Tag Archives: Canvas

Welcome Back Students! Have Canvas issues?

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Welcome to the Fall 2019 Semester!  Here is what you should know for the Fall Semester.

  • Courses may or may not have a Canvas component. Instructors have the option to use Canvas for their courses, but not all do.  If you aren’t sure if Canvas is utilized for your class, be sure to ask your instructor.  If you are just enrolling in a course now, be aware that it can take 24-48 hours for that enrollment to move from WINS to Canvas.
  • Canvas 24/7/365 support is available for all users.  Most students are already familiar with the D2L Support Form, but what happens when a student needs help with Canvas?  You can contact the Canvas 24/7/365 Support team.  You can find the Chat and E-mail options on both the Canvas Login Page and in the Help button in the lower left hand corner after you are logged in.
  • Self-paced Student Training Course is available. Anyone interested in receiving an introduction to Canvas before the start of the semester can self-enroll in the state provided Canvas Student Training course http://go.uww.edu/canvas-student-training

If you have questions regarding the Canvas Transition, please contact the UW-W Learning Technology Center.

Cisco Webex Education Connector for Canvas

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The Cisco Webex Connector is now available for use in Canvas!  The Webex Connector allows you to interact with Webex Meetings and Webex Teams directly from your Canvas course.  It can be accessed by clicking on “Cisco Webex” in the course navigation menu.

To get started with the Cisco Webex Education Connector, see: https://spaces.uww.edu/x/74I3AQ

This is a replacement for the “Webex (Legacy)” integration which will be removed on Monday, August 19th, 2019 after the completion of the Summer term.

If you have any questions about this integration, please reach out to the UW-W Learning Technology Center.

Kaltura Media Migration: D2L -> Canvas

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As of May 28th, 2019, all Kaltura media that was created by instructors and accessed with Desire2Learn (D2L) between September 1st, 2018 and May 21st, 2019 has been migrated to Canvas.

This does not impact media material that is located on Vbrick Rev (Streaming.uww.edu).

We have created a Canvas Media Management Tools guide to help explain the best use cases for each of the media management tools available at UW-Whitewater.

If you have additional questions regarding the Kaltura Media Migration, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

What does this migration mean for me?

Inside of Canvas, you can access the “My Media” tool by clicking on the “Account” item on the left global navigation menu, and then by selecting “My Media” from the account menu.  Within this interface, you will be able to create, edit, delete and view all of your Kaltura media that exists within Canvas.

From the editing toolbar in Canvas, you can click on the “More Tools” icon highlighted in the image below, and select “My Media” to embed videos in your content.

Can I still use Kaltura CaptureSpace?

Kaltura CaptureSpace has been discontinued as of June 1st, 2019 and is no longer supported by the vendor.  There is a new tool called Kaltura Capture which has the same functionality as CaptureSpace.  Visit the Kaltura Capture guide to get started.

What if I can’t find all of my media content in Canvas?

If there is video content missing that you had within D2L, contact the Learning Technology Center and we can migrate that over as well. Currently, we only moved over media that was created by instructors and accessed since September 1st, 2018.

Why was it necessary to migrate my media?

With the launch of Canvas, there was also a new Kaltura instance that was put in place by UW-System. This is totally separate from the Kaltura instance that has been connected with D2L.


Canvas Course Templates: Additional Flexibility Available

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On Tuesday May 28th, UW-System approved a change in Canvas to allow for additional flexibility in the Course Navigation area and in the number of Announcements shown.  The following items can now be added or removed from the student view in the following order:

  • Assignments
  • Discussions
  • Grades
  • Announcements
  • People
  • Pages
  • Syllabus
  • Outcomes
  • Quizzes
  • Modules
  • Collaborations
  • Chat
  • Office 365

Instructors are now able to modify the number of recent Announcements that are visible in the Home area.  Announcements were previously set so that the three most recent were visible in the Home area.  This update will allow instructors to choose to allow between one and fifteen announcements to be visible.

These updates will not cause any visible changes in existing courses.  Any instructor wishing to take advantage of this increased flexibility will need to update their courses themselves.

If you have additional questions about Canvas please reach out to Canvas 24/7/365 support by going to http://uww.edu/canvas.

[RESOLVED] Some Users Unable to Access Canvas April 28th

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Between 7:35 PM CDT and 8:20 PM CDT on Sunday, April 28th some users were unable to access Canvas.  The Canvas team found an issue with one of their backend services that caused multiple instances to become unresponsive.  At this time the issue is resolved and Canvas is operating normally.

If you continue to have any problems, please contact Canvas Support.

Canvas Workshops – Summer 2019

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The LTC will be offering a full day of rotating workshops on Thursday, May 23rd, 2019. We also have a series of Hands-On Introduction and Canvas Construction Zone sessions scheduled for June. We will continue to offer workshops throughout the summer.

Canvas Hands-On Introduction (2 Hours) – Thursday, May 23rd
We will cover the basic function of the core tools in the Canvas platform. There will be time to ask questions throughout the session. We will offer repeats of this workshop all day – so feel free to attend multiple sessions – or drop in at any time. Please register for any sessions that you may attend to help give us an idea for planning. Registration is not required and you are welcome to drop in the day of the event. Remote viewing options will also be available. Light refreshments will be available.

Date/Time Location Register
Thursday, May 23rd – 9:00am Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Webinar Registration
Thursday, May 23rd – 1:00pm Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Webinar Registration

Canvas Hands-On Introduction (2 Hours)
We will cover the basic function of the core tools in the Canvas platform. There will be time to ask questions along the way. If this is your first time touching Canvas, this workshop is the one for you!

Date/Time Location Register
Tuesday, June 4th – 9:00am Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Wednesday, June 12th – 9:00am UW Rock Allen Hall 03/04 In-Person Registration
Tuesday, July 16th – 9:00am UW-Rock Allen Hall 03/04 In-Person Registration
Monday, July 22nd – 1:00pm Hyer 210

In-Person Registration
Webinar Registration

Canvas Construction Zone (2 Hours)
Are you ready to start digging into your course setup?  Do you need help straightening up after moving a course from D2L into Canvas?  Do you have questions on how to set things up? This is the session for you! This session will be 2 hours of lab time with support staff on hand to help you construct your course in Canvas. Don’t forget your hard hat!

Date/Time Location Register
Thursday, May 30th – 1:00pm Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Thursday, June 6th – 9:00am Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Wednesday, June 12th – 1:00pm UW-Rock Allen Hall 03/04 In-Person Registration
Tuesday, July 16th – 1:00pm UW-Rock Allen Hall 03/04 In-Person Registration
Wednesday, July 24th – 1:00pm Hyer 210 In-Person Registration

Canvas Open Lab (2 Hours)
We will be available to answer your Canvas questions during the sessions below! Whether you are working on your current course, or if you are getting ready to teach in Canvas for the first time – stop on by!

Date/Time Location Register
Friday, May 31st – 9:00am Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Monday, June 24th – 1:00pm Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Wednesday, June 26th – 9:00am Hyer 210 In-Person Registration

Thursday, August 8th – 10:00am

UW-Rock Allen Hall 03/04

 In-Person Registration

Thursday, August 8th – 12:00pm

UW-Rock Allen Hall 03/04

 In-Person Registration
Tuesday, August 13th – 9:00am Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Thursday, August 15th – 1:00pm Hyer 210 In-Person Registration

Canvas Deep Dives (1 Hour)
We will focus on a single tool, and dive deep into various options and use cases for how that tool works.

  • Content: This is delivered on the concept of backwards design driving the look and feel of course setup. It is about taking what you already do and molding a better experience for you and your students.
  • Quizzes: This will touch on different question types, building in targeted feedback in auto-graded quizzes, and most likely spend the bulk of the time in the Question Bank area to help instructors get a feel for how Canvas Question Bank is different than D2L Question Library.
  • Rubrics: This will start by touching briefly on rubric creation, but will focus on techniques to maximize the amount of value you can get by building rubrics directly in Canvas.
  • Discussions: We will look at setup (including threaded vs unthreaded), visibility, the lack of a “Forum” in Canvas (compared to how D2L had it), group setup, and grading.
  • Grades: Weighting grades, Late policies, Muting Assignments, SpeedGrader, setting a default grade, and setting up extra credit.
Event Name Date/Time Location Register
Content Monday, June 17th – 10:00am Hyer 210

In-Person Registration
Webinar Registration
Quizzes Wednesday, June 19th – 10:00am Hyer 210

In-Person Registration
Webinar Registration
Rubrics Thursday, July 25th – 10:00am Hyer 210

In-Person Registration
Webinar Registration
Discussions Wednesday, July 31st – 10:00am Hyer 210

In-Person Registration
Webinar Registration
Grades Thursday, August 1st – 10:00am Hyer 210

In-Person Registration
Webinar Registration

If you have any questions about these sessions, please reach out to the UW-W Learning Technology Center.

