A variety of training and support resources are available for all instructors and students.

1. Canvas Help:  24/7 chat, email and phone support from Canvas is available for all students and instructors. Canvas helpdesk agents can assist instructors and students with their live courses, answer how-to questions, and troubleshoot any problems. To access Canvas help, click on the Help button on the bottom left of the dark blue navigation bar in Canvas. Note: you must be in your Canvas account to contact Canvas help.

2. General Live Training via Zoom:  Starting in June, Touro Training Team will be offering regularly scheduled general training sessions via Zoom. These sessions will be open to all faculty. You can see all currently schedule training sessions on the Touro Canvas website. Each session will be 1.5 hours – about 45 minutes of presentation and 45 minutes of questions and answers. The following topics will be covered during these training sessions: 

• accessing and navigating Canvas
• viewing rosters
• adding course files,
• using the Canvas Syllabus
• adding an Assignment
• previewing the course as a student
• making the course available to students
• messaging students
• using the course calendar
• grading assignments with SpeedGrader
• viewing the Gradebook and student mastery
• using different course layouts.

These training sessions will be offered multiple times throughout Touro’s transition to Canvas.  To see a schedule of these sessions:

• go to the TouroOne Portal and under Canvas click on Touro Canvas Website then select Training Calendar, or

• click On/Copy the following link http://www.touro.edu/canvas and then select Training Calendar.

3. Self-paced Training Courses in Canvas: All new students and instructors are automatically enrolled in Canvas training courses. These courses will help you get oriented and learn about some of the most commonly used Canvas features.

4. School-specific Training:  The Project Team is working with Touro schools to schedule school-specific live training, either in person or via Zoom. To find out the live training schedule for your school, watch for Canvas training announcements from your school or contact your Dean or Director.

We will be announcing our own local training sessions in the next week or so.

Please note that all of these methods of learning Canvas (i.e., the Zoom sessions from TCUS, the online course in your Canvas dashboard, and the local training sessions that we will be scheduling) will cover roughly the same material, so we encourage you to take advantage of whichever method or methods best suit your own schedule and manner for learning a new tool.

If you have any questions please contact me at Michael.Barbour@tu.edu

Michael K. Barbour
Fellow

As has been communicated in previous announcements, TUC and TUN will begin to transition from Blackboard to Canvas as the TCUS Learning Management System (LMS).  Blackboard will still be available for instructors to access courses and necessary content information until June 30, 2019.  To help facilitate the transition to Canvas at TUC and TUN, a TWD Transition Task Force (TTF) has been established with Drs. Michael Barbour and Jim O’Connor as co-chairs.

Over the course of the next year, the co-chairs will be responsible for the following general tasks at both TUC and TUN:

• Dr. Barbour has had significant experience in converting courses from Blackboard to Canvas, as well as in developing the instructional design of courses using both of these LMS’s. He will provide coordination, training support, and general assistance with instructional design. He will also coordinate TWD activities with those of the TCUS transition team.
• In his dual roles as co-chair of TTF and as TWD Director of the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Dr. O’Connor will work with faculty of TUC and TUN to introduce new pedagogical approaches and the preparation of enhanced learning materials using Canvas as a LMS.
• The co-chairs and the TTF members will also plan and coordinate training and create timelines for transition activities with college and school Canvas champions on both campuses.

In addition to the TTF, there will be a group of Canvas champions that will be designated in various colleges, schools, and programs at TUC and TUN.  The champions will act as points of contact for their respective units, and will also be responsible for the following:

• Attending regular Champion meetings via Zoom;
• Attending a one to two day Canvas training in May/June (dates and times TBD);
• Assisting faculty with the use of Canvas in their respective programs;
• Sharing pertinent Canvas related information with faculty, students, and staff in their respective programs; and
• Reporting any issues and/or challenges regarding Canvas to the transition task force.

The deans have identified the following individuals to serve as college Canvas champions: Debbie Millican will serve as the Canvas Champion for CHHS and Assistant Dean Jutta Guadagnoli and Ms. Tina Lindquist will serve as Canvas co-Champions for COM.

During the Summer and Fall semesters, Canvas workshops offered will target outreach to TUC and TUN faculty and students. The transition task force and the local champions will work collaboratively with the TCUS Instructional Technology Canvas team to design, and conduct trainings for both students and faculty.  Workshops/trainings will be offered in the following formats:

• Synchronous sessions via Zoom and in-person;
• Self-paced orientation and training courses available in Canvas;
• Asynchronous exploration of the Canvas community (guides, Live!, and discussions); and
• Self-paced Touro-created student and faculty guides.

These training opportunities will be announced shortly.

In the meantime, if you have any questions please contact Jim O’Connor (jim.oconnor@tu.edu) or Michael Barbour (Michael.barbour@tu.edu) directly.

Ray Alden
Provost
Touro University Nevada