Canvas Basics Part 3: Feedback in SpeedGrader, Quizzes (Zoom Recording 15 mins) – 6/2020 Online workshop by Karen Turpin and Liesl Madrona
Canvas Basics Part 4: Copying/Sharing/Importing Canvas Course Content (Zoom Recording 10 mins) – 6/2020 Online workshop by Karen Turpin and Liesl Madrona
Summer 2020 MiraCosta Online Ed Updates & Opportunities
Hello everyone, and happy summer! Please look over the following carefully. It’s full of important info and opportunities for all MiraCosta faculty!
– Jim Julius
Faculty Director, Online Education
PROJECT Online Teaching Foundations – June 8-12
As I announced last week, MiraCosta will hold an online teaching institute the week of June 8-12. You can review daily topics, and respond to the interest survey if you haven’t yet done so (thanks to all who have!). This is a collaboration between the C3 Teaching & Learning Center, Online Education, and PDP. PROJECT stands for PROfessionals for Joy, Equity, and Community in Teaching!
Canvas updates
– Canvas End of Term
After June 1, your spring Canvas classes go into read-only mode for you and your students. 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 June 1. Review our Canvas end-of-term guide for details.
– Canvas Studio is now a permanent tool
The Studio tool within Canvas allows you to create screencasts, turn videos into discussions, and even embed quiz questions into videos. It’s no longer a pilot – AIS has made a commitment to fund it on an ongoing basis. Check out our local introductory page or jump straight to Canvas’s full set of Studio tutorials.
– Combining course sections in Canvas – still not available, but progressing
The moratorium on combining multiple course sections into one Canvas site due to FERPA concerns is nearly resolved, but for the summer we remain unable to combine such sections in Canvas.
– Support for pronouns in Canvas
The NameCoach tool is no longer being supported by state funding and will be removed from Canvas prior to the summer term. However, the good news is that Canvas itself now supports pronouns in the People area (class rosters) and all Canvas users will be able to select their pronouns in their settings. Look for more info on this soon.
– New in Canvas: Ally – Providing course material options
Starting this summer, files you upload into Canvas such as PDFs, Word documents, and PowerPoints will be automatically available to students in multiple fully accessible and mobile-friendly formats. This tool is being funded by the chancellor’s office through the end of 2020. Look for more info on this soon.
– Zoom app/client update needed by May 30
If you are a ConferZoom user, you should have received a message from CCC TechConnect directing you to update Zoom on all your devices. If you don’t, you will be forced to starting June 1, which could delay your access to a Zoom meeting. Please do so now if you haven’t already done so.
– Summer Student Orientations to Online Learning
I’ll be offering nine Student Orientation to Online Learning student workshops in the first two weeks of the summer term – dates and times are posted on the TASC site. Student attendance at these sessions is available to you in SURF if you are teaching a summer class and wish to incentivize student participation. Learn more about the Student Orientation to Online Learning.
– Open Educational Resource (OER) and Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) reminders
Knowing that your classes will continue to be taught mostly or entirely online might get you rethinking your course materials. Be sure to consider OER and library options! The MiraCosta OER/ZTC disciplinary resource site includes recommended OER and library materials organized by discipline.
– Teaching a Zero- or Low-Textbook Cost summer or fall class?
If you are teaching any summer or fall 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.
– Want support to bring down course material costs for your students by adopting OER?
We still have grant funds available that can provide stipends, support for student workers, instructional design expert assistance, and more, if you are undertaking work that will save students at least 30% over current course material costs through adoption of OER. Contact me to learn more.
– Interested in getting involved in statewide OER work?
The statewide Academic Senate’s OER Initative (ASCCC OERI) is looking for faculty to serve in a wide range of capacities, from reviewers to discipline leads to regional leads, during the next academic year. If you are interested, please complete both the ASCCC OERI Application and the ASCCC Faculty Application for Statewide Service.
Online teaching at MiraCosta – next steps!
Dear MiraCosta faculty,
Congrats on your persistence, creativity, and care for our students to make it through this strange semester. Now, as you look ahead to the next round of online teaching this summer and/or fall, I want to provide you with some key information and invitations.
Invitations: Summer support
June 8-12 (and beyond): MiraCosta will hold an online teaching institute. This will be different from our transition week this spring in that it will be very focused on helping you develop and teach classes meeting the basic requirements and guidelines for online instruction at MiraCosta. There will be three main components to this:
- Zoom sessions offered daily. These will also be recorded so that they remain available throughout the summer and beyond.
- A Canvas course providing extensive resources and activities complementing the Zoom sessions.
- Opportunities for follow-up via ongoing support with communities of peers and/or expert guides.
For more details, check out the schedule of topics for the institute.
Please take a moment to let us know your interest in this, including if you would like to help present and/or be a peer support facilitator.
June 17-19: The CCC system’s Online Teaching Conference is online and free this year. Check out the schedule and register!
July 13-16: Bruce Hoskins is leading development of a week of professional learning called Raise Your E(quity) Q(uotient)!, featuring professional learning opportunities centered around:
- Becoming an Equity-Minded Professor
- Building an Equity-Based Community
- Facilitating an Equity-Centered Classroom
Look for more details coming soon.
Engaging with any of the above – whether live sessions, recordings, or independent study of additional materials – is Flex-eligible, but the possibilities for reporting summer Flex activities varies depending on whether the activity occurs before or after July 1, and by faculty status. Learn more on the PDP FAQs for full-time faculty or for associate faculty.
Information: Online Teaching Essentials
A number of you have asked me to summarize the expectations/requirements for online instruction at MiraCosta. The below are adapted from updates approved this spring to MiraCosta’s DE curriculum addendum to align with recent Title 5 changes. Expectations for MiraCosta online classes:
- Ensure that the same standards of course quality shall be applied to distance education as are applied to traditional classroom courses and that the same course outcomes are achieved regardless of instructional modality. The MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines document provides guidance for how to design and teach DE classes that are likely to effectively enable students to achieve the designated outcomes.
- Ensure regular effective contact between instructor and students, and among students, including frequent, quality, instructor-initiated interaction. The MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines document provides guidance for how to design and facilitate these interactions.
- Create an environment of academic integrity, monitor progress, and track attendance.
- Establish expectations on the frequency and timeliness of instructor-initiated contact and feedback, for student participation in student-student interactions, and manage unexpected instructor absences.
- Meet the accessibility requirements in state and federal regulations. MiraCosta’s Ten Tips for Creating Accessible Course Content provides specific guidance regarding how these regulations must be met.
- Uphold institutional procedures to authenticate students.
- Help to make students aware of online student support services.
Please note that both AP 4105 and the MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines document are in process of being updated to fully reflect the recent Title 5 changes which are included in the list above. If you have any questions about any of this, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Looking forward to continuing this journey with you!
Jim