Category: Online Education News You Can Use

Online Education News Spring 2019

Online Teaching Conference

The CCC Online Teaching Conference returns to Anaheim June 17-19. MiraCosta is always well represented at this conference. Online Ed will fully fund attendance including hotel for a limited number of folks who want to go. If you’d like to go reach out to me for more information.

Professional Development Courses

@ONE offers an incredible array of online teaching classes ranging from general introductory and intermediate courses about online education, to more focused learning experiences related to topics such as culturally responsive teaching, accessibility, assessment, and much more. Check out the catalog.

Just In! New Self-Paced Accessibility Courses through @One! These offerings are FREE.

New Tools in Canvas

Arc Pilot – Arc is a video management system by the same folks who bring us Canvas. It offers a video archive, captioning services, the ability to make comments on videos, and much more – Learn more about Arc. Students have access to Arc as well, so this can be a powerful tool for courses that have video-based assignments. Earlier this Spring, we facilitated some workshops introducing Arc

Notebowl Pilot – This tool helps students stay connected to their online courses through social media-like posting, assignment tracking, and syncing their collective course calendar. Learn more about Notebowl. You can start using Notebowl in Canvas by enabling “Bulletin” in your course Navigation Settings.

NameCoach – Tired of mispronouncing or not knowing the correct pronunciation of a student’s name? NameCoach is to the rescue! This feature, already available in Canvas, allows students and instructors to voice-record their names – making it easier for folks to establish respectful relationships online. Learn more about NameCoach. Video tutorials on local use will be available on the TIC website soon

Title V Changes – Student-to-Student Contact

Potential Title 5 changes will require online classes ensure “student-to-student contact.” To learn more about these changes and techniques for facilitating student-to-student contact in an online environment, check out our Flex Workshop on this issue.

Student Orientation to Online Learning – Remaining Sessions

Please encourage students to attend one of our workshops! They will be introduced to a wealth of resources that will help them with both online and face-to-face learning.

  • Wednesday, February 6 from 12 – 1 pm ONLINE
  • Wednesday, February 6 from 3 – 4 pm OC 1201 (face-to-face)
  • Thursday, February 7 from 1:30 – 2:30 pm ONLINE
  • Monday, March 11 from 4 – 5 pm ONLINE
  • Wednesday, March 13 from 12 – 1 pm OC 1201(face-to-face)
  • Thursday, March 14 from 9 – 10 am ONLINE

Students can sign up here.

CVC-OEI Course Academy

If you teach a fully online C-ID approved course, you are eligible to receive support from the Online Education Initiative in preparation for possibly offering the class on the Course Exchange. Learn more about the Course Design Academy and/or sign up for a spring informational meeting.

That is all for now, folks! I wish you happiness and fulfillment in all of your online and screenless endeavors!

Sean Davis
Peace.Love.Unity.Justice for All.
my pronouns: he, him, his
Faculty Director of Online Education (Interim – Spring 2019)
Sociology Department

Spring 2019 Workshops

Registration

MiraCosta faculty no longer need to sign up for Flex activities in advance. After attending a Flex workshop, record your participation on your Flex transcript under the “Record Activities” tab, selecting the “Scheduled Activities or Workshops” activity type. Visit the Flex website for more information.

Archives

After Flex week, go to the Workshop Archives to see recordings and resources from workshops below that were held online.

Spring 2019 Workshops

A full updated list of Flex workshops can be found at:  Spring 2019 Flex Workshops

Monday 1/14/2019

Canvas: Just the Basics for Beginners

8:30 AM – 9:20 AM
Billy Gunn
Audience: Beginners
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4607

View the Recording (Zoom recording, 49 minutes) – Chat Transcript (txt)

This hands-on workshop is designed to give an overview of the basic tools to get started with Canvas. Learn how to set your homepage, design rich content pages, build a module, create assignments, post announcements, review your student roster and create groups, edit your profile, message students, and record grades using SpeedGrader. Participants will have time for hands-on work applying what they have learned, so make the most of this workshop by bringing documents and text to add to your Canvas course.

Introduction to ARC

9:30 AM – 10:20 AM
Karen Turpin & Sean Davis
Audience: All Faculty
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4607 & Online via ConferZoom

View the Recording (Zoom recording, 47 minutes) – Chat Transcript (txt)

Arc is a communication tool available in Canvas that allows instructors and students to actively collaborate through video and audio media. A one semester pilot of Arc has been approved by MOE for spring 2019. Let’s spend some time kicking the tires to find out how Arc can enhance your teaching and student communications within Canvas. Be part of the next generation of video creation and communication within Canvas.

