AcTec Post - Fall 2021 Newsletter

FALL 2021 NEWSLETTER

Welcome back to the Fall 2021 semester! We hope you had a restful summer break. You will find lots of great information in this newsletter that we hope will help you prepare for the fall semester. Enjoy!

📢 CANVAS UPDATES

Here are some Canvas updates and new features that have been recently released or will be coming soon.

◼ Canvas Peer Review Tool - The peer review tool in Canvas allows your students to review their peers' assignments and discussions.

How-to | Peer Review Tips

◼ Comment Library in Speedgrader - This new feature allows instructors to save frequently used comments in SpeedGrader which can be reused across multiple students and assignments.

More info & How-to | Q&A | Video

◼ Student Annotation Submission in Assignments - This new feature allows instructors to provide a file as an assignment and allow students to annotate the file directly in Canvas.

More info & How-to | Q&A | Video

◼ New Quizzes - The new quiz engine will replace the current Canvas quizzes at some point in the next year or two. The current quiz tool is currently set to be available through 2022. Below are some resources for those who would still like to get a head start getting familiarized with the new tool.
FAQs | Comparison: New vs. Old | How to Enable | Migrate a Canvas Quiz to New Quizzes | Webinar: Quizzes.Next Importing

🛑 IMPORTANT NOTE 🛑

Canvas updates are sent via myCETL announcements (in Canvas) throughout the semester. Be sure to keep your Canvas notifications enabled for announcements to stay informed! Here’s how to set your notification preferences.

💻 ONE DRIVE & TEAMS in CANVAS

You should see three new tabs in your course menu: Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, and Teams Meetings.

Microsoft OneDrive

Enables instructors/students to create folders and upload files to OneDrive via Canvas.
Option to embed documents.
Using Microsoft OneDrive
Click-through OneDrive demo

Microsoft Teams

Create new team by going to Settings > Integrations tab > enable sync > click the button to sync.
When the team has been created, instructors and students can click the new team tile on the page to open it in the Teams app (install app first).
Use the sync option to adjust team membership if course enrollment changes.
Using Microsoft Teams
Click-through Microsoft Teams demo

Teams Meetings

Create new team meetings for the course.
Click the calendar on the Teams Meetings page to see meetings scheduled for other dates.
Meetings created in Outlook or Teams app calendars will be listed as well.
Using Teams Meetings
Click-through Teams Meetings demo

🔨 NEW TOOLS 🔧

There are many exciting new tools that are now available for you to explore! Information and resources for these new tools are listed below. We also have training opportunities in our training calendar 👉.

◼ HonorLock - Honorlock is a proctoring tool that instructors can use to connect to their exams. There is no cost to students to take an HonorLock proctored exam. HonorLock will be replacing ProctorU, however ProctorU will still be available through the spring to allow time to transition to the new tool.

Guide | Using HonorLock in Canvas | How-to Video | FAQs | HonorLock page in myCETL

◼ Ally - This new tool provides guidance for the accessibility of uploaded files and images. Ally also enables instructors and students to download files and Canvas content in alternate formats (audio format, HTML, PDF, Braille etc.). Ally's institutional reporting capabilities will eliminate the required UDOIT scan/reporting each semester.

Instructor Help Guides | Quick Start Guide

Resources and Support | AcTec's Accessibility Tools Webpage | Ally page in the myCETL

◼ SoftChalk Cloud - SoftChalk Cloud allows instructors to create engaging interactive Web lessons as well as individual learning activities that can easily be integrated into Canvas course content. Edit lessons and learning activities online in your cloud account.

◼ Microsoft Bookings - This tool is now included in our Microsoft suite that instructors can use to make scheduling and managing virtual office hour appointments a breeze. Bookings includes a web-based booking calendar with automated emails that integrates with Outlook and Teams to give your students flexibility to book a time that works best for them.

🔑 MASTER COURSES

We have several new turn-key master courses that are ready for use. Email nolisd@easternflorida.edu to have the content copied to your course shell:

ACG 2021
ENC 1101
SLS 1101
REL 2300
PSY 2012
LIT 1000

Visit the Master Courses List for a full list of available master courses.

🗨 DISCUSSION ON DISCUSSIONS

Amidst the current context of COVID-19, where we are utilizing online tools to enable teaching and learning more than ever, we may need to take a different approach to the one we had planned. Below is an Instructure Community post written by John Martin at UW-Madison that talks about the differences between face-to-face and online discussions and how to adapt.

◼ Face-to-face discussions are different then online forums. How can we adapt?

Below is a link to a comprehensive list of various discussion structures, created by Lisa C. Kidder and Mark Cooper of Idaho State University, that may help spark some innovative discussion ideas for your own course!

◼ Alternative Discussion Structures

✅ CANVAS COURSE CHECKLISTS

Use these helpful checklists to make sure you're ready for the new semester!

Start of Term Checklist

Gradebook Checklist

📅 FALL 2021 TRAINING CALENDAR

For more information and to register for the workshops below visit our Training Calendar page.

Canvas/Course Content Webinars

◼ Canvas Instructor Training (CIT) - Ongoing (Online)

◼ EFO Orientation - 8/13, 9/7

◼ Advanced Canvas: Inviting Home Page - 9/28

◼ Advanced Canvas: Managing Grades - 8/31, 10/14, 11/3

◼ Advanced Canvas: Quizzes & Test Banks - 9/20, 10/6, 11/9

Accessibility Webinars

◼ Ally Overview - 8/31, 9/28, 11/15

◼ Create Accessible Content in Canvas - 9/1, 11/2

◼ Create Accessible Content in MS Word and Powerpoint - 9/9, 11/10

Learn a New Tool

◼ Live Sessions in MS Teams - 8/13, 8/20, 9/7, 10/6

◼ HonorLock - webinar recordings in myCETL

◼ Kaltura Lecture Capture - 9/15, 10/12, 11/8

◼ OneDrive: Online File Storage - 9/13, 10/19, 10/27

◼ SoftChalk Cloud Lesson Builder - 10/27, 11/16

💻 GET THE MOST OUT OF TEAMS

Refer to this handy Microsoft Teams Quick Start Guide to get the most out of Teams both at the workplace and in the classroom. Also, be sure to check the AcTec Training Calendar for "Live Sessions in Teams" webinars offered throughout the term.

⚠️ UDOIT REMOVAL SUMMER 2022

During the past few years we have been remediating accessibility issues in Canvas content. UDOIT has been assisting instructors to find and fix many of these issues.

After the spring 2022 term, UDOIT will be removed from Canvas. Instructors will be able to use UDOIT until that time to fix accessibility issues found in course content. After spring 2022, instructors will be able to use Ally and the Canvas Accessibility Checker to check existing content for accessibility issues.

All existing content should still be made accessible, but the focus is on creating Canvas content (Canvas Accessibility Guidelines) and files with accessibility in mind from the start. This will ensure access to all learners. This will reduce the time fixing any remaining issues found by Ally and the Canvas Accessibility Checker as well as other accessibility checker tools (Microsoft, Adobe etc.).

Resources to create accessible content can be found in the myCETL course in Canvas as well as the Academic Technology website and Online Accessibility at EFSC website. Monitor the Titan Today newsletter for training opportunities.