Taking Attendance in Zoom

 

 

Almost all of us are using Zoom, but did you know you can use Zoom to take attendance? 

Checking attendance through Canvas

Note: This option is only available if you use the Canvas integration of Zoom.

To check attendance in Zoom meetings through Canvas:

1. Click on Zoom in the course navigation menu on the left-hand side of your course.  
2. Select the Previous Meetings tab. 
3. Find the meeting you want to take attendance for and then click Report on the right-hand side of your screen. 
4. View or download the attendance report.

Checking attendance through Zoom

1. Sign into your ESU Zoom account 
2. Select Reports from the navigation menu on the left.
3. Click Usage.
4. Find the meeting for which you are taking attendance.
   
5. Choose the blue, hyperlinked number under the Participants column.
6. View or export the meet's attendance report. 

And there you have it! You now have a record of all users who were in your meeting and can use it to assign attendance points.

Create Graphics Using Visme

 

As we move more content online, having clear, sharp graphics becomes of increasing importance. There are several different programs you can to create graphics, including the one use to make this blog post's (as well as the last one's) header: Visme.

Visme "is the world’s most versatile content creation tool, empowering individuals and leading brands to create and present compelling stories in the form of engaging presentations, infographics, documents, videos, graphics and everything in between." The program is free to use and is web-based; however, some features and artwork are part of Visme's Premium service and aren't available to basic account holders. I haven't found this to be an issue as there are so many options to choose from. 

You can sign up for your own free Visme account on their website and then choose the type of graphic you're wanting to make: a presentation, an infographic, document, printables, web graphics, or social media graphics. You can then choose one of Visme's free templates or select a blank template and then create your own using Visme's images or your own. 

After that, you're all set to play around, adding images, font, and other content. Give it a try! 

Using Google Meet for Videoconferencing in Canvas

 

About Google Meet

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Zoom has pretty well had the market cornered on videoconferencing technology. It integrated well with so many platforms that it became the default for online meetings. 

IT is proud to announce that there is a second option now for a videoconferencing platform both within and outside of Canvas called Google Meet. 

Google Meet was first released in 2017 and was an extension of Google Hangouts, billed as a videoconferencing app for up to 30 participants. Due to the pandemic, Google made several quick changes in early 2020 so that they could offer advanced capabilities to users. These capabilities include:

• Automatic Closed Captioning!
  
• Larger meetings of up to 250 participants per call
• Live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers within a domain
• The ability to record meetings and save them to Google Drive

They have extended these additional capabilities to all users through the end of September. Given the popularity of the product and the continuation of the pandemic, there is a chance that this benefit will be extended.

Why should you use Google Meet instead of Zoom? 

ESU students are already using the Google Suite applications for email, etc. They are frequently familiar with Google products. Also, Google Meet integrates with Canvas for a flawless experience for both instructors and students.  

Also, there is no time limit for meetings on Meet and everyone already has a "pro" account; no need to ask for an upgrade. Unlike Zoom, where we only have a set number of licenses, Meet licenses are unlimited. If the advanced capabilities are not extended after September 30th, Meet still allows for 60 minutes of videoconferencing vs. Zoom's 40 minute limit. 

Google Meet is also simpler and more user-friendly, with fewer settings that have to be manipulated without scrimping on features. Like Zoom, Google Meet allows users to share their screens, utilize breakout rooms, connect to conferencing equipment, and call in via a phone rather than a computer. 

How do I set up a Google Meet in Canvas?

Meet is already enabled in Canvas and adding a meeting to to an assignment or page is simple.  

Create an assignment or page in Canvas  

Select the Apps icon. 

 

Choose the Google Hangouts Meet option.

 

Then select which Google account you want to use. It will ask you if you want to give permissions to Google.

 

Once you allow the Meet LTI to work with your Google account, your meeting link is generated and automatically linked in the assignment or page. 

Let your students know when you will be meeting and then all you have to do is click the link to activate Google Meet and start your meeting.

We look forward to faculty and students trying out this new tool!

 

 

Recent Updates to Canvas

Most of the recent updates to Canvas have been "enforcements" of previously released features (meaning now you have to use them.)

One change has to do with rubrics, however. Previously located within the Outcomes section of each course, they have been moved to the Course Navigation Menu.

This allows faster access to rubrics and creates a more intuitive workflow. Rubrics in Canvas are increasingly important as more classes switch to hybrid, Hy-Flex, or fully online modalities, as they both simplify the grading process and help provide feedback to students.

There should be more updates coming in August, so keep visiting this space to learn more!

Kaltura Video Quizzes

Many instructors use Kaltura videos to convey course content. But did you know there's a way to check if students are watching the videos and absorbing the content?

