With a few weeks of the fall semester now behind us, please consider joining the Learning Technology Center for a session on teaching in a “HyFlex” style so far this semester. This session takes place on Thursday September 17th at 9:00 AM, and will feature an instructor panel discussing their experiences so far this semester in teaching in this format.
If you are interested in this session, please register using this link so that you receive the information for the Webex Meeting. (Please note that you will need to log in to register)
On Tuesday, September 15, Cisco will deploy additional updates to Webex Meetings. The highlights of these additional features are below. Full release notes are also available.
Video Breakout Sessions in Webex Meetings Breakout sessions allow you to place your meeting participants into smaller groups to collaborate and share ideas. Inside of the breakout session is like being in a smaller meeting, complete with audio and video where participants can collaborate and share content, or even ask the host for help from the main session. For more details, you can explore these capabilities in depth. UWW users may have up to 100 breakout sessions per meeting with a maximum of 1,000 meeting participants.
Be sure anyone participating in a Webex Meeting on a mobile phone or mobile device updates the app on their device. While they will be able to join the meeting, they will not be able to go into a breakout session until they update the app. UWW owned devices will automatically update, but student apps and devices may not.
View of Breakout session tool within Webex Meetings
In-Meeting Cohost Role As a meeting host, you can now assign other meeting participants as cohosts. Cohosts share your host-level privileges like muting and unmuting other participants, moving participants to or admitting participants from the lobby, and more!
You can assign cohosts on the fly, directly in-meeting, by right-clicking the participant and changing their role to Cohost. You may have as many cohosts in a meeting as you wish.
The following features aren’t currently supported in a breakout session and will be addressed in a future release:
Raise hand, People Insights profile, and the notes taker role
Closed captioning
Recording breakout sessions
“Optimize for motion and video” content sharing
Sharing web browser or multimedia
Annotation and Whiteboard
Live streaming
Polling
Saving chat
Users who join from the Webex Meeting web app can’t share content
Grid Layout for Cloud Recordings With the grid layout becoming the default experience in Webex Meetings, meeting recordings will default to the grid layout in this update for new and existing Webex hosts. This applies to both Webex Meetings and Webex Events. To return to previous settings or make changes to your recording preferences, sign in at uww.webex.com, navigate to Preferences and then select the Recordings tab. Be sure to hit SAVE!
Recording settings in your preferences
Participant Content Sharing Hosts can now allow the participants to share their screen during scheduled meetings or Personal Rooms meetings.
On Tuesday, September 8, Cisco deployed the Webex Meetings 40.9 update. The highlights of this release are listed below. Full release notes are also available. Please note, some of the updates outlined in the full release notes are not yet available. We expect these to launch next Tuesday, September 15.
Optimized Audio and Video Preview The larger, optimized Audio/Video Preview window makes it easier to look your best and find the settings you need before joining a meeting.
Webex preview window
Updated Controls in Meetings and Events The look of the controls in Meetings and Events has changed to make them more intuitive and easier to use. Meeting controls are now clearly labeled and located at the bottom of your meeting window, which means you’ll always have them in sight, but without them covering up shared content or video.
Clear and easy-to-find meeting controls
Contextual Option Menus Audio settings and camera settings can now be conveniently accessed in the menus at the right of their respective mute and camera buttons.
An easier way to adjust your setting
Consolidated Panel Controls Panel controls (like Participants, Chat, and Q&A) can be found towards the right, where the panel opens.
Panel controls
Additional Virtual Background Improvements and Support Cisco has added more virtual background images to choose from in your Meetings and Events. The virtual background feature is now supported on Macs with dual-core processors.
