Closed Captions in Canvas

Being committed to having a course designed so that all learners can access all course content can be a daunting task. If you have created a video and it is hosted on a supported third-party media site (such as YouTube or Vimeo), you can easily add subtitles to the video. Check out this great Canvas Guide for more information: How do I create a caption file for an external video?

However, if you simply want to add some feedback to a discussion forum or a short announcement, you may not want to go to all the trouble of uploading it to your media site. Also, if accuracy is an issue, you can create your own closed caption video/audio file directly in CANVAS using the media tool in the Rich Content Editor. It's a bit of work, but easy enough to add subtitles for short clips that you don't want to upload to YouTube or Vimeo.

Check out the Canvas Help Guide How do I create captions for new or uploaded videos in Canvas?

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Discover the Secret of Finding Last Date of Attendance

Wonder how to find the last date of attendance for student are dropped or withdrawn?

Search no further!

1) Start in your course's Homepage.


2) Click the "Settings" button toward the bottom-left.

This will take you to a new window.

3) Click "Course Statistics" toward the right. 

This will open a window having various tabs across the top.

4) Choose the "Students" tab and click the name of the student you want to the information for. 

5) When the student account page loads, click "Access Report for..." toward the right side.

Clicking Access report for... will reveal the last login and activity for the student.

Well, there you go...the secret is out  ;)

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The Gooru Strikes Again: How to use Animations in Google Presentations

Animations have been lacking in Google Presentations...until now!  Google finally got the animation portion of their presentation set up, and you can use it TODAY!  I exclusively use Google Presentations in Canvas.  It integrates easily, and I love how it updates anywhere that the presentation is without me having to relink it.

The Google Guru has a great video on how to use this exciting feature.  View it below:

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Floating Images Using a Little HTML Code

Canvas Tips: Floating Images

Have you tried to insert a nice image along with your text only to find that now you have too much spacing between your lines and it looks something like this:

A bit messy, isn't it? Well, you can use a small piece of HTML code to make it look much more professional. Ready to try?

While editing your page, go ahead and type in your text. When you are ready, be sure to place your cursor at the beginning of the text you wish the image to appear. Then, insert your image. It will look ugly, just like it does on top. 

Next, you want to use the HTML Editor, so click on that link at the top right hand side of the page just above the Rich Content Editor tool bar. 

Find the code for your image. It will look something like this:

<p><img src="/courses/1269086/files/55297486/preview" alt="Koala.jpg" width="158" height="119" />

You want to type the following code - style="float: left; padding-right: 8px;" in between the <p><img and the src=".

The code will look something like this now (note I have bolded the float HTML code so you can more easily see it in this example): 

<p><img style="float: left; padding-right: 8px;" src="/courses/1269086/files/55297486/preview" alt="Koala.jpg" 

Be sure to type it exactly like it's shown above (except for the bolding, of course). When you go back to your Rich Content Editor, you picture and text will look like this:

It looks much neater now and takes up less room. You can change the size of the photo by clicking on it while in Rich Content Editor and then clicking on one of the white boxes and dragging it to the desired size. You can also move it around in the text by clicking and then dragging it and dropping it to a new area of the text. 

Other changes you can make:

• Have the image float to the right by changing left to right in the code after "float.

• Change how how much space you want between image and text by changing the px number (I used 20 for this example) after the code padding-right:

I hope you give it a try! Let us know how it worked for you.

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Recently Canvas has introduced a Notes column in the Gradebook.  To activate the Notes column, go to your Gradebook and select the Gear right above student names. The last item on the list should say 'Show Notes column' The Notes column will appear as the third column, right before the grade columns.

I have already discovered an incredibly useful way to employ this tool. For the final project in AR100 I require students to email their subject about 4 weeks before the project is due. I don't grade this specifically but the submission or lack thereof does affect their final score. Instead of scrounging through my emails for this info, I now record the subject and date of email in the Notes column

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Using the Redirect Tool in Canvas

Do you have a website that you refer to consistently in your Canvas course? If so, you can easily create a Course Navigational Tab so that students can easily access the Website where ever they happen to be in your course. What is this magic you ask? Why, it's the.......

