New & Updated Canvas Features: December 2014/January 2015

Canvas is releasing some new and updated features next week, and we'd like to give you a high-level overview of some of the major enhancements. Following the overview, please watch the New Feature Screencast from Instructure for more information..

• Differentiated Assignments 
• "In Assignments, instructors have the flexibility to differentiate assignments between sections and select which sections are required to complete specific tasks."
• Files Redesign
• "When users filter Conversations by Submission Comments, the name of the course assignment links to the assignment. This link helps users directly access the assignment submission and view any associated attachments that may be part of the submission comment."
• Assignments in Conversations
• "Files has been redesigned for a more improved user experience. The new files redesign allows users to view more details about their files, manage editing permissions, and preview files. In addition, Files is fully accessible for all keyboard users and screen readers."

These updates will roll out on December 20, 2014 and you can click here for more detailed information on all the new and updated features.

Stick Around. For Free.

I stumbled across a free iOS app that I'd like to share with everyone: Stick Around.

"Unlike most learning game apps, Stick Around is open-ended; it isn't limited to the content it comes with. Stick Around is all about empowering teachers and students to make puzzles with their own information, images, and drawings. Stick Around can be used over and over again for just about any topic or grade level. "
(http://learninginhand.com/blog/2014/12/14/make-learning-stick-around-infographic)

It looks like an app that has way more potential that a cursory view gives away - Download it now and give it a try. It appears to be deeply integrated with Explain Everything, so depending on the use of that in your course, some really neat stuff could be created!

Note: It is only available for free December 15 and 16.

My Maps: New in Google Drive

Google has just launched My Maps, a new way to connect content to the visual medium of Maps.

There are lots of possibilities (I already have one brewing...) as you can label areas and create your own directions for field trips, away games and lots more. Check out the launch page for some tips on how to get started!

If your Drive has not been updated, you can access the site here. Happy Mapping!

Autodesk Software for Students and Educators. For Free.

The Twitter headline is "Any student. Any teacher. Any institution. ANYWHERE," and they aren't kidding! Autodesk, makers of 3D design and imaging applications, announced that all of their software is free for students and faculty, available here. The list is exhaustive, but note that SketchBook Express for iPad is there.

Go get 'em!!

Permalink: http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/all

Coding. It's a Big Deal.

Code by Eugen Belyakoff (CC by 3.0)


Coding. It's kind of a big deal.

There are a lot of free, web-based tools to help students of all ages learn how to code. These sites will help them learn how to make their own smart phone app, control the lights on Christmas Trees at the White House or create their own beats.

You never know when you'll help a student unlock their potential!

Code.org
Madewithcode.com
Scratch
Scratch, Jr.

Workflow: Final Paper and Presentation

Writing a final paper for my graduate course this semester, I thought it might be nice to share some insight into the technology used and the workflow used to complete the assignment. As always - questions and comments are encouraged!

The Technology

• 13" MacBook Pro (running OS X 10.10)
• iPad Mini (running iOS 8)
• iPhone 6 (running iOS 8)
• Hearthstone (just one...more...game. Then I'll get back checking that APA format...)
• Breville One-Touch Tea Maker (one cannot study without a nice warm cup of tea)

App	Use	Platform
Evernote	Notes, Reminders	OS X, iOS, Web
Skitch	PDF Markup	OS X, iOS
Pages	Writing the Paper	OS X, iOS, Web
Numbers	Tracking Mentions within PDFs	OS X, iOS
Keynote	Presentation	OS X, iOS
RefMe	Bibliography	iOS, Web

Reference Sites Utilized:

• Purdue OWL (APA formatting)
• ERIC (Article Research)
• Google Scholar (Article Research)

Check List by Sabine Wollender from the Noun Project

The Workflow

1. Choose topic and review with faculty member.
2. Create notes in Evernote that chart Final Paper/Presentation progress
3. Research topic via ERIC and Google Scholar
4. Save URLs into Evernote
5. Create a spreadsheet charting key words and terms within the research papers in Numbers
6. Open URLs and save PDF articles into Evernote
7. Markup PDFs via Evernote and Skitch for iPad
8. Write research paper in Pages
9. Check against Purdue OWL APA formatting standards
10. Use the abstract of the paper to outline a 15m presentation in Keynote

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Center for Online & Digital Learning wishes everyone a very excellent Thanksgiving. Stay safe, stay warm, and enjoy the time with friends and family.

