TUC Canvas Transition Complete

Did you know that as of Fall 2019 all programs at Touro University California were now using Canvas?

Hello everyone and welcome to the Spring 2020 semester!

As the Fall 2019 semester completed the transition of ALL Touro University California programs to Canvas, it is time to update some of the local policies related to Canvas.

Registration Procedure with Canvas (http://western.touro.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2019/12/registration-procedure-with-canvas.pdf )

During the first semester of the transition period, the local TUC Canvas team, the Registrar’s office, and representatives from each of the academic units worked with the TCUS Canvas team in New York to develop this registration policy.  It is primarily focused on enrollment of faculty and staff.  The first step of the procedure remains the same as it has always been.  The Registrar adds one primary and four to five additional faculty who are listed in Banner. These individuals will be automatically populated in Canvas as “TEACHERS.”  It is recommended that these individual(s) be the teacher(s) of record for the course.

Any additional faculty that needs access to the course for the purposes of creating content, adding assignments, and/or overseeing grades would fall into the second step of the process.  In this step, there are two spreadsheets that need to be created and submitted to Michele Jenkins for COM and COP courses or Michael Barbour for CEHS courses.  The information and specific format required for both spreadsheets are described in the second step of the policy.

Please note that department chairs, directors, assistant deans, associate deans, and/or deans do not need to be added under either of these steps.  These faculty have already been added at the administrative level to the appropriate courses.

Add User or Change User Role in Canvas (http://western.touro.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2019/12/add-user-or-change-user-role-in-canvas.pdf )

If during the semester there is a need to make additions or changes to the role that a particular faculty, staff, and/or student was assigned in Canvas, these requests should be submitted to Michele Jenkins for COM and COP courses or Michael Barbour for CEHS courses.  Each request should include the specific information that is outlined in the policy (e.g., name, T#, semester, CRN, and role).  As described in the policy, all requests must be first approved by:

• the course coordinator, OR
• the program coordinator, department chair, and/or school director, OR
• an Associate Dean or Dean.

Evidence of this approval MUST be included in the request when it is submitted. The easiest way to accomplish this is to send an e-mail to one of the individuals listed above making the request for an addition or change in the course, and once the individual has approved it, then forward the entire e-mail chain to Michele or Michael.

In the case of faculty and staff, it is requested that those responsible for the initial enrollment described in the “Registration Procedure with Canvas” be as accurate as possible, as the addition or change of a role in Canvas after the fact is a manual process that has to be completed by the TCUS Canvas team in New York.

Canvas Organization Management Policy (http://western.touro.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2019/12/canvas-organization-policy.pdf )

Unlike Blackboard, Canvas does not have a function that separates courses and organizations.  However, Canvas does allow the administrator to manually create courses at the local level. These locally created courses have the same functions as the courses that are automatically created by Banner (i.e., the courses listed in our course catalogue).  This is how we have decided to emulate the same functions that were provided by the organizations in Blackboard.  Organizations that are considered curricular or co-curricular can be established as a locally created course.  Please note that general development courses or sandboxes do not qualify as organizations, and will only be created for new programs or courses.

In order to establish an organization in Canvas, individuals must complete the Canvas Organization Request Form and send it to Michele Jenkins.  If approved, an enrollment file will need to be created – as outlined in the second step of the policy – and then this file should also be sent to Michele Jenkins.

For individuals responsible for clinical or program level organizations, please review the video “How to Manage Organizations in Canvas” (https://youtu.be/aRinvcze3y4 ).

To learn more about these and other TUC Canvas policies, you can view the all of the details on the Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching’s website.
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The main change in the policies described above is 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 06, 2020, Monday
11:00am – How to Copy Your Course to the Next Term (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jKhgHkouQNm6m91Ip2u3Jw )

January 08, 2020, Wednesday
8:00am – Adding Content to Your Course (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MD_GivWtR0SxO3LRJ9lgFg ) )

January 09, 2020, Thursday
8:00am – Canvas General Training Sessions (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QMcNxc9zSNqpAzP90LVneQ )

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

Canvas Gradebook 

Did you know that Canvas has a new gradebook that will become the default on January 18, 2020?

In the process of finalizing your Fall 2019 grades in Canvas, you have likely seen this Banner across the top of the page.

While faculty have had the option to enable the new gradebook for many months now (and some have), most of us have continued to use the old gradebook.  On January 18, 2020 you will no longer have the option to use the old gradebook!