The redirect tool should already be an app that is in your App Center. Check out this video to see how you can use this awesome tool!

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Customizing Your Course List

Customizing What You See In Your Course View Dropdown

Get tired of scrolling through your course view list to find your current courses?

Customizing your view list is easy!

Just hover over "Courses...," and your list should drop down. Simply click "customize" to get started.

Once you click "Customize," a list of your course alongside check-boxes should appear. Just check the courses you want in your list and click to remove the check from those you don't want to see. Only the checked courses will appear in your list view.

Once you have selected the courses you want, click the "X" in the selection window just above the slider bar to close.

No problem! :)

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Students CAN embed code in Canvas!!

As a follow-up from my last blog post on Storify, this post will guide you in helping your students learn how to embed code as a submission to an assignment or a discussion in Canvas. It doesn't have to be specifically for a Storify presentation...any embed code will work.

Why would you want students to embed code vs just including a link? Well, because it's cool!! Okay, it's also more professional, easier to view and to grade (you don't have to click on a link and be taken out of Canvas) and encourages more technology learning for our students.  Face it, digital skills are job skills! Finally, for those of you who are web enhancing a f2f class, students can embed their presentations to an assignment and then easily access it during class!

Take a look at the video below that guides students in how to embed code to an assignment or dropbox. This video is also posted in the Palette, so you can copy it and paste it to a page in your course(s)! Yes...the embed code should copy over!

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When Pages, Videos, etc. Won"t Load in Chrome or Firefox...

Overcoming Chrome & Firefox When They Block your Work

Lately, Chrome & Firefox have been hindering certain pages, videos, etc. from loading. This video holds the key to conquering this issue...  (If you can't see the video, that's part of the point of making the video ;). Go here: http://www.powtoon.com/p/csZ2eKLJzRu/ Then you can come back and try it out!)

Now...off you go...to your next mission :)

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Adjusting Quizzes in Canvas

Unlocking, Adding Extra Time & Attempts To Quizzes In Canvas

Students need extra time or need access outside the scheduled time? No problem. Adjustments are easier than you might think.

Adding extra attempts and time to quizzes is easy in Canvas. Start by going to “Quizzes” or just click on the quiz link in your modules. Once on your quiz’s page, click Moderate This Quiz on the right. That will get you this screen--minus the markings :)  Notice the “edit” pencil in the yellow highlight. For particular students, click their corresponding pencil.

For all students, clicking the very top box under Moderate Quiz is most efficient (see red arrow below). This will check all boxes at once and give you an option at the bottom of the list of names to change all at once (blue arrow).

Either way, once the selected student(s) are chosen, options for extra time and attempts are shown. Also shown is the option to merely unlock the quiz for another attempt. Unlocking a quiz makes it available to the student(s)  REGARDLESS OF AVAILABILITY OR DUE DATES. A student may need this if the student is going to be unavailable and needs the quiz ahead of time, or following some life issue needs the quiz opened after the due date . Once you’ve made your changes, hit “save.”

Once changes are made, icons will indicate you edited some things. Extra time and attempts will show under student(s) name(s). An open lock will appear next to the “edit” pencil if unlocked.

That’s it, no worries.  Just open your quiz page > Moderate This Quiz > Edit (pencil) > Save.  Now, on with the rest of your life :) .

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Keep Calm and Just Grade

Muting Assignments

Muting assignments allows instructors to grade, regrade, make comments (change and add comments), etc. all without students getting notifications every time you do something.

This heads off student stress about why they received a certain quiz grade when you haven't graded the typed responses yet, a grade (that was mistakenly given to them),why they haven’t received their grades when classmates have, why they received 2 or more grades for the same assignment (now that you've adjusted it), etc.