Resources: What is Arc? – https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9669-50736467895

Accessibility of Online Resources

10:30 AM – 12:20 AM
Lauren McFall, Sean Davis, & Karen Turpin
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4607 & Online Via ConferZoom

View the Recording (Zoom recording, 64 minutes) – Chat Transcript (txt)

Canvas is a great tool designed to broaden access to learning opportunities, but faculty have a responsibility to make sure that content we add is fully accessible to all students. In this workshop, we will utilize an accessibility checklist to help you understand the basics of ADA and 508 compliance. We’ll point out ways in which your efforts can benefit all students. Some of the topics will include: accessibility checkers in Canvas, Word, and PowerPoint, closed captioning, images, videos, PDF documents, and more! Participants will have time to go hands-on with the tools and techniques shared in this workshop.

Resources: Accessibility Checklist

Cut the Costs: Using Library Resources in Canvas

1:00 PM – 1:50 PM
Lauren McFall, Pamela Perry, and Glorian Sipman
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4607

View the Recording (Zoom recording, 53 minutes) – Chat Transcript (txt)

Learn how to embed library resources directly into your Canvas course, explore ways you can supplement your course content and eliminate and/or reduce textbook costs for your students. This hands-on workshop is perfect for faculty that teach online, hybrid, and in person classes. Librarians will be available to provide one-on-one assistance.

Introduction to the New Canvas Gradebook

2:00 PM – 2:50 PM
Karen Turpin
Audience: All Faculty
Format/Location: Online via ConferZoom

View the Recording (Zoom recording, 49 minutes) – Chat Transcript (txt)

Canvas has redesigned the Gradebook and it is available as an option; it’s likely in 2019 that Canvas will discontinue the old Gradebook entirely. For now, instructors may enable the new Gradebook on a course-by-course basis. Join us as we dive deeper into the functionality  available in the new Canvas Gradebook. Filtering, sorting, custom colors, view/hide unpublished assignments, and manual adjustments will be explored. Basic assignment setup along with tips and tricks for an organized and effective gradebook will be covered.

Resources:

Introduction to Quizzes.next

3:00 PM – 4:20 PM
Karen Turpin
Audience: All Faculty
Format/Location: Online via ConferZoom

View the Recording (Zoom recording, 1 hour 3 minutes) – Chat Transcript (txt)

Quizzes.next is the next generation of assessments in Canvas. Find out what Quizzes.next is, how you can get started, question types that are  available, conversion options, and what Canvas is still working on in the next release. Quizzes.next will eventually replace the current version of Canvas quizzes.

Resources: Quizzes.next in Canvas –  https://tic.miracosta.edu/quizzes-next-in-canvas/

Title V “Pending” Changes in Online Learning – in Student to Student Contact

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Sean Davis
Audience: All Faculty
Format/Location: Online via ConferZoom

This workshop will introduce ways to increase student engagement in online settings. Potential Title 5 changes will require online classes ensure “student-to-student contact.” We will discuss strategies to both enhance student-to-student contact already in place in courses and introduce ways of creatively and effectively implementing techniques to achieve this in courses that currently lack this modality.

View the Recording (Zoom recording, 51 minutes) – Chat Transcript (txt)

Online Ed News to Know Before You Go

Canvas Drop-In Support for Faculty This Week

On the first day of finals (and the second, third, and fourth), my colleagues gave to me … help with all things Canvas, from grading, to designing next semester’s classes, to any other burning Canvas questions you might have! An announcement will be updated each day this week in Canvas with the day’s times and locations – see the full week schedule here.

Canvas End-of-Term Reminders

After Dec. 31, your fall Canvas classes go into read-only mode for you and your students. There are some important things you should consider before that date! Please review our Canvas end-of-term guide.

Zero- and Low-Textbook Cost Class Spring Classes

If you are teaching any spring classes that have course material costs of $0 (zero) or under $40 (low), please be sure to designate those classes as such in SURF. This enables your class to receive a special denotation in SURF and also to be listed on the ZTC/LTC page. See directions here (and this procedure may be a bit different following the SURF upgrade, so please take care of this ASAP).

Online and Hybrid Class Information Reminder

If you are teaching an online or hybrid class this spring, please make sure your class description is up to date on the Online Class Schedule page. Students use the information on this page to get details about your class such as your expectations for success, and how they should get started. See detailed instructions on how to provide detailed class information there.

