Author: Jim Julius

Online Education Workshop Archives

Flex Credit is available for viewing MiraCosta online workshop archives. Contact the Professional Development Program / Flex for more information.

If you require improved captions for any of the video recordings below, please contact Jim Julius.

Spring 2025

Fall 2024

Spring 2024

Fall 2023

Spring 2023

Fall 2022

Spring 2022

Fall 2021

Spring 2021

Equity Online: Celebrating Our Collaborative Work In Progress

Flex Week

Fall 2020

Summer 2020

Canvas Basics

Additional recorded zoom sessions and online teaching guides from Summer 2020 can be viewed within the PROJECT Online Teaching Foundations Canvas course.

Spring 2020

Fall 2019

Spring 2019

Fall 2018

Spring 2018

Fall 2017

Spring 2017

Fall 2016

Pronto – Connect, Collaborate, Communicate

Pronto Flex Workshop Recordings

Pronto logo

Pronto is an app that works within and outside of Canvas to enable seamless, fun, and effective communication between faculty and students, and among students.

If you do not want Pronto to be available for any class, opt out via the Pronto Course Management tool.

Some stats as of the start of 2025, after three years of institutionally licensing Pronto at MiraCosta:

  • over 15,500 MiraCostans have signed in to Pronto
  • over 317,000 messages have been sent across almost 9,300 groups

What Pronto Offers

  • Real-time Chat Without having to share phone numbers or other contact information, now you have real-time messaging across each class and to individuals. Send text messages, files, images, emojis, and GIFs!
  • Message Translation Pronto gives everyone a voice by allowing them to send messages in their preferred language, and Pronto then automatically translates messages into the recipient’s preferred language.
  • Live-stream & Group Video Chat
    • Broadcast live video to your classes, and record your video sessions for replay. This may be a nice alternative to Zoom for things like office hours, group meetings, and more. Viewers interact using the chat button. It keeps the process smooth. Here is a video from Fabiola Torres of Glendale CC on how she uses the live-stream feature for class.
    • Chat via live video with up to 10 people simultaneously. Perfect for group projects!
    • Live 1:1 video chat any time for face-to-face interaction with a student. Or live-stream with a student and they can chat (they don’t have to be on camera).
  • Announcements Keep your entire course in the loop by sending a message to the whole class. It’s like sending a real-time announcement to your entire class. Keep everyone updated on assignments, tech glitches, emergency alerts, and any other important information you need to get out instantly. You can send one Announcement to multiple Pronto groups at once if you wish.
  • File Sharing & Storage Share any file type—documents, spreadsheets, slideshows, photos, videos, and more. All files stored in Pronto remain available through Pronto for easy retrieval with no storage limits. Pronto integrates with all reputable cloud storage repositories, including Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud, and Google Drive.
  • Task Management Keeps students organized and accountable by assigning tasks. Tasks allows you to create reminders for yourself or others in groups—attach files, photos, or videos and assign due dates with auto-reminders for each task. Here is a video from Professor Gomez of Glendale CC demonstrating how to assign a task.
  • Accessibility and Privacy Pronto is both WCAG 2.0 AA and FERPA compliant. Pronto keeps you connected to everyone without sharing personal contact information.
  • Viewing Data Pronto lets you know who has seen your messages, so you can decide whether to follow up in different ways with those who may not have viewed a message.
  • Group Creation Groups you set up in Canvas automatically get a Pronto group. But anyone can also create Pronto groups on their own. Pronto groups created within the Pronto app remain available indefinitely, while Pronto groups tied to a Canvas class will end once the class is completed.

Check out this brief introduction to Pronto from MiraCosta faculty member Tanessa Sanchez:

Pronto Faculty Introduction

Where Can I Access Pronto?

Pronto is available 4 ways:

  1. Pronto icon Directly within Canvas. If you are enrolled in any published course where Pronto is active, you will see the Pronto icon at the bottom left of Canvas, in the Global Navigation menu (you may need to scroll the menu down).
    Selecting the Pronto icon will open up Pronto to the latest chat you have had open or the course/group with which you are currently engaged.
  2. Through any web browser at miracosta.pronto.io .
  3. Via the mobile app, which is available for free in the Apple and Google app stores (search Pronto: Team Communication).
  4. Via a desktop app, available at pronto.io/download

Getting Started with Pronto

To jump in and try out Pronto, self-enroll in a MiraCosta faculty Pronto practice course in Canvas. Once you are in, you’ll see some directions to get started and try it out!

