Canvas course list unmanageable?

Now that we've been using Canvas for a couple years, chances are that you may have a rather long list of courses in your Canvas "My Courses" list.  You may have worked on past search committees, been part of a departmental group, or had a course development site created to allow you build course content outside of a "live" Canvas classroom. These Canvas sites may still be listed and may be making it hard to find your current courses quickly in the menu. Did you know that Canvas gives you some easy ways to manage your course list so that you only see the courses you want to see in your Courses menu?

When you hover your mouse pointer over the Courses menu at the top of the screen in Canvas, your My Courses list appears.  Note that there are a couple options here.  At the bottom of the list in the lower right is a "View all courses" link.  If you click on that link, you'll see a list of all the courses you have access to in Canvas, including course sites from previous semesters and any future courses that are in the system. They will be grouped with section headings - My Courses for current courses, Past Enrollments for past courses, and Future Enrollments for upcoming (unpublished) courses.  This link gives you access to see any of the courses you have had access to at any time since we started using Canvas.

Because you can go back and view all your courses through the "View all courses" area, it's a good idea to customize your My Courses list under the Courses menu so you only see the courses you need to access during a particular session or semester.  When viewing your My Courses list, click on "Customize" in the upper right and you'll see a list appear on the right (shown below).  You can check or uncheck them to select what appears in your My Courses list.  If you have access to a Canvas course that has been created for other purposes, such as a search committee or other group, you can uncheck those when they are no longer needed.  This gives you full control over what appears in your Courses menu, so you can set it up however you'd like and still be able to access any other courses through the "View all courses" link when you need them.

UPDATE! New Canvas Conversations available on 9/14!

Instructure has been working hard on improving the Canvas experience for us and the upcoming change to the "Conversations" tool is a testament to that fact!  The latest redesign aims to make it easier for students and faculty to communicate with each other within Canvas.

Please Note:  The new Conversations is an opt-in feature. To try the new Conversations after 9/14, click the question icon and select the Try New Conversations option.  You will be able to switch back to the old view using a similar process.

To learn more about the updates to the "Conversations" tool, including how to search and reply to important messages and compose new messages, check out Canvas' Beta Release Notes.  Remember, this new feature won't "go-live" until September 14th!

The details for these new features have been sourced from Canvas’ User Guides and Product Release Notes.  Please feel free to contact me (ptestori@baypath.edu) for any questions you may have about using Canvas for your Bay Path class.

It's that time of year again...

As we approach the start of a new academic year, I'm sure you're all thinking about your upcoming classes and possibly new ways to reach your students using technology.  Whether you're teaching online or on campus, there are many ways you can use technology to reach your students.  Here are some cool suggestions from an article from THE Journal.

Create a short video - The COL has consistently recommended that faculty record a welcome video for their online courses. Welcome videos can easily be recorded directly within Canvas or uploaded into Canvas if you use other software to create them.  These videos help students get to know you and what to expect from class.  But have you thought about having students create videos for class projects? Students can easily upload videos into Canvas, too, so it's very easy for them to submit their work. This is fun project that keeps students engaged in learning.

Podcasting - Creating podcasts is another way you can engage your students with multimedia technology. You can use them in your teaching, and you can have students produce their own podcasts.  If you're using iPads in your classroom, there are many apps to use for recording audio.

Creating Infographics - You've probably seen infographics online - we've shared a few here on this blog before...  Infographics are a great way to visually display information, often statistical data.  They can also be fun to create.  I created one for a recent conference presentation on orientations for online students using Piktochart, a site that provides limited free access and more sophisticated features for a fee.  Creating an infographic can be a great assignment for students - it's a fun way for them to be creative and display the results of their research.

Using screencasts to explain things - Screencasting is the term for recording what is on the screen of your computer and narrating it to make a video.  These videos are a great way to demonstrate how to do something on a computer.  Screencasts can be made with many free and low cost software applications.  I use Snagit for recording quick screencasts.  Snagit is inexpensive with educator pricing, and the company that makes it also has a free version with reduced functionality, Jing.  You can also record screencasts using Tegrity, a software solution supported by the ITS department. Contact them to get information about training and access to Tegrity.  Want to do screencasts on your iPad? EdTechTeacher has a great list of recommended screencasting apps. You can make screencasts to provide instructional content to your students, or you can ask your students to create and share their own screencasts.