Faculty Professional Learning Opportunities

Online Teaching Conference – Submit a Proposal?

The CCC Online Teaching Conference returns to Anaheim June 17-19. MiraCosta is always well represented at this conference. Online Ed will fully fund attendance including hotel for MiraCostans who present at OTC. The Call for Proposals is open now through Jan. 31. If you’d like to go but don’t want to submit a proposal, look for more information later in the spring about potential support.

@ONE Online Teaching Classes

@ONE offers an incredible array of online teaching classes ranging from general introductory and intermediate courses about online education, to more focused learning experiences related to topics such as culturally responsive teaching, accessibility, assessment, and much more. New classes begin January 14 – check out the catalog.

CVC-OEI Course Academy

If you teach a fully online C-ID approved course, you are eligible to receive support from the Online Education Initiative in preparation for possibly offering the class on the Course Exchange. Learn more about the Course Design Academy and/or sign up for a spring informational meeting.

And finally … Sean Davis is the new & improved Jim Julius this spring!

I’ll be on sabbatical this spring, working on developing a whole new set of resources and professional learning experiences designed specifically for MiraCosta faculty interested in growing their online teaching skills and knowledge. Sean Davis, a sociology faculty member and all-around amazing MiraCostan, will be filling in for me. I am excited for the fresh perspective he will bring to this role, and I hope you take advantage of his availability to support all things Online Ed this spring.

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

New Quizzes (aka Quizzes.Next) in Canvas

Quizzes.Next was the original name given to Canvas’s alternative quiz/test assessment engine introduced in 2018. As of summer 2019, Canvas has begun referring to this tool as “New Quizzes.” Although originally it was expected that Quizzes.Next would completely replace the original Quiz tool by early 2019, it is no longer clear when this might happen.

Teachers can use Quizzes.Next to create assessments using a variety of question types, including some unavailable in the original Quiz tool. Quizzes.Next assessments are a particular type of Assignment rather than a distinct tool.

Locate New Quizzes in Canvas

  1. Click Assignments in the Canvas course menu
  2. Click the +Quiz/Test button near the top right of the screen.

Quizzes.Next

Getting Started with Quizzes.Next

FAQs and Known Issues

As of summer 2018, Quizzes.Next is in Beta. You may find a few issues as you begin to work with this tool. Check the FAQ and Known Issues, and contact Canvas Support to report issues and get help.

 

MiraCosta Online Ed Updates: Mid-Semester edition

Good stuff here for all faculty – not just those teaching online. Please read on!

Canvas Conference online tomorrow (10/26)

Ready for some new ideas on effective uses of Canvas? The Can-Innovate online conference is designed by and for the CCC system. You can register and attend independently, or you can pop in to the new C3 Teaching & Learning Center space in the OC Hub (OC 1252 & 1253) to catch as many sessions as you like throughout the day (tomorrow, Friday 10/26). There’s also an open Canvas course with slides and other resources for every session. This is, of course, Flex-eligible!

Spring Class Schedule is available!

That means three things:

  1. Classes assigned to you in SURF are available for you to begin developing in Canvas.
  2. If any of your spring classes are Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) or Low Textbook Cost (<$40), you should designate them as such in SURF.
  3. If you are teaching online or hybrid spring classes, you can provide more information about them for students in the Online Course Schedule. . Please note: if you have done this in the past by copying text from Word or other sources, you may have introduced HTML that causes your course description to be inaccessible. Please type directly or copy in plain text only.

Want to learn more about Open Ed Resources & Zero Textbook Cost materials?

Check out the MiraCosta OER/ZTC website, starting with a curated set of texts and Canvas shells useful for many GE classes.
Consider registering for and attending a regional OER/ZTC summit on Nov. 9, 8 am – 2 pm, at Grossmont College.

Video Management System coming – interested?

The MiraCosta Online Educators committee is preparing to select a video management system to pilot this spring at MiraCosta. This will enable faculty and students to easily record, manage, and share videos within Canvas. Faculty will be able to get detailed information about student viewing of videos, discussions can be tied to different points in videos, and quiz questions can be inserted within videos. Please let me know if you might want to be part of our evaluation process.

Fall Student Orientations to Online Learning complete

Nearly 240 students attended a Student Orientation to Online Learning session this fall, and nearly 2700 have attended since 2014. If you want to give extra credit to your students for attending, you can run a report in SURF to see which ones participated. 

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

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