Category: Instructional Tools News & Updates

Top Hat: Lifetime access to textbook copies

Posted on

Students are now provided with lifetime access to a read-only copy of any textbook they purchase through Top Hat. With this feature, students have continued access to the textbooks they have purchased even after their course has ended. All questions embedded throughout lifetime access copies of textbooks are locked and all assessment material (such as quizzes and test banks) are removed. To learn more about student lifetime textbook access, refer to the Accessing your textbook after a course has ended support article.

Canvas: Terms of Use FAQ

Posted on

Does the company that owns Canvas, Instructure, obtain any intellectual property ownership rights of the content I upload to Canvas?

No. You retain full ownership of all of your intellectual property uploaded to the site.

There is a paragraph in the Canvas Terms of Use that tells me I am giving Instructure the right to, among other things, modify, adapt and publicly display my content. Although I retain full ownership, am I giving Instructure the right to use my content in any manner they see fit to support their business objectives?

No.  This phrase is granting Instructure the right to maintain the content you post on your course site and make your content available to Iowa State University students.

Does ISU own my course materials developed in Canvas?

ISU Policy statement about educational materials provides information about educational materials and intellectual property.

Do I have to use Canvas?

No, however, it is recommended. Consistent use of Canvas improves the overall experience for students as they have one place to access course materials and their grades.

What is the ISU Course Template?

The ISU Course Template contains all essential components for a high-quality online course.

Do I have to use the ISU Course Template?

No, but it is recommended. Consistent use of this template across campus will improve the overall experience for students and ensure that best practices for online teaching are implemented in all of our courses.

Do I have to share my course syllabus?

Yes, it is the expectation that you share your course syllabus with your department and/or college. Contact your department chair for specific information.

 

Course conclusion in Canvas

Posted on

Table of Contents

Courses in Canvas are sorted and managed by the terms’ pre-determined duration of times and dates; thus, Canvas is designed to conclude courses following the end of the academic term. 

What happens when a course is concluded? The behaviors listed below occur when an instructor uses the default settings in Canvas.

 
  • Concluded courses are removed from the Dashboard, Calendar, Courses menu, and Inbox for all users, making it easier to find current courses.
  • Courses remain accessible through the All Courses link in the Course menu.
  • Student access becomes read-only in order to safeguard against accidental content changes. For instance, if assignments are left open (no defined availability) in an unconcluded course, students could potentially continue to submit to assignments, view previous quizzes or post to discussion threads.
  • Instructors maintain read-only access such that they are able to copy content from a concluded course to a future semester’s course but are safeguarded against accidental content changes such as deleting an assignment or resetting the entire course.
  • Fewer active courses results in an overall faster loading speed, greater accessibility of current courses, and a reduction in course naming conflicts, such as when courses are named the same from semester to semester. 

Prevent a course from concluding

To prevent a course from concluding, follow these steps prior to the end of the semester:

  1. Navigate to ISU AdminTools via the course menu.
  2. Choose ‘View Additional Course Settings.’ 
  3. It is essential to click the ‘Course concludes after the semester ends’ toggle to ‘NO.’

This will result in your students maintaining read-only access at the end of the semester. See below for additional access options.

Give students read-only access until a course is concluded

To change student access to read-only after final grades are calculated but before the course would typically conclude, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Settings on the course menu.
  2. Enter the end date of the students’ full access — the date they should be changed to read-only access.
  3. Check the box that ‘Students can only participate in the course between these dates’.
  4. Click Save.

Prevent student access entirely from a concluded course

To prevent student access entirely from a concluded course, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Settings on the course menu.
  2. Enter an end date shortly after the semester ends.
  3. Check the boxes for ‘Students can only participate in the course between these dates’ and ‘Restrict students from viewing this course after end date.’
  4. Click Save.
If the course has already been concluded, a Teacher or Co-Teacher in the course must reactivate themselves to make this change. See the steps below to reactivate a user.

When specifying an end date to remove student access, be sure students are able to see their grades in AccessPlus before losing access to their work in Canvas.

Allow students to interact with a course beyond the semester

To allow students to interact with a course beyond the semester, follow these steps prior to the end of the semester:

  1. Go to Settings on the course menu. 
  2. Enter an end date significantly in the future.
  3. Check the boxes for ‘Students can only participate in the course between these dates’ and ‘Restrict students from viewing this course after end date.’
  4. Click Save.
  5. Prevent the course from concluding according to the steps above.

Note: If the course has already concluded, reactivate all users according to the steps below.