As the new academic year approaches, remember that the COL is available to support online faculty and students in the use of Canvas and other instructional technologies for online education. Did you know that the Center for Online Learning is now part of Academic Affairs? This summer our team became part of the Division of Research and Academic Resources and we're looking forward to working with our new team to provide more exciting professional development opportunities and support services for all our online faculty! We are still located in the lower level of Deepwood Hall with the ITS department to allow us to work closely with the Tech Support Center team to ensure the best technology-related support for online faculty and students.  The new COL office space is amazing - if you haven't seen the newly renovated Technology Suite in the lower level of Deepwood, please stop by and visit us sometime! We look forward to seeing many of you back on campus soon!

Canvas Brings Back Chat (plus new Profiles)!

EXTRA, EXTRA: Exciting Canvas News!

Effective immediately, the “Chat” function has returned to your Canvas classrooms.  As you may recall, the chat feature was disabled a few months back while Canvas worked on a more appropriate and effective tool... and they have delivered!

The Chat tool in Canvas allows students and teachers to interact in real time. Chat makes it easy to communicate with your students live and all in one place.  Instructors can use chat to:

• Give students an opportunity to immediately contact them when they are online
• Conduct virtual office hours
• Conduct group discussion
• Conduct study sessions
• Regularly contact students who are challenged by course content and need encouragement

To enable “Chat” in your classroom, be sure that you’ve enabled the feature in the left-hand navigation menu of your course.  When you click on “Chat”, you immediately enter the chatroom!

BONUS!:  Check out the Canvas Guides to learn how you can view Chat history!

A new and improved “Profile” tool has also just been released.  Until today, we’ve been able to add a picture, contact information and connect services like Google Docs and Facebook.  Now, by popular demand, we can also add a “Bio”, custom web links, and more!  The Canvas Guides detail each new feature; if you’re curious to learn more, check them out!  To get started with editing your new profile, log into Canvas, click on your name in the upper-right corner, then click the “Edit Profile” button.  It’s as simple as that!

The details for these new features have been sourced from Canvas’ User Guides and Product Release Notes.  Please feel free to contact me (ptestori@baypath.edu) for any questions you may have about using Canvas for your Bay Path class.

Resources for Integrating Technology in the Classroom

If you're looking for ways to enhance your classes using technology, you'll want to check out and bookmark these resources!  The sites below provide some great ideas about apps and other online tools you can use to make your courses more interactive, engaging and exciting for students.  Also, if you're teaching future educators, these are good resources to share with your students.

Google Tools - This article is entitled "25 Ways Google Can Make You a Better Teacher," but they're continually updating it and the list is actually up to 36 items as of this posting.  This list contains easy ideas and covers topics such as Google Drive, Google Earth, Google Scholar and YouTube (which, if you didn't know, is a Google service). It's a great article because the list is written in a very brief and easy to read manner, and gives ideas that are good starting points to get you thinking of how you can use Google tools.  And since Bay Path students and faculty all have Google accounts and access to these tools, they're easy to integrate into your curriculum.

Lots of Online Tools for Education - You've probably heard of tools such as Jing, Vimeo and VoiceThread, but you may not be familiar with what the tools do and how to use them.  The image in the middle of this page shows icons for a number of popular (and not-so-well known) online educational tools, and each icon is a link to information about the tool.  It's a great resource to quickly learn about a tool and get started using it.  It's certainly worth taking a look at this page.

Writing Apps - This one is particularly useful to share with our Early Childhood and Elementary Education students.  This site showcases apps, most for young students, that helps students develop their writing skills.  From sentence building, to mind mapping, to learning to write letters, these apps help with a variety of writing skills.  The site also contains additional lists of literacy apps for topics such as phonics and spelling. My 7-year-old daughter has used some of these and enjoyed them.

I hope you found these sites useful and that you find something new you can use in your next course!

Straight From The Horse's Mouth

Ever wondered where the folks from the Center for Online Learning get their Canvas information?  Well, I’ll let you in on the secret.  Instructure Canvas does a great job getting their institutions ready for new releases, and they document the upcoming changes on their Product Release Notes page.

We review the upcoming changes and try to present the most relevant changes to you via this blog.  This doesn’t mean that we don’t encourage you to explore what’s out there for yourselves, though!

This weekend, you might notice that a few quiz settings have been relocated.  If you have a few moments, check out the video below from Canvas that highlights this, as well as a few other changes.

You’ll also want to be aware that Canvas no longer supports Internet Explorer 8.  Canvas supports the last two versions of every browser release.  Internet Explorer 10 is now available, which means you can use this version or Internet Explorer 9 with Canvas, worry free, as well as up to date versions of other popular web browsers.

