Second Semester Transition for Canvas

With the start of the 2nd semester arriving soon, we’d like to again provide step by step directions (please see below) for those teachers interested in transferring content from one Canvas course to another. We shared similar directions covering the export/import process at the outset of our school year to assist teachers in migrating content out of courses they had created and built in to the MISTAR-rostered course shells that appeared in their accounts.

  1. Step-By-Step Directions with Pictures on how to export content from old course and import it into the new course
  2. Step-By-Step Video (Screencast) Directions

Bulk adjusting due dates and times:

*Please note that canvas exports do not include backups of student interactions and grades. Grades can be exported separately as CSV files.

**Year-long courses do not apply here. However, it is still good practice to make backups of your courses.

Below are some best practices when transferring content, this includes exporting your grades, settings, and downloading additional data.

Best Practice: Keep Sem 1 and Sem 2 clean and separate to have easier content management and processing. For those with a course that spans the year, consider just copying the last module or most recent content from your Semester 1 course into your Semester 2 course so that you are starting with an almost fresh course. (You can always have view access extended to the Semester 1 course so that students are able to review their past work at any time – unless you’d prefer to restrict access to that course content.)
You could also extend course dates in Semester 1 courses if you need students to have more time to participate/work in those courses, although you will need to bear in mind MISTAR grade submission deadlines.

Elementary School Teachers – FYI, grading periods have been set in Canvas

Canvas Grading Periods

Earlier this week the district updated Canvas with the dates of the three grading periods for all of our elementary school year-long courses. Consequently, elementary school teachers are now able to filter their grade books, assignments’ list, and students’ grades pages by trimester instead of having to view all graded content from the school year.  Since implementation, STUDENTS only have VIEW-ONLY ACCESS to first trimester course content and are no longer able to submit work for assignments associated with the first trimester since it is not the current grading period AND TEACHERS similarly CAN NO LONGER ADJUST GRADES/FEEDBACK for first trimester submissions.

Please find quick overview directions and screenshots in this document for term filtering.

* High School Teachers – likely we will be setting grading periods for your semester-long and year -long courses too, so that you may filter by term as well.

Elementary teachers — how to access the work of students changing classes

Save

Tomorrow marks the end of the first trimester for our elementary students. Some of our students are changing teachers and school tracks (Safe Start to/from Virtual) and those moves will be processed in our various systems (MISTAR, Canvas, Clever, etc.) this weekend so that on Monday those students are positioned to begin in their new classes.

With this in mind, below is some guidance to help staff access and retain student work so that they may finalize grades and feedback.

For SEESAW, follow these steps BEFORE a student’s exit date, to obtain a copy of their posted submissions. Teachers will lose access to a student’s Seesaw posts after the student has been moved out of their class. [Note, students do retain access to their past Seesaw posts — they would log into their Seesaw account via Clever, click on their profile icon (top left), and then click on “Past Work”. The work from the original class will not show up in their new class journal and the student’s family will also lose access to the class their student was removed from.] 

For IXL, follow these steps BEFORE the student’s exit date, to locate and save a PDF copy of their IXL progress. Teachers will lose access to a student’s IXL progress after the student has been moved out of their class.

For all CANVAS instructors, follow these steps AFTER students have been exited from course enrollment to access their grades and assignments (this guidance applies for any previously enrolled student that has been exited and no longer appears in a course). Teachers retain access to a student’s Canvas course submissions after the student has been moved out of their class.

 

 

For those that teach IXL, access is available to content in four subject areas

IXL

If you are a teacher with IXL licensing, as a reminder, you can adjust the content that you can assign students, to include not just ELA and Math but also the subjects of Science and/or Social Studies* by clicking the boxes for those subjects within your teacher profile when logged into your IXL account.

FIRST LOG INTO YOUR ACCOUNT and SELECT YOUR PROFILE

IXL part 1

THEN CLICK SUBJECTS TO MAKE AVAILABLE….

IXL part 2

* Please note, while access to IXL ELA and Math extends through 2023, access to IXL Science and Social Studies is only available during the 2020-2021 School Year.

Access to Flash-based browser content ends in December, 2020

Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash has been supporting online games, content, and interactive features since 1996. But due to the changing and evolving of newer technologies other mediums such as HTML5 which are more power-efficient and faster, Flash has become less and less popular. At one point 80% of the content on the internet was Flash-based. Since 2017, that number is down to 17%. Due to this, Adobe has determined an End of Life (EOL) date of December 31st, 2020 for the plugin.

