Videos can once again be embedded into Canvas from Rev (http://streaming.uww.edu). There were a number of technical upgrades that needed to happen with the last upgrade completing on 4/22/2021. For additional information see the Embedding a Video in Canvas from Rev guide in our Knowledge Base (KB).
On Saturday April 17, 2021, Instructure made the following updates to Canvas:
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.
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.
Applications are open for the Summer 2021 Online Blended Institute. The overall goal of the institute is to align quality course design with best practices in online teaching, preparing faculty for online, remote, hybrid or blended course development, and teaching in future academic terms.
This Summer Institute is designed in a hybrid modality combining a series of short online workshops and asynchronous materials in Canvas. The course models hybrid and remote modalities including readings, materials, and short homework assignments. Participants will be required to build a fully online unit of a course they could teach.
The Call for the Summer Online Blended Teaching Institute is open.
There are four synchronous workshops scheduled from 10:00 am to noon starting Wednesday July 7th.
Wednesday, July 7, 2021: 10:00am – Noon Wednesday, July 14, 2021: 10:00am – Noon Wednesday, July 21, 2021: 10:00am – Noon Wednesday, July 28, 2021: 10:00am – Noon
Submission of final Institute content Monday, August 9th, 2021.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. Additional faculty guests will share their existing online course designs.
We will be accepting up to 25 applicants. 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 teaching Institute since the summer of 2018.
For any additional information or questions, please contact the LTC. Learning Technology Center (262) 472-1004 ltc@uww.edu
Instructors and staff are invited to participate in the 2021 LTDC Virtual Showcase: Transforming the Future of Education to be held Tuesday, June 15 and Wednesday, June 16, 2021. We are accepting two types of proposals: pre-recorded, asynchronous “TechTalk” videos and more traditional conference-style presentations. Proposal submission deadline: Friday, April 16, 2021
Transforming the Future of Education
TechTalks: Technology administrators, instructional designers, and instructors are invited to create brief (5-15 minutes) pre-recorded videos explaining how to use a tool or certain applications of the tool. The focus of the TechTalk should be training or demonstration.
Traditional conference presentations: Sessions will be 30 minutes and will consist of 20 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes of Q&A. Presentation materials and proceedings are welcomed and will be shared on the LTDC Virtual showcase website.
This year’s LTDC Virtual Showcase will include three tracks. Proposals from instructional designers, instructional technologists, faculty and instructors are invited around the following tracks:
Student Experience and Success: This track explores ways in which the student experience has changed within the new learning modalities due to the addition of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) practices, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practices and accessibility practices. How has shifting from face-to-face instruction to multiple modalities impacted the student experience or their success?
Online Instructional Pedagogy: This track explores how online education has impacted course design and layout, synchronous/asynchronous techniques for engagement and motivation, group work, activity or assessment creation, or other learning designs and lessons learned. What instructional challenges have you overcome as you have learned about online instruction? What are some key takeaways or lessons learned over the past year that you would like to continue to develop?
Leveraging Learning Technology: This track explores the use of various tools, technologies and teaching strategies used to enhance student learning, create efficiencies, or promote engagement. How have you used certain technology or tools to enhance your teaching and the student experience? What tools have intentionally made the online student experience more equitable, efficient or engaging?
Proposals may be submitted for presentations or TechTalks. If you are interested in presenting on multiple topics, please fill out the online submission form for each topic. Proposals will be reviewed by the LTDC Virtual Showcase Planning Committee, and all participants will be notified of participation within the showcase on Monday, May 3, 2021. https://uwsystemadmin.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_508e664pbXufxC6
On Thursday, April 8th, Cisco will release the Webex Meetings 41.4 update. The highlights of this release are listed below. Full release notes are also available.
Zoom In and Zoom Out in Grid View. A new slider is available to zoom videos larger in grid view.
Customizable Stage View. A new “customizable stage” is available that allows you to control the layout that is available in Webex Meetings (And soon Webex Events). Hosts or Cohosts can sync the “Stage” for everyone in the meeting.
Webex Meetings for iOS
iPhone Breakout Room Host Support. Similar to desktop and Android, iOS users will now be able to host and assign breakout sessions directly from their mobile apps on their iPhone devices.
OS Support for 14.4 and 14.5 iOS. Webex Meetings on mobile now officially supports OS versions iOS 14.4 and 14.5.
Here are some of the highlights included in the 41.3 update from last month.