Virtual background preset images
Other Updates to Note: -Users of Amazon Echo Show or Google Home Hub Smart Display devices will now be able to use Webex Meetings on these devices. Amazon Echo Show devices will be able to display meeting and recording lists, as well as play back recordings. Google Nest Hub devices will be able to display meeting and recording lists, play back recordings, and schedule meetings. –Facebook Portal users will now be able to leverage their Webex Meetings app directly from all Facebook Portal devices! The experience will match what currently exists in the Android app. –Cisco is officially retiring Support for Internet Explorer 10 and Windows 7. While users on these platforms won’t be prevented from joining or starting meetings, Cisco will no longer provide bug fixes or updates for this operating system and browser going forward.
Given the popularity of this series, we have put together a fall “reprise” of this series highlighting many of the most popular sessions in a shorter format. The “Blending Face-to-Face and Online Assessment” sessions are even all available in one day on Friday, September 11th.
If you are teaching in a HyFlex or video-enhanced classroom this fall, the Learning Technology Center is offering “office hours” during the first three weeks of September for assisting you with any questions or ideas relating to teaching in a HyFlex style.
The dates and times, with sign up links, are below: (please note that you will need to sign in with your UWW credentials in order to register)
On Saturday, August 15, Instructure will deploy the latest release to the Canvas environment. The highlights of this release are listed below. The full release notes are also available.
Assignments – Bulk Editing Enhancements: The Edit Assignment Dates page will now allow you to select multiple assignments, batch edit dates, and will warn Teachers if the Start and End dates conflict with the Due Date. This should allow for faster date management of courses.
Pages – Bulk Page Delete: Multiple pages can be deleted at one time in the Pages Index. This allows outdated content to be removed more quickly.
People – Course Section Column Student Visibility: The course section column can be hidden from students in the People page when more than one section is in the course. This will prevent student from viewing the sections of other student in the same course.
User Navigation – Global Announcements Page: The User Navigation Menu includes a link to Global Announcements, which displays current and recent announcements for the institution. This will allow users to view announcements that were previously dismissed from the Dashboard.
As we near the beginning of the fall semester, you might be wondering how you can keep track of your students’ progress while also navigating the changing learning environment. Please consider joining the Learning Technology Center for a session on tracking student progress in alternate formats. The session description is below:
If you are new to teaching online, hybrid, remote, or any format other than face-to-face, you might be concerned about how you can tell whether your students understand the course material and how you can chart their progress. Join us for a discussion and demonstration on how you can keep track of your students’ progress when teaching in alternate delivery formats.
If you are interested, please register. You will need to login with your UWW credentials to register.
This session will discuss various ways to manage and assess technology-mediated student-student interactions. Facilitators will discuss ways to encourage students to interact with each other using technology for activities and assessments. Participants will identify opportunities in their courses for technology-mediated student-student interactions into their courses. Opportunities for and challenges of mixing synchronous and asynchronous interactions will explored.
If you are interested in this session, please register so that we can send you the Webex Meeting link, for the synchronous session, and the link to the asynchronous Canvas course for the workshop series.
We thank you so much for your support of the LTC and this workshop series over the summer! If you have any questions, please contact us at icit-techpilots@uww.edu
This session will discuss various means of facilitating and assessing student presentations using technology. Facilitators will discuss ways for individuals and small groups of students to give technology-mediated presentations suitable for online, blended, or remote formats. Participants will develop an approach to facilitate and assess technology-mediated student presentations.
If you are interested in this session, please register so that we can send you the Webex Meeting link for this synchronous session, and the information for the asynchronous workshop series Canvas course.
The final three sessions of the Learning Technology Center’s Summer Flexible Blended Faculty Development Workshop Series focus on facilitating a blended class. The first of these sessions focuses on ways for instructors to present course content to students. The session summary is below:
This session will discuss synchronous and asynchronous approaches to online lectures. Facilitators will discuss ways to make online or remote lectures more accessible and engaging to face-to-face and online students. Participants will develop an approach to conducting online lectures that would be applicable whether a course is blended or fully online.
If you are interested in this session, please register so that we can send you the Webex Meeting link, and the information for the accompanying asynchronous Canvas course for the workshop series.
If you have any questions about this workshop series, please contact us at icit-techpilots@uww.edu
