Canvas shells for summer and fall

Hello,

 

I just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that Canvas shells for summer 2022 and fall 2022 classes are scheduled be created on Monday, April 25.

 

Scott

Canvas Studio update

For those of you using Canvas Studio, I want to update you on a feature change that has been implemented by Canvas. The Insights report has been updated. According to Canvas, “these changes provide instructors with a holistic view of how students watch/engage with course videos and how it correlates to their student success.” In other words, you should have improved analytics when you want to see the impact of your videos.

 

View details on the new features.

 

Scott

 

Two Canvas updates coming Saturday

Hello,

 

There are a couple of new features that Canvas will unveil Saturday that I thought I’d share. The first is a word count located within the Speedgrader. When you create an assignment with the Submission Type Online selected and Text Entry enabled, you can now get a count of how many words the students wrote. As far as I know, this won’t work with Word documents or any other types of file uploads.

 

 

 

In the Assignment Details page for students, the Show Rubric and View Feedback links indicate when new comments have been added as an annotation or in a rubric. This allows students to see when you have added new comments to a submission. If you want a notification that students added comments to your feedback, make sure you turn on Submission Comment in Account – Notifications.

 

 

 

Scott

 

 

New updates in Canvas Assignments tool

LPC faculty,

 

This is a heads-up that on Oct. 27, Canvas will make the following improvements to the Assignments tool (copied directly from the Canvas web site):

 

• Path from student grades page

Previously, when a student clicked on an assignment name from the student grades page, they were still directed to the old assignment feedback view. Students are now directed to the updated, enhanced view. 

• Webcam button icon change

Our webcam button had the image of an adorable panda photographer. While this was a fun image, it was inconsistent with other button images and may have drawn student attention to the option more than intended. This image has been updated to a camera icon, which is much more consistent with the other button images. 

• Restrict file upload types update

When file types are restricted for file upload assignments, if image file extensions (e.g. PNG, JPEG) are not accepted, the webcam button will not display as an option. 

• Files button terminology update

When file upload is selected as the submission type, students are presented with various locations from which to upload. The files button has been renamed to Canvas Files to clearly indicate where the student will upload files from when selected. 

• External Tool (LTI) support

External tool (LTI) submissions are better supported in Assignment Enhancements. Additionally, the placement of the External Tool buttons have been adjusted. Instead of displaying within the File Uploads option, installed tools for a course display as buttons next to all other submission types. If an assignment includes multiple tools, the External Tool options may be accessed via the More button, which we have reintroduced with this deploy to eliminate the confusion and clutter associated with many tools being available for student use.

In addition, the assignment page displays the type of file that is returned by the External Tool. For instance, if the tool returns a file, the file will be added to the draft assignment’s list of uploaded files. However, if the tool returns a link, the assignment displays a preview of the linked content. All returned files from an External Tool are retained as an assignment draft until the assignment is submitted or the attempt is canceled.

 

Regular and substantive interaction reminder

Online and hybrid instructors,

In an effort to ensure that the state- and federally mandated regular and substantive regulations are being met in online and hybrid courses, the LPC Distance Education Committee has asked me to send a Mid-Semester Interaction Checklist to you as a reference. These mandates include instructor-initiated interaction with students and, where applicable, 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

 

Canvas conference Oct. 7

Hello,

 

If you’re interested in learning more about Canvas, Instructure, which is the parent company of Canvas, will hold its annual conference called InstructureCon on October 7. It is online and free. To learn more about the conference and/or to register, see the InstructureCon page.

 

Scott

Canvas maintenance Thursday a.m.

Canvas will be performing maintenance on our system during a window of 1:05 a.m. until 3:05 a.m. Thursday. It said the system will only be down for one minute during that time. That might not sound like a long time, but if a student is in the middle of a quiz or exam, problems will most likely ensue. Anyway, an announcement will be posted in Canvas tomorrow.

 

Scott