The details for these new features have been sourced from Canvas’ User Guides and Product Release Notes.  Please feel free to contact the Center for Online Learning at Bay Path College (online@baypath.edu) for any questions you may about using Canvas for your Bay Path class.

Something Looks Different...

If you’re a savvy Canvas user, you may have noticed a few changes in your classroom this past weekend.  While there were a few “behind the scenes” changes that really don’t impact the typical user, there were a few changes that, as an instructor, you’ll want to be aware of.  Please read on:

Modules

Canvas has made it a little easier to manipulate the modules within your Canvas classroom.  You’ll note that the “View Progress” and “Create a Module” buttons have migrated from the right side of the screen to just above the first module in your classroom.  Additionally, the “Add Content to Module” and “Edit” functions have moved.  You will now find these by clicking on the “gear” icon to the right of the module title.



Quizzes

The Quizzes tool also got a bit of a facelift this past weekend!  While all the options for quizzes have remained the same, quiz settings now appear on a “Settings” tab and look a bit more like typical assignment settings.  While editing a quiz, you’ll now note that quiz questions have their own tab and the “gear” icon will allow you to add/show a rubric or delete the quiz.  



Discussions

In Discussions, instructors will notice the edit button has been moved next to the Gear icon, while the Speedgrader™ and rubric information is now located inside the Gear icon.



Instructors can restrict students from editing or deleting their discussion posts. This permission can be set in the Discussion settings or in the Course Settings under “more options”.



When a reply is edited by a student, instructors will be able to see the date and time the reply was edited. This feature helps instructors know when the edit occurred and if it should affect a course assignment or grade. Students will not see edit notifications unless their reply has been edited by their instructor.

When a reply is deleted by any user, the activity is indicated by a date and time stamp, along with the name of the person who performed the action.

Hopefully these changes make your Canvas experience easier and more enjoyable! As always, please content the Center for Online Learning with any Canvas questions that you may come up... we're here to help!  

The details for these new features have been sourced from Canvas’ User Guides and Product Release Notes.  Please feel free to contact the Center for Online Learning at Bay Path College (online@baypath.edu) for any questions you may about using Canvas for your Bay Path class.

Reimagining Learning

I came across a TEDx video recently that does a great job of summing up many of the issues relating to education today, especially how technology can help us be more innovative in the classroom and provide more personalized learning experiences to students. The speaker is Richard Culatta of the US Department of Education.  This 15 minute video is well worth watching. He discusses learning challenges that we face today, the use of learning analytics to personalize instruction, and the dangers of simply digitizing educational tools without changing the way we approach education.

Please feel free to comment below after viewing the video and share your thoughts with us.

Using Canvas on an iPad

In today's world it's more important than ever to stay connected while on the go. Tablets, such as iPads, are a great way to bring your internet connect with you wherever you go - they're more portable than a laptop, but have a larger screen than a smartphone.  Many faculty are also starting to experiment with using iPads in the classroom. One of our earlier blog entries featured information and resources about the educational use of iPads.

If you're using an iPad and want to use it to access Canvas when you're away from your computer, or if you have been trying to use Canvas through the iPad's Safari browser and are experiencing some difficulties, there are a couple apps designed to help you. The mobile Safari web browser has problems displaying some times of websites, including Canvas.  If you've tried to use Canvas in Safari you may have experienced some issues with scrolling, for example.  We generally recommend using the Google Chrome browser on iPads and iPhones because it works better with a wider variety of websites than Safari, but when it comes to Canvas, you will have the best experience on your iPad using the apps.

Canvas for iOS

The Canvas app for iOS allows you to view your activity stream and "to do" list; access your inbox; view the schedule, discussions, other parts of your Canvas classroom; and access grades.  The app doesn't provide the same level of access as the full version in your web browser, but it's a good tool to quickly access your course on the go.

SpeedGrader for iOS

The SpeedGrader app is a great tool for grading on the go.  It allows you to use the Canvas SpeedGrader app from your iPad and eliminates the problems you would most likely encounter when using Canvas in Safari.

If you happen to be an Android user, there is a Canvas app for Android that just came out in January.  All of these apps will make your life easier if you're trying to access Canvas while away from your computer.  Give them a try and let us know what you think.

Seeing Things from the Student's Perspective in Canvas

While working within your Canvas classroom, how many times have you asked yourself, “I wonder what this looks like to my students?”  Chances are, this question has come up at least once or twice.

Did you know that you could view your Canvas classroom exactly as your student would see it?  Or that you could even participate in your classroom as a test student?  Well, you can with “Student View”! 

The “Student View” feature in your Canvas classroom allows an instructor to see a Canvas course just as a student would see it.  This feature creates a “Test Student” in your Canvas classroom that every instructor in the course has access to.  You can use “Student View” to:

•       View the course as a student

•       Post to a Discussion as a student

•       Turn in an Assignment as a student

•       View Grades as a student

•       View People in the course as a student

•       View Pages as a student

•       View the Syllabus as a student

•       View Quizzes as a student

To access “Student View”, click on “Settings” from inside your Canvas classroom (located in the left-hand navigation menu).  Next, click on the “Student View” button in the upper-right corner of the Settings screen. 

Canvas will let you know that you are in “Student View” by way of a persistent bar on the bottom of the screen.  Note that you can reset your “Test Student” by clicking on “Reset Student” in this bar.  Resetting the test student will clear all history for the test student and allow you to view the course once more as a brand new student.  Click on “Leave Student View” when you are done using this tool.

The details for the Student View feature have been sourced from Canvas’ User Guides.  Please feel free to contact the Center for Online Learning at Bay Path College (online@baypath.edu) for any questions you may about using Canvas for your Bay Path class.

Some Ed Tech Resources

Here are some interesting and informative ed tech articles and resources I've come across recently:

List of Online Resources - The article is a list of resources that the author discusses as great tools for online learning, but many of them have excellent uses in in blended and face-to-face courses.  The list is worth scanning; you may find something new and exciting for use with your students.

Assistive Technology Resources - especially of interest to OT and special ed students and faculty, there are lots of great technology resources available to help students with disabilities.  This article gives a few highlights and some links to other resources.

Canvas MOOCs - You've probably heard of EdX, Coursera and Udacity, but have you heard of the Canvas Network?  Canvas has partnered with institutions to offer MOOCs on their platform.  Here you can see what is currently being offered as well as sign up for a free course.

Another Great Blog to Follow - If you're interested in learning more about Canvas and ed tech, I suggest you check out Instructure's Canvas blog.  With posts by Instructure's CEO, Josh Coates, and co-founder Brian Whitmer, along with other members of the Canvas team, this blog provides great information, often with a humorous spin.

MOOCs and Online Course Quality

A lot of "buzz" has been swirling around over the past year about MOOCs - Massive Open Online Courses. These courses are offered for free through various organizations - including Udacity, Coursera and EdX - in partnership with universities and professors. These courses are challenging the status quo of higher education, offering anyone the chance to learn the same material taught on campuses across the country without paying tuition (or receiving credit). Many people are questioning the value of MOOCs and the future of the phenomenon. While a lot is still unknown about the future of MOOCs, they have been receiving a great deal of attention in the press.

The most recent big story to hit the web about MOOCs came out this weekend and involved course quality.  Coursera cancelled a MOOC a week into the course because of quality issues. Ironically, the course was Fundamental of Online Education.  Rather than screening for quality before the course launched, the Internet was buzzing with all sorts of stories about problems with the course. Unhappy students from the course were tweeting about technology issues and poor course organization. Without warning, Coursera pulled the plug on the course and cancelled it without providing notice to students.  Tweets and blog entries spiked again as students complained about the course cancellation and lack of information.

So what happened?  It's still unclear - so many rumors as buzzing around that it's not easy to tell what is true. It's been said that Coursera plans to fix the issues and reopen the course, but the damage has been done.  All the chatter has impacted the reputation of the instructor, her university (Georgia Tech) and MOOCs in general. Because MOOCs reach such a large audience, even the smallest glitches and issues can reach a very large audience. Over 40,000 students were enrolled in this MOOC.  Compared to the number of students in a typical higher ed course, a large group like this can really do some serious PR damage.

So what is the lesson to be learned here?  Course quality is so important.  Quality control in course development can not be ignored.  There has been a major emphasis on quality in online education, with programs such as Quality Matters promoting quality online learning for a number of years. When educational institutions don't take the time to ensure quality in their courses and programs, it can really damage their reputation.  But more importantly, the reason that it harms institutions' reputations is because students are smart consumers who are seeking a quality learning experience.  Colleges owe it to their students to give them the best possible educational experience.  Quality is key and attention to detail is important in preparing an online course. It takes time, but satisfied students who meet the learning outcomes of the course are a reward that makes the time spent well worth it.