Kaltura gives content creators the opportunity to add pop-up quizzes to their videos. These quizzes can even be integrated with Canvas's grade book.

From Kaltura's Knowledge Center: "Video quizzes are created and edited using the Kaltura Video Editing Tools Quiz Creator. The Quiz Creator enables you to create an unlimited number of multiple choice questions with 2-4 optional answers per question." You can add these questions at any point in the video, and the video will continue after the viewer answers the question. 

For an overview of how to add video quizzes to Kaltura, this video from Virginia Commonwealth University's ALT Lab is a great resource:

You can also find more information on how to create Kaltura video quizzes in the Kaltura Knowledge Center. They have a great tutorial on how to integrate the quiz answers with the Canvas grade book as well.

How to Use the Lightboard

ESU has a Lightboard available for faculty and students to use. Put simply, a Lightboard is a glass chalkboard that can be used to record instructional videos that include notes or drawings, all while facing your audience, for a more personal, familiar approach to online lecture.

Made of a 4x8 foot sheet of heat-tempered PPG Starphire architectural glass, enclosed in a lighted frame, the glass is lit internally from all edges, causing neon markers to glow when used on the glass's surface. The recording studio it's housed in automatically flips whatever is written on the back of the glass, so there's no need to know how to write backwards.

Check out this short introductory video (~1 minute) by Lightboard creator Michael Peshkin below:

As Mr. Peshkin states, this type of tool works really well for those who do a lot of drawing or calculations by-hand or need to overlay a fixed object with text during a lecture.

The main drawback of the Lightboard is that the neon markers you have to use to create the glowing text do take a bit more elbow grease to erase. It's not possible to erase as you go like with a standard whiteboard. Also, if you have any text on your shirt, it will appear backwards in the completed video. Otherwise, it's a breeze to use.

The studio that contains our Lightboard is available to students and faculty between eight a.m. and five p.m. on any weekday that the University is open. To reserve the studio, go to our booking website and select Book It. Enter your name, the time and date you would like to reserve the room, and for how long you would like to use the room.

The Lightboard studio is sanitized between each user and the board is cleaned. Due to social distancing policies, the room is only suitable for one person at a time.

Captions in Zoom

Accessibility continues to be an important focus in the abrupt transition to distance education and communication. While our Zoom accounts allow us to enable audio transcripts of meeting recordings, Learning Technologies wants to take this opportunity to make you aware of the pros and cons of this transcription.

The setting to enable transcriptions of recorded meetings can be found by opening your Zoom client, clicking the settings cog in the upper right corner, selecting Profile from the left hand menu, and then choosing View Advanced Features.

 

 

Image of Zoom window, with arrows pointing to the settings cog and the profile menu option

Once in your options, select Recordings and then look for the Audio transcript option.

Image of Zoom settings window with audio transcript box checked

As you can tell, my audio transcript option is checked. Now we get into the pros and cons.

Zoom uses AI to add captions to their meeting recordings. AI captions are a great start, but frequently get their captions wrong (for example, I was watching a Pride and Prejudice video on YouTube and the captions were talking about Bruce Wayne. Might be an interesting crossover!)

So the Zoom captions are better than nothing, but not by much. If it's a meeting you're recording just to have a record of it, this type of transcription might be okay. But if it's a lecture you're recording and you want it to be accessible to students, then Zoom's AI is not going to cut it. Also, no one will be able to see the captions while the meeting is ongoing; these captions are only available after the meeting is completed.

Here is where you have a few options. Learning Technologies is piloting a new program called Otter.AI which provides real-time AI captions in Zoom meetings. Again, this is AI captioning, so it's not always 100% accurate, but it's a bit better than the Zoom captions. These captions aren't added to the video itself but are opened in another window. Again, this is better than nothing, but some users report that having to switch their view between the Zoom window and the transcript window to be less than ideal.

So what if you're recording a lecture using Zoom and want to make sure your captions are spot on for accessibility purposes, your best bet is to use Kaltura. Its AI captions are a lot better and you have the opportunity to edit the caption file to make it match up 100% with what you actually said (no Bruce Wayne here!)

The trick here is to turn off the Zoom captions before you record, if you plan to use the Kaltura captions. Zoom captions "bake into" the video before it transfers to Kaltura, meaning you can't remove the Zoom captions and replace them with the more accurate Kaltura captions. To turn them off, follow the steps above.

So there you have it! Captioning in Zoom is doable, but how you do it depends on the end result you want. Once you've done it a few times, it should be a pretty simple process but, as always, contact Learning Technologies if you have any questions!