The first time you use Pronto, you’ll need to provide your MiraCosta email address and then enter a code that Pronto will send to your email. If you are not yet enrolled in any course that is published and uses Pronto, you may need to wait until that occurs for this step to work.

To get started on your own, check out the General Pronto Overview. You may also wish to review the Canvas/Pronto integration guide, check out Pronto’s 3-part YouTube introductory series for faculty, and/or watch this 6 minute video:

When does Pronto become available in a class?

Pronto only becomes active for a Canvas course after it is published. NOTE: this doesn’t happen automatically – Pronto becomes active for a newly-published course once the next synchronization between Pronto and Canvas occurs – this happens daily at 7 pm PST. But if you want to make Pronto active immediately after publishing a course, you can manually enable Pronto in the Pronto course management tool.

Do I have to use Pronto?

No, Pronto is available but you can ignore it. Doing so will still allow your students to use it. If you wish to turn off Pronto temporarily or permanently for a class, you can do that too. (Even if you like having Pronto on most of the time, you may wish to shut it off during an exam, for example.)

Use the Pronto Course Management tool to turn off Pronto for a particular class. Learn more about Pronto Course Management.

Technical support, tips and resources

Support for Pronto is provided via the Pronto support site or by contacting help@pronto.io

A few important notes/tips:

  • Students added to your Canvas class will not be able to use Pronto for the class until the next Pronto synchronization occurs. You can use the Pronto Course Management tool to manually force Pronto to synchronize with a course if necessary.
  • Faculty can’t see Pronto in Canvas’s Student View. If you wish to experience Pronto within your course as your students would, you need to use your “fake student” account. But rest assured that the student experience with Pronto is just about identical to what you see on the faculty side.
  • On mobile devices, Pronto will not show up within the Canvas app or inside of Canvas in a mobile browser. Use the free Pronto app (search “Pronto: Team Communication”)
  • If you manually add anyone to your Canvas class, they won’t be part of the Pronto group that includes you and your students unless you do one of the following:
    • In the Add People process in Canvas, be sure to click the Section drop-down menu and choose the section that ends in -SURF
    • If you’ve already completed the Add People process and need to have someone (such as a TA) interacting with your students in Pronto, go to the Canvas course’s People roster, find the name, click the three dots at far right, choose Edit Sections, and then select the section that ends in -SURF
  • If you combine course sections into one Canvas course, you’ll need to use the separate Pronto groups associated with each section rather than messaging with Pronto to the entire combined class. Some notes on this process from MiraCosta professor Serena Mercado:
    • After publishing the combined Canvas course, the merged course showed up on my Pronto list.  
    • In Pronto, when expanding the course (click the arrow on the right of the course name), it was divided into two sections (with REALLY long names)
    • Hovering over each name makes three vertical dots appear to the right of the name.
    • If you click on the three dots, you are given the option to nickname the individual sections, so they are more easily identifiable.

Here are some excellent additional Pronto resources:

Credits

Thanks to Fabiola Torres of Glendale CC; MiraCosta’s Tanessa Sanchez, Serena Mercado, Mariana Silva, Dawn Bell, and Kristi Reyes; and Matt Baugh from Pronto for resources that helped to develop this page.

Adjust-All tool just added to Canvas: May be useful RIGHT NOW!

Dear faculty and friends,

We’ve just added a new tool to Canvas called Adjust-All. It’s a simple tool that can make life at this time of the year, when copying previous Canvas courses for reuse, a lot easier. It enables you to change all course item due dates and announcement publication dates in one place, rather than having to access each item individually. You’ll find “Adjust All” now toward the bottom of each Canvas course’s navigation menu. Here’s a short (3½ minutes) video to show you how it works!

