Canvas help week of Jan. 8

Vicky Austin, our Canvas faculty mentor-trainer, is available for any Canvas assistance during the week of Jan. 8. If you would like to make an appointment with her, email her directly at vaustin@laspositascollege.edu.

 

Scott

Canvas Fall 2017 semester wrap-up

Canvas instructors,

 

Hope your semester has gone well. To wrap it up and prepare for next semester, please note the following:

1.       Course access at the end of a semester works differently in Canvas than in Blackboard. Here are the most important points:

a.       You will have full access to your course until Jan. 5 at 11:59 p.m. After that, you will only have read-only access. However, you will be able to export your course.

b.       Students will have full access to your course until Dec. 20 at 11:59 p.m. (unless you have changed the Term end date and time). After the Term end date and time passes, students will have read-only access. They can get to the course by clicking Courses – All Courses. The course will show under Past Enrollments.

c.       If you want students to have full access after the Term end date and time, go into Settings, increase the Term end date and time, then check the box that says: Users can only participate in the course between these dates.  

d.       If you don’t want students to have any access to the course after the Term end date and time, scroll down in Settings, and check the box that says: Restrict students from viewing course after end date.

2. Make sure you check the accuracy of your grades and download your Gradebook. For students who do not complete assignments by the deadline dates, manually give them zeros in the gradebook. If you leave their grade cells blank, those missing assignments won't count against them. Canvas has a feature in the gradebook settings called Treat Ungraded as 0, but this does not automatically convert dashes to zeros; it only changes the Totals column. Students won’t see zeros or any changes in Totals when they check grades.
   

Download your Gradebook by clicking Export – CSV File. Keep your exported Gradebook on your computer or backup drive for safekeeping.

 

3.     If you are going to move your current course into a subsequent semester’s course, you can either copy a previous semester's course content or export the previous course and import it into the new course. You can do all of these by going to Settings in a course. While in Settings, do NOT click the Copy this Course button on the right side; this tool creates a new course that your students will not be able to access.

a.     Learn how to copy a course.

b.     Learn how to export a course.

c.     Learn how to import a course.

4.     Use method (b) above to export your course and save it in a secure environment (e.g. on your computer, to an external drive, to an online drive). If anything ever happens to Canvas, you’ll always have your course.

5.     If you are teaching a Distance Education course next semester, you should send a welcome letter to your students a week or so prior to the first day of classes. A template is attached. I have also attached a syllabus template for your optional use. If you put either or both into Canvas, you will need to convert to accessible PDFs beforehand. I even have an entire course template, and if you’re interested in that, let me know.

6.     A new Online Learning web site will be launched in early January. It will include content and information for both students and faculty. If you have links to the current site, you will want to check them prior to Spring classes.

7.     If you haven’t yet requested your course(s) for next semester, log into Class-Web, click Menu for Faculty, and click the Canvas link at the bottom.

8.     I will be out of the office from Dec. 19-Jan. 2. If you need assistance Dec. 19-22, contact Wanda Butterly at ext. 1655. You can also contact Canvas Support those days or throughout the holidays at 1-833-300-3467.

Scott

 

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

 

 

Blackboard downtime last night

In case it is mentioned by your students, Blackboard had an issue and was down from 12:36 a.m. until 12:47 a.m. last night.

 

Scott