Canvas Updates for November 2021

 

There are some exciting changes coming to Canvas in the month of November. The sprint on the 20th will include:

A New Submission Feedback Indicator

If you've ever had students be oblivious to the comments you added to their assignment submissions, this new feature is for you! Now, in the Assignment Details page, the Show Rubric and View Feedback links indicate when new comments have been added as an annotation or in a rubric. This change allows students to see when new comments have been added to a submission.

Settings Tab Links

This change allows users to remain in a specific tab after a Settings page is refreshed. When multiple Settings tabs are viewed, the browser back/forward button will return to the previous/next tab that was visited.Previously, the Settings pages always reloaded to the Course Details tab regardless of the tab previously being viewed.

Word Count in SpeedGrader

The word count for assignment text submissions is displayed in SpeedGrader in the sidebar. This only applies to text submissions.

Your Guide to Planning and Hosting Virtual Zoom Events

Are you planning to host an event and wondering how to best integrate Zoom into a hybrid or completely virtual event? Then check out Zoom's guide to planning and hosting virtual events!

The webinar will help you determine the five key steps of planning a virtual or hybrid event:

1. Think about your vision
2. Come up with a plan
3. Promote your event
4. Execute the plan
5. Follow up and evaluate the process

Check out the webinar below!

Webinar Series: Your Guide to Planning and Hosting Virtual Zoom Events

Canvas Updates for October 2021

There are some changes coming to Canvas when it runs its latest sprint on the 16th. Let's dive in!

Speedgrader Submission Labels

The SpeedGrader sidebar includes an Edit icon to be used for submission statuses. Statuses can be edited the same way as in the Gradebook. Additionally, adjusting a status in SpeedGrader also applies to the Gradebook.

• Setting the status to Missing displays the Missing label.
• If a late policy is enabled, setting the status to late displays the late label. Additionally, a text field allows the grader to enter a value for the days/hours late.
• Setting the status to excused displays the Excused status, and the grade field displays as EX and is grayed out.
• Setting the status to None removes any labels that were previously displayed for the assignment.

For more information, check out the video below:

 

 

Assignment Search Function

The Gradebook includes two search fields: one for student names, and one for assignment names. Using the Assignment search field displays any search results that match an assignment in the course.

Course Notification Customization

The User Notifications page displays all notification options for a user’s entire account. However, if a user has any active course enrollments, the menu displays the name of each course. Users can navigate between their courses and set specific notification options for each course, if preferred.

Any updated notifications also sync to the course-level Notifications page.

As always, contact Learning Technologies or visit our website at https://bit.ly/2MPyE1R

 

Add STEM Content to the Rich Content Editor in Canvas

 

If you're a STEM instructor, you know it can be difficult to add mathematical or scientific notations in Canvas. ESU, however, has recently enabled a product called EquatIO in the Rich Content Editor (RCE) in Canvas, allowing users to input a wide range of STEM figures into anything in Canvas that uses the RCE. 

While the version within Canvas is the free version with slightly more limited features, the full version is available for free as a Chrome extension. 

Check out the video from TextHelp that demos EquatIO and shows how and where you can use it!

Upcoming Training Events Calendar

 

Learning Technologies is constantly adding new educational technologies to their stable of products (most recently Perusall and Hypothes.is) and updating and adding features to old favorites (Microsoft Immersive Reader, Canva, Vimeo, etc.) 

There's also training opportunities for things like OER, Canvas, Camtasia, a Digital Teaching Symposium, and so much more. But where can you find all of these trainings?

Learning Technologies' website has a section called Upcoming Training Events and can be found at https://bit.ly/2Y7dan9 This Google Calendar lists all of the upcoming trainings, webinars, and online conferences you can take advantage of to add enrichment to your online courses. 

New opportunities will be added weekly, so make sure to check back often!

Changes to Microsoft Immersive Reader: An Increase in Accessibility

 For those who aren't familiar, Microsoft Immersive Reader is an accessibility feature within Canvas that allows users to enhance their reading experience by improving accessibility and boosting reading comprehension. It is currently only possible to be enabled at the administrator level. 

Starting on September 29th, 2021 this feature can now be enabled by each user, including students, under User Settings. This will allow users who want to utilize the Immersive Reader to do so at their discretion. 

Canvas Updates for September 1st 2021

Back in June 2021, Canvas debuted a redesign of their discussion board. Learning Tech rolled out this redesign but then was made aware that the redesign was lacking certain features of the classic discussion board, most importantly the ability to add rubrics. 

On September 1st Canvas is pushing out an update to the redesign that will include rubric functionality for all discussion boards. At this point, if you would like to try out the redesign, Learning Tech would be happy to help you enable it! 

As a reminder, the redesign includes:

For individual discussion topics, the interface has been expanded for maximum space and ensure responsive views.

The following modifications have been made to the page:

• The toolbar has been moved to the top of the discussion thread. 
• Newest replies display at the top of the first page instead of the bottom of the last page.
• Users can sort replies from newest to oldest, or oldest to newest.
• Users can also quickly move to the top of the discussion topic at any time. 

Examples of both the old and new discussion board threads are shown below: