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Canvas Deploy Notes: January 17th
Instructure releases a product update - called a Sprint - every three weeks. The link above will direct you to the latest detailed release notes. Included in the January 17th Sprint:
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Time-saving Tips/Tricks: Canvas Introductory
Tip 1: Starter Course. Did you know that ITAS provides students with a starter course? It's called Passport and all students are preloaded. If a student is struggling with a certain Canvas feature we encourage you to direct him/her to the Passport course which appears on their Dashboard. Students can even earn a digital badge for completing the course - which takes about 30 minutes or less. Note: Faculty are not pre-loaded into Passport, but we can add you upon request.
Tip 2: Move Modules. When you add a new Module to Canvas, it automatically appears on the bottom of the page. You can reorder Modules by dragging them using the handles to the left of the module name, or by clicking the kabob on the right and choosing "Move to..." The "Move to..." may be easier and faster than dragging a module vertically up a page. More information on moving a Module.
Tip 3: To Do. A super handy tip is the Canvas To Do. At the bottom of every content page is a Add to Student To Do checkbox. Checking this will spawn a calendar where the instructor can add a To Do event. When students log into Canvas they will see a "To Do..." list on the right hand side of the page with links to upcoming course activities. This is a handy way for students to keep track of their current course activities. More information on using the To Do list as a student.
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Time-saving Tips/Tricks: Canvas Intermediate
Tip 1: Message Students Who... Canvas has a slick feature that allows teachers to message students from
within the grade book. Locate the drop-down menu that says “message
students who…” and choose from options like “haven’t submitted yet.”
This is an easy way to send quick emails to groups of students who may
need a reminder about due dates. You can also use this tool to message students who are falling below your evaluation benchmarks. More information on using Message Students Who...
Tip 2:
Page Rollback. The page rollbacks feature is useful if you want to see what a given
page on your Canvas course looked like a week or a month ago. To do
this, click on the gear at the top right of your page and to “view page
history.” This will open a collapsed menu called “revision history” that
allows you to see all the edits you have made to a given page since its
birth. If you find a retired page you like better than your current
one, you can select “restore this revision” and the old will become new
again. More information on using Page Rollback.
Tip 3: Grade History: If you would like to see any grade changes over time, refer to Grade History which is a read-only log that allows you to see who graded each artifact. Click the Gradebook drop-down menu > Grade History. More information on using Grade History.
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Time-saving Tips/Tricks: Canvas Advanced
Tip 1: Mastery Paths. Mastery Paths allows you to customize learning experiences for students
based on performance. You can enable Mastery Paths to automatically
assign coursework based on the score achieved for a previous assignment.
This provides multiple opportunities to show and achieve mastery in a
course. More information on using Mastery Paths
Tip 2: Quiz Statistics. The quiz statistics page shows the average score, the high score, the low score, the standard deviation, and the average time it took students to take it. You can also view a question-by-question break down. More information on Quiz Statistics
Tip 3: Moderate Quiz. Do you have a student who needs extra time taking a quiz? Or perhaps you want to see where they are in the quiz-taking process. Moderate Quiz is the feature you will want to use in those types of instances. More information on using Moderate Quiz.
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ITAS enabled a feature called New Quizzes on Wednesday, January 31st. This is a significantly enhanced version of the existing quiz engine called Classic Quizzes. We chose to voluntarily enable this quiz tool at this time because it includes various features such as Bowtie questions (used in NCLEX nursing examinations) and advanced essay question development. Faculty using Canvas will see an option to create quizzes in either Classic or New Quizzes. Our instructional designers will be forwarding training opportunities and information regarding New Quizzes, and will provide on-demand assistance at any of our Pop-Up Canvas Clinics across the campuses. If you would like to self-navigate through a brief tutorial regarding New Quizzes, we recommend you log into the Canvas Training Portal (use wsutech.instructure.com to locate our school) and search for New Quizzes. You can self-enroll into the free course and step through a brief overview of how this quiz/test tool works. New Quizzes will be optional in the spring and summer, but enabled permanently in the fall.
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Grades will be entered a little differently if you are using Canvas this semester. Because we are in transition between learning management systems, we will be utilizing a feature called Faculty Grade Entry for Canvas courses only. (Spring Blackboard courses will continue to use the existing process.) This allows faculty to enter grades directly into Banner - which provides several affordances, including immediate grade entry and verification that the grades were entered correctly.
This short video explains the Faculty Grade Entry process for Canvas.
We have also created a job aid that you can print for easy reference.
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This
month we would like to spottlight Brandie Thompson from Interior Design
who was among the first group of faculty to transition to Canvas.
One of the Canvas features Brandie uses in her courses is the Lock Module Until. This allows her to conditionally release module content on select dates or with using select course criteria, such as prerequisites or conditional requirements.
Brandie also uses creative, fun graphic headers and emojis to introduce each of her modules. Each of these is tailored to the course topic.
