Need to develop more advanced skills with Microsoft Office tools? Do your students need training with specific software like Adobe InDesign or SPSS?
What is LinkedIn Learning?
LinkedIn Learning is a video- based learning platform available to all UW-W faculty, staff, and students, that offers the latest academic, creative, business, and wellness skill development through high-quality instructional videos by industry experts. Often these courses are accompanied by exercise files, handouts, and other resources to support your growth.
Explore a wide range of learning opportunities to dive deeper into Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Cloud (which includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and more!). Advance your skills in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft PowerPoint with LinkedIn Learning’s pathways – download the exercise files to practice in real time.
Join us on December 6, 2021 at 2:00PM for a workshop on ways to integrate LinkedIn Learning’s on-demand video tutorials into your course content! We’ll explore what’s available, how to use it, and several use cases for in classroom activities. LinkedIn Learning can supplement courses with lectures, materials, and customized playlists.
The UW-Whitewater Learning Technology Center (LTC) is pleased to announce that applications are now open for a Winterim 2022 Online Blended Institute in a shortened hybrid format. The overall goal of the institute is to align quality course design with best practices in blended teaching, preparing faculty for online course development, and blended teaching in future academic terms. The course models a blended course including readings, materials, and short homework assignments. Participants will be required to build a fully online unit of a course they could teach.
This institute is intended for people designing a course for Summer or Fall 2022 or for those teaching in Spring 2022. It would also be appropriate for instructors designing a new course.
If you are interested in course prep for Spring 2022, try our new course prep boot camp.
There are six required synchronous workshops M/W/F scheduled from 1:00 pm to 2:30pm in Webex from January 3 through January 14. These will include a student panel discussion and a peer to peer review session to share ideas and collaborate on online course designs in progress. Final course materials will be due January 28th.
We will be accepting 20 applicants into the Institute this winter. Preference will be given to those faculty and full-time instructional academic staff who fully complete the application in a first come, first serve basis and who have not previously completed the Online Blended Institute since the summer of 2018. Applicants will be emailed regarding their acceptance on Wednesday, December 8.
The application takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. We recommend completing the application on a computer, as some questions involve typed responses.
For any additional information or questions, please contact the LTC. Learning Technology Center (262) 472-1004 ltc@uww.edu
Strapped for time, and looking for a guiding hand on all the things you need to do to get a Canvas course up and running for Spring? Now is your chance! Join us for hands-on workshops broken up between quick demonstrations, and supported work time.
These sessions are designed for instructors looking to get their Spring 2022 course up and running, but all faculty and staff are welcome. If you are interested in designing a course for Summer or Fall 2022, try the Winter Online Blended Institute. Come with previous content ready to be updated, or moved from paper into Canvas (ie moving a quiz or rubric into a digital form). This series of workshops will provide you the how-to and time to complete specific tasks to get your course set up. Enroll in one, a handful, or all of them; even if it is just for a way to schedule your time.
Are you looking to learn from other faculty examples what works for Next-Level pages in Canvas? Now is your chance! Join us for hands-on workshops filled with faculty examples, step-by-step instructions on how to adapt those innovations to your own courses, and tips and tricks to take your Course designs to the “Next Level”. Click on the links below to register and get the WebEx information.
Get inspired for new designs at “Next-Level” Tech for teaching and design
Friday, October 22: 1:00-2:30 PM This session explores how faculty use multimedia in creative ways, from intro videos to weekly video “to-do” lists, to short podcasts. We will also explore how to incorporate multimedia into student assignments, video presentations, and discussion boards.
Friday, November 5: 1:00-2:30 PM This session explores how to rethink the “Blended Lecture”. What are the best practices for multimodal video capture? How long should videos be? What shouldn’t be captured? How can I interleave lecture content with other blended materials? How else can I connect content and assessment?
Monday, November 15 : 1:30 PM-3:00PM This session explores how faculty use gating and timed releases, prerequisites in Canvas, and use cases when – and when not — to use these techniques.
Friday, November 19: 1:00-2:30 PM This session explores rethinking the “Discussion Board”: Examples of how to use video discussions; when to use Canvas compared to when to use other discussion tools like Webex; equity and privacy concerns; and faculty use cases of discussion boards.
On Saturday, October 16, 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.
Navigation – Sticky Navigation Menus: The Account, Course, and User Navigation Menus remain sticky and are always visible on their respective pages.
SpeedGrader – Submission Status Label Edits: 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.
Gradebook – Assignment Search: 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.
Notifications – Course Notification Customization: Course notification preferences can be customized in a user’s Notifications page.
User Settings – Microsoft Immersive Reader: The Microsoft Immersive Reader button can be enabled in User Settings, if not already enabled by the institution. Additionally, the Reader is supported in Assignments, and the Syllabus.
If you have any questions or concerns about the service pack updates, or even just curious about how they can help you, please contact UW-W Canvas Support.
Earlier this year, the Learning Technology Center (LTC) relocated all existing documentation from our old site (spaces.uww.edu) to the new location within the ServiceNow Knowledge Base. Redirects that were put in place on spaces.uww.edu will be removed on December 1st, 2021. Please check to make sure your links are updated!
