Author: isucelt

Release and Deploy Updates – November 2021 (Canvas)

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This update will contain all Canvas release and deploy notes for November 2021.

Completed Changes

The November 10, 2021 Canvas update included interface updates and changes to the outcomes page. Specifically,

  • Interface updates: For courses with profiles enabled, clicking the profile picture will no longer automatically flag it as inappropriate content.
  • Outcomes: Outcomes can now be added directly to a group.

Upcoming Changes

The November 20, 2021 Canvas release contains information pertaining to Assignments, Dashboard, Settings, and SpeedGrader. Specifically, the following are included in the 11/20 release:

  • Assignments – Submission Feedback Indicator: Students can now see an indicator on the Submission Details page when new comments have been added.
  • Settings – Settings Tabs: Easily navigate between the different tabs with direct links or return to the previously visited tab with the back button.
  • SpeedGrader – Assignment Text Entry Word Count: Instructors can now view the word count of a student’s text-entry submission within the SpeedGrader.

The November 24, 2021 Canvas deploy was postponed to December 1, 2021. More information about this deploy and its contents will be in the December Canvas summary.

Winter Course Design Institute 2022 (Teaching Tip)

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Four people using laptops

Registration is open for the 2022 Winter Course Design Institute (CDI). The CDI is open to 40 faculty or staff with teaching responsibilities. All disciplines are encouraged to participate.

The CDI provides a space for faculty to build community, review effective assessment, active learning techniques, and overall course design. Attendees will have the opportunity to design or substantially revise their online or hybrid courses. The presenters for the 90-minute sessions 2022 CDI are Drs. Lesya Hassall (CELT), TJ Stewart (School of Education), Cristina Bonaccorsi (Department of Chemistry), and Monica Lamm (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering). Topics include course design elements, building community, effective assessment, and active learning techniques.

This year, the CDI will be offered January 4-7. Each day will feature a 90-minute session discussing different components of online or hybrid learning environments. The sessions will take place from 9-10:30 a.m. each of those days and will conclude with an optional 30-minute guided discussion and individual, scheduled consultations.

Registration will be accepted until November 30 through this Qualtrics survey. Those who fully engage in the four-day CDI and complete a self-evaluation of your course (materials provided by CELT), will receive a $500 professional development stipend from the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost.

Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Resources for Success (November 11, 2021 – Constant Contact) page.

Prefer a Print Version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for November 11, 2021 (PDF).

2022 Iowa OER Virtual Summit

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Proposals are now being accepted for the 2022 Open Educational Resources (OER) Virtual Summit. Submit today for one of the four types of concurrent presentations: Lightning talks, panels, Birds-of-a-Feather session, or Sage-on-stage session. All presentation times are 45 minutes.

They are specifically looking for proposals that cover copyright, evaluation of OER, student involvement with OER creation, and others.

This virtual summit is free and registration is open to all who are interested in OER.

You can register online, view the agenda, and more through the OER Virtual Summit website.

It’s OK to Not Be OK

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Last week, all faculty and academic advisors received a message about the complexity and intensity of student mental health needs. The following message was shared with students and includes a link to resources. Please consider sharing this information with your students.

Feeling stressed, overwhelmed or anxious? With the pandemic, midterms, and everyday life stressors, your feelings are valid and it’s OK to feel this way. There are campus resources available for mental health, wellbeing, and academic support. You can find more information about services and resources here.

Studying Smarter: An Introduction to the Study Cycle (Teaching Tip)

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Students studying in the windows at the library.
Do your students wait until the last minute to study for exams? Do they spend lots of time studying, but end up with less than promising results? Join the Academic Success Center’s (ASC Leif Olson and CELT’s Monica Lamm) for an 80-minute session on “The Study Cycle,” a guide to helping students build effective studying into their everyday lives. Participants will have time to incorporate components of the study cycle into their courses as well as identify ASC resources page.
 
This workshop is open to all instructors and teaching assistants.

With a joy for teaching,

Sara Marcketti

Director, CELT

Full Teaching Tip

View the published CELT Teaching Tip: Resources for Success (September 16, 2021 – Constant Contact) page.

Prefer a Print Version?

To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for September 16, 2021 (PDF).

Release: Maintenance windows and deprecated features – Canvas (July 17, 2021)

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The July 17, 2021 Canvas Release contains information pertaining to the following: 

  • Maintenance windows begin. Starting July 15, regular maintenance windows will be implemented between the hours of 12:05 am and 4:05 am local time on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month. 
  • Deprecated features will be removed. The Classic Rich Content Editor (disabled at ISU in Dec. 2020) and SMS notifications (disabled at ISU in May 2020) will be completely removed from Canvas. 

The following feature will be enabled during our Fall 2021 technology updates, scheduled for August 16, 2021. 