Couple quick notes:

  • The first time you use Adjust-All, you’ll need to click the blue Authorize button – it’s fine 😊
  • You may see a message that this is a trial subscription – it is, but our purchase is in process.
  • This tool is only available to faculty – students won’t see it in your course menu.
  • The tool does not currently work with New Quizzes, so if you are using New Quizzes, you’ll still need to adjust due dates one by one, the old way.
  • There are a few other things you can do with Adjust-All. Click the gear icon at top right to see options for bulk adjustments to dates or publishing status.
  • See the Adjust-All user guide for more tutorials and guides to using Adjust-All.
Adjust All in Canvas

Happy adjusting!

– Jim

Jim Julius, Ed.D.

Faculty Coordinator, Online Education

Spring 2025 online teaching resources & reminders

Dear colleagues, I hope your break was restorative and you’re feeling as ready as possible for 2025! Please see below for reminders of local resources to help you enable your students to succeed in online environments this spring.

Expectations and Recommendations for Faculty Teaching Online

Support for You

  • Our Canvas start-of-term checklist can help you prepare your classes. New to Canvas? We have lots of resources to help you get started, as well as workshops this week!
  • The TIC website is a great starting point for all kinds of information and support for teaching with online technologies – see the last section of this email for specific TIC links to MiraCosta technologies supporting online teaching and learning. 
  • Ongoing faculty support – You can set a meeting with Instructional Designer Nadia Khan, for help with Canvas and teaching with tech. We have a new instructional designer also available for 1-1 support, Stephanie Kelley, especially for faculty working on use of OER/ZTC course materials.
  • Tech Support – Canvas options include 24×7 phone and chat support. Just click the Tech Support button at lower left in Canvas! Zoom and other MiraCostatech support for faculty is available through the MiraCosta employee help desk.

Support for Your Students – Please help your students to be aware of and make use of these important services and resources!

  • Student Online Academic Readiness workshops – In collaboration with the library, I’ll be offering a number of these across the first nine weeks of the term – see all dates and times on the MiraCosta Online site and in Canvas announcements. These workshops engage students with resources MiraCosta provides to support them, as well as habits and attitudes of successful online students. Encourage your students to attend and, if you like, find out which of your students participated in order to incentivize their attendance. Faculty are welcome to attend as well!
  • Technology Needs – Be sure to share the form for students to fill out if they need a laptop and/or wifi hotspot to succeed this semester.
  • Tech Support – At lower left in Canvas is a button for students to quickly access Tech Support options, including 24×7 phone and chat support from Canvas, and our local MiraCosta student help desk.
  • Online Student Support Access Points – the Student Support Hub in Canvas, accessed via the Student Support button on the left in Canvas, gives quick access to online support from the library, Learning Centers, counseling, career center, open computer lab staff, student help desk, health services, CARE team, and more! The Ask the Spartan chat integrated into MiraCosta’s website provides both automated responses and the opportunity to connect to Live Chat with staff from many student support areas. The Help Hut and Online Education webpages are also great starting points for students to connect with all kinds of support services when they’re not in Canvas.

MiraCosta’s Online Education Tools

Select the links for a detailed MiraCosta-specific overview (and often, recorded Flex workshops) for each tool below. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions about these or other resources.

  • Canvas – we all use Canvas, right?
  • Zoom – if you’re using Zoom, make sure you’re using a pro Zoom account through MiraCosta.
  • Canvas Studio – enables faculty and students to create videos while inside Canvas. Faculty can create interactive discussion or quiz activities based on video. Auto-captioning and caption clean up tools are high-quality and easy to use, but not automatic!
  • Pronto is an incredible mobile-friendly and Canvas-integrated messaging platform that’s ready to use in every course.
  • Pope Tech helps faculty detect and correct accessibility issues within Canvas. The PopeTech dashboard tool (via the Pope Tech Accessibility course menu item) provides a course-level guide for addressing all accessibility issues in a course in one place.
  • SensusAccess provides multi-format course material accessibility and file type conversion options for students. If you notice an S symbol next to your page title and next to items in the Modules view, that’s SensusAccess.
  • Perusall is a social annotation tool available within Canvas that makes it easy for students to comment/discuss right on a text, document, or image.
  • Lab Archives Electronic Notebook is an online notebook especially useful for translating lab manuals and student notes/work into the online environment.
  • PlayPosit – This video interaction tool offers more complexity and options than Studio. Studio is a great place to start, but if you’re looking for more types of interactivity to add to your videos, PlayPosit is great. 
  • Turnitin – help students learn to properly cite sources and avoid plagiarism. Also provides grading and peer review tools for written work. Turnitin has included an AI detection capability for instructors, but please beware of false positives should you use it. Most experts agree that AI detection tools are extremely unreliable.