Reactivate a user (or yourself) within a concluded course

To reactivate a user (or yourself) within a concluded course, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to ISU AdminTools via the course menu.
  2. Choose ‘Manage Additional People.’ 
  3. Add the netID(s) to the appropriate section.
  4. Limit the user’s access to the course. Inside Canvas, go to Settings on the course menu. 
  5. Enter an end date in the future.
  6. Check one or more of these boxes:
    1. ‘Students can only participate in the course between these dates’ to give the user full access until the end date and viewing access after that date.
    2. ‘Restrict students from viewing this course after the end date’ to completely remove the user’s access after the end date.
  7. Click Save.

Note: Teachers and Co-Teachers will always have viewing access to a course but must reactivate themselves before they are able to change the course settings. 

Reactivate all users or un-conclude a course

To reactivate all users within a concluded course or to un-conclude a course, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to ISU AdminTools via the course menu.
  2. Choose ‘Additional Course Settings.’ 
  3. Switch the Concluded toggle to ‘NO.’ You may need to click it twice.
  4. Inside Canvas, go to Settings on the course menu. 
  5. Enter an end date in the future.
  6. Check one or more of these boxes:
    1. ‘Students can only participate in the course between these dates’ to give all users full access until the end date and viewing access after that date.
    2. ‘Restrict students from viewing this course after the end date’ to completely remove all users’ access after the end date.
  7. Click Save.

Note: Teachers and Co-Teachers will always have viewing access to a course but must un-conclude the course before they are able to change the course settings. 

Temporarily add a new user

To temporarily add a new user to a concluded course for administrative purposes, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to ISU AdminTools via the course menu.
  2. Choose ‘Manage Additional People.’ 
  3. Add the netID(s) to the appropriate section and role.
  4. Inside Canvas, go to Settings on the course menu. 
  5. Enter an end date in the future.
  6. Check the boxes for:
    1. ‘Students can only participate in the course between these dates’ and
    2. ‘Restrict students from viewing this course before the start date.’
  7. Click Save.

Note: Teachers and Co-Teachers will always have viewing access to a course but must reactivate themselves before they are able to change the course settings. 

View grades for concluded students

To view student grades within a concluded course, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Gradebook.
  2. Locate the ‘Student Name’ column.
  3. Click the 3 dots to display the popup menu.
  4. Select to show ‘concluded enrollments’.

See the ‘How do I view grades for inactive or concluded student enrollments in the Gradebook?‘ guide for more information.

Canvas: Direct Share, Bulk Edit Due Dates, Submission Attempts, File Uploads, Notifications, Rubrics

Posted on

Implementation Date: July 18, 2020

n this Canvas Release, many features released during the spring became part of the main Canvas environment.

  • Assignments
  • Modules
    • File Upload Enhancements: Instructors can drag and drop multiple files to add them all at once on the Modules page.
  • Notifications
    • Course Notifications: Instructors and students can mute all notifications for a course where the user is enrolled. The Course Notification Settings page allows users to mute all notifications for a course where the user is enrolled. Additionally, users can enable or disable specific course notifications.
  • Rubrics
    • Course Navigation Rubrics Link: Instructors can now access Rubrics through the course navigation. Students will still only see rubrics associated with an assignment.

Canvas: Gradebook History, Groups, Grade Detail Tray

Posted on

Implementation Date: October 7, 2020

In this Canvas Deploy, the updates below became part of the main Canvas environment.

  • Gradebook History: In the Gradebook history, mentions of Assignment have been replaced with Artifact. This change clarifies terminology in that items in a course associated with the Gradebook are not always assignments.
  • Groups: The design of the Add Group window for instructors has been updated. No functionality has been affected.
  • Gradebook – Grade Detail Tray: The Grade Details Tray will no longer include labels for assignments that have enabled Anonymous Grading. Previously, when Anonymous Grading was enabled for an assignment, the Hidden label was included in the Grade Detail Tray for students that had been graded. Additionally, the Excused label was included if the student had been excused. However, no labels were displayed for students who had not been graded, which could break anonymity.

Canvas: Recent History, Notifications, Equations

Posted on

Implementation Date: October 17, 2020

In this Canvas Release, the changes below become part of the main Canvas environment.

  • Recent History: The Global Navigation Menu includes a Recent History link, which displays recently visited pages in Canvas.
  • Notification Preferences: The user-level Notifications page has been updated to match the design of the course-level Notifications page.
  • MathJax Equation Improvements: The MathJax JS library has been improved to render equations in a more accessible format and promote ease of use. Math equations created anywhere in Canvas will be rendered as MathML.

CyBox: Storage Limits are Coming (Inside Iowa State)

Posted on

Iowa State’s new three-year contract with Box — a Cloud data storage service branded internally as CyBox — ends the era of unlimited storage for the academic community. In fact, Iowa State needs to reduce its current data storage in CyBox by about one-third before July 1, 2021, to avoid paying overage costs.

Read the Storage limits are coming to CyBox story in Inside Iowa State (December 3, 2020).

See the CyBox Instructional Tool page.

Loading...