced at a later date.

 

Scott