It allows instructors to grade discussions as they happen without needing to wait for every post to be submitted, grade quizzes without concern for students sharing answers or getting an inaccurate grade until you finish scoring the text entry questions. You can change grades, make additional comments, adjust class assignment scores, etc., then release them all at once. Just grade as you go, and then “unmute” it when you’re all done. 

How?

There are a couple of ways. The easiest (for me) is in the gradebook. Hover over the assignment title, and you’ll see an arrow in the bottom right of the cell. Click it…and voila! “Mute Assignment” is there. 

Once you mute, a mute icon appears next to the title.

When you’re all finished grading, just go back to the gradebook and unmute it. Unmute will be right where mute was. Enjoy!

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Setting a Default Grade In Canvas

 

Did you know that you can set a default grade for assignments in Canvas? It's quick and easy!  If you have several students who have not turned in their work, you can use the "Set Default Grade" feature in the gradebook to put in all the zeros with a few clicks.

Here's step by step directions, including screenshots.

It is IMPERATIVE that you do this each week, rather than waiting until the end of the semester.  It's not fun for that "A" student to realize that he's a "C" student until the last week of class because zeros had not been entered.

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20 Google Docs Secrets for busy teachers and students.

As we move to Canvas, Butler's new LMS, we have suggested that instructors store some pages in Google Docs. You can link to these pages from multiple courses and, when updates are made in Google Docs, the file is, of course, updated in all courses where the link exists. Google Docs will function much the same as your ANGEL LOR. 

But Google Docs can do so much more that store your files. Take a look at  20 Google Docs Secrets for busy teachers and students on Ed Galaxy to learn "20 great tips every teacher and student should be using to get the most of the collaborative learning opportunities Google Doc’s offers."

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Canvas Tip: You can Add Multiple Items to a Module!

 Did you know that you can add multiple content items to a module at the same time?
 Here's how:

1. Go to the gear to the right of the Module Title Bar.
2. Click on Add Content.
3. Choose the type of content at the dropdown.  For example, choose Assignments.
4. Then hold down the Ctrl button on your keyboard and click the multiple Assignments to add.
5. Click Add Item.
6. Voila! Multiple items are added to the bottom of your module.
7. Drag them into the preferred order.

Thanks to Terry Sader for this great Canvas tip.

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6 Creative Ways to Make Your eLearning Courses More Visual

I just read this article, 6 Creative Ways to Make Your eLearning Courses More Visual, and I happen to agree with most of it. The reason I wanted to post this article now is that all of the suggestions are easily to accomplish in Canvas, Butler's new LMS. In fact, the Canvas interface almost demands some of these. The list includes:

1) Theme or Brand Your Course

2) Use Infographics and Images of Words and Numbers

3) Embed a Short Video

4) Use High-Quality, Professional-Looking Photos and Images

5) Use Visual Menus

6) Do Some Formatting

 Take a quick look at the article to learn more about these techniques and to access some resources to help incorporate them. Let you course manager know if you need any help.

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Canvas Tip: Attaching Documents to Discussion Forums

Instructors, do you use Discussions in your online course in which students upload or attach a file?  If so, here are the instructions to allow for that functionality in your course.  You will have to "turn on" this feature for your students in each of your courses, but it will copy to future sections.

1. Go to Settings in the Course Navigation (left sidebar)
2. Click Edit Course Details
3. Scroll down and click the "more options" link in blue
4. Check the box "let students attach files to discussion"

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Canvas Tip: First Impressions!

In order for your students to experience an instant connection with you and your online course, please consider the following tips for your Canvas home page:

1. Do include your name on the Home page.  This will help students connect quicker and know who to contact if they need to message you.
2. Do include a brief, yet friendly welcome message.
3. Consider using a banner that is specific to your course.  Contact Roberta Sheahan (rsheahan@butlercc.edu)  if you would like to have one created.

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