Summer Updates!

Good Morning ESU Canvas Community!

The latest Canvas update – scheduled for June 3^rd - includes several new features related to the Rich Content Editor, Grades, Course Announcements, and more.

PRODUCT RELEASE

·         June 3^rd Detailed Release Notes

DOCUMENT PREVIEW IS CHANGING!

The third party company known as “Box” is deprecating their Crocodoc product at the end of the year. You know Crocodoc as the content previewer in Speedgrader. All the major LMS companies that rely on Crocodoc have been building alternative products in response. Sometime between June 14^th and June 24^th Instructure (Canvas) will release the replacement to Crocodoc. You can read more about the new Document Previewer.

SUMMER UPDATES

Several enhancements have been implemented for the start of summer courses:

·         We added Microsoft Office365, OneDrive, OneNote, and Google Drive/Apps capabilities to all courses. These tools provide easier access to cloud-based documents and journaling. Students can also collaborate on cloud documents using these resources.

·         Vericite (plagiarism detection) has been added as a test product until mid-August. You will find it listed as a checkbox when you create an assignment. If you are teaching this summer, we strongly encourage you to try Vericite rather than Turnitin. We are considering moving to Vericite as a replacement to Turnitin and would welcome your feedback.

·         Adobe Connect will be discontinued on July 1 in favor of Zoom. ESU participated in a voluntary Zoom pilot sponsored by KanREN (Kansas Research and Educational Network) about 2 years ago to gauge faculty interest in an improved statewide webconferencing product. With very little solicitation, Zoom usage skyrocketed. The adoption rate has been tremendous with over 320 faculty, staff, student, and GA Host accounts created in that 2-year period. Zoom is used by KSU, KU, FHSU, JCCC, BCC, HCC, Tabor, and scores of Kansas municipalities and academic organizations, to name a few. Hence, IT made the decision to adopt Zoom as our webconferencing platform.

CANVAS TIPS/TRICKS:

Do you want to make document annotation in the Speedgrader a little easier? The ESU Math Department makes extensive use of Wacom graphing tablets that allow faculty to use a stylus to markup student submissions. This is particularly useful for quantitative assignments where the faculty want to see a problem resolved in a series of steps. These tablets include a screen and writing pen that allows for a more natural notation process – versus a mouse that can be less dexterous. If interested, let one of the Instructional Designers know and we can arrange for a demonstration.

BLOG AND TWITTER FEED

If you want more information about anything you read here, check out our blog at http://emporiastate.blogspot.com/ or follow us on Twitter @esulearningtech.

Update from Learning Technologies

Good Afternoon ESU Canvas Community!

The latest Canvas update – scheduled for May 12^th - includes one new beta feature that is of particular interest: Customizable Course Cards. This feature was originally developed last summer, but later withdrawn to make improvements. Once enabled by Instructure (Canvas), the instructional designers will review the feature and determine if/when to enable it at ESU.

PRODUCT RELEASE

·         May 12^th Detailed Release Notes

SUMMER UPDATES

Several enhancements are planned for the start of summer courses:

·         We will add Microsoft Office365, OneDrive, OneNote, and Google Drive/Apps capabilities to all courses. We have been testing over the spring term and are now ready to enable them for everyone. Some tools, such as OneDrive, will appear on your course sidebar. Other tools will appear wherever you see the Rich Text Editor.

·         We are planning to pilot a product called Vericite as a possible replacement for Turnitin. There are several reasons for this consideration: improved plagiarism setup, much lower cost, dynamic plagiarism detection, and fewer student copyright/ownership concerns. Vericite is used by Colorado State, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Washington, the University of New Hampshire, and several other universities. You can watch a video regarding Vericite in advance of our pilot installation - scheduled for the start of the summer term and extending through August 15^th.

CANVAS TIPS/TRICKS: DO MORE WITH ZOOM

Zoom has been one of our most popular instructional technologies to date. In April there were 426 webinars involving 116 faculty, staff, and students. We are now up to 312 Pro accounts at ESU – 4x more than our former webconferencing product in only a fraction of the time.

·         Zoom Tip/Trick 1: Where do your Zoom cloud recordings go? Through work we did along with technologists at the University of New Hampshire, we were able to integrate Zoom Cloud Recording with Kaltura, which appears as ‘My Media’ and ‘Media Gallery’ in your Canvas courses. Look there and you will find your Zoom cloud recordings. If you are unfamiliar with Kaltura, check with one of the instructional designers.

·         Zoom Tip/Trick 2: Did you know Zoom has a polling feature? Watch this short video regarding how to enable a poll in your meeting. You will not see a Poll button in the Zoom client until you have created a poll through the web interface.

BLOG AND TWITTER FEED

If you want more information about anything you read here, check out our blog at http://emporiastate.blogspot.com/ or follow us on Twitter @esulearningtech.

Happy New Year ESU!

Happy New Year ESU Canvas Community!

The latest Canvas updates are noted below. This update will occur on January 7^th.

Product Releases:

January 7^th Detailed Release Notes & Screencast

December 12^th iOS Detailed Release Notes

Smarthinking

This utility (online tutoring) has been removed from Canvas and will not be renewed. Instead, two new options for tutoring now appear on your course sidebar: ACES and WritingLab. These services reside in White Library. Students requesting tutoring should contact one or both of these campus services. Online students can participate in remote tutoring services provided through ACES.

CampusPack (Learning Objects)

This utility (blogs, wikis, journals, podcasts) has been removed from Canvas and will not be renewed. Instead, ….

Office365 + Canvas

….we are soliciting faculty who would like to voluntarily pilot two new Canvas enhancements: Office365 and OneNote. We’re requesting faculty opt into these new utilities for the Spring 2017 term during the pilot program. Here’s a little bit more about them….

Office 365 + Canvas: https://goo.gl/PBJVh5  (Provides the ability to add and collaborate using PowerPoint, Excel, and Word files through Canvas and OneDrive.)

OneNote + Canvas: https://goo.gl/rhLJK2 (Provides the ability to journal and blog using OneNote – a surprisingly powerful tool and supports multimedia.)

If you would like to participate in the pilot, please contact one of the Instructional Designers (Mark, Anna, Joe) and request to be included.

Panopto

The link for Panopto has changed to make it shorter and not wrap onto two sidebar lines. It now reads Panopto Videos rather than Panopto Recordings.

Learning Technologies Blog and Twitter Feed

If you want more information about anything you read here, check out our blog at http://emporiastate.blogspot.com/ or follow us on Twitter @esulearningtech. Our Twitter feed is one of the top educational Twitter feeds in the State of Kansas!