Canvas Workshops – March & April 2019

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The LTC will be offering Canvas Hands-On Introduction, Canvas Construction Zone, Canvas Open Labs and Canvas Deep Dive sessions during March and April 2019.  Additional Summer 2019 workshops will be scheduled in April.

Canvas Hands-On Introduction – 2 Parts (1 Hour)
We will cover the basic function of the core tools in the Canvas platform. There will be time to ask questions along the way. If this is your first time touching Canvas, this workshop is the one for you!

Part 1: 24/7/365 Support, Global Navigation, Create Module, Create Page
Upload File (PowerPoint, PDF, Word, etc), Assignment Groups (set up gradebooks categories)

Part 2: Create Quiz, Create paper submission area, Doing grading and feedback in Speed Grader, Syllabus, Calendar

Event Name Date/Time Location Register
Canvas Hands-On Introduction – Part 1 Wednesday, March 13th – Noon Williams Hall W29 (UW-Rock Campus) In-Person Registration
Canvas Hands-On Introduction – Part 2 Wednesday, March 20th – Noon Williams Hall W29 (UW-Rock Campus) In-Person Registration
Canvas Hands-On Introduction (Part 1 & 2) + LUNCH Tuesday, March 26th – 10am Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Canvas Hands-On Introduction (Part 1 & 2) Wednesday, March 27th – 10am Williams Hall W29 (UW-Rock Campus) In-Person Registration
Canvas Hands-On Introduction – Part 1 Monday, April 1st – 10am McGraw 19c In-Person Registration
Canvas Hands-On Introduction – Part 2 Monday, April 8th – 10am McGraw 19c In-Person Registration

Canvas Construction Zones
Are you ready to start digging into your course setup? Do you need help straightening up after moving a course from Desire2Learn (D2L) into Canvas? Do you have questions on how to set things up? This is the session for you! This session will be 1 hour of lab time with support staff on hand to help you construct your course in Canvas. Don’t forget your hard hat!

Please transfer a course from D2L to Canvas before coming to the workshop. A step by step guide is available at: https://spaces.uww.edu/x/HoCc

Event Name Date/Time Location Register
Canvas Hands-On Construction Zone (2 Hours) + LUNCH Tuesday, March 26th – Noon Hyer 210 In-Person Registration
Canvas Hands-On Construction Zone (2 Hours) Wednesday, March 27th – 12:30PM Williams Hall W29 (UW-Rock Campus) In-Person Registration
Canvas Hands-On Construction Zone (1 Hour) Monday, April 15th – 10am McGraw 19c In-Person Registration

Canvas Open Lab (1 Hour)
We will be available to answer your Canvas questions during the sessions below! Whether you are working on your current course, or if you are getting ready to teach in Canvas for the first time – stop on by!

Date/Time Location Register
Monday, April 22nd – 10am McGraw 19c In-Person Registration

Canvas Deep Dives (1 Hour)
We will focus on a single tool, and dive deep into various options and use cases for how that tool works.

  • Content: This is delivered on the concept of backwards design driving the look and feel of course setup. It is about taking what you already do and molding a better experience for you and your students.
  • Quizzes: This will touch on different question types, building in targeted feedback in auto-graded quizzes, and most likely spend the bulk of the time in the Question Bank area to help instructors get a feel for how Canvas Question Bank is different than D2L Question Library.
  • Rubrics: This will start by touching briefly on rubric creation, but will focus on techniques to maximize the amount of value you can get by building rubrics directly in Canvas.
  • Discussions: We will look at setup (including threaded vs unthreaded), visibility, the lack of a “Forum” in Canvas (compared to how D2L had it), group setup, and grading.
  • Grades: Weighting grades, Late policies, Muting Assignments, SpeedGrader, setting a default grade, and setting up extra credit.
Event Name Date/Time Location Register
Content Wednesday, April 3rd – 8:30am McGraw 19c In-Person Registration
Quizzes Wednesday, April 10th – 8:30am McGraw 19c In-Person Registration
Rubrics Wednesday, April 17th – 8:30am McGraw 19c In-Person Registration
Discussions Wednesday, April 24th – 8:30am McGraw 19c In-Person Registration
Grades Wednesday, May 1st – 8:30am McGraw 19c In-Person Registration

If you have any questions about these sessions, please reach out to the UW-W Learning Technology Center.

TED Tips — Issue 25: Ideas for Digital Instruction

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Welcome to a very special 25th issue of UWW Ted Tips!  This special blog post takes the form of a video blog or VLOG!  You’ll find a video recording below with an outline of notes.

The main purpose of the TED Tips blog this week is to provide some ideas of how to build a digital “lesson” and to show you some ideas how to do that inside of Canvas!

The main idea is to create a written outline or “to do” list associated with that idea.  It is always a good idea to provide communications to students for a completed lesson — in this case, I’ve shown an announcement in Canvas for that page.

Inside of Canvas, you’ll want to create a page or a module as a “wrapper” to contain the content.  It’s a good idea to include a purpose or objectives — what’s the key idea or essential learnings for the digital content.

Things to consider including in a lesson:

  • Summary of key points
  • Outline of main ideas
  • A review of previous content or how this connects to the larger course content
  • You can include a Video summary or note
    • (similar to what’s shown in the VLOG!) this particular vlog posts shows an introduction [timestamp 1:21]
    • an example is shown in the Vlog to a previous piece of digital content
    • Canvas supports Kaltura Capture which is an easy way to record simple videos or screencasts
  • Lecture notes
  • Powerpoint presentation
  • Related readings from a textbook or other course documents
  • Links to other websites or resources
  • Multimedia embedded from other sources

TIP:  It is always helpful for students to provide context and clear insights for what is important for students to review.  Instead of just linking to a multimedia source or video, provide a timestamp and other clear guidance. [timestamp: 2:59]

  • Links to Canvas Discussion questions
  • Other instructional activities including
    • practice questions
    • lab work
    • online learning activities (flashcards, games, puzzles, etc.)
  • Homework assignments
  • Other resources like links to other websites
  • Citations / References

Issue 25 was structured in a way to provide an example of what this could look like and will set the tone and idea to explore these in different ways!

Future TED tips will explore more focused tips on:

  • selecting and curating good multimedia
  • research on what types of multimedia works and why
  • Recoding short videos at home using Kaltura Capture from inside Canvas
  • Recording longer reusable videos utilizing the LTC Video Recording studio
  • Recording podcasts
  • Where to store videos in canvas and host them on VBrick Rev

– Ted Witt
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Consultant

Resources:

TED Tips – Issue 24: Winter Break!

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As the 2018 Fall Semester concludes, I want to reflect on the first six months of writing this blog. It has been a great honor to share discoveries, explore new ideas, and write about topics related to Technology, Education, and Design. I hope that these TED tips continue to inform and inspire as we celebrate teaching and learning at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater.

RELAX

Winter Break

Over the last six months, we have explored the difference is between a Learning Management System (LMS) and a Digital Learning Environment (DLE). This distinction is important as it helps to lay the foundation for some of the key decisions applicable to the migration from D2L to Canvas at Whitewater and throughout the UW System.

Canvas has been a source for several posts. The LTC Canvas peer mentors shared some of most important lessons learned while working with Canvas in the classroom. We looked at ways to support communications in Canvas and the importance of making a good first impressions. We explored grading and using Speed Grader in Canvas.

What are some different ways technology can be used in the classroom to support your teaching learning? Tools like Poll Everywhere can increase student engagement and interaction. “23 Things for Digital Knowledge” provided activities that can build student fluency in digital literacy.

TED Tips have explored the 2018 NMC Horizon Report and its view the trends, challenges, and developments in educational technology as it impacts higher education. Using the Horizon Report provides a lens to highlight pilots and innovative work taking place on campus like Adaptive Learning.

The blog will continue to promote workshops sponsored by the Learning Technology Center and its many partners and collaborators. For example, there is a series of upcoming Canvas workshops this winter: Canvas Open labs, hands on workshops for newcomers to Canvas, Construction Zones to help instructors move their courses from D2L to Canvas, and deep dives into single topics to help with your teaching. Grading in Canvas and building and using rubrics will be explored in early January. For a full list of times and locations of the upcoming winter Workshops visit the LTC. https://blogs.uww.edu/instructional/2018/12/12/canvas-workshops-winter-2019/

The next session in the 2018-19 UW-Whitewater LEARN Center/Learning Technology Center Workshop Series: “Back to Basics to Balance Workload” is Thursday, January 10th from 10:00am to 2:00pm in the University Center. This four hour workshop includes lunch and is designed as a hands-on activity to help prepare for your spring classes! Session Four: Setting the tone early saves time in the long run: Crafting your syllabus and engaging students before the first day of class and beyond.

During the morning session of the workshop, presenters will share evidence-based strategies for creating a more learner-centered syllabus and share tips for engaging students from the first day (and even before class begins!). After a lunch discussion, participants will learn more on how to better utilize Canvas in their courses in a way that clarifies organization and sets expectations in a more transparent manner. Participants will end the session with time to revise their syllabi, first day activities, and/or Canvas course pages and share their materials for small group feedback.

Participants will leave with:

  • An overview of best practices for syllabus development
  • Experience with a variety of first day activities that can increase student engagement and sense of community
  • Ideas to organize their Canvas course pages
  • Revised syllabi/activities to enhance student engagement

To register for this workshop: https://my.uww.edu/signup/Registration/Details/15867

Thank you for taking the time to read these posts! TED Tips will return in 2019. Topics next year will build on and support some of the upcoming workshops with TED Tips planned to explore several types of rubrics, building them in Canvas, design of a course homepage, navigation, analytics, and many others. I hope to experiment a bit more in format and content and hope to record the occasional complementary podcast! Until then, have a great holiday break, recharge, and relax! See you next year!

– Ted Witt
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Consultant

Resources

LTC Canvas Peer Mentors http://www.uww.edu/icit/ltc/canvas-portal/peer-mentors

Canvas Workshops Winter 2019
https://blogs.uww.edu/instructional/2018/12/12/canvas-workshops-winter-2019/

LEARN Center/Learning Technology Center Workshop Series:  “Back to Basics to Balance Workload.”  Session Four: Setting the tone early saves time in the long run: Crafting your syllabus and engaging students before the first day of class and beyond. https://my.uww.edu/signup/Registration/Details/15867

LTDC Virtual Showcase 2019 Call for Proposals

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The education session proposal deadline for the 2019 UW System Learning Technology Development Council Virtual Showcase (https://www.wisconsin.edu/learning-tech/events-conf/ltdc-virtual-showcase-2019/) has been extended to December 21, 2018.

The UW System’s annual LTDC Virtual Showcase will be held on April 2nd and 3rd, 2019. The theme for this year’s showcase is Building the New: Innovate, Integrate, Motivate.  We want to hear your tips, tricks, and tales from the trenches as it relates to teaching, learning, and technology.

LTDC Virtual Showcase April 2-3 CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Please consider submitting an education session proposal (https://uwex.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eP9Str1A4qJz2hn). It’s a great way to present at a national conference without having to leave your campus or department. Presentations during concurrent sessions will be 45 minutes: 30 minutes for presentations and 15 minutes for questions and answers. All sessions will be given via a web conferencing tool. Sessions will be recorded and available for archive viewing. The LTDC highly encourages collaboration, use of appropriate and acceptable technologies, multiple institutions, and multiple discipline proposals.

Proposals will be selected and placed into one of the conferences tracks. The tracks are:

  • Digital Learning Environment – What have you learned about the DLE that you’d like to share? Discovered interesting features that everyone should know about? 
  • Teaching & Learning – Have you used technology to prepare instructors to teach or to assist students with learning? What train-the-trainer opportunities have you created?  
  • Technology and Other Resources – Have you created a wonderful set of resources for faculty and students?  What new tool have you discovered that you want to share?
  • Student Engagement – What are you doing to promote student engagement in your classes? How are your students connecting with each other and you?
  • Library and Digital Media – How have you incorporated media or leveraged the library into your classroom? Let’s hear about your LibGuides, user guides, knowledge bases, and instructional videos.
  •  Open Educational Resources – What type of Open Educational Resources have you discovered in the public domain or introduced with an open license?