Canvas Tweaks - September 2015

As we get feature changes and upgrade information related to Canvas, we will try and pull out what will have the greatest impact on your use of Canvas and communicate those changes to you here.

Any changes that are not significant but worth mentioning will be marked as Canvas Tweaks and only be communicated in our social media feeds (blog, Facebook, Twitter). If we have any more major changes occurring, we will make sure we get those to you in email as well, so you are not surprised by the changes.

This week, we have some minor changes that are worth looking into. To summarize the changes:

• Group Conclusion: Canvas now has groups conclude along with the course the groups are attached to. Groups are still accessible from the groups page, but are labeled as Previous Groups.

• Muted Assignments: If you mute an assignment, the score is muted from the student's total score, but no longer from your view in the gradebook as an instructor. The total score will show a warning indicating that what the total score shows is different than what it shows to students (with the muted assignment).

• Manual Quiz Grading: Previously if you wanted to enter a grade you would have to delete the dashes in the field for entering a manual grade. These are now removed automatically when you click in the window.

These changes will go into place on September 19th, 2015. If you have further questions, please contact us at the cte@swu.edu

Meet Kent Ellison

Kent Ellison

Instructional Design Technologist 

 

About: Kent graduated from SWU in 2007. Previously, he served as a Computer Technician in the Office of Information Technology. Since 2013, he has been studying educational technology online through Boise State University and will earn his MET degree in August. He is excited about working together with faculty, staff, and students in a new role at SWU.

Areas of interest: Web 2.0 tools, graphic design for learning, learning theory

Something you may not know about Kent is he is a new dad. Kent and his wife, Joy, have a son, Everett, who was born this past May. Everett is the first grandchild on both sides of the family. Kent welcomes any wise parenting advice.

If I could tell the SWU faculty one thing, it would be…

Don’t let your apprehensions keep you from leveraging the advantages provided by technology. There will be challenges and roadblocks, but we are here to help you through them.  

CTE Open House

The Center for Teaching Excellence is having an open house right after faculty development days. Come by on Thursday, August 13 and Friday, August 14 from 9AM to 4PM to the Rickman Library Basement.

During your visit you can:

• Meet the new CTE team
• Get help setting up your courses in Canvas
• Get a hands-on demo of our new computer display settings in classrooms
• View our Polycom remote classroom system
• Enjoy drinks and snacks
• And any other questions or help we can provide!

Be sure to stop upstairs to see the new things going on in the library as well in their open house!