Category: Canvas

DesignPLUS for Canvas

DesignPlus Flex Workshop Recordings

DesignPLUS is a user-friendly Canvas plug-in that helps you build polished, engaging, and accessible courses efficiently. DesignPLUS is licensed for all faculty at MiraCosta College using Canvas.

DesignPLUS includes four primary tools:

  • Sidebar – a suite of rich content editor tools that help you create organized, accessible, engaging, and visually polished content in Canvas with ease.
  • QuickStart Wizard – design tools available when you are editing new content in Canvas (a new page, assignment, discussion, etc) to quickly add visual design elements or adopt existing templates.
  • Cidi Labs Multi-Tool – a time-saving tool that lets you quickly set up an engaging home page and create accessible templates for reuse across Canvas. It also can help you quickly build repeatable, consistent module structures. You can also adjust due dates and delay announcements using this tool.
  • Upload/Embed Image Tool – a tool that enables you to discover, add, edit, and place course images in Canvas

DesignPLUS Sidebar

When you are editing Canvas content, select the sidebar icon at top right to launch the Sidebar tool, which will then appear on the right. The Sidebar tool includes many enhancements to the Rich Content Editor in Canvas, enabling you to easily add a variety of attractive and engaging content elements.

Getting Started with the Sidebar

Learn more about the DesignPLUS Sidebar (Tap to open a list of resources).

Sidebar Basics

Sidebar Resources and Guide

Sidebar Training Videos

How do I build a basic page?

How do I build a home page?

DesignPlus Accessibility Tools

DesignPlus Accessibility and Usability Tools Overview

DesignPlus User Guide Canvas Course

DesignPLUS QuickStart Wizard

The QuickStart Wizard button appears when you open a new page, assignment, or syllabus for editing. Activating the Wizard gives you access to templates for the entire page, or pre-defined content blocks of different types to help you customize the page.

Getting Started with the QuickStart Wizard

Cidi Labs Multi-Tool

The Cidi Labs Multi-Tool shows up in the left course navigation menu of your Canvas course. You will be asked to authorize Cidi Labs to access your Canvas account. Once the Multi-Tool is set up, you can select from a variety of tools to help rapidly develop and update your courses. Watch the Multi-Tool orientation video to learn more about what it can do for you.

Getting Started with the Multi-tool

To learn more, see Multi-Tool FAQs.

DesignPLUS Upload/Embed Image Tool

This tool enables you to manage course images directly in Canvas. Upload, crop, resize, and embed images anywhere in your course, or quickly add free, high-quality images from Pexels and Unsplash. To access the Upload/Embed Image (U/EI) tool, go to apps through the Rich Content Editor (RCE). The first time you access the tool, you will be asked to authorize Cidilabs to access Canvas so this tool is available for you. Watch the Upload/Embed Image orientation video to learn how this tool works.

Getting Started with the Upload/Embed Image Tool

To learn more, see Benefits of using the Upload/Embed Tool or Adding the Upload/Embed (U/EI) Tool to the Rich Content Editor (RCE)

Additional DesignPLUS Support

DesignPLUS Customer Support: support@cidilabs.com

DesignPLUS Knowledge Base and FAQs

DesignPLUS User Guide

DesignPLUS Library of Designs and Templates

For support or training, contact instructional designer, Nadia Khan: nkhan@miracosta.edu

Stay Up To Date with Changes Happening within Canvas

Visit the Canvas Release Notes/Upcoming Changes page within the Canvas Community. This page is updated by Instructure and is the central location for communicating all Canvas’s significant upcoming changes. Check the Canvas System Status Updates for real time updates about existing features within Canvas.

Canvas Release Notes / Upcoming Changes
Canvas System Status Updates
MiraCosta Canvas Server Uptime Report

Canvas Start of the Semester Instructor Checklist

Create or Import your Content

Multiple ways to begin to build your class

Copy from another class in Canvas. Your access to classes you have previously taught in Canvas continues indefinitely.

Copy in an entire course or portions of one from Canvas Commons.

Create your content from scratch in Canvas

Review Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions

  • Verify activities and content in the course are published.
  • Verify dates. Due dates are added to the calendar and the syllabus and serve as reminders to students. “Available from” and “Until” dates will unlock and lock the activity.
  • Verify instructions are accurate and well formatted.
  • Verify assignment submission types.
  • Verify number of quiz attempts is correct.
  • Verify assignment groups are set up correctly. See: How to use Assignment Index Page.
  • Verify assignments are weighted correctly, if using a weighted grading system. See: How to Weight Assignment Groups.
  • Verify discussions are ordered logically on Discussions list page.
  • Verify Quiz “Options” are correct. See: Canvas Quiz Options.

Review Course Details

Final Preparations

  •  Publish your course when you are ready for students to have access to it. This typically is on the morning of or before the official course start date. See: How do I publish a course? NOTE: Some faculty like to publish their courses well in advance of the start date, but only publish a handful of elements of the course (such as the syllabus). This allows enrolled students to “preview” the class.
  • For online and hybrid classes, encourage students to attend a Student Online Academic Readiness (SOAR) workshop. You may also wish to share the Canvas Student Orientation to help any students who are new to Canvas to have a resource for learning the basics.
  •  Especially for online and hybrid classes, send an email to your students through your SURF Roster telling them how to access your course in Canvas.