How can I easily check the links within my Canvas Course?
The Canvas Course Link Validator is a great way to verify links in your course! In most cases, it will be able to detect links that may still exist within your course that reference pages on the old documentation site.
Are the links already disabled – they are not loading?
Currently, links to spaces.uww.edu are only available when you are on campus or connected to the Remote Access VPN. This was a necessary change for due to security concerns.
Grab a beverage and snack, plug in the laptop, and join the LTC!
Keep the momentum up with the semester by joining a 60-minute workshop with the LTC! We offer numerous opportunities each week to learn a new skill, advance what you already know, or take a moment to refresh and reset. Sessions are often hosted in hybrid formats, so join us in-person, from home, from your workspace, or where ever you are!
Get your grades up to date for midterms (or 8W1 finals) with our Canvas Grading Lab.
Dive into Canvas Learning Analytics to see what data is available, and how to get more next semester.
Thinking ahead about the Spring? Or Fall 2022? So are we!
Continue to develop your instructional design skills with “Next-Level” Design strategies to prepare for Spring 2022 and beyond! Missed our September sessions? Not a problem, sessions are designed to be independent.
Check out the next installments of the “Digital Transformation” series focusing on tips and tools to increase performance in a digital environment!
Administrative and Non-Instructional Staff
Outside of the classroom, campus is just as busy! Join the LTC to dig deeper into new features of Webex and some insider secrets of Outlook!
The LTC offers individual and small group consultations on a variety of topics and services, please email ltc@uww.edu to learn more and get started!
If you require assistance or have questions on campus technology, please feel free to contact the Help Desk. Outside of Help Desk hours, we invite you to search our Knowledge Base for helpful articles on using and troubleshooting campus technology.
Welcome back, Warhawks to a new academic year! Summer was a busy period for the Learning Technology Center (LTC): we welcomed new members to the team, developed new engagement opportunities, managed technology updates and rollouts, celebrated technology innovators, supported technology needs across our campus, and prepared for the start of the new academic year! This post will recap many of the most important updates and feature enhancements of commonly-used technologies across campus, as well as give you a taste of what is to come this year!
Eric Loepp assumed the role of Director of the LTC at the start of the Fall 2021 term and will maintain his faculty position in Political Science. A long-time advocate for technology-enhanced teaching and learning, Eric will continue to develop ideas and innovations that will enhance the learning experience for Warhawks across campus!
Jeffrey Thomas joined the team as Assistant Director in January 2021. Jeff’s professional background is in French Language & Literature and Second Language Acquisition (PhD, UW-Madison). He also has a wide variety of experience in instructional design, curricular development, program coordination, and technology training in administrative and instructional settings.
Honoring Campus Innovators
On May 19, 2021, UW-Whitewater colleagues gathered for a day-long discussion and series of presentations about equity, inclusion, and technological innovations in teaching and learning. The Learning Technology Center and the LEARN Center joined to host both of these events. The Celebration concluded with the announcement of this year’s Cisco/Presidio “Teaching with Technology Innovator” honorarium, awarded to Meg Waraczynski!
Next year’s “Celebrating Teaching and Learning” is scheduled for May 18, 2022 – we hope to see you there!
Webex is our campus-supported solution for video conferencing and online instruction. Webex integrations with Canvas, Microsoft Office, and other platforms have made teaching, learning, and working very successful experiences.
Over the summer, Cisco Webex was rebranded and released a new unified application. The messaging and calling features of “Webex Teams” are now included in the unified “Webex” application.
To better propel your learning, we have organized some sessions into thematic groupings. Designed to build upon baseline skills, these sessions advanced skill development and work to promote a technology-inclusive environment on campus.
The Blending My In-Person Course with Online Elements Pathway shows you how to integrate technology to enhance learning, streamline instructor workload, and maximize student engagement. Instructors will build upon previously created materials to improve face-to-face and blended courses.
The Creating Dynamic Course Content Pathway assists instructors in creating Canvas content that uses embedded video, active links to content both inside of and out of the Canvas course, and other campus supported technologies to improve student engagement.
“Next-Level Tech” for Teaching and Design Workshops
Get a look at your colleagues’ Canvas courses in these hands-on workshops filled with innovative faculty examples, step-by-step instructions on how to adapt those innovations to your own courses, and tips and tricks to take your course designs to the “Next Level.” Join the sessions that fit your needs in workshops organized along two themes: “Next-Level” Design in Canvas and “Next-Level” Multimedia. Signup Now!
Digital Transformation Workshops
Designed to illustrate how digital solutions can enable new types of innovation and creativity, these workshops will explore how the adoption of technology impacts our work. Signup Now!
Canvas Updates
Did you know Canvas receives updates every month? These updates are reviewed and tested by Canvas administrators across UW-System before their release dates. We provide regular updates and highlights on our blog. See the latest updates and recap from the summer.