  • SCORM Launch Links: Additional security measures will be added to ensure only users enrolled in the course where the SCORM content was uploaded will be given access. 

Additional features included in this update but not currently applicable to the ISU environment include: 

  • New Quizzes and Modules: New Quizzes display within the module for students. 
  • Microsoft Teams Sync: Pending approval of ISU’s request to participate in the beta implementation, course rosters can be synced from the Canvas course People page to Microsoft Teams. 

The LMS Enterprise Team will continue to review these Canvas features as they develop. 

Deploy: Terminology, assignments, faculty journal messages, offline exports, and accessibility – Canvas (July 21, 2021)

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The July 21, 2021 Canvas Deploy addresses the following updates and bug fixes: 

  • Feature Option Terminology: The term Feature Option has been renamed to Feature Preview. 
  • Assignments: Students cannot view assignment descriptions for locked assignments; submission types can be changed in an assignment once students’ submissions have been received; Canvas code has been updated to disable notifications for annotations created during a student annotation submission; final grades for moderated assignments can only be released by active graders. 
  • Faculty Journal Messages: Faculty journal entries are only created if the Added as a Faculty Journal checkbox is selected as part of a message. 
  • Offline Export and Hidden Files: Offline exports download media files embedded in pages when the Files tab is hidden for the course. 
  • Accessibility: Account Settings elements include form labels for screen readers and checkboxes include the standard 2px blue outline when focused; in the Dashboard List View, the Notification window retains focus on the New and Dismiss tabs and does not affect the Close icon; when no conversations are selected in the Inbox, the No Conversations Selected text displays an appropriate color contrast; within the rich content editor, the img tag includes standardized role and alt attributes for screen readers. 

Visit the July 21, 2021 Canvas Deploy Notes website for a full description of changes. 

Deploy: Gradebook CSV columns, assignment buttons and notifications, rich content editor, and accessibility – Canvas (July 7, 2021)

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The July 7, 2021 Canvas Deploy addresses the following updates and bug fixes: 

  • Gradebook CSV Column Order: Gradebook CSV assignment columns display in the same order as shown in the Gradebook for an individual user. 
  • Empty Assignment Descriptions: When creating an assignment, the default text has been updated for description content that is blank. 
  • Rich Content Editor: Support for several HTML tags and attributes has been added; the Upload Media window allows the name of the file to be changed before the file is added. 
  • Student Annotation Assignments: Canvas code has been updated to disable notifications for annotations created during a student annotation submission to prevent multiple notifications per submission; the Reassign Assignment button is now supported for instructors. 
  • Mark as Done Button for Pages: The Mark as Done button for students has been moved to the bottom. 
  • Accessibility: The focus indication ring is visible for keyboard users throughout the Files page; within Speedgrader, “The Following Questions need Review” section can be read by screen readers; the General and Advanced tabs of the Table Properties window display an appropriate color contrast within the Rich Content Editor. 

Visit the July 7, 2021 Canvas Deploy Notes website for a full description of changes. 

Canvas Deploy: Image Options, Anonymous Peer Reviews, Mastery Path Pages, Accessibility changes (June 23, 2021)

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The June 23, 2021 Canvas Deploy addresses the following updates and bug fixes: 

  • Image Options: An image URL can now be updated without having to remove and replace the image 
  • SMS Notifications: The SMS column has been removed from the Notifications page. 
  • Student Annotation Anonymous Peer Review Support: Anonymous peer reviews are supported in student annotation assignments. 
  • Speedgrader and Assignment Submissions: LTI assignment grades for students in active sections but concluded course dates now properly pass back to SpeedGrader. 
  • Assignments Index Page and Mastery Path Pages: Pages allowed in a mastery path no longer display in the Assignments Index Page. 
  • Pretty HTML Editor: Placement of a user’s cursor does not affect the page formatting. 
  • Accessibility: The horizontal separator in the Collaborations Options menu is not treated as a stop for keyboard users; the No Conversations Selected text displays a minimum color contrast of 3:1; the Course Name has been added to the course total and assignment group totals for screen readers; the CSV download button on User Page Views includes more informative context for screen readers; the For All Devices link has been removed from the Ways to Contact page. 

 Visit the June 23, 2021 Canvas Deploy Notes website for a full description of changes. 

Canvas Studio Webinar: 5 Steps to Increase Student Engagement

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When: June 24th – 11:00 a.m.

Join an expert panel of education leaders as they explore how to:

  • Create, deliver, and organize video content from multiple devices and sources
  • Embed quizzes directly into a video clip to gauge student understanding
  • Differentiate and assign videos to students to personalize learning
  • Facilitate discussions and feedback loops with videos for optimal engagement
  • Evaluate how students are engaging with video content …and more!
Register to attend
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