Q&A Added to Webex Meetings. Meeting participants can type their questions into the Q&A panel, which can be answered by the host or cohosts.
You can’t answer Q&A from the web app. In order for hosts, cohosts, and panelists to answer questions, they will need to use the desktop app.
Q&A isn’t currently supported within a breakout session. Q&A is only supported in the main session.
Edge Chromium and WebView2 Required for Facebook Live Streaming. As Microsoft has retired support for Internet Explorer, you may be required to install Microsoft Edge Chromium and Microsoft Edge WebView2 in order to sign in to Webex using your Facebook account, or when streaming to Facebook Live. Please contact the UW-W Helpdesk for installation assistance.
Media Enhancements – HD Video. The meeting application will default to this setting based on hardware capabilities. It can be adjusted in the Camera settings screen.
iOS 10 OS No Longer Supported. Webex Meetings will no longer support iOS 10 OS. OS 10 users will no longer be able to install or update their Webex Meetings app versions. No functionality will be turned off.
Here are some of the highlights from the 41.2 update in February.
Let Anyone Join Breakout Sessions. Hosts and cohosts now have the ability to let participants join any breakout, even if a participant isn’t assigned to a breakout or is assigned to a different breakout.
Improved Layout Control. Layout controls are now in single button labeled “Layout,” which includes the option to “Hide non-video participants.”
Raise Hand Improvements. A host can now raise a hand, and a host or cohost can lower a participant’s hand.
After a one-year hiatus, the Celebrating Teaching and Learning conference is back in an online format on Wednesday May 19th, 2021. The day will start with a workshop led by the UW-W Equity Ambassadors followed by presentations from the Cisco/Presidio Teaching with Technology honorarium winners.
Morning Session – 10 AM to Noon The conference will start with an Equity in the Classroom workshop led by the LEARN Center Equity Ambassadors. The workshop will begin with a panel discussion followed by interactive breakout sessions focused on practices that you could use to create a more equitable and inclusive learning environment. For more on the Equity Ambassadors: https://www.uww.edu/learn/equityambassadors
Afternoon Session – 1 PM to 4 PM The afternoon will consist of virtual presentations from the 5 finalists for the 2021 Cisco/Presidio Teaching with Technology Honorarium. The session will wrap up by announcing the individual selected as the 2021 Teaching with Technology Innovator.
All sessions will be held via Cisco Webex. Please contact us as soon as possible for any accessibility accommodations.
This brief questionnaire should only take 10 minutes of your time and the results will help us better understand campus technology needs, especially following the transition to remote teaching, learning, and administration. Your responses will remain anonymous.
Once you complete the survey, enter to win a $25 gift card from the University Bookstore!
The deadline to complete the survey is April 16, 2021 at 11:59PM.
Engaging Students in Online Courses: Building Community & Increasing Interactivity
Join an interactive hour-long collaborative online workshop where faculty, instructional staff, and campus partners will actively problem-solve struggles with engagement in online courses. This workshop will be held on April 6th at 12pm and is co-sponsored by the Learning Technology Center and the LEARN Center.
Resolved. Between 10:50 AM and 1:42 PM on Thursday, March 25th, users were unable to access the “Cisco Webex” link in the course navigation. The issue is now resolved and working as expected. Please reach out to Canvas 24/7 support for any additional issues.
Original Message: Starting around 10:50 AM, users may be receiving a “502 Bad Gateway” when trying to launch the “Cisco Webex” link from the navigation bar inside of a Canvas course. The vendor is aware of this issue and they are currently implementing a fix.
Instructors: Webex meetings can still be launched from the uww.webex.com site. The meeting link will need to be sent out to your students while the fix is being implemented.
RESOLVED: Between 7:40 AM and 9:12 AM on Thursday, March 25th users may have had issues accessing Canvas. For additional details see: Canvas Unplanned Outage. The issue has been resolved. Please reach out to Canvas 24/7 support for any additional issues.
Beginning at roughly 7:40AM on Thursday, March 25th users may have started receiving timeout and gateway errors when accessing Canvas. The vendor is aware of the issue and currently investigating.
We will update this post as more information is available.
Resolved: 9:12AM the issue has been resolved.
Update 8:07AM: The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented.
On Thursday, March 25th starting at 3:00 AM Instructure will be performing maintenance on Canvas. The maintenance is expected to take no longer than 60 minutes. Canvas may be unavailable during this maintenance. Please plan your course work accordingly.
