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). 

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

DitchThatSummitVideos

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:

App Smash: Canva, Flipgrid, and Canvas

Canva now has ready-to-go Flipgrid background templates. These templates are great for teachers and students to give book reviews, teach about main ideas, or building community.

Search “flipgrid” when you are in Canva and you can select a template that works for you. Customize it to your liking, download the image, and then add it as a background in a Flipgrid video (students and teachers can make stand-alone videos with Flipgrid Shorts).

If you are doing it for a student assignment, students can easily submit the video in Canvas as a website URL or by downloading the video and uploading it to Studio.

See the <4 minute video below on how this can be done.

Canva blog post: https://www.canva.com/learn/flipgrid-integration/

Student Tutorial for Uploading a Video to Studio to Submit: https://ior.ad/7V6x

Student Tutorial for Submitting a Website URL: https://ior.ad/7Tqv

If you want to learn more about how Canva and Canvas integrate see our previous blogpost or enroll in the asynchronous Canvas course.

 

Canvas Assignment Submission Tutorials, and More!

In an effort to support students, teachers, and families we have created additional technology tutorials. We have put special emphasis on tutorials for various, Canvas submission types for students. We hope this will help all stakeholders as Canvas remains the best way to continue coursework when students need to be out for an extended time. Please keep in mind, the users on a the mobile app will have a different experience and should consult these guides: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Mobile-Users/gh-p/mobile

This resource is available for teachers on the Digital Teaching Hub. https://tech.pccsk12.com/canvas-lms/

It is also available for students and families on the Digital Learning Hub. https://sites.google.com/pccsk12.com/hlh/canvas

For your convenience it is embedded below.

 

P-CEP High School Grading Periods

summary of grading period information

As of November 19th, now that Quarter 1 grades have been turned in at the secondary level, Grading Periods will be in place in Canvas to reflect the closing of Q1 grades in MiStar. Students will have view-only access to first quarter course content and will be unable to submit work for assignments associated with the first quarter (Q1) since it is not the current grading period. While teachers can edit their previous term’s course content, they cannot make further adjustments in the feedback or grading of any non-current grading period submissions.

When grading periods are enabled, the due date of an assignment will determine the grading period within which the assignment will appear in the Gradebook. If no due date is set, the assignment defaults to the last (current) grading period available for the course. Therefore, if there is a quiz or assignment that a student must still complete from a past quarter, you might make a copy of that quiz/assignment, give it a due date in the current grading period, and assign it just to the few students that need it. In that case, grade passback to MiStar should be avoided and, should you want it reflected in MISTAR manually enter the grade for those students in the Q1 quiz or assignment instead (note, even if this is done, the student’s viewable-as-of November 12th report card, won’t reflect any change).

Importantly, while students will still find their definitive grades in MISTAR, this grade period demarcation will also result in a more accurate current grade average, as far as what Canvas reflects, since only the current marking period will be presented.

Please find quick overview directions and screenshots in this document.

*Please note elementary teachers — it is very conceivable that we will similarly update Canvas for courses that span grading periods too, in the coming weeks, to allow for term filtering.

Submit a ticket for more support.

Middle School Teachers: Transition from Quarter 1 to Quarter 2 in Canvas reflected by grading periods

summary of grading period information

As of November 10th, now that Quarter 1 grades have been turned in at the secondary level, Grading Periods will be in place in Canvas to reflect the closing of Q1 grades in MiStar. Students will have view-only access to first quarter course content and will be unable to submit work for assignments associated with the first quarter (Q1) since it is not the current grading period. While teachers can edit their previous term’s course content, they cannot make further adjustments in the feedback or grading of any non-current grading period submissions.

When grading periods are enabled, the due date of an assignment will determine the grading period within which the assignment will appear in the Gradebook. If no due date is set, the assignment defaults to the last (current) grading period available for the course. Therefore, if there is a quiz or assignment that a student must still complete from a past quarter, you might make a copy of that quiz/assignment, give it a due date in the current grading period, and assign it just to the few students that need it. In that case, grade passback to MiStar should be avoided and, should you want it reflected in MISTAR manually enter the grade for those students in the Q1 quiz or assignment instead (note, even if this is done, the student’s viewable-as-of November 12th report card, won’t reflect any change).

Importantly, while students will still find their definitive grades in MISTAR, this grade period demarcation will also result in a more accurate current grade average, as far as what Canvas reflects, since only the current marking period will be presented.

Please find quick overview directions and screenshots in this document.

Please also revisit this blog post from last November on how to extend access for students to a Canvas course past the term end date based on an interest in allowing students an additional time period to access course content or to interact with and submit coursework.

*Please note elementary and high school teachers — it is very conceivable that we will similarly update Canvas for courses that span grading periods too, in the coming weeks, to allow for term filtering.

Submit a ticket for more support.

Canvas Pro-Tip: Estimated Time Pill Box

sample pill box imageWhen you enter into a task, it is helpful to know approximately how long something might take. Don Lourcey, on the Iredell-Statesville School District has gathered some code so that an estimated time to complete can be added to the top of your Canvas pages and assignments (see image sample above). This small step might be very useful for students and families working on your course at home and help the students in front of you to manage their attention level.

You can use this ReadTime website to help you estimate how long it might take for students to read the text on your page.

See the code below that can be copied and pasted into the HTML editor of your Canvas page. Change the “30 mins” as needed to reflect the estimated time (eg. “15 mins”, “20 minutes” or “1 hour”). A video tutorial is included at the bottom of this page.

Estimated Reading Time code

<ul class=”pill”>
<li>Estimated Reading Time</li>
<li>30 mins</li>
</ul>
<ul class=”pill”></ul>

Estimated Time to Complete code

<ul class=”pill”>
<li>Estimated Time to Complete</li>
<li>30 mins</li>
</ul>
<ul class=”pill”></ul>

Estimated Reading and Viewing Time code

<ul class=”pill”>
<li>Estimated Reading & Viewing Time</li>
<li>30 mins</li>
</ul>
<ul class=”pill”></ul>