So what is this new gradebook?

The new gradebook gives instructors new capabilities to hide/post (formerly mute/unmute) grades for a course, set a late policy for a course, arrange and filter elements in new ways, and more. 

Posting grades

With New Gradebook, you can automatically hide or post (formerly mute or unmute) all feedback and grades.

Previously, the default setting allowed students to see feedback and grades as soon as they were entered; in the new gradebook, students cannot see feedback and grades until they are entered and manually posted. 

When you are ready to manually release grades to students, go to Grades, click the Options icon next to the Assignment title, and select Post grades

You’ll then see options for which grades to become visible:

• Everyone: shows grades for all students. (NOTE: Students will see only their own grades.) Newly entered grades will be visible immediately to all students.
• Graded: shows grades that have already been entered. Newly entered grades will be hidden and will need to be posted later.
• Specific Sections: shows grades to one or more sections in the course.

A gray Visibility icon (the “eye” symbol) appears when hidden grades are ready to be released to students. “MANUAL” indicates that a manual posting policy is currently in place and future grades are hidden from student view or that a manual posting policy was previously used to hide grades in an assignment.

For more, see the Canvas Instructor Guide on how to post grades for an assignment.

Changing the posting policy for a course

If you would prefer that your grades and feedback appear automatically, as they did previously, you can change the posting policy.

To set the posting policy for a course, go to Grades, click the Settings (gear) icon, and select the Grade Posting Policy tab.:

Here, you can choose to Automatically Post Grades or Manually Post Grades. Click Update when finished. 

If you choose to automatically post grades, you can still hide and post individual assignments. Find out how to hide grades for an assignment and how to post grades for an assignment.

For more, see the Canvas Instructor Guide on how to select a grade posting policy for a course.

Exporting and importing

The ability to export and import the new gradebook is now found under a new “Actions” menu. 

To export or import your gradebook, click the Actions menu and select an option:

For more, see the Canvas Instructor Guide on exporting grades or importing grades.

Setting a late policy

You can now apply automatic grading rules to missing and late submissions.

To set the late policy for a course, go to Grades, click the Settings (gear) icon, and select the Late Policies tab.:

Here, you can set a default grade for missing submissions or apply grading rules for late submissions. Click “Update” when finished. 

For more, see the Canvas Instructor Guide on how to apply a missing submission policy or apply a late submission policy.

Arranging, sorting, and filtering

You now have the ability to arrange, sort, and filter your gradebook in new ways.

With new gradebook, you can now:

• Arrange columns by module or assignment name,  or manually sort them.
• Filter assignments so that you only see certain assignment groups or modules, or filter so that you only see students from certain sections or student groups.
• Sort student names by either first or last name, and display students’ sections.
• Sort an assignment column by grade or assignment status.

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

If you have questions, feel free to contact 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

Spring is Around the Corner, Are You Prepared to Copy Your Course(s)?

Colleagues,

Once again, not a traditional “Canvas Tip of the Week,” but I wanted to pass along some tips that a colleague from the Canvas Team in New York shared with her faculty.  You’ll see I have added some TUC/TUN specific comments in red for some of the recommendations.

Michael K. Barbour, Ph.D.
Fellow, Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching (Touro University Western Division)

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As we approach the end of the fall semester and begin to think forward to the spring term, we would like for you to keep in mind some recommendations when copying your course content from one semester to the next:

Recommendation #1 Use the Select Content Option – When copying a course using the select content button to choose which information you copy over from one semester to the next can eliminate duplication of items, and prevent unnecessary items from being copied over (e.g., old announcements). This option gives you the freedom to choose what content (e.g., modules, discussions, quizzes) you want in your new shell. [MKB – We have a video that describes this process at https://youtu.be/LXP0zOZCZMs.]

Recommendation #2: Adjust (Assignment) Due Dates – As part of a course copy, you can adjust the due dates associated with course events and assignments. You can also shift due dates to a different day or remove all associated due dates. Note that you may still have to make some manually changes to dates.

Recommendation #3: Update Your Instructor Contact Info – As always it is important that your students know where and how to contact you. Be sure to update your contact information in the designated Instructor Information area of the course. Also let student know when they can expect to receive a response from you. The typical response time for emails is 24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends or holidays.

Recommendation #4: Review Rubric Standards – The Touro Rubric for Online Education is the guide to setting up your online course. These standards have been put into place to provide online students with the best experience possible at Touro. [MKB – Note this is a useful tool for all online content in Canvas, not just for online courses.]

