2020 23 Aug

What Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Tell Us About Learning

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2020 23 Aug

Meet the CILT Team.

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2020 09 Mar

What Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology Tell Us About Effective Learning

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2020 02 Mar

Canvas Tip of the Week (02 March 2020)

Creating Video-Based Instruction

Did you know that there are a variety of instructional videos related to Canvas on the CILT website?

Not a traditional “Canvas Tip of the Week” this week, but some specific information that is somewhat related to Canvas that I did want to pass along.  Over the past few days, the academic leadership team have been asked to ensure that all programs make plans to institute and use Zoom recordings, MediaSite, and Kaltura recordings as able.  All programs should ensure that course material is available to students on Canvas.  This will provide source material for students who require remediation due to short and long term illness.  These sources provide a digital platform to maintain didactic coursework should campus require closure.  As such, I wanted to pass along the following resources for faculty and staff.

Kaltura

Zoom

Box

Canvas

If I have missed any functions of features of these tools that you would like to have instructional videos for, please let me know.

In fact, you can access a full range of instructional videos related to Canvas that are specific to Touro University California at:

https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/#faculty

Additionally, a week or two ago I received a notice of this webinar recording that I thought was relevant to pass along given the topic.

Accuracy Matters: Accessibility in Faculty-Created VideoJeanna Cronk
In our latest webinar, Co-Director of the Center for Excellence at Northwood University Jeanna Cronk shares ways to ensure faculty accurately caption their course videos.

For your convenience, here’s the full recording for you to review or to share with your colleagues. The webinar covers: 

  • Strategies to emphasize the importance of accessibility to faculty
  • New ways to use captioning tools in instructional videos
  • How student workers can help edit captions

Watch the Recording

Further, there was a recent podcast by a Canadian faculty development organization Teaching Strides entitled “Season 4, Episode 4: Flipped: how this “read first, lecture second” model makes Chemistry accessible.”  The podcast is described as:

Dr. Brett McCollum’s students loved his lectures so much that he stopped doing them. After realising that his students weren’t doing much reading outside of their classes, he wanted to introduce a new, problem solving-based approach. In a move to encourage them to read academic texts and engage with what they were learning, he developed the “flipped classroom.” In this episode, Dr. McCollum talks about the success of the approach and its benefits can be found outside of class and how it can encourage team building in a highly competitive discipline.

You may view the latest post at:

Teaching Strides
Academic Development Centre
Mount Royal University

Finally, all of the Canvas Tips of the Week are archived on the CILT website at https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/#tips

March 2, 2020, Monday
8:00am – Canvas General Training Sessions (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kV8F1Z0KSw21HZ_Dmq5Vjw )

March 4, 2020, Wednesday
10:00am – Canvas Basics: Making Sure You’re Compliant (to register, click https://zoom.us/meeting/register/vpEod-mgrDgsYDa0hTYwgAxC-RvYgOVb5A )

You can access the complete training schedule at https://touro-iits-dept.s3.amazonaws.com/canvas/calendar.html

The TCUS team has also introduced Touro’s One-to-One Canvas Tutorial Program.  The program is described as “we’re offering one-to-one Canvas tutorials to help you accomplish your goals with the Canvas LMS. Whether you’re just getting started with Canvas or have a unique challenge—we’re here to help.”

Click here to sign up for one-to-one Canvas Training

If you have questions, feel free to contact Michele Jenkins, Jim O’Connor or myself.

As a reminder, you can access TUC and TUN specific resources at the Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching website at:

https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/

2020 10 Feb

Canvas Tip of the Week (10 February 2020)

Getting to Know The Calendar

Did you know that there is an undated space on the student’s calendars?

The Calendar is a great way to view everything you have to do for all your courses in one place. You can view calendar events by day, week, month, or agenda list. The calendar also includes access to the Scheduler, which is an optional scheduling tool in Canvas.

The Calendar spans all courses and displays information for each of your enrolled courses and groups. In the navigation bar, you can choose to view the calendar in Week, Month, or Agenda view [1]. The view you choose dictates the style of the calendar window [2]. By default, the calendar appears in Month view.

The sidebar shows a quick-view calendar [3], your list of courses and groups, and undated items for your courses and groups.

To view the iCal link for exporting your Canvas calendar to other calendar apps, click the Calendar Feed link [4].

One of the features that most students miss is the UNDATED entries (number 3 in the above image).

Expanding the Undated items link will show you a list of events and assignments that are not dated. The assignments and events will be differentiated by icons and by the personal, course, or group calendar color. You can assign due dates to undated items by dragging and dropping them into the Calendar.

To learn more about all of the calendar features in Canvas, you can view the complete instructional guide here.  One nifty trick is to manually add entries to the calendar (as opposed to the automatically generated ones), and you can view that instructional guide here.

All of the Canvas Tips of the Week are archived on the CILT website at https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/#tips

As a reminder, the Canvas team at the Touro College and University Systems level continues to offer webinars on various aspects of Canvas.Webinars that are coming up this week include (all times in Pacific):

February 11, 2020, Tuesday
7:00am – Winter is Here! Using Zoom to Stay on Schedule (to register, click https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMoce-rrDopxKdofd34c1vEG3eQTLyujw )

February 14, 2020, Friday
7:00am – Canvas Basics: Making Sure You’re Compliant (to register, click https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwvcumgqDMj3KAyBKC6xp5faREFHosR_w )

You can access the complete training schedule at https://touro-iits-dept.s3.amazonaws.com/canvas/calendar.html

If you have questions, feel free to contact Michele Jenkins, Jim O’Connor or myself.

As a reminder, you can access TUC and TUN specific resources at the Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching website at:

https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/

Michael K. Barbour, Ph.D.
Fellow

2020 03 Feb

Canvas Tip of the Week (03 February 2020)

Gradebook Rules

Did you know that you can create rules in your gradebook (e.g., drop lowest score)?

Once you have added Assignments to your Assignment Group, you can create rules for the entire Assignment Group. Assignment Group rules determine how Canvas handles any exceptions you want to create for grade calculations. Assignment Groups can be weighted or unweighted.  One example of a rule that you can create is to drop the students lowest score within an Assignment Group.

To drop one or more lowest grade from an assignment category…

  • Go to ASSIGNMENTS.
  • Click on the gear that appears to the far right of the Assignment Group and then select EDIT.
  • Enter the number of grades you would like to drop.

To learn more about creating rules for your Assignment Groups in Canvas, you can view the complete instructional guide here.  If you need information about how to create Assignment Groups in the first place, you can view that complete instructional guide here.

All of the Canvas Tips of the Week are archived on the CILT website at https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/#tips

As a reminder, the Canvas team at the Touro College and University Systems level continues to offer webinars on various aspects of Canvas.  NOTE THE TUESDAY WEBINAR FOCUSED ON THE NEW GRADEBOOK!  Webinars that are coming up this week include (all times in Pacific):

February 05, 2020, Wednesday
8:00am – Canvas General Training Sessions (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_T98j8O79SrKLA4u4EtACbQ )
11:00am – Creating Quizzes in Canvas (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_T-fl8sbHTKShq9zf75IHEg )

February 06, 2020, Thursday
11:00am – Managing Quizzes in Canvas (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ll17GzrVRQO0oW0-qTpfuQ )
11:00am – Winter is Here! Using Zoom to Stay on Schedule (to register, click https://zoom.us/meeting/register/vpApduqoqjoq_ZEEU9i8sMfu1jozb34luA )

You can access the complete training schedule at https://touro-iits-dept.s3.amazonaws.com/canvas/calendar.html

If you have questions, feel free to contact Michele Jenkins, Jim O’Connor or myself.

As a reminder, you can access TUC and TUN specific resources at the Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching website at:

https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/

Michael K. Barbour, Ph.D.
Fellow

2020 27 Jan

Canvas Tip of the Week (27 January 2020)

New Gradebook Active

Have you noticed the differences in your grade books since Saturday, 18 January?

***Before getting into the Canvas tip for this week, an overview of the new features in the gradebook can be found in the Canvas Tip of the Week for 23 December 2019

Over the past two weeks, Brittany Handler (Instructional Designer, School of Health Sciences, Touro College) has conducted two webinars on the new gradebook that has been active in all Canvas courses for the past two weeks.  Below are the resources from those sessions.  If you are responsible for any assessments in your Canvas courses, I would strong recommend that you review one of the recordings (as both are essentially the same session, but repeated on two occasions).

TCUS New Gradebook Webinar Resources

This webinar will be repeated again on Tuesday, 28 January at 10:00am (Pacific).  To sign up for the webinar, visit https://zoom.us/meeting/register/vJAvcO2srzwiasxe8Md5COc_j3o4uwKXTQ

To learn more about changes to the Canvas gradebook, you can view the complete release notes here. 

Please note that one of the negative changes that has occurred to the gradebook is that the option to treat ungraded assignments as 0 is no longer available.  Over the past two weeks, Canvas users have been up voting a suggested idea in the Canvas Community to bring back this feature.  You can access this suggestion at https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/14133-allow-treat-ungraded-as-0-in-new-gradebook and if you want to add your vote, simply click on the “VOTE UP” button (it will ask you to login and you will use the same username and password you use to login to Canvas – as the Canvas Community is just an extension of that system).

All of the Canvas Tips of the Week are archived on the CILT website at https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/#tips

As a reminder, the Canvas team at the Touro College and University Systems level continues to offer webinars on various aspects of Canvas.  NOTE THE TUESDAY WEBINAR FOCUSED ON THE NEW GRADEBOOK!  Webinars that are coming up this week include (all times in Pacific):

January 27, 2020, Monday
11:00am – Setting Up Your Canvas Gradebook (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LAmbuFEXQQC6bk8wMV0vgQ )

January 28, 2020, Tuesday
10:00am – Updated Gradebook (to register, click https://zoom.us/meeting/register/vJAvcO2srzwiasxe8Md5COc_j3o4uwKXTQ )
11:00am – Making Your Canvas Course Content Available, and Communicating With Students (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Oo3-wXCKS26Z2ZMnZOxtUg )

January 29, 2020, Wednesday
8:00am – Using Assignments to Collect Work Form Students – And how to Grade Them (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3Yh21msLRb-c8-Do0n2OtA ) )

January 30, 2020, Thursday
8:00am – How to Copy Your Course to the Next Term (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FIXVWI3oTxCj2DtAb7O4GQ )

January 31, 2020, Friday
8:00am – Turn-it-in plagiarism checker (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SC0G1g9WT2WPgJqya6BzMQ )

You can access the complete training schedule at https://touro-iits-dept.s3.amazonaws.com/canvas/calendar.html

If you have questions, feel free to contact Michele Jenkins, Jim O’Connor or myself.

As a reminder, you can access TUC and TUN specific resources at the Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching website at:

https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/

Michael K. Barbour, Ph.D.
Fellow

2020 13 Jan

Canvas Tip of the Week (13 January 2020)

Hide Grade Distribution

Did you know that by default students can see the grade distribution in Canvas, but you can hide it?

***Before getting into the Canvas tip for this week, a final reminder that the new gradebook in Canvas becomes active on Saturday, 18 January.  You can reach more about the changes in the Canvas Tip of the Week for 23 December 2019.  Below you’ll see a TCUS webinar about this too.

Students do not see each other’s grades, but they can see the grade distribution and where they are in the distribution.  If that does not help your class, you can turn off the feature.

To turn off the students ability to see the grade distribution:

  • Click on SETTINGS in the left hand course menu.
  • Then click on ADVANCED SETTINGS.
  • Next click on the box that is next to “Hide grade distribution graphs from students.”
  • Finally, don’t forget to click on the UPDATE COURSE DETAILS button.

Learn more about this feature here.

As a reminder, don’t forget about the policy changes described in last week’s Tip of the Week.  The basic premise of those changes were that requests related to COM and COP courses in Canvas should now be directed to Michele Jenkins, while requests related to CEHS courses in Canvas will continue to be directed to Michael Barbour.

Please note that all of the Canvas Tips of the Week are archived on the CILT website at https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/#tips

As a reminder, the Canvas team at the Touro College and University Systems level continues to offer webinars on various aspects of Canvas.  Webinars that are coming up this and next week include:

January 14, 2020, Tuesday
11:00am – Updated Gradebook (to register, click https://zoom.us/meeting/register/vpMkd-mvrzwvTejZ6QNok9I8ViN6LcIU8A )

January 15, 2020, Wednesday
11:00am – Setting Up Your Canvas Gradebook (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RQuxIWFJR4W1KWkld-5fDw ) )

January 17, 2020, Friday
8:00am – Canvas General Training Sessions (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SIwCOZqYTjaXbV4iYQljCQ )

You can access the complete training schedule at https://touro-iits-dept.s3.amazonaws.com/canvas/calendar.html

If you have questions, feel free to contact Michele Jenkins, Jim O’Connor or myself.

As a reminder, you can access TUC and TUN specific resources at the Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching website at:

https://western.touro.edu/cilt/canvas/

Michael K. Barbour, Ph.D.
Fellow

2020 10 Jan

How to Give Your Students Better Feedback Through Technology

Holly Fiock, an instructional designer in the College of Education at Purdue University, and Heather Garcia, an instructional design specialist at Oregon State University Ecampus, have written
an extensive article focusing on providing student feedback through the use of technology.

The article is broken down into 8 sections:

    Essentials
    4 Key Qualities of Good Feedback
    2 Time-Saving Approaches
    When to Use Audio or Video Tools for Feedback
    When to Stick to Text Feedback
    Tips on Getting Started
    Common Pitfalls and Smart Solutions
    Resources

I was very impressed with how this article discussed challenges from the instructor’s perspective, as well as sound suggestions and advice for providing effective feedback.

You can access this article via the following link:

https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20191108-Advice-Feedback?utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en&cid=pm&source=ams&sourceId=111377

2020 10 Jan

Increasing your chances for success

Dear Colleagues/Students,

Many of you are probably considering New Year’s resolutions.

Jeff Haden shares 10 great habits to pursue for being successful.

Here’s the link:

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/want-to-be-super-successful-science-says-do-any-1-of-these-10-things?utm_source=pocket-newtab