What does this mean?

Many different learning websites including sites such as Starfall and CoolMathGames were entirely Flash-based. When the announcement by Adobe was made to end Flash (plugin player support/updates and distribution), many websites started to convert their content to HTML5 and other delivery mechanisms. However, it is up to websites to make this transition. So, as you are planning different learning activities for students, please ensure that you have vetted the website to see if it relies on Flash. A way to check to see if a site uses Flash, Right-clicking on any part of a website will make a box appear with options you can click on. If you see Zoom in at the top of the box and About Adobe Flash Player at the bottom of the box, then you know that you have Flash on the website.

If the site migrates to open web standards (such as HTML5), you shouldn’t notice much difference except that you’ll no longer see prompts to run Flash on that site. If the site continues to use Flash, and you give the site permission to run Flash, it will only work through the end of 2020.

For more information please check out these articles:

https://www.blog.google/products/chrome/saying-goodbye-flash-chrome/

https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/

 

Cleaning Your Smartboard

Elementary instructional staff — Please follow these guidelines to clean your SMART Board (interactive flat panel – IFP):

You will probably want to clean your SMART Board about 1x a month (or more often if used regularly). You should clean your SMART Board while the computer is turned OFF.

If you clean your SMART Board while it and your computer are on it is recommended that you lock the screen so you don’t mess up things on your computer. Go to the blue icon with the white circle at the bottom right of your screen, control panel and then lock screen. To unlock the screen you will need to click on the unlock icon using the mouse on your computer.

Details

To clean the writing surface or screen, use Windex glass cleaner. Just spray the cleaner on a soft cloth or paper towel and wipe the screen surface. Avoid spraying the cleaner directly on the screen, since the cleaner may damage components if it runs into the edge of the screen.

Warning

Do not apply isopropyl alcohol, water or acetone to the back surface of the screen. These fluids could damage the diffusion coating, resulting in a permanent deterioration in display quality. If you do smudge this surface, wipe it carefully with an alcohol-free glass cleaner. Do not spray the cleaner directly onto the back of the screen. Spray the cleaner lightly on a cloth, and then gently dab the surface until the marks are removed.

Note

To remove permanent marker ink from the screen, use a cleaner such as Expo Board Doctor. If you have high-odor dry-erase markers (not non-scented markers), you can cover the permanent ink with the ink from a dry-erase marker, and then wipe with a soft cloth or paper towel while the ink is still wet. If any trace of the original permanent ink remains, spray a cloth with Windex glass cleaner or Expo Board cleaner and wipe the area clean.

New Seesaw Feature!

Send Post Back to Student
If your class is set to email sign in or 1:1 devices sign in for students, Seesaw has added a new tool to improve the feedback loop between students and teachers. This feature lets you send back a post to a student so they can do another revision before it’s shared with classmates or families.
From the Unapproved Items screen, use the comment tool to leave them a comment, then tap “Send Back” to send the work back to them. They’ll be notified that the post was sent back and can edit their post and return it to you when they’re ready for another review.

NEW SMART Learning Suite ONLINE and SMART Exchange

Getting Started with SLS

Elementary teachers with a classroom SMART interactive flat panel (IFP) board are also licensed to use the online SMART Learning Suite as well as the SMART Exchange. To log into your SMART Learning Suite account, browse to https://suite.smarttech.com/login and click SIGN IN. Use your district Google account to sign in.

 

You can also access it via the “Waffle” via Google Apps:

 

Once logged in, click the “Getting Started” file shown and consider browsing their training section to learn how to use the site’s many resources: https://www.smarttech.com/training/smart-learning-suite-online 

You can also use the NEW AND IMPROVED SMART Exchange to search for online and Notebook lessons, learning games and activities. Browse to https://exchange.smarttech.com and search for topics  by various filters. To add what you find to your SMART Learning Suite and be able to push it out to students on their ipads or Chromebooks, you will want to sign in (and to do so, will use your district Google account). An overview video is below.

Other helpful videos explaining different aspects of SMART’s resources can be found at https://support.smarttech.com/docs/software/smart-learning-suite-online/en/training-and-videos/default.cshtml

One of the linked videos (video embedded below) reviews how to have students connect their devices to your class within the SMART Learning Suite after browsing to hellosmart.com

 

If you are an elementary teacher with a classroom SMART board (IFP) and are having trouble logging into your account or have other questions, please submit a help desk service ticket for assistance.