Need to quickly change a course due date? Head to the Calendar in Canvas (on the far left of your screen on the Global Navigation Menu). From there, you can drag and drop an assignment due date to a new day.
Canvas Quick Tip: Drag and Drop Due Dates
Canvas Tip: New Analytics to Support Students
Did you know that New Analytics provides detailed reports about grades, activity in Canvas, and missing assignments? Take a look at the information below to learn more. This can be used to support your teaching with data and an easy way to communicate with students and families that need support.
*Credit to Nicole Pate of Del Sol Academy for the informational slides. Link to slides.
Submit a tech ticket if you have questions about this feature.
Elementary Teachers – Using IXL with Canvas
In addition to accessing IXL via Clever, we have recently integrated IXL with Canvas to provide the following functionality (and more) within Canvas courses.
Quick Launcher
Allows student to quickly access a few of the most valuable areas of IXL.com
Activity Selector
Allows teachers to create a direct links to an IXL skill, or the Diagnostic, from within Canvas
Activity Viewer/Launcher
Allows students or teachers to access an assigned IXL skill or Diagnostic
In sum, IXL’s integration with Canvas allows teachers to access IXL through Canvas and create activities using IXL skills or the Real-Time Diagnostic. Students can also access IXL through Canvas and navigate directly to certain sections of IXL, including skills or the diagnostic as selected by their teachers.
Check out the resources below to help you take full advantage of the integration features:
**Be on the look out for a synchronous, virtual training on IXL for our March 7 Professional Development day.**
(Thanks Bentley educator Kayleigh Gilo for the idea/encouragement to explore setting up this integration!)
PCEP Year-Long Courses now with Grading Periods
High School teachers of PCEP year-long courses, please be aware that Grading Periods will be set up in your Canvas courses denoting each semester.
Year-Long PCEP Courses
- Teachers will have access to make edits, give feedback, and grade assignments in Canvas for first semester until 11:59 pm on February 2, 2022. After that date, the grades will not be editable.
- Students will continue to have access to submit assignments with due dates in the first semester UNLESS YOU HAVE AN AVAILABLE UNTIL DATE OF JAN. 28 OR EARLIER. You can edit those dates in bulk by following the steps here.
Semester 2 began January 31st, 2022. You can filter your grade book to view assignments with due dates in the Semester 2 grading period by following the steps here.
The information above was also noted in our January 18, 2022 blog post.
If you have questions, please submit a tech ticket.
Zoom Features for your Virtual Classes
There have been some updates to Zoom that help facilitate online learning for teachers and students. Check them out below.
- Save Zoom recording directly to Canvas. You can now save your Zoom recordings directly to Canvas Studio to easily integrate and share with your students. It just requires a few clicks to set this up in Canvas. Video tutorial.
- Create a seating chart in Gallery View. In your account settings, you will need to enable, “Allow host to save video order.” When you are in your meeting, arrange the students as you would like while in Gallery View and click save. If it is a recurring meeting, the video order will be saved for future meetings. More information.
- Turn on Focus Mode. This mode allows you to see all the student screens, but students only see the teacher’s video. You can even set it up for your meeting to being in Focus Mode. More information OR check out this 5 minute explanatory video
- More polling and quizzing options. Zoom has expanded their polls to eight different question types and added the ability to add images. You can also set up the poll to be a quiz. More information.
- Add video to the Waiting Room. Maximize instructional time by adding a video to play while participants are in the Waiting Room. Unfortunately, this is a general setting to be applied to all your waiting room and not tied to a specific meeting. You can customize this when logged in to your web portal at www.zoom.us Video tutorial.
- Zoom Learning Center. Zoom now offers a free educational platform for all new and existing users, including on-demand courses, live trainings, and short videos designed to give you just what you need when you need it to know how to best use their service. Login at https://learning.zoom.us/
How to Cross-List your Semester 2 Courses
As we approach Semester 2, those of you who are teaching multiple sections of the same course might consider cross-listing in Canvas. Cross-listing allows you to move section enrollments from individual courses and combine them into one course. This feature is helpful for instructors who teach several sections of the same course and only want to manage course data in one location. Many teachers who have tried it have asserted they would never go back to the old way since cross-listing is such a big time saver. However, this action should only be done before a semester starts. Indeed, Canvas recommends it be done before a course is published. If it is done after a course is published and notably student work has been submitted, that student work will be lost. Please review the slideshow below carefully to help you decide if you want to do it.
Please reach out to a Technology Integration Specialist if you need help deciding if this is right for you or if you want assistance setting it up.