Cautions

  • Canvas email (Inbox/Conversation) messages will not be sent out if the course is unpublished. Send class messages from your SURF Roster instead, prior to publishing the course.
  • Pay attention to the time stamp on anything you have placed a date on. 12:00 means the very first minute of the selected day. For end dates, it is often best to choose 11:59 PM to ensure you are setting it up on the correct date.

WeVideo (formerly PlayPosit) in Canvas

WeVideo Flex Workshop Recordings & Updates

WeVideo (formerly PlayPosit) is an interactive video learning tool that is fully integrated with MiraCosta College’s Canvas. WeVideo allows instructors to create activities using videos from Canvas Studio, 3C Media, YouTube, Vimeo, or other video sources. WeVideo now includes access for instructors to the WeVideo’s Multimedia tool to create instructional videos, podcasts or set up assignments for learners to demonstrate learning through media.

Create an Assignment in Canvas with WeVideo interactivity?

  1. In your Canvas course, click on Assignments
  2. Then + Assignment
1. Assignment, then 2. + Assignment

3. Enter the information for the assignment, change the submission type to External Tool, and click Find.

External Tool, then click Find button

4. Select the WeVideo (formerly PlayPosit) Interactivity tool from the list.

Click WeVideo (formerly PlayPosit)

5. Click the Set Link button on the gray screen.

Set Content Link page - Click Set Link

6. Click on the Canvas icon in front of the desired interactive video or playlist and click Link to assign it.

  • If you do not have an interactive video in your account yet, please follow the steps in this article to create your first interactive video.
WeVideo page - Click the Canvas Icon

7. Select the learner experience to be Self Paced or Live Broadcast, then click Set Link.

Click the Set Link button

8. Click Select to complete the process.

Click the Select button

Adjust the grading and due date for the assignment in Canvas. Please note that if you would like to have the grades synced, the points for the assignment in Canvas must be greater than 0.

After the content is linked, you will see the following window when launching the assignment as an instructor. There will be three options:

  • Unlink: unlink the content from this assignment so you can assign it to another assignment in this class if needed. Once the content is unlinked, the learners’ grades will be archived and not visible from the monitor page. They will need to complete the activity again in the new assignment to gain their grades.
  • Preview: Preview the content that is linked to this assignment.
  • Monitor: Open the monitor page for this assignment for you to review and adjust learners’ grades. Please see the next section for more information.
Manage Link page within WeVideo

Monitor Learners’ Grades from Canvas

Click the Monitor button on the gray window to launch the monitor page.

Click the Monitor button

On the monitor page, you can see learners’ names, responses to each question, and their grades.

The monitor page within WeVideo

If you need to update learners’ grades or provide points to manually graded questions, click the response and assign points to it.

Points page within WeVideo

After grading, please ensure that you click the Sync Grades button at the top to sync the most updated grades to the Canvas grade book.

Sync All Grades button within WeVideo

For additional information refer to the WeVideo – ‘How do I assign Interactivity content to Canvas?’ guide

New RCE

WeVideo Support and Help

WeVideo has support services for your questions or problems.

Canvas Student View vs MCC’s Sample Student Account

This site explains the difference between the Canvas student view tool and MiraCosta College’s sample student account.

Canvas Student View
Student View

You can view a course the same way that your students view your course without logging out of your instructor account. Enabling Student View creates a ‘Test Student’ in your course. You can activate Student View in your Course Settings.

View Canvas Student View Guide

To see the student’s perspective on Canvas, use Student View to view the course, post and reply to discussions, submit assignments, view grades, view people, view pages, view the syllabus, view quizzes, view the calendar, and view the scheduler.

What Does Not Work in Canvas Student View

Attendance, conferences, conversations, collaborations, differentiated assignments, groups, LTI tools such as Pronto and Turnitin, peer reviews, and profiles do not work for the Test Student. Also, you will see only what you, as the instructor, allow your students to see.

Sample Student Account

At MiraCosta College all faculty have a separate sample student user added to their Canvas course. This is a separate account from your primary MCC faculty login account. The sample student account needs to be reset two times a year at the same time your employee password is reset.

With the sample student account all course content and tools that you have enabled for your students will work. This includes taking attendance, conferences, conversations, collaborations, differentiated assignments, groups, Pronto, LTI tools, Turnitin assignments, and peer reviews.

Reminder: You must publish your course and you must publish the course content or tool within Canvas before you can access it with your sample student account. Your sample student account has the same course permissions as your enrolled SURF students.

Sample Credentials

Add -student to the end of your MCC faculty login account. This will be your sample student account.

Example Log On:   kturpin-student
Password: Contact the ITS Help Desk at (760) 795-6850 for a password for first time users.

Substitute kturpin for your MCC faculty login and add -student

Password Reset

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