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.
If you have any questions about this outage, please contact Canvas Support.
Issue Resolved. Cisco Webex support was able to correct the issue over the weekend. Joining Webex Meetings from the web browser is now working as expected.
What’s the issue?
Students joining a Webex Meeting from Canvas using the web browser are currently prompted for a meeting password. This password is not available to the student and they will not be able to join using the web browser. Students joining using the Webex Desktop App or Webex Apps on mobile devices are not impacted by this issue.
What’s the workaround?
Students using Chromebooks must use workaround 2 below. Please contact your instructor for the direct Webex meeting link.
Workaround 1: We recommend students download and join using the Webex Desktop App. This will provide the best user experience for the student during the meeting. Additional information is available at: Download the Cisco Webex Meetings Desktop App.
Workaround 2: Instructors can provide the direct Webex meeting join link to students. Follow this guide: Inviting a User to a Webex Meeting in Canvas. Note: If you are Tracking Attendance with Webex Meetings in Canvas this workaround will cause attendance to not be automatically recorded inside of Canvas.
What’s the fix?
Cisco Webex Support has notified us that this is scheduled to be fixed on April 7th with the Webex 41.4 software release. Cisco Webex Support was able to deploy a patch on March 13th which corrected the issue. Joining Webex meetings from Canvas using your web browser is now working as expected.
If you have additional questions about this issue please contact the UW-W Learning Technology Center.
We are in the process of moving our documentation, tutorials, and how-to pages from spaces.uww.edu into ServiceNow. As the pages are moved and complete, a redirect message with the updated link will be placed on the old pages. The old pages will continue to work through the Spring 2021 semester.
You can browse and search through the documentation pages by going to http://uww.service-now.com/kb
What is ServiceNow?
ServiceNow is the help desk platform that is available on campus. Canvas support request should still be routed through the Canvas 24/7/365 support.
Why are we moving the pages?
Moving the content into ServiceNow will allow for a better overall user experience, and more robust search feature.
Can I still link to the pages in ServiceNow?
Yes! Follow this guide to copy the link to place in your own materials: Linking to a ServiceNow KB Article.
Please contact the Learning Technology Center if you have any questions about this change.
The New Rich Content Editor is an update to the previous Canvas Rich Content Editor. It provides a condensed, more intuitive toolbar that is grouped by common icons and interactions. We will be enabling the New Rich Content Editor on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2020.
We have scheduled 30 minute training sessions if you are interested in learning more about the New Rich Content Editor.
| Date/Time | Location | Register |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, December 1st 1:00pm – 1:30pm | Webex | Registration |
| Monday, December 7th 10:00am – 10:30am | Webex | Registration |
| Tuesday, December 22nd 2:00pm – 2:30pm | Webex | Registration |
| Wednesday, December 30th 1:00pm – 1:30pm | Webex | Registration |
| Thursday, January 7th 11:00am – 11:30am | Webex | Registration |
| Monday, January 11th 11:00am – 11:30am | Webex | Registration |
| Wednesday, January 20th 10:00am – 10:30am | Webex | Registration |
If you have any questions or concerns about this update, please contact the UW-W Learning Technology Center.
On Tuesday, November 10th, Cisco will release the Webex Meetings 40.11 update. The highlights of this release are listed below. Full release notes are also available.
Here are some of the additional highlights that were included in the 40.10 update, which was released in October.
If you have any questions or concerns about this update, please contact the UW-W Learning Technology Center.
Effective immediately, Webex Meetings, Events and Trainings will have a unique Host Key* generated for each occurrence of a recurring series. This means that if you previously made note of the Meeting Number and Host key for your recurring series, you will now need to check prior to each session for the new Host Key.
Why has this change been implemented? To prevent unauthorized use of the Host Key (or PIN), making your classes, meetings, and events even more secure.
What does this mean for you? It may not affect you at all, as most people do not need the Host Key to start and run Webex sessions. If you need to find your Host Key for a meeting, go to your account at uww.webex.com or to Host Information in the Outlook appointment.
Who will be impacted? Anyone who uses a Cisco Webex Control Panel to start Webex sessions in HyFlex Video-enabled classrooms or Video-enabled conference rooms will need to note the new Host Key for every recurrence. Anyone who uses or shares the Host Key for Meetings, Events, or Trainings will want to make note of this change.
When does this take effect? Immediately. It applies to previously scheduled sessions, so any Webex session moving forward will have a new Host Key after the scheduled time ends.
Does this only affect recurring meetings? No, the Host Key for any Webex session will renew when a session ends after its scheduled time.
*A Host Key (PIN) is a six-digit code generated when a Webex session is scheduled. The Host Key may be used to reclaim the host role within a live session, or it can be used to start a meeting from a video system.
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.
To sign up for a training session on Breakouts please see our calendar.
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.
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:
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!
Participant Content Sharing
Hosts can now allow the participants to share their screen during scheduled meetings or Personal Rooms meetings.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the UW-W Learning Technology Center.
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.
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.
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.
Consolidated Panel Controls
Panel controls (like Participants, Chat, and Q&A) can be found towards the right, where the panel opens.
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.
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.
If you have any questions or concerns about this update, please contact the UW-W Learning Technology Center.
RESOLVED 4/22/2021: The issue has now been resolved and videos can once again be embedded into Canvas without issue.
UPDATE: Thank you for your patience with the embedded video issue. There are a number of technical upgrades that have to happen before this issue can be fully resolved. We are currently on target to have this issue resolved by the end of the Spring 2021 semester.
With the latest versions of Google Chrome and Safari, an issue can occur when videos from Rev (http://streaming.uww.edu) are embedded inside of your Canvas course.
We are currently working on a solution. In the meantime, please use one of the following workarounds:
Workaround 1: Use a web browser other than Google Chrome or Safari to access the video in the Canvas course.
Workaround 2: Login to streaming.uww.edu first, and then load the link in Canvas. This will allow the video to load as expected in Canvas. This does work in both Google Chrome and Safari.
Workaround 3: The issue is only impacting videos that are embedded in Canvas. As a workaround, you could change the embedded video to be a link instead. Instructions are available at: https://spaces.uww.edu/x/F4Gc
If you have additional questions about this issue, please contact the Learning Technology Center.
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.
If you have any questions or concerns about the service pack updates, please contact UW-W Canvas Support.