Canvas Semester Transition SY21-22
Canvas Semester Transition SY21-22
Semester 1 will be ending on January 28, 2022.
First Semester Courses
- Teachers will have access to make edits, give feedback, and grade assignments in Canvas until 11:59 pm on February 2, 2022. After that date, the course will have read-only access. You will be able to copy the content from your Semester 1 course to your Semester 2 course (and beyond) even after the course has concluded.
- Students will have access to participate in Term 1 courses until 11:59 pm on January 28, 2022. After that date, students will have read-only access to the course (with the exception of quiz questions to which they will not have access).
- If you do not want them to have read-only access, you will need to update your course settings.
Please remember to publish your Semester 2 courses!
Year-Long Courses
- Teachers will have access to make edits, give feedback, and grade assignments in Canvas for first semester until 11:59 pm on February 2, 2022. After that date, the grades will not be editable.
- Students will continue to have access to submit assignments with due dates in the first semester UNLESS YOU HAVE AN AVAILABLE UNTIL DATE OF JAN. 28 OR EARLIER. You can edit those dates in bulk by following the steps here.
Semester 2 begins January 31st, 2022. You can filter your grade book to view assignments with due dates in the Semester 2 grading period by following the steps here.
Recent Canvas Updates
December Updates
- Course Import Warning Message: When you use the “Copy To” option in Canvas, you will now get a warning about overwriting existing content. This displays regardless of whether the actual content was previously imported or not. It is just there to remind you to be careful.
- Image Option Percentage: Embedded images can be customized by pixels or percentages.
- To Do Speedgrader Link Tab Setting: Under Settings and Feature options, instructors can choose to open their To Do items in a new tab. This setting is turned on by default.
January Updates (1/15/22)
- New Quizzes Partial Credit for Matching: You can now choose if students will receive partial credit if they get parts of the matching set wrong. Previously, if they got one wrong, then entire section would be marked as wrong. Release Screencast
- Ability to Collapse Course Navigation Menu: You will be able to hide the Course Navigation Menu like you can minimize the Global Navigation Menu.
- Missing Status Removes When a Grade is Entered: If an assignment was marked as missing, when you enter a grade for the assignment, it will no longer have the missing designation.
- External Link & Tool Module Link (Open in a New Tab) Setting: When you add an External Tool or External Link to a module, you are given the choice if you want the link to open in a new tab or not. The choice you make will now be “sticky” and will remain the default until you chose a different option.
- Unposted Comment Warning: In Speedgrader, you will now get a warning if you try to navigate away before posting the comment.
Please reach out if you have additional questions about these updates.
Canvas Quizzes: Accommodations, Matching Partial Credit, & New Date for Classic Quizzes Sunset
Classic Quiz Sunset Timeline Extended
Canvas has announced that it is delaying the sunset timeline for Classic Quizzes until June 30, 2024. Our district may begin restricting the creation of new Classic Quizzes later this year, but existing Classic Quizzes will be available longer than originally anticipated.
New Quizzes Update (January 15): Partial Credit in Matching
In the past, many teachers have bemoaned that partial credit cannot be awarded on Matching questions. Starting January 15, New Quizzes will now have that option! See this post for more information.
Quiz Accommodations in Classic and New Quizzes
We recently received a question about how to accommodate students tests/quizzes in Canvas. There are a lot of moderation options in Canvas, but the specific question was around students that may begin their quiz during class and receive extra time during their Resource hour. Below you will find a resource on how to accomplish this as well information on how students can resume a Quiz, moderating New and Classic Quizzes, and how to reopen an attempt for students.
Please submit a ticket if you have additional questions about this.
You may also view this collection of resources here: https://wke.lt/w/s/5aK43b
Free online PD now available through January 7th
Just a friendly reminder 😉 that the free online PD we mentioned in an earlier blog posting is still available for a limited time through January 7, 2022. Here’s a link to many of the over 80 videos already available. A few you might want to check out include Mike Lang’s Canvas tips, new Seesaw resources, Make Math Collaborative with EquatIO Mathspace (a free to our district teachers online tool accessible via equat.io), and visual learning tips using Canva.
The Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit hosted by Matt Miller promises valuable knowledge from top innovators AND tips you can implement immediately. All videos — more than 70 — will be available in December and early January. Like any other conference, when it’s over, it’s over and the videos will disappear. Speaker videos last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. They’re practical and inspirational, from hand-picked education leaders. Each video is accompanied by a PDF notes page summarizing the message. Download the notes, share, and keep them as long as you want.
To get a flavor for what might be shared, check out some past Ditch Summit Sketchnotes created by Jen Giffen (@virtualgiff) below:
