Category: Online Education News You Can Use

Adios, Bb and Moodle – Completion of Canvas transition #1

To: All faculty

All fall and summer classes are available now in Canvas for you to begin preparations. Blackboard and Moodle will no longer be options for instruction after the spring semester.

The official end of our licenses providing access to Blackboard and Moodle is June 30. Prior to that, please make sure you have extracted all content from all classes for rebuilding in Canvas.

If you have been teaching classes in Blackboard or Moodle this year, and you have the possibility of needing to work with a student after June 30 to resolve a grade dispute and/or finish an incomplete class, you’ll need to be extra-careful to retain all the records that may be important such as grade details, your feedback to the student, and so on.

If you are still learning Canvas, we have one more upcoming 4-week online Introduction to Teaching with Canvas class, starting Monday, April 23. Learn more and sign up if you’re interested.

Going forward, I will be sending a weekly countdown message with reminders, tips, and recommendations until the closure of Blackboard and Moodle.

Tip #1: Explore the many MiraCosta-specific Canvas resources available to you, including resources specifically about transitioning from Blackboard to Canvas, many of which were created by MiraCosta faculty from the Canvas Transition Team.

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

Spring 2018 Workshops

Sign up

Archives

  • Go to the Workshop Archives to see recordings and resources from the workshops below that were held online.

Workshops

Friday 1/12/18

Time to learn Canvas! What are the options?

8:30 – 9:20 am
Jim Julius, Sean Davis, & Billy Gunn
Audience: Brand new to Canvas and beginners.
Format/Location: Online

View Recording

In this workshop, participants will receive a very brief overview of the Canvas system, which will be the sole MiraCosta course management system starting in summer 2018. Participants will get a tour of the many resources available to faculty that MiraCosta, Canvas, the CCC system, and others provide to help faculty learn to use Canvas effectively. Experienced faculty will provide a quick overview of the features of Canvas by providing a tour of their classes. They will highlight ways that Canvas is similar to and different from Blackboard.

Blackboard to Canvas: Export/Import Essentials

9:30 – 10:50 am
Karen Turpin
Audience: Brand new to Canvas and beginners.
Format/Location: Online

View Recording

View demonstrations of some of the most important processes in migrating from Blackboard to Canvas. Some elements work well to exports from Blackboard and import into Canvas, and these will be demonstrated: announcements, tests/surveys, and discussion boards. After each demo there will be an opportunity for online Q&A.

Bb to Canvas: Re-creating Content & Assignments

11 – 11:50 am
Curry Mitchell & Sean Davis
Audience: Beginners
Format/Location: Online

View Recording

View explanations and demonstrations of how common Blackboard class elements such as files, assignments, folders, and items are best re-created in Canvas. There will be plenty of opportunity for online Q&A during the demonstrations.

Hands on Canvas: Tests/surveys – Bb to Canvas

1 – 1:50 pm
Karen Turpin
Audience: Beginners to Advanced
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611

This workshop is designed to give you open time to work with Canvas in a supported environment, with a specific focus on how to move tests and surveys from Blackboard to Canvas. In addition, attendees may benefit from exploring Canvas resources found on this page: https://tic.miracosta.edu/campus-teaching-technologies/canvas/

All Hands on Canvas: Announcements – Bb to Canvas

2 – 2:50 pm
Karen Turpin
Audience: Beginners to Advanced
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611

This workshop is designed to give you open time to work with Canvas in a supported environment, with a specific focus on how to move announcements from Blackboard to Canvas. In addition, attendees may benefit from exploring Canvas resources found on this page: https://tic.miracosta.edu/campus-teaching-technologies/canvas/

All Hands on Canvas: Discussion boards – Bb to Canvas

3 – 3:50 pm
Karen Turpin
Audience: Beginners to Advanced
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611

This workshop is designed to give you open time to work with Canvas in a supported environment, with a specific focus on how to move discussion boards from Blackboard to Canvas. In addition, attendees may benefit from exploring Canvas resources found on this page: https://tic.miracosta.edu/campus-teaching-technologies/canvas/

Tuesday 1/16/18

Canvas Basics: Materials, Gradebook, Announcements – San Elijo

9 – 10:50 am
Sean Davis
Audience: Beginners
Format/Location: Hands-on in SEC 107

This hands-on workshop is designed primarily to enable faculty to learn the essential Canvas tools typically used for on-ground classes: adding and organizing class materials, using the gradebook, and creating announcements. There will be discussion of how to bring basic resources like this from Blackboard to Canvas. Participants will have plenty of time for hands-on work applying what they have learned.

Canvas: Just the Basics for Beginners

9 – 9:50 am
Karen Turpin
Audience: Beginners
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611 (sign up via MyFlex). OR Simulcast online via ConferZoom (claim Flex credit afterward via “Conferences and Presentations” under “Other Activities” in MyFlex)

View Recording (Captioning in progress)

This hands-on workshop is designed to give an overview of the basic tools to get started with Canvas. Learn how to create announcements, review & sort your student roster in Canvas, create your profile, message students, create assignments, and sort & record grades in the gradebook. Participants will have time for hands-on work applying what they have learned in this workshop.

Canvas: Course Design through Rich Content Pages

10 – 11:50 am
Curry Mitchell & Billy Gunn
Audience: Beginners and intermediate
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611(sign up via MyFlex). OR Simulcast online via ConferZoom (claim Flex credit afterward via “Conferences and Presentations” under “Other Activities” in MyFlex).

Handout

View Recording (Captioning in progress)

If you’ve started using Canvas, and prefer not to follow the standard Canvas module navigational scheme, this workshop is for you. Experienced MiraCosta faculty will provide demonstrations and guidance in how to turn your Canvas course into an attractive learning environment that effectively helps students through the learning process through a friendly home page that connects to rich content pages.

Using Turnitin in Canvas

1 – 2:20 pm
Curry Mitchell & Billy Gunn
Audience: Beginners and intermediate
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611 (sign up via MyFlex). OR Simulcast online via ConferZoom (claim Flex credit afterward via “Conferences and Presentations” under “Other Activities” in MyFlex)

View Recording (Captioning in progress)

Turnitin is a 3rd party tool that can enhance and streamline assessment of student written work. While many think of Turnitin primarily as a plagiarism prevention tool, Turnitin also provides tools that can make the writing drafting, feedback, and formal assessment processes both richer and more efficient. Turnitin works a bit differently in Canvas than Blackboard, so whether you’re experienced with Turnitin in Blackboard, or a beginner with Turnitin, this workshop is for you.

All Hands on Canvas

2:30 – 3:50 pm
Curry Mitchell & Billy Gunn
Audience: Beginners to Advanced
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611

This workshop is designed to give you open time to work with Canvas in a supported environment. Sign up and you’ll receive a survey in advance of the workshop soliciting input on what you’re especially hoping to get help with. You’ll have lots of open time to become more proficient in your use of Canvas, and to work on developing materials in Canvas, with the support of experienced Canvas users. In addition, attendees may benefit from exploring Canvas resources found on this page: https://tic.miracosta.edu/campus-teaching-technologies/canvas/

Grades in Canvas

4 – 4:50 pm
Karen Turpin
Audience: Beginners to Advanced
Format/Location: Online

View Recording

You will learn many ways to manage grades within Canvas, including leveraging the SpeedGrader and Rubrics for efficiency. Participants who attend the online demo will learn more about:

  • Rubrics
  • SpeedGrader
  • Assignment Groups Weight
  • Messaging Students Who… from the gradebook
  • …and more…

Handout

GradingAssignmentsHandout.pdf

Wednesday 1/17/18

Open Educational Lunch Extravaganza

12 – 1:50 pm
MiraCosta faculty panel, MiraCosta student panel, Nicole Finkbeiner
Location: Cafeteria Oceanside Campus

Nicole Finkbeiner Keynote (video, 35 min.) | Student Panel (video, 25 min.) | Faculty Panel (video, 33 min.)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are free, openly licensed materials that more and more faculty are using for their classes – often as a complete replacement for expensive textbooks. Is there really such a thing as a free lunch? Yes – and at this one you’ll not only get a delicious meal, you’ll have the opportunity to hear from panels of MiraCosta faculty and students who are already using OER and other Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) materials. Additionally, Nicole Finkbeiner from OpenStax, a nonprofit based at Rice University with a mission to improve student access to education, will provide a national perspective on the OER movement.

Open Education, OER, Equity, and Justice

Thao Ha & Nicole Finkbeiner
Session 1: 2 – 2:50 pm
Session 2: 3 – 3:50 pm
Location: OC 3608

Take a deeper dive into the OER movement, with Nicole Finkbeiner from OpenStax, a nonprofit based at Rice University with a mission to improve student access to education, and Thao Ha, an OpenStax textbook adopter and leader of the creation of a zero-cost sociology degree at MiraCosta. Nicole and Thao will lead a discussion of the larger concepts around Open Education, particularly exploring issues of equity and social justice. Nicole will share emergent innovation and research findings in these areas.

Exploring, Evaluating, Adopting, Adapting OER

Jim Julius & Lauren McFall
Session 1: 2 – 2:50 pm
Session 2: 3 – 3:50 pm
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611

Participants will go hands-on, exploring curated sites for high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER). Participants will discuss tools useful in evaluating OER quality, and will have the opportunity to explore any concerns with adopting OER. Participants will also consider how faculty can modify OER to fit their needs even better, and resources available to faculty who may need support with replacement of ancillary resources when switching from publisher materials to OER.

Thursday 1/18/18

Canvas Basics: Materials, Gradebook, Announcements

10 – 11:50 am
Sean Davis and Curry Mitchell
Audience: Beginners
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611 (sign up via MyFlex). OR Simulcast online via ConferZoom (claim Flex credit afterward via “Conferences and Presentations” under “Other Activities” in MyFlex)

Handout

View Recording (Captioning in progress)

This hands-on workshop is designed primarily to enable faculty to learn the essential Canvas tools typically used for on-ground classes: adding and organizing class materials, using the gradebook, and creating announcements. There will be discussion of how to bring basic resources like this from Blackboard to Canvas. Participants will have plenty of time for hands-on work applying what they have learned.

All Hands on Canvas

1 – 2:50 pm
Curry Mitchell
Audience: Beginners to Advanced
Format/Location: Hands-on in OC 4611

This workshop is designed to give you open time to work with Canvas in a supported environment. Sign up and you’ll receive a survey in advance of the workshop soliciting input on what you’re especially hoping to get help with. You’ll have lots of open time to become more proficient in your use of Canvas, and to work on developing materials in Canvas, with the support of experienced Canvas users. In addition, attendees may benefit from exploring Canvas resources found on this page: https://tic.miracosta.edu/campus-teaching-technologies/canvas/

Canvas Training and Interactive Workshop – CLC

4:30 – 6:20 pm
Karen Korstad & Angela Senigaglia
Audience: Beginners and Intermediate
Format/Location: Hands-on in CLC 135

This training and interactive workshop is designed for faculty who want work on the basics for establishing a new Canvas course. It will be held in a computer lab at the CLC and interested faculty should come prepared to work on their spring courses. Features that will be covered include basic profile set up, announcements, grade book, modules and pages.

MCC Canvas Tutorials & Articles

 

A collection of MCC specific tutorials & articles can be found below, or search for a topic in the search box in the top right corner of this website. The official Canvas Guides are a great source of tutorials on all Canvas features for instructors. You may also be interested in MiraCosta’s general Canvas Information & Resources page.

Accessibility

Assignments

Calendar

    Communication Tools

    Content / Course Design

    Google Docs

    Grades

    LTI Tools

    People

    Start / End of Semester

    Support

     

    Return to Canvas Information & Resources

    Canvas now open to all MiraCosta faculty

    All spring 2017 classes are available to faculty now in both Blackboard and Canvas. MiraCosta will support Blackboard, Moodle, and Canvas through spring of 2018, with full conversion to Canvas by summer 2018. (Faculty who wish to use Moodle for any classes should request those from Karen Korstad – kkorstad@miracosta.edu).

    Please see the TIC page on Canvas for lots of great resources if you wish to begin learning about Canvas. A number of MiraCosta faculty have been teaching Canvas pilot classes this fall, including the Canvas Transition Team of Billy Gunn, Curry Mitchell, Gail Meinhold, Leola McClure, and Robert Kelley. They are currently developing training resources to share with all faculty, and we will soon release a list of Canvas introduction/open lab sessions to be held this fall. We are also planning an all-day Canvas workshop for the first day of Flex week in January (Friday the 13th).

    You may also be interested in the video of the fall Flex “Goodbye Blackboard and Moodle, Hello Canvas” webinar featuring Billy Gunn and Curry Mitchell.

    Finally, if you have not seen the FA’s update on the Canvas transition, it is recommended reading.

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

    MiraCosta transitioning to Canvas

    Hello!

    As you have likely heard, MiraCosta College will be transitioning to the Canvas course management system over the next two years. This decision was finalized on Friday by the College Council, concluding an in-depth and inclusive process this spring. The attached 6-page document summarizes the evaluation process and provides an overview of the transition timeline and support over the next two years

    Some important highlights:

    • Blackboard and Moodle will continue to be available through spring 2018; only Canvas will be supported for MiraCosta classes starting in summer 2018.
    • MiraCosta’s Canvas system will be available to all faculty starting this November.
    • For fall semester instruction, we have a limited license for Canvas, allowing for 400 total users (faculty and students), meaning that we likely can have 10-15 instructors using Canvas for one class each in fall 2016.
    • Faculty who wish to try out Canvas prior to November but who are not part of the fall pilot group may access Canvas for free via https://www.canvaslms.com/try-canvas.
    • See the MiraCosta TIC site with many links for Canvas training and support.
      I am planning to soon send out a call for interest in being one of the 10-15 fall pilot faculty using Canvas for one class. The intent is that this group would be involved over several semesters, and thus this opportunity is open only to full-time faculty. The expectations and support of these faculty are to be negotiated by the district and Faculty Assembly, but if you would like to let me know of your interest in this opportunity, please feel free to let me know. Once the structure has been determined for the pilot group, I will send a message to all full-time faculty.

    It is worth noting that over 70 other California Community Colleges have also made the decision to transition to Canvas, including several of our SDICCCA neighbors.

    Finally, my thanks to the faculty, staff, students and administrators who participated on the CMS evaluation task force. They accomplished excellent work in a very tight timeframe, and MiraCosta should be confident in the quality of the decision-making process.

    Jim Julius, Ed.D.
    Faculty Director, Online Education
    Vice President, Academic Senate

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