See you in December!

Things for iOS. For Free.

The current App of the Week on iOS has long been a favorite of mine and is a constant in my workflow:

Things is a "delightful and easy to use task manager" - and one that I use every single day. I highly recommend checking it out!

The Mac App is 30% off, if you're looking for something that syncs across your Apple devices.

Universally Accepted File Formats

As a platform agnostic community, we deal with lots of data coming in from a multitude of sources. And, as it turns out, not all of those sources play nicely together.

I thought it would be best to create a list of universally accepted file formats and compare them to those that are platform specific. This can aid in your assignment requirements via Canvas or even when using via AirPlay in an on-ground classroom.

You can view the list here, and I encourage any questions or comments that you may have!

Permalink: https://docs.google.com/a/baypath.edu/spreadsheets/d/1zD03vNzcmxUg0P8X3ZrU7DwViqMljczjaciSDzc-o3Q/edit?usp=sharing

Icons by Garrett Knoll from The Noun Project

App Discovery: Katie Jones

Title: Director of H&W

About Me: My name is Katie Jones and I am the Director of Health and Wellness, Head Field Hockey Coach and teach in the WELL program.  In summary, I get to help support students in their development in and out of the classroom.  I am a secret absolute geek and love technology and apps and enjoy staying up-to-date with the latest tech news. 

App 1: Evernote combines lots of different meetings notes in one place.

App 2: Poll Everywhere - such an amazing way to engage my class, especially the more introverted students.

App 3: Lift - great wellness goal tracking and quick and easy reminders built in.

App Discovery: Adrian Garcia Sega

Title: Co-director

App 1: Notability  I import all pdfs and associated documents for meetings and projects and keep it backed up through google drive!  It allows me to mark up those documents and make my own notes.

App 2: Google Drive/Dropbox Google Drive/Dropbox.  A nice repository for all my documents that allows me to move them around from one device to the other!

The New York Times. For Free.

How great would it be if you could access the New York Times for free? Thanks to the awesome Hatch Library staff, you can! (Note: This is for current faculty, staff and students only!)

Please visit the Reference Guides site for all the information you need to get started!

Office. For iPad. For Free.

Microsoft has just released Office for free on the iPad, and the Center for Online & Digital Learning and Student iPad Assistants are here to help.

But wait? Wasn't Office free before? It was. The new version allows users to create and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. The files can then be stored on the iPad, One Drive or Dropbox. Click here for more information!

There are, as with everything free, a few caveats. Please read this page for what you can and can't do with the free version. For instance, users cannot Track Changes or use Landscape mode without upgrading to Office 365.

If you have questions regarding Office on your iPad or iPhone, please contact the Student iPad Assistants for help!

Android Users: Sign up for the preview version now.


Permalink:
http://products.office.com/en-us/mobile/?WT.mc_id=OAN_en-us_bnr_MSCOM-Prog-iPad
http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/products/office-resources-FX102896045.aspx#Resource6

Text Shortcuts

Typing the same thing time and time again can be a bit much. What if there were a way to create shortcuts for your most commonly used phrases?

Text shortcuts in iOS a great time saver. Check out the video below for more information!

There are also third-party apps like TextExpander touch which offer a little more functionality and the newly added Keyboard Extension in iOS 8.

Got any favorite extensions? Let us know!

Getting the Most of Your Battery: A Primer

Becoming an increasingly mobile campus, which ranges from iPads in the classroom to BYOD, ensuring that batteries last as long as they can is of the utmost importance. For all of the things that our mobile devices can do, I wanted to send out a few links to help you better understand the batteries inside of them.

The majority of perceived issues regarding 'poor' battery life that I experienced while at Apple were, more often than not, educational opportunities: Understanding how the battery works is just as important as what the device can do.

For your consideration, here are links to battery management on iOS, OS X, Android and Windows.

Maximizing Performance on Apple Devices

SnapDragon Battery Guru (for Android phones, courtesy of Bryan C.)

Maximizing Performance on Windows Computers


If you have any questions, do not hesitate to let me know!


Image Credit: Battery by Rediffusion from The Noun

App Discovery: Rachel Alter

Title: Librarian

About Me: Reference and Instruction Services 

App 1: Doc Scan has been a great help to students here in the library when the printer/scanner is down. It scans to PDFs, doing the same thing the big scanner does, and eliminating the step of emailing the scan to yourself.

App 2: Overdrive, which can be used with an eCard at the Boston Public Library, for downloading audiobook titles from their huge collection, and then listening to them on your commute.

App Discovery: Bryan Corbiere

Title: Tech Support

About Me: Your friendly local IT Giant! Proud Android user, always happy to answer questions about any tech.

App 1: AlarmDroid for Android A free and powerful alarm tool with tons of options including obstacles to solve before the alarm stops!

App 2: Google Play Rewards Free, Android. Free Google Play rewards money! 

FREE MONEY!

FREE!

MONEY!

App 3: Snapdragon BatteryGuru Control what applications sync on your phone and how often. Can increase the battery life on your device significantly (up to 30% in some instances)!

Honorable Mention: The redesigned Weather Channel app, clean and beautiful new UI gets the most important information to you right away.

App Discovery: Michael Roberts

Title: Online Course Builder

About Me: Audiobooks. Ebooks. Immediately.

App 1: Overdrive - I listen to books. A lot. 

App Discovery: Dave Wallace

Title: Associate Professor of Psychology

App 1: Notabilty - I was very fortunate to pick this up when it came out; it is an outstanding note taking app that is still my go-to one for taking notes at meetings, lectures, conferences, etc. Directories, Solid organization (where can move files into your own named directories etc), and Exporting features. Most of all - their CS is without peer. When I once had a problem after upgrading my iOS, they responded within hours When that fix didn't work someone else got back to me 5 hours later with a fix.

App 2: Toodledo - A great task manager. Less detailed than some of the more formal GTD apps, (it is streamlined), but it still allows for Outlines, Notes, Dates and Times due, Alarms, Repeating a task, Searchers. etc.

*tie*

mSecure - a fantastic encryption app. It can transfer to Mac, PC, and mobile formats. You can wifi to update each one (so you can enter passwords etc in one, and they pop up in the other), and you can save your info in an encrypted form as a backup.

App 3: Weblock - a great way to reduce the number of ads, scripts etc that we pick up along the way. It creates and manages your PAC (proxy auto configuration), and uses a dummy proxy to allow you to not get many of those ads and other things that pop up.

*tie*

Plants vs Zombies/Bloons 5! Everyone needs a fun game now and then to unwind -- and these are pretty fun ones regardless of one's background, interests, and abilities.

App Discovery

Bay Path University Community,

There has been a lot of interest expressed that there be suggested apps, along with tips and tricks, posted more regularly to the Center for Online & Digital Learning's blog.

However, we want to engage more with you: We are seeking faculty and staff that want to share their favorite apps and why they can't live without them. Think of them as Indispensable Apps.

Be on the lookout soon for an email containing all the information that you'll need to be a member of this awesome group.

Thank you in advance!!


Chris Gaudreau
cgaudreau@baypath.edu
Learning Technologist
Center for Online & Digital Learning

Hangout with us.

Oh, hello everyone.

There has been a lot of faculty interest around the use of Google Hangouts. It is a robust tool that everyone at BPU has access to, though one that doesn't see a lot of use. To help curb that notion, we have created a resource guide

Things that the Center for Online & Digital Learning has been asked about how to:

• Collaborate on Documents
• Record and Archive a Meeting with Students
• Add an archived Hangout to your classroom

To best facilitate your learning, view the workflow here. We'll see you in a Hangout soon!

Getting Organized!

Links to help you Get Organized!

Evernote - https://evernote.com
Evernote Introduction - https://evernote.com/introduction
Evernote Apps - https://appcenter.evernote.com/
Evernote Family of Products - https://evernote.com/products/

As we discussed, some things you can put into your One Workspace:

• Recording of a student advising or tutoring session
• Clippings from your Gmail conversations
• Marked up PDFs via Skitch
• Syllabi
• Classroom Prep with all your material and a reminder in the same note
• Flash Cards and Citation assistance via Study Blue and RefMe
• Sunrise Calendar offers Google Calendar and Evernote integration

Need help finding the 'right' app for you?

iOS App Store: Productivity - https://itunes.apple.com/us/genre/ios-productivity/id6007?mt=8
Google Play: Productivity - https://play.google.com/store/apps/category/PRODUCTIVITY
Windows Phone: Tools and Productivity - http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/top-free-apps/tools-productivity/toolsandproductivity
Mac App Store: Choose Productivity from the right-hand drop Category drop down. There is also a Get Stuff Done category currently live.