Professional Learning for Online Teaching – Spring Possibilities

  • In addition to many online ed workshops this Flex week, you can review lots of wonderful recorded MiraCosta online teaching workshops anytime (Flex-eligible, of course)! 
  • Friday, Jan. 31: MiraCosta is holding a college-wide day for discussing and learning about AI. Please RSVP and consider proposing a faculty-focused session.
  • First and third Thursdays, 12:30 pm on Zoom and in OC T250: Jim Sullivan, Nadia Khan, and I offer regular discussions on teaching with technology. Look for announcements from Jim S, MiraCosta’s Joyful Teacher (aka Capybara guy).
  • March 10-14: San Diego area community colleges are offering a joint online AccessAbility Week with online workshops throughout that week.
  • June 16-18: The CCC Online Teaching Conference returns to Long Beach. Consider submitting a proposal (due Jan. 31)! MiraCosta faculty who are presenting can get all travel expenses covered from the Online Ed budget!
  • @ONE online teaching courses are open to all California Community College faculty. Some are self-paced and available anytime. Facilitated spring courses are open for enrollment now, and are completely free. They’ll fill, so sign up now if you’re interested!

Best wishes for a great spring!

– Jim

Jim Julius, Ed.D.
Faculty Coordinator, Online Education

MiraCosta Online News – End of 2024!

Dear MiraCosta Faculty, 

Here are a few reminders, resources, and opportunities as 2024 comes to a close!

Canvas End of Term Support and Reminders

After Dec. 31, your fall Canvas classes go into read-only mode for you and your students, and move from the Canvas Dashboard to the Past Enrollments area of Canvas (select Courses at left in Canvas, then All Courses to see Past Enrollment courses). If you wish to remove access to any of your course materials for your current students beyond this semester, you need to do so by Dec. 31. Review our Canvas end-of-term guide for details. It also discusses what you need to do if you have any students who will receive Incomplete grades, as well as what to do if you wish to close course access sooner than Dec. 31. If you’d like help with any semester wrap-up tasks, and/or as you begin working on spring classes, you can consult with our Instructional Designer, Nadia Khan (click the link to schedule a time). 

ZTC/OER Support and Reminders

For those teaching spring classes that are Zero- or Low-Textbook Cost, if you haven’t yet done so, please update your course section ZTC/LTC designations in SURF. For folks looking for support building spring ZTC classes or just exploring the use of OER, you can consult with our new ZTC/OER Instructional Designer, Stephanie Kelley (click the link to schedule a time).

ZTC/OER Support and Reminders

For those teaching spring classes that are Zero- or Low-Textbook Cost, if you haven’t yet done so, please update your course section ZTC/LTC designations in SURF. For folks looking for support building spring ZTC classes or just exploring the use of OER, you can consult with our new ZTC/OER Instructional Designer, Stephanie Kelley (click the link to schedule a time).

Propose an AI Session for our January Fifth Friday AI Event

As you’ve likely heard, the college is planning an AI day on Jan. 31. Faculty will have the afternoon to offer sessions to our colleagues. If you have anything you’d like to share, or a discussion you’d like to facilitate, please propose a session!

Professional Learning for Online Teaching – Spring Possibilities

  • In addition to many online ed workshops coming in Flex week, you can review lots of wonderful recorded MiraCosta online teaching workshops anytime (Flex-eligible, of course)! 
  • Mark your calendar: San Diego area community colleges are planning together an AccessAbility Week with online workshops throughout March 10-14. More info to come after break!
  • @ONE online teaching courses are open to all California Community College faculty. Some are self-paced and available anytime. Facilitated spring courses are open for enrollment now, and are completely free. They’ll fill, so sign up now if you’re interested!
  • Take some time from your break to submit a proposal [due Jan. 31] for the Online Teaching Conference [June 16-18, Long Beach]. MiraCosta faculty who are presenting can get all travel expenses covered from the Online Ed budget!

Happy break!

– Jim

Jim Julius, Ed.D.
Faculty Coordinator, Online Education

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