Mentions in Google Docs

It is always awesome stumbling upon a feature that instantly enhances your workflow, regardless of what medium it is in. Maybe you found a new way to get that last little bit of toothpaste out of the tube or overheard someone talking about a new app that is *exactly* what you're looking for.

In this case, adding mentions in Google Docs is that awesome feature: It calls attention to the user and sends an email informing them of the comment. It is useful for shared Docs between large groups or two users. 

To create a mention, simply add a comment to a doc by clicking on the Comment icon in the Docs toolbar.

Before you add your comment, type the plus key and enter the recipients Bay Path email address. In the example below, I used +vchavis to ensure the comment mentioned Val.

An email is automatically generated from the commentator (you) to the recipient. Clicking on the top link (in this case, EXT099 Course Redesign - November 2015) will take the user directly to the comment in question.

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

Canvas Updates and Enhancements - June 27

Canvas provides us with a detailed screencast for every update, however, we have highlighted information below that we believe faculty may find most beneficial. Here's what you can expect this weekend!

*NEW* Excused Assignments

To excuse an assignment for a student, enter the value of EX in the corresponding Gradebook cell. The Gradebook will reflect that the assignment is excused for the student. Excused assignments are not included in the calculation for a student’s total grade.

Students can also be excused from a Group Assignment; the other members of the group will still be able to view and submit the assignment.

iOS Updates

A Calendar for assignments has been introduced, while both Messages and Quizzes have been updated and improved.

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 

Permalinks: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-3995 (Web), https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-3996 (iOS)

Canvas Updates - June 6

Canvas provides us with a detailed screencast for every update, however, we have highlighted the information below that we believe faculty may find most beneficial.

Differentiated Assignments by Individual:

When creating or editing an assignment, instructors can specify whether the assignment should be for everyone in the course or for individual students. Only the student(s) specified in the assignment details can view the assignment. Varied due date functionality remains available for each assignment.

• This feature will be live on July 18.
• When enabled, this feature is available for all assignments: Assignments, Quizzes, and Graded Discussions. 

Student Submission Exports:

On their User Profile page, students can download all of their assignment submissions from Canvas. Submission downloads are for both current and past courses and only include files that were submitted to fulfill an assignment; they do not include any submissions modified by instructors, such as annotated submissions.

• The download also includes submissions for group assignments, even if the submission was made by another student in the group. 
• When the export has finished generating, submissions are downloaded as a ZIP file. 

Permalink: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-3803

Have a Google Hangout Instead of a Discussion

Online faculty are using Google Hangouts to augment their discussions and students love the experience! In our MFA Program, students hangout regularly with professors to discuss weekly topics. 

Google Hangouts can be used for discussions, office hours, or meetings with small groups of students or other faculty. One of the perks of a Hangout is that it can be recorded and archived for viewing or reviewing. 

Every student and faculty member has the ability to create a Google Hangout via their University Google accounts. 

You could be using this dynamic tool in your online course! The Center for Online and Digital Learning would be happy to work with you on creating and using a Google Hangout with your students.

Contact Mary Wiseman, Online Course Builder, at 413.565.6808 or mwiseman@baypath.edu to schedule an appointment!

Creating Assignment Groups and Weighting Assignments

In this video, you'll learn how to create and weigh assignment groups within your Canvas classroom.
The creation of assignment groups will help you organize the assignments in your Canvas course.

For more information on assignment groups, check out this Canvas Guide!

If you have questions, contact Mary Wiseman, Online Course Builder at 413.565.6808.

You can also contact the Center for Online and Digital Learning at 413.565.6880 or online@baypath.edu!

Subscribe to Receive Blog Updates

Don't miss a new post! Subscribe today to receive an update each time a new blog post is published.  It is easy to subscribe! Just add your email and click the submit button.   

Then, next time we post, a brief synopsis of the blog post will be delivered to your inbox.  It is that easy!

Whose history? Your history!

myHistro is an app that gives students the ability to create interactive, embeddable timelines for use in Canvas or as projects on their own. Users can incorporate text, audio and video alongside a Google Map that can play at a designated pace or that the user can click-through on their own.

myHistro gives students the ability to demonstrate their understanding of historical events and offers an incredibly rich use case scenario for a lot of classrooms. Check out this example of a myHistro project - the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.

Happy creating!

O-E-R and Y-O-U

What is OER anyway? According to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, “OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.” ("Open Educational Resources").

Simply put, OERs could be defined as educational content created by you or your colleagues that other educators can use freely in their own courses. You can use OERs in your courses, too!

According to Inside Higher Ed, “The OER movement has sprung up in response to the rising cost of higher education, and aims to curb one of the additional fees that sometimes take students by surprise once they make it to campus -- namely textbook prices” (Straumsheim, 2014).” Indeed, as we begin to understand OER, we will be empowered to help make higher education more affordable for our students.

So, what can you do now?

There are a few simple things you can do now if you are curious about OERs:

• Learn more about OERs 
• Browse for OERs that relate to your own field on popular sites like oercommons.org, merlot.org or openstax.org
• Contact a member of the Center for Online & Digital Learning or the Hatch Library if you are interested in exploring ways to incorporate OERs into your own courses 

For now…

Check out an example of an “OER” that discusses the world's population:

Sources:

Open Educational Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education/open-educational-resources
Straumsheim, C. (2014, November 4). Open educational resources perceived as high quality, even though faculty awareness lags @insidehighered. Retrieved February 13, 2015, from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/04/open-educational-resources-perceived-high-quality-even-though-faculty-awareness-lags

Make A Tegrity Lecture Capture Video

Lecture capture is a powerful tool that allows students to view and engage with recorded lectures and demonstrations on their own schedule. It also allows faculty to provide additional instruction outside of the classroom for more in-depth topics or to support the "flipped classroom" model.

Learn how you can get started using this tool to enhance your students' learning experience. Click here to view Justin LeTellier's, demonstration of how Tegrity works. Note: this link will open in a new window and may take a moment to load.

If you have questions about getting started with Tegrity, please contact Bay Path's help desk at techsupport@baypath.edu.

Office 365 for Your iPad or Computer-it's FREE

Microsoft Office is now available as a FREE download for use on your computer and iPad.

Here's how to get Office 365:

1. Click on this link and sign in using your Bay Path email. Note: this link will open in a new window.  You'll be sent a message asking you to confirm your identity and set up an account.
2. Once you have created an account you can download the Microsoft Office 365 products (Excel, PowerPoint, Word etc.) individually onto your computer.
3. On your iPad, you can also download your favorited Microsoft 365 app from the App store.

Read about Microsoft's free Office 365 subscriptions here. 

If you would like to learn more about how to add Office365 to your teaching toolbox, contact: 

• the Center for Online and Digital Learning by emailing online@baypath.edu or calling 413.565.6880

If you have any difficulties with subscribing or downloading Office365, contact:

• the IT Department by emailing techsupport@baypath.edu or calling 413.565.1487 

Happy working!

Mobile Portal for Faculty

Our ITS department has communicated some exciting news recently about the release of our new Faculty MOBILE Portal Site! 

Faculty are now able to log in to a mobile-friendly version of the portal by navigating to my.baypath.edu/go on a smartphone or tablet. Once you go to my.baypath.edu/go, tap on the 'Mobile Faculty Portal Login' link and you will be able to log in to the mobile Faculty Portal.

On mobile portal site, faculty will be able to:

• See an overview of a term's course schedule, along with dates, locations, and times

• Get class listings for each course, along with each student's photo ID (unless they are FERPA-restricted), and email the student(s) enrolled in the course directly

• Enter grades on the portal from the mobile site

• Review advisee information, including advisor's type (for example, WELL, MAJOR, etc.) and email advisees directly

• Search room availability on each campus.

No new login is needed for the mobile portal site; use the same login as you do for the desktop portal site.  You'll still enjoy automatic login to your Bay Path Gmail and the mobile site is accessible via any device on any platform!

There is so much more to see!  Checkout the site by going to my.baypath.edu/go on a smartphone or tablet! 

Please reach out to Jill Cooney (jcooney@baypath.edu) if you have any other questions or feedback!

Paper App: Everything For Free!

Do you like to sketch, draw, or paint on iPad? Know someone else who does? If so, today is a great day for you (or them)!

Paper, a drawing app by Fifty Three (not the one by Facebook), today announced that all of their In-App Purchases are now free. The coolest feature is Mix, which allows users to create together, much like an artist and inker on a comic book.

Happy Drawing!

The Writing On The Wall

Reply All is a show about the internet. They have stories about people who buy up URLs and make payments in a very public forum, but this is not one of those stories.

The description of this show from their site: "Yik Yak is an app that allows users to communicate anonymously with anyone within a 10-mile radius. At Colgate University in upstate New York, the anonymity brought out a particularly vicious strain of racism that shook the school."

I recommend everyone take the time minutes to listen to it. Pretty powerful stuff that can start some great conversations here at BPU.

Student iPad Assistants Available, Spring 2015

Looking for some iPad assistance in your classroom this semester? Want to encourage student iPad participation or help on a big upcoming project? Student iPad Assistants are here to help!

Look no further than this post! The schedules for our SiPAs are live for students on BCAE (via the Portal) and faculty can request for in-classroom visits by emailing cgaudreau@baypath.edu.

Thanks to you, last semester saw a lot of support given. We'd love to provide even more this time around! Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns of any kind.

Digital Storytelling: Adobe Voice

During our iPad session yesterday we explored three Digital Storytelling tools: iMovie, Adobe Voice and Storehouse. There was a lot of interest in both Adobe Voice and Storehouse, and this entry is all about Adobe Voice.

Want to know more about Digital Storytelling? Let me know in the comments and I'll post as much more information as requested!

Note: This video took me less time to create than it did to upload it to YouTube, write this post and publish it.

Permalink: http://youtu.be/Vre8A9yGjw0 

Creating Digital Books

Want to create a textbook for your students? Looking for an alternative way to present information? With this week's release of the Kindle Textbook Creator as a jumping off point, here are a few links to get you started on creating books for mobile devices.


For Kindle:

https://kdp.amazon.com/edu

For iOS and Android:

http://www.redjumper.net/bookcreator/

For OS X and iOS:

http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author

Snow-Proof Your Class!

"Frozen Sunburst" by Doug Brown is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Snow days are great opportunities to catch up on reading or to work on that upper-body strength with that shovel... but "accumulating inches" no longer means that you and your students have to sacrifice teaching and learning!  Read on for ideas on how to "snow-proof" your classes!

Creating a "Snow Day Module" in your course can be done in a few steps:

1. Create a module:  The best way to organize material in your Canvas classroom is by using Modules.  You can create a module for a class session, a week, a unit, or a topic.  Read up on Creating a New Module in your own classroom!
2. Add content to the module:  An empty module is like a book with no pages!  Add items to your class module including content pages, online discussions and class assignments.
3. Let students know what to expect:  Finally, be sure you let your students know what your expectations are for the snow day.  You can do this by sending an email or a Canvas message.
   

Check out this Canvas classroom that include a sample snow day module, tips on best practices, a sample content page, assignment, discussion and quiz!  In short, this Canvas classroom has all you need to quickly snow-proof your class!

Short on time?  Download (file) and import (instructions) this module shell into your own course!  It includes a template class overview, discussion and assignment item!  

Remember that Hatch Library (Links to an external site.) allows you 24/7 access to an enormous amount of content including scholarly articles (Links to an external site.), Films on Demand (Links to an external site.), the New York Times and more and you can add directly to your Canvas classroom!

Don't forget, if you need help with any of this, teaching with your iPad, or your favorite teaching and learning with technology topic, the Center for Online and Digital Learning is only an email (online@baypath.edu) away!  Messages are monitored Monday through Friday 8:30a-9:00p and your request will be routed to the appropriate staff member who will be in touch to help!

Podcasts: A Primer

Transmitter by Dave Tappy. CC by 3.0

Podcast: a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the Internet.

In the last few years, podcasting has taken off, invigorating a new crop of storytellers and introducing (or in some cases, reintroducing) people to new and exciting content. Likely, you've heard of the term at one time or another. Apple bundled it's own Podcast app with iOS 8, causing a lot of "What?" and "Huh?" comments from lots of users.

In just three steps, I'd like to give some insight into this world of free content. And the amount of free content available is staggering.

To get started, either watch the video or read the steps below. Or both. Your call.

1. Find a good podcast player. There are a lot of podcast apps for Android, Windows Phone, and iOS. 
• I really like Overcast.
2. Using the device-specific store, look for content that appeals to you.
• Look for content collections such as Education, Public Radio, Technology or Sports to get started. Or if you're looking for something new. There is something for everyone.
• My rotation currently includes current news, long-form journalism, multiple comedy shows, true stories told live on stage, comic book history and an NPR-style public radio drama as if Twin Peaks or the X-Files were real.
3. Subscribe. Listen. Enjoy.

In the next post, I'll talk about how you and your students can create your own podcasts.

Recommended Browser Extensions & Add-Ons

Browser Extensions are the best. Anything that cuts a workflow in half or removes distractions, I'm 100% for it. Here are some of my favorites:

AdBlock: Safari/Chrome
1Password: Safari/Chrome
Evernote Web Clipper: Safari/Chrome
Facebook Blocker: Safari
Facebook Disconnect: Safari/Chrome
Disconnect: Chrome
Clearly: Chrome
Save to Drive: Chrome
Awesome Screenshot: Safari/Chrome
Turn off the Lights: Safari

There are lots more for Safari here and Chrome here. You can find information for Firefox here and Internet Explorer here.

If you use any Extensions or Add-Ons daily, leave a comment and let us know all about it!

Portable Scanning Solutions.

With the recent release of Scannable on the iOS App Store, I thought it might be a good opportunity to curate a few links that can do scanning on the fly.







Scannable: Available for iOS





CamScanner: Available for iOS and Android







Genius Scan: Available for iOS & Android



Of course, none of them replace a flatbed scanner. However, they all work really well as portable scanning is becoming increasingly more productive and useful. Give them a shot, and if you use another one please let us know in the comments!