Canvas has a robust technical support service that includes 24 / 7 / 365 toll-free hotline and live online chat interactions. Please use this for all Canvas Questions.
Did you know that you can get a weekly email update about what’s going on in the LTC? Every Monday morning, you will get an email that contains a summary of the latest items from our blog. To signup for these updates, just fill out the form below!
Self-Service Knowledge Base
All of our self-service documentation is now available inside of the ServiceNow Knowledge Base (KB). The KB articles can easily be searched by going to: http://uww.service-now.com/kb
New KB articles are added regularly – so check back often!
Microphone Kits
The Sennheiser microphone kits that many instructors used during the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters are now available for checkout from our ICIT AV-Checkouts center. These microphones can be checked out for the entire semester.
Requests can be made online at http://av-checkouts.uww.edu. Search of “XS Wireless” to locate the mics in the request interface. Microphone pickup and returns are done through the Andersen 1008 Media Lab.
LockDown Browser
Respondus LockDown Browser is now available on Chromebooks! Previously, we were beta testing this feature and instructors needed to adjust settings within the quiz. This feature is now generally available and no additional configuration is needed by the instructor.
Students who used it during the beta testing period may need to remove and reinstall the extension on their Chromebooks.
If you are looking for ways to increase student engagement, you might be interested in using Poll Everywhere. Capture powerful feedback instantly during virtual meetings and in-person classes using Poll Everywhere. A variety of interactive activities, which can be seamlessly integrated into PowerPoint or Google Slides, can help you take attendance, give quizzes, gauge interest, and more whether your students are near or far!
Are you looking to record professional lectures for your courses? The Learning Technology Center (LTC) Studio is available!
We have a number of unique and engaging setups including “presenter only,” “weatherman,” or using our kleerboard. Looking to do something different? Just let us know! Schedule your appointment now with our online form.
Don’t forget to Visit Us
Are you still with us? If so – great, you made it to the end! As a reminder, we are located in McGraw Hall, Suite 120 and are available between 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM weekdays. We can also be reached at ltc@uww.edu or 262.472.1004. We encourage you to call ahead to schedule an appointment when possible. We’ll always be willing to help, and have plenty of treats on hand for your sweet tooth. Have a great semester!
On Saturday, September 18, 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.
Rich Content Editor – Accessibility Checker Indicator: When accessibility issues are detected within the Rich Content Editor, the Accessibility Checker automatically displays an indicator. This indicator helps users know about these issues without having to open the Accessibility Checker. Opening the Accessibility Checker will show the number of errors and how to correct each error.
New Analytics – Canvas Online Attendance: New Analytics includes an Online Attendance tab, which updates according to criteria set at the account level. Instructors will be able to tell which days a student has done at least one of the following:
Accessed a Page in Canvas.
Created a Page (if you have provided that permission).
Made a Discussion post.
Submitted an Assignment.
Started and/or submitted a Quiz.
Loaded a collaboration to view/edit.
Prior Canvas Updates
It can be really hard to keep up with Canvas releases, so the following are the prominant updates that have happened since the end of spring semester.
Assignments – Student Annotated Submissions: Instructors can use annotated document assignment type to upload a document for students to annotate and submit directly in Canvas. This assignment type is included under the online assignment types so that instructors can select additional submission options for students unable to annotate onscreen.
Course settings – Section Date Enhancement: A visual change was made to the availability dates option for sections of a course. This update made the visuals of the date settings for the sections match those of the course.
SpeedGrader – Comment Library: Comments can be added and saved for reuse within SpeedGrader, allowing individual users to save frequently used comments to be reused across assignments in multiple courses.
Canvas – Maintenance Window: Instructure has moved their intermittent maintenance to twice monthly scheduled maintenance windows. Moving forward, maintenance will be performed on the first and third Thursdays of each month, beginning at 1:00am, and running no later than 3:00am. Canvas may be unavailable to users during these windows. All users are able to view maintenance window times through Account then Settings. For additional information, please refer to the Canvas Community discussion.
New Quizzes – Multiple Attempts First Score Option: It is now possible to give students multiple attempts on a New Quiz, but retain their first score as their grade.
New Quizzes – Item Bank Management: Item banks can now be shared with the entire account or individual users. When instructors share an item bank, the item bank supports a new View permission, which can be given to a user and provides access to the bank as read only. The user who shares an item bank can continue to specify editing access for other users.
New Quizzes – Save and Build Button Workflow: The New Quiz creation page includes both a Save and a Build button. When an instructor creates and enters details for a quiz, the page displays both a Save and a Build button. Previously the page only included the Save button, which counterintuitively launched in the New Quiz editor.
If you have any questions or concerns about the service pack updates, or even just curious about how they can help you, please contact UW-W Canvas Support.
Can’t join at scheduled times? No problem, email ltc@uww.edu to request a personal or department session. Links to previously recorded sessions are also often available.
Don’t see a session on something you’d like to learn? Let us know! We look forward to meeting your needs as best we can — email ltc@uww.edu with your request. And, don’t forget, LinkedIn Learning offers on-demand classes on many topics!
