Visit thenew Upcoming Canvas 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. Canvas recommends you click the Follow button at the top of the document so you will receive all updates as they are made available. You may also want to review the upcomingCanvas Release Notesto find out what is coming soon and when. Check theCanvas System Status Updates for real time updates about existing features within Canvas.
Discussions Re-Imagined ( Zoom Recording, 57 minutes) – 8/13/2024 workshop by Karen Turpin and Nadia Khan
Spring 2024
PopeTech and SensusAccess ( Zoom Recording, 47 minutes) – 1/12/2024 workshop by Aaron Holmes and Nadia Khan
Canvas Updates January 2024 ( Zoom Recording, 19 minutes) – 1/12/2024 workshop by Karen Turpin and Nadia Khan
Canvas Feature Options ( Zoom Recording, 27 minutes) – 1/16/2024 workshop by Karen Turpin and Nadia Khan
Pronto Open Lab – Learn How to Level Up Your Engagement! ( Zoom Recording, 46 minutes) – 1/17/2024 workshop by Lauren Luker (Pronto) & Jim Julius. This workshop provides an overview of Pronto’s features and how to get started with using Pronto to enhance class communication. This recording requires a passcode: +I2?3aXA
Social Annotation with Perusall (Zoom Recording, 1 hour 5 minutes) – 1/16/2023 workshop by Jim Julius, Michael from Perusall, Rob Bond, John Kirwan, & Aaron Roberts
Hands-On Labs in an Online World – (Zoom Recording, 1 hours 12 minutes) – 12/3/2020 workshop by Lynne Miller, Barbara Juncosa, Paul Katson, Scott Fallstrom, and Dominique Ingato.
Moving to Free and Open Course Materials – (Zoom Recording, 1 hour 39 minutes) – 8/17/2020 Online workshop by Jim Julius, Pilar Hernandez, Nate Scharff, Jennifer Paris, & Richard Ma.
Additional recorded zoom sessions and online teaching guides from Summer 2020 can be viewed within the PROJECT Online Teaching Foundations Canvas course.
Enhancing Student Connection and Communication with Pronto ( Zoom Recording, 1 hr 28 minutes) – 1/14/2025 workshop by Jim Julius, Xuchi Eggleton, Eric Robertson, Maryline Chemama, Arlie Langager, Kristi Reyes, Serena Mercado, Rob Bond, & Lauren Luker
Pronto Open Lab – Learn How to Level Up Your Engagement! ( Zoom Recording, 46 minutes) – 1/17/2024 workshop by Lauren Luker (Pronto) & Jim Julius. This workshop provides an overview of Pronto’s features and how to get started with using Pronto to enhance class communication. This recording requires a passcode: +I2?3aXA
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.
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.
Accessibilityand 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:
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.
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.
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.)
If you electively 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 in order to maintain FERPA compliance. 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.
If you teach a stacked course or cross-listed course where different sections are automatically combined into one Canvas course, there are no FERPA concerns as described above, but Pronto will still default to multiple sections. This video demonstrates how to use one Pronto group to communicate with the entire class (all sections).
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
Here are some excellent additional Pronto resources:
Pronto slide deck from MiraCosta faculty Dawn Bell and Mariana Silva – includes ideas for using it with students
Pronto posting schedule – A suggested schedule with ideas for when and what a faculty member might use Pronto for to encourage wide student use
Pronto Help Desk – for students from MiraCosta professor Tanessa Sanchez
Pronto vs. Discord – Discord is a popular tool for free-flowing online class discussions – it has its downsides though as a tool that has not been vetted by the college and is outside of the college’s control
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.
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.
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
Zero- and Low-Textbook Cost Course Sections – If you are teaching one of these, please be sure to mark your class in SURF as LTC or ZTC if you haven’t already, so students know that your class has lowered that access barrier!
Artificial Intelligence class policy – Students want to know the “rules” around using AI in your class. There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this question so there is not a blanket college policy. Please check out a 1-page guide to help you craft language to share with your students if you’re still working on that! Learn more about AI tools and guidance for MiraCosta faculty and students.
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.
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
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
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). 