eLearning Newsletter for November, 2021

Tech Talks

Nov. 16 @ 1pm: Student Recordings as Authentic Assessment
One powerful form of assessment is to have students demonstrate what they know. Canvas has tools that make it relatively easy to record and upload audio and video as assignment submissions. In this session we'll look at Panopto assignments for students, recording media from computers and phones, and uploading media to Canvas.  
Join the Nov. 16 conversation on Zoom Links to an external site.
View the Nov. 16 conversation on YouTube Links to an external site.
Download a Nov. 16 Calendar event Download Download a Nov. 16 Calendar event

Nov. 30 @ 1pm: Rocketbook and Digital Note Taking
Susan Williams (Electronics Engineering instructor at SCC) has been using Rocketbook, a reusable, physical notebook that makes it easy to scan and save notes and drawings as digital files. Susan will share her experiences with Rocketbook and give us a demonstration, and we'll talk about some other digital note taking tools while we're at it. You can join this session virtually, or you can stop by the SCC eLearning/TLC office to get a hands-on experience!
Join the Nov. 30 conversation on Zoom Links to an external site.
View the Nov. 30 conversation on YouTube Links to an external site.
Download a Nov. 30 Calendar event Download Download a Nov. 30 Calendar event  

Fall Focus: Hybrid Teaching

These past few years have shed light on the critical nature of design in the classroom. We have adapted to the changing frontier of education over a period of time that could be politely described as highly accelerated. Techniques just beginning to crest the new wave of education were thrust into the educational marketplace where trial and error helped mold them into commonplace practices that are now a norm among instructors. Our goal with building a better normal is to continue to use those hard fought pandemic skills and maintain the gains we as instructors have made in the arenas of flexibility, inclusivity, and accessibility. 

For our Fall Focus 🍂🔍, eLearning has developed a module on Hybrid Course Design, a design model that allows instructors to blend our new online skillset with the things we love about on-ground and face-to-face interaction. Hybrid Learning can be used by instructors looking to improve the flexibility of their on-ground courses through integrating online tools to solve complex problems dealing with everything from classroom management to scheduling. This training module is more comprehensive than many of our previous offerings, so faculty that complete this module will be eligible for a larger, $75 stipend! We expect the module will take between 2 and 3 hours to complete, and can be done entirely at your own pace.
Click here to get started with the Hybrid Course Design module.

Winter 2022 Canvas Shells

Winter 2022 Canvas shells should now be available. Course rosters will begin updating on November 5, 2021.

Contact Nick, Caleb or Ben if you'd like any assistance copying or updating course content, adding teaching assistants, or anything else that we can do to help get ready for Winter quarter.

Respondus LockDown Browser

eLearning has created a Respondus student training module that can be download from Canvas Commons. It provides general information to students about how Respondus works and how to install and use it, and includes two practice tests the students can take to test their devices. Once you install the module in your course, make sure you place the LockDown Browser button on your active course navigation and open it one time, so Respondus can catalog your course quizzes.

More and more students are using Chromebooks as their primary computer. While Respondus does now support Chromebooks, there are a couple of extra things that Chromebook users should be aware of:

1. After a you install the Respondus LockDown Browser extension, you need to log out of Canvas; close your web browser; and restart your device. Despite the installation instructions, you will not be able to use Respondus until you've restarted your computer.
2. You should not install the Android Canvas app on your Chromebook. Although there is a setting that allows users to install Android apps on their Chromebooks, this will cause conflicts with the LockDown browser and prevent it from working correctly.

Canvas Discussion and Announcements Redesign

Instructure is in the process of re-designing their Discussion Board and Announcement interface. This is an ongoing project and will be implemented in phases. More information on the current changes can be found here Links to an external site.. Currently, the following changes have been implemented:

• The toolbar has been moved to the top of the discussion and announcement thread.
• Newest replies display at the top of the first page instead of the bottom of the last page.
• Users can sort replies from newest to oldest, or oldest to newest.
• Users can also quickly move to the top of the discussion or announcement at any time.
• Role labels have been added to identify the role of the individual that made the submission (Teacher, TA, Student) and identifies the individual as the author or the submission.
• Replies to a another student’s submission are now visible on a side-bar rather than displaying on the main page.
• Users can mention others in their discussion by using the “@” symbol which will display a drop-down list of the other users in the course.
• A user can quote other replies in their own response.

Here are instruction on how to turn on the new Discussion/Announcement interface if you would like to use it in your course:

1. Navigate to your course Settings page;
2