Reminder: Spring 2018 course requests

If you have not already requested your Spring 2018 courses for either Canvas or Blackboard, please do so by logging into Class-Web, clicking Menu for Faculty, Staff & Advisors, then clicking either the Canvas or Blackboard links toward the bottom of the page. Choose the term and Las Positas for the campus, and click Submit Query. From here, you can request individual courses, or you can choose courses or sections to merge.

 

Keep in mind that Blackboard will be going away at the end of the Spring 2018 semester.

 

Scott

 

Blackboard system maintenanc

Blackboard will be performing emergency maintenance on our system from 11 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30 until 3 a.m. Friday, Dec. 1. According to Bb, there might be times during those four hours when the system is not available.

 

Scott

Blackboard downtime

Blackboard instructors,

 

Blackboard is updating our system from 9 p.m. Nov. 17 until 3 a.m. Nov. 18. During this time, Bb says that users will “experience an interruption”. Just how long that interruption will be, Bb doesn’t say. Nevertheless, please inform your students that there will be intermittent availability during those hours.

 

Scott

 

3C Media app added to Canvas

Canvas instructors,

 

A new app for 3C Media, which allows for hosting and free, accurate captioning of instructor-created videos, has been installed in Canvas. It can be used to add videos to Modules and videos within the Rich Content Editor. Within the editor, the tool can be accessed by clicking the V-shaped icon, then selecting 3C Media.

 

 

Before you can use the tool, however, you will need to do two things:

1.       Create an account at 3C Media Solutions.

2.       Activate the app in your course by going to Settings – Navigation and dragging it from the hidden area to the navigation area before clicking Save.

 

Click to view instructions on using the app.

 

Scott

 

Canvas updates

Canvas instructors,

 

Here are a few new items to pass along:

 

1.       Canvas has a new Accessibility Checker in the Rich Content Editor. It will check common accessibility errors within the editor so your content will be ADA-compliant. It also provides explanations of errors and allows you to fix those errors. It will NOT check your Word or PowerPoint files, nor will it check that videos are captioned. Learn more about the Accessibility Checker.

2.       Canvas is supposed to add a new LPC faculty support phone number in the Help menu. The current number will remain, but it will just be for students.

3.       Canvas is working on fixing a couple of minor errors in the Rich Content Editor:

a.       When users embed a file in a Canvas object (e.g. a page, the description of an assignment or quiz, etc.) and selected the 'auto-open inline preview' or 'disable inline preview' options, these are not working as they should.  When users click on the link that is created to the file, they are taken to their personal Files page to preview the file. This means they must navigate back to their course after they close the preview. Also, there is no icon next to the file name to indicate that a preview is available.

b.       A separate issue affects images uploaded from the content selector on the right side of the page when editing content in the Rich Content Editor.  When a user adds an image using the "Images" tab in the content selector, no thumbnail of the image is embedded, nor does it appear in the content selector as having been uploaded and available for selection.  Only the title of the image appears.  Users must upload images via the "Insert Image" icon, directly within the Rich Content Editor or refresh the page after uploading from the content selector for the images to embed properly.

 

Scott

 

Keep up with new Canvas features and tools by reading the Canvas Release Notes at https://community.canvaslms.com/community/answers/releases/

 

 

Web accessibility checks

The LPC Distance Education Committee is once again soliciting faculty to voluntarily have their DE courses reviewed for web accessibility issues. As you know, all of your course materials must be accessible to students with disabilities whether you have such students in your class or not.

The reviews will be limited to Canvas courses, and priority will be given to adjunct instructors because they typically have less compensated time than full-timers.

Wanda Butterly, the college’s Instructional Technology Specialist, will be reviewing the courses. She will let you know what, if anything, needs to be fixed. You can then make an appointment with Wanda to learn how to fix the issues, or you can access the Web Accessibility Course in Canvas to see how to fix the issues.

If you are interested, simply complete this form.

Scott