Hey, Siri!

Did you know that if you say "Hey, Siri" while a device running iOS 8 is plugged in, the virtual assistant will automatically start listening and respond. Try it out! If you're looking for more information about Siri and what she can do, click here.

Also, I found a great iPhone User Guide For iOS 8 for free on iBooks. Apple has always done a great job with customer-facing documentation, and this is no exception.



Chris Gaudreau
Learning Technologist, Center for Online & Digital Learning
cgaudreau@baypath.edu

No More Assignments?!

Right on schedule, Canvas is updating some settings for mid-September. Some highlights:


The Assignments link

In preparation for future design enhancements, the Assignment link no longer appears in the upper/top Global Navigation menu. This does not impact student use, as Assignments will still be available from the left-hand navigation menu.

Conferencing

There have been enhancements to the use of audio within the conferencing platform. Users of Firefox and Chrome browsers will see these enhancements, while users of Safari and Internet Explorer browsers will not. There are also some increased moderation controls for faculty.

Functionality has also been improved for recording conferences - view the Release Notes for more information. 

Gradebook

Now users can see regraded events. Specifically, how many changes were made.

Notifications

A history of announcements and notifications for replies. Also - time stamps in messages!

The details for these features have been sourced from Canvas Release Notes for September. If you have any specific question we would be happy to speak with you directly,  please call 413-565-6880 or email us at online@baypath.edu.

Contemplating iOS 8? Read This Message!

Good Afternoon!

Maybe you’ve seen the notifications on your iPhone or iPad. Maybe you’ve heard about the pros (and cons) about it on the Internet. Just maybe, you’ve gone ahead and done it.

Last week, Apple released iOS 8.  They are touting it as the biggest iOS release ever. Apple has said, "Not since the addition of the App Store has an iOS made such an impact..." and they aren’t kidding!

The Center for Online & Digital Learning will be hosting two on-site information sessions, October 1 and 2, from 8:30a-10:30a in the Center for Teaching & Learning, led by our Learning Technologist Chris Gaudreau. 

Coffee will be provided and space is limited.  Please sign up to discuss the newest changes to your iOS.

We hope to see you there!

Looking for coffee and educational technology conversation but not about iOS 8? Use the form to suggest a topic you’d like to see in the future or contact Chris directly.  As always, don't hesitate to reach out to the Center for Online & Digital Learning if you have any questions.

Direct Link to Sign Up Form:  https://docs.google.com/a/baypath.edu/forms/d/1f1T6Pg-e8_H-KI1QgWx3gIWhtAaHZc_Nj5ANilBgU8M/viewform

4 Gradebook Tips and Tricks - to Make Grading Easier

Inevitably grading has to be done.  To make the process easier, try following these tips.

1.  Viewing Filtered Student Names

You can filter the gradebook by typing a name into the text field at the top of the gradebook. Once you type the student's name or secondary ID in the text field, the student's grades will be shown.

Read detailed instructions here.

2.  Mute Assignments

To hide student grades temporarily, you can choose to mark an assignment as "muted". A muted assignment will not send out grade change notifications or any new instructor comments until the assignment is unmuted. A muted assignment displays a "mute" icon on the student grades page so students know the assignment is muted.

Be sure to UnMute the Assignment, after you have completed your grading.

Get all the detailed instructions here.

3.  Move your Gradebook Total Column

If you haven’t already, you might want to move your Gradebook Total.

It just takes a couple of clicks. 

Watch and learn here.

4.  Download Scores from GradeBook

If you need to download your gradebook scores, Canvas does allow you to download a csv file-which can be viewed in Excel or Google Spreadsheet.  A couple of notes: you will probably have to ‘slightly tweak’ your downloaded spreadsheet and if a student has submitted an assignment multiple times, the CSV file only accounts for the most recent submission.

Read detailed instructions here.

The details for these features have been sourced from Canvas’ User Guides and Product Release Notes. If you have any specific question we would be happy to speak with you directly,
please call 413-565-6880 or email us at online@baypath.edu.