Thinking About Flipping Your Classroom?

One of our first blog entries last year was about flipping the classroom. This is an instructional methodology that involves providing electronic instructional materials, such as videos, for students to access outside of the classroom before class, and then class time is used for group activities, discussions, and time for students to work with the assistance of their instructor. The flip is that traditional class work becomes homework, and traditional homework is done in class. This idea is not going away... it's building a lot of momentum and gaining a great amount of attention.  He's another new article on flipping the classroom that shows how the idea is taking flight in K12 education.

Thinking about flipping your classroom? We recommend choosing a course and experimenting with a single class to see how it works for you.  The Center for Online Learning and the A/V Support Team at Bay Path have tools to help you get started.  The Tegrity lecture capture solution is a great tool to use, and it integrates smoothly with Canvas.  Contact us if you'd like information on how to get started.

Looking to learn something new?

In addition to following our blog (which we hope you're all doing now - sign up to follow by email using the tool on the right), are you looking for some great resources to keep up with the latest news in higher ed technology and online education?  Here are a couple of my recommendations:

The EDUCAUSE Review has an online edition that provides articles on many technology-related topics.  They recently shared their Top 10 of 2012.  One of these articles provides a great overview of the many different types of online educational delivery models.  There are so many rapid changes occurring in online learning - this article provides a great overview of many of the changes and new approaches.

The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is a leading organization in the world of online learning.  If you ever get a chance to attend any of their conferences, I highly recommend it.  I've attended and presented at their International Conference on Online Learning a few times (held in the fall in Orlando, FL!) and have found it very worthwhile.  Sloan's peer-reviewed publication, the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, has just become freely available online.  The JALN is another great publication to check out regularly. While you're checking out their recent articles, you may want to take a look at this article from 2012 featuring a look at Bay Path's online faculty orientation program. Sloan's Publications page also contains many other great resources, including a number of year's worth of survey reports with data on online education.

If you're looking for some face-to-face learning opportunities, there are a number of great conferences coming up in the near future (some with online attendance options if you can't travel).  Check out the following upcoming conferences:

• NERCOMP Annual Conference - the north east regional affiliate of EDUCAUSE, in Providence, Rhode Island, March 11-13
• Emmanuel College in Boston will be hosting a small, local Canvas User Group on April 4. This event is still in the planning stages, so not a lot of details are available yet
• Sloan's Emerging Technologies for Online Learning conference, Las Vegas, NV, April 9-11
• Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium's online and blended learning conference at Quinnipiac University on June 11
• InstructurCon - the official annual conference on all things Canvas, in Park City, UT, June 18-20
• Sloan's Blended Learning Conference and Workshop, Milwaukee, WI, July 8-9 

Lots of great learning opportunities - I wish I could attend them all.  If you have the chance to attend any, either face-to-face or virtually, I highly recommend it.

The fields of ed tech and online learning are constantly changing and evolving.  Keeping up with these changes is difficult. The resources above, as well as this blog, can help you stay informed.

Effective Use of Video in Online Courses

Have you ever considered using video in your online classes?  Do you use video and want to learn how to improve what you're doing?  You may want to check out this free webinar on Thursday, 1/24 at 2pm entitled, "How to Make e-Learning More Effective with Video".

Using video can really help you enhance your classes, and Canvas has some great tools for bringing video into the online classroom.  Videos can range from recordings of you speaking to screen recordings that you narrate to demonstrate how to do something, such as creating formulas in Excel.  Short videos can make it easier for students to understand what they're learning because they're seeing an actual demonstration, not just reading about the material. Using a mix of video and text-based instructional materials can really make your course even better.

Another thing you can do with video is record and share live events from your face-to-face classroom. If you're looking to record in-class events, such as guest speakers, to share with an online section of your course, or for your students to reference after the event is over, you can record the event and place a link in your Canvas class.  The College now has the Tegrity lecture capture system to help you make your own recordings - in the classroom or at your desk. Tegrity's overview page for instructors gives some good information about what the system is capable of doing.  If you're interested in learning how to use Tegrity in your class, contact Justin LeTellier, Bay Path's Manager of New Media Services. And speaking of Tegrity, the ITS department is offering workshops on Tegrity on January 30 and 31.  Check out the IT Resources tab of the My Bay Path portal for details and to sign up.

If you can't make the webinar, but are interested in learning about best practices for video in online courses, this article gives some good tips. If you're looking to use video without creating your own content, there are lots of good resources available online and through Hatch Library's subscription to Films on Demand.