Recommendation #5: Contact Online Education for Support – The Online Education team is here to help as you conclude one semester and begin another. If you would like support, please reach out by emailing one of our fabulous team members to set up a one-on-one or small-group session:

• Holly Owens, Assistant Director of Instructional Design, holly.owens@touro.edu
• Brandi So, Instructional Designer, brandi.so.@touro.edu 
• [MKB – Holly and Brandi are available to assist any faculty throughout the system with the development of online course content (i.e., anything you’d put in Canvas), regardless if the course is offered online or face-to-face.]

Wishing you a fabulous end of the semester!

Take Care,

Holly 

Holly Owens
Assistant Director of Instructional Design,
Department of Online Education
M: 410-916-5044
holly.owens@touro.eduwww.touro.edu
Want to schedule a chat? 
Check out my availability and schedule an appointment via Calendly

TurnItIn Interruptions

Colleagues,

Once again, not a traditional “Canvas Tip of the Week” this week, I wanted to pass along some information about one of the tools that we have integrated into Canvas.

The TurnItIn Plagiarism Checker experienced intermittent service disruptions between December 3rd at 09:56 PST and December 5th 06:34 PST.

TurnItIn results for assignments which were submitted during those times may still be in pending status. To get the TurnItIn results, the submissions need to be resubmitted.

The good news is that it’s easy for instructors to re-submit those assignments on their students’ behalf with the click of a button.

Please follow the link below for instructions on how to re-submit assignments for their in three quick steps.

https://touro.box.com/s/8q0gg1577vfxdj8r30jaf5n6e1xljqcz

If you have any questions about this issue, please let Michele Jenkins or myself know.

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, Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching (Touro University Western Division)

New Release features 11/16/19

Colleagues,

Not a traditional “Canvas Tip of the Week” this week, but some specific Canvas information that I did want to pass along.  Every third or fourth Friday, Canvas releases a series of updates to their platform.  Most of those updates go unnoticed, and even those that we do notice (such as those new icons by the course menu), don’t impact us that much.

However, this coming Friday the Canvas update will be a little more significant, so I wanted to share this summary with you.  It’s a great release with features that I think will be very helpful.

View video here along with notes below.

Help Menu-New feature

The Help Menu includes a new training portal link for admin-, instructor-, and designer-based roles in North America. This new training portal contains complimentary self-paced training resources and provides one-click registration for Subscription Training Webinars. The Training Services Portal is hosted in Bridge, a tool built and administered by Instructure.

Dashboard-New feature

In the Course Card Dashboard, courses can be removed as favorites from the course card Options menu.

Plagarism Icons in the Gradebook

For plagiarism tools, plagiarism reports display in the Gradebook as below screenshot. The New Gradebook will be released on 1/18/20.  More info to follow as we get closer to the release date

Microsoft Immersive Reader

This feature creates a reading experience that adds accessibility and comprehension for learners of all ages and abilities. 

Rich Content Editor Interface Enhancements

The Rich Content Editor is deprecated. The New Rich Content Editor is available for institutions to enable in their courses. The toolbar includes a condensed, more intuitive look. Toolbar menus are grouped by common icons and interactions.

The following enhancements are included with this feature update:

• The Rich Content Editor expands to the full width of the browser
• The toolbar includes a condensed, more intuitive look
• Toolbar menus are grouped by common icons and interactions
• The content sidebar only displays when linking to other parts of Canvas, accessing Canvas files, or accessing uploaded media
• Image and media additions include drag and drop; images include an Unsplash search and content auto-scaling
• The Keyboard shortcut, Accessibility Checker, and HTML Editor icons have moved to the bottom of the editor next to the word count. Additionally, the Rich Content Editor window can be resized using the Move handle below the window.

Michael K. Barbour, Ph.D.
Fellow, Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching (Touro University Western Division)

Canvas Analytics 

Did you know that Canvas offers a diverse set of course analytics?

You can quickly view activity, assignment submissions, and grades within a course, either specific to a student or your course overall.

Course analytics include for sections:

• Activity by date allows the instructor to see when students view a page or participate in the course.
• Submissions allow the instructor to view if students submit the assignment on-time, late, or not at all.
• Grades use a box and whisker plot to show the distribution of grades in the course.
• Student Analytics shows page view, participations, assignments, and current score for every student in the course.

To review your course analytics: Login to Canvas and select the name of the course. Select “View Course Analytics” in the right sidebar menu.

Learn more about Canvas Analytics here and here.

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

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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:

November 04, 2019, Monday
8:00am – Setting Up Your Canvas Gradebook (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_i3gP5vHuRxmk7yaIORBzcQ )

November 05, 2019, Tuesday
10:00am – Badges: How to use badges with your Canvas Course (to join, click https://zoom.us/j/4529039587 – advanced registration is not required)

November 6, 2019, Wednesday
11:00am – Canvas General Training Sessions (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l4zJOEvLQX2AArFT2ZQpuw )

November 7, 2019, Thursday
11:00am – Creating Quizzes in Canvas (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EpB7TeBqQEaAdb2ENBn5tg )

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 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

CanInnovate – Free, Online Conference

Showcase creative practices in online teaching and course design in Canvas

As many of you may be aware, Canvas has continued to increase its market share as the learning management system (LMS) of choice for many California-based institutions.  One body that has embraced Canvas in a significant way has been the California Community College system, where all institutions within the system have the opportunity to adopt Canvas as their LMS.  As such, the California Community College system has also become more of the main providers of faculty and staff development related to Canvas in the state.  

Next Friday (25 October 2019), the California Community College system is hosting a day long, free, online Canvas conference.

The conference will feature the following sessions.

9:00 – 9:45 am
Keynote – Integrating Compassion into Your Teaching
Kona Jones – Director, Online Learning, Richland Community College
More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-kona-jones-keynote/ 

10:00 – 10:45 am Share Showcase – Applying the Peralta Equity Rubric to Promote Connection and Belonging Chelsea Cohen and Inger Stark More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-10am-t1/	10:00 – 10:45 am Canvas Combo – Meet the CCC Canvas Community Home Base! Logan Murray and Mike Vogt Canvas Combo – Javascript Magic in Canvas: Randomizing Widgets, No Coding Laura Gibbs More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-10am-t2/
11:00 – 11:45 am Spotlight Speaker – Beyond Canvas: The CVC Exchange and Local POCR Jory Hadsell More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-11am-t1/	11:00 – 11:45 am Canvas Combo – Audio Feedback! Instructor Interactions that Motivate Students Donald Carlisle Canvas Combo – ConferZoom for Dynamic Student Conferences DJ Hawkins and Bri Kuhn More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-11am-t2/

12:00 – 12:45 pm
Mid-Day Fun – Canvas Trivia with Kahoot!
Lené Whitley-Putz
More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-12pm/

1:00 – 1:45 pm Share Showcase – Quick Fixes Using Tools to Create Accessible Content Alice Dieli and Leslie Reeves More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-1pm-t1/	1:00 – 1:45 pm Canvas Combo – Group Discussions for Increasing Interaction, Engagement, and Equity Maritez Apigo Canvas Combo – Data at Your Fingertips: Supporting the Success of all Learners Kim Vincent-Layton, Armeda Reitzel, and Becky Williams More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-1pm-t2/
2:00 – 2:45 pm Share Showcase – Using Flashcards for Self-Assessment Ed Beyer More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-2pm-t1/	2:00 – 2:45 pm Share Showcase – Embedding Quizzes in Video JoEllen Green and Monique Kelley More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-2pm-t2/
3:00 – 3:45 pm Share Showcase – Design 2 Align Camp: A Model for Redesigning Courses in Community Anna Sterling and Micah Orloff More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-3pm-t1/	3:00 – 3:45 pm Share Showcase – Taking the Pain Out of “Group Work” Pat James and Aloha Sargent More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-3pm-t2/
4:00 – 4:45 pm Spotlight Speaker – Stump the Panda Erin Keefe More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-4pm-t1/	4:00 – 4:45 pm Share Showcase – Bringing the CVC-OEI Online Ecosystem to Life Through the MiraCosta College Student Support Hub Jim Julius, Bonnie Peters, and Karen Turpin More info and to register: https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/webinar/can-innovate19-4pm-t2/

All Sessions will be recorded and available as an archive soon after the event.  For more information about the event, please visit https://onlinenetworkofeducators.org/caninnovate19/ 

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

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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:

October 24, 2019, Thursday
8:00am – Making Your Canvas Course Content Available, and Communicating With Students (to register, click https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_32RyFCjoRSGQ-Twr-FzCMQ )

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 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