Fall Canvas students to be inputted tonight

Canvas instructors:

 

I wanted to let you know that Fall 2020 students are scheduled to be inputted into their Canvas courses tonight. If you don’t want students to access your courses until the start of classes, please keep your courses unpublished.

 

Scott

 

Turnitin

For those of you currently trying to use Turnitin, you have, obviously, noticed that it’s not working. District ITS will be working with the vendor today to remedy this situation.

 

Scott

Regular effective contact reminder

For those of you teaching this summer,

In an effort to ensure that the state- and federally mandated regular effective contact regulations are being met in online courses, the LPC Distance Education Committee has asked me to send a Mid-Semester Regular Effective Contact Checklist to you. These mandates include instructor-initiated interaction with students and fostering student-to-student interaction.

Links to more information are included at the bottom of the checklist.

If you have any questions, let me know.
Scott

 

Video in Canvas

LPC faculty,

Canvas sent out a message to system admins around the state saying that many instructors are asking to increase the quota for their courses. It seems that they are uploading videos directly into their Canvas courses. The assumption is that they are recording their ConferZoom sessions and uploading those videos into Canvas.

For those of you new to online courses, keep in mind that we do not do this. Not only do videos eat up your course quota because the file sizes are so big, but they also take a long time for students to download and watch. More importantly, perhaps, it's difficult to get the videos captioned.

We promote the 3C Media Solutions app in Canvas, but also tell instructors that they can use YouTube if they want. You can even link to a ConferZoom cloud recording and transcript.

If you are not familiar with how we do video in Canvas, please read the following page on our Online Learning web site: Instructional Uses Of Video In Online Courses.

Thank you for your adherence.

Scott

Canvas videos/new Rich Content Editor

LPC Faculty,

 

If you use the 3C Media app in Canvas to post and caption instructor-created videos, you might already know that the funds allocated to 3CMedia for this purpose have been exhausted and won’t be renewed until July 1, 2020. This means that faculty will not be able to request captioning through 3C Media until then. The DE Committee on Friday wanted me to inform you that in the meantime, you should either use YouTube and edit its auto captions or simply refrain from posting instructor-created videos until July 1.

 

Using YouTube

 

Follow these steps to upload your video:

 

1. Log into YouTube or Google with your Google login credentials (if you don’t have a Google account, you will need to create one). If you log into Google, click the Google Apps icon at the top right, and select YouTube.
   
   
   
2. On the upper right, click the camera icon, and select Upload video.
   
   
   
3. Select your video file, or simply drag and drop it onto the screen.
4. Give it a title, then click Next.
5. Select Yes, it’s made for kids, then click Next.
6. On the following screen, just click Next.
7. Click Publish Now – Unlisted – Done.
8. Close and log out.

 

After waiting for YouTube to auto-caption your video, you are now ready to edit those captions to fix spelling, grammar, etc.

 

View a video on how to edit auto captions in YouTube.

 

 

New Rich Content Editor in Canvas

 

If you are interested in testing the new Rich Content Editor in Canvas, you should enable it in your sandbox course by going to Settings – Feature Options and toggling the switch for RCE Enhancements. Canvas is supposed to make it the default beginning June 20; therefore, it will become our default in time for summer courses. If the June 20 date changes, we might postpone making it the default.

 

The new RCE will have the same tools and functionality as the current RCE, but the icons and interface have changed. One notable change is that when you add content like an image, you have to click on it to bring up an Options button. Those options allow you other functionality.

 

 

View a video overview of the new RCE.

View tutorials on specific tasks in the new RCE.

 

Register for a TLC workshop on the new RCE that is scheduled for March 31 from 12:30-1:30 p.m.

 

Scott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canvas dropped students update

The issue with the dropped students still in Canvas courses appears to be resolved. If you have students lingering in your Canvas courses who are not on your Class Web rosters, let me know their names, W numbers, and courses, and I’ll forward that info to District ITS. Thanks again for your patience.

 

Scott

 

Canvas Fall 2019 semester wrap-up

Canvas instructors,

 

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

1. Here’s how course access at the end of a semester works in Canvas:
   1. You will have full access to your course until Jan. 10 at 11:59 p.m. After that, you will only have read-only access. However, you will be able to export your course.
   2. Students will have full access to your course until Dec. 21 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.
   3. 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: Students can only participate in the course between these dates.  
   4. 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. Check the accuracy of your grades, then download your Gradebook and course separately.
   1. 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 old gradebook 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.
   2. Make sure you don’t have any grade columns that show as hidden when they shouldn’t be hidden.
   3. If you incorrectly gave a student extra attempts on quizzes by adding that student’s name under Assign To in the quiz settings while removing Everyone, you will need to add Everyone back in. You’d notice this in the gradebook if you have a quiz column with only one student’s score while the rest of the students have no scores. Once you add Everyone back in and click Save, all of the scores will show.
   4. For those of you still using the old gradebook: When you are finished with Fall grades, download your Gradebook by clicking Export – CSV File. Keep your exported Gradebook on your computer or backup drive for safekeeping.
   5. For those using the New Gradebook: When you are finished with Fall grades, download your Gradebook by clicking Actions - Export. Keep your exported Gradebook on your computer or backup drive for safekeeping.
   6. To archive your course and save it for safekeeping (in case anything happens to the Canvas server), go to Settings – Export Course Content – make sure Course is chosen under Export Type, then click Create Export. Once the process is finished, click New Export to download the file to your computer or external/online drive.

 

3. When moving from one semester to another, 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 either of these by going to Settings and choosing Import Course Content. If you then select Copy a Canvas Course, you might have to check the box to "Include completed courses."
   1. Learn how to copy a course.
   2. Learn how to export a course.
   3. Learn how to import a course.
      
      
4. On Jan. 9, the following Canvas changes will be implemented: VeriCite will be removed, and the New Gradebook, New Analytics, and the Microsoft Immersive Reader will be enabled for everyone.
   
   
5. Students are scheduled to be inputted into their Spring classes in the early morning hours of Jan. 3.
   
   
6. If you are teaching a Distance Education course next term, 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. I even have an entire course template, and if you’re interested in that, let me know.
   
   
7. Canvas now offers a Training Services Portal that is available from the Help icon in the global navigation menu. Resources include live webinar trainings, recorded videos, and actual courses.
   
   
8. For those of you who teach DE courses and completed the DE Faculty Survey, I want to thank you. Your answers are extremely beneficial as we strive to continually offer a quality DE program. Among those respondents who chose to enter the raffle for a $25 gift card to the Cheesecake Factory restaurant, only one could win. And the big winner was Business instructor Mary Lauffer! Mary graciously donated the gift card to CalWORKs.
   
   
9. The campus will be closed Dec. 24-Jan. 1. I will be off Jan. 2-3. Wanda Butterly will be working Jan. 2. Canvas provides nighttime and weekend support at 1-833-300-3467.
   
   

Enjoy your holidays!

Scott