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

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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 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

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

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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.  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

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 Zoom Recording from the 14 January webinar (~44 minutes) Zoom Recording from the 21 January webinar (~38 minutes) MS PowerPoint slides used for both webinars MS Word document of useful resources related to the new gradebook

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

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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.  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

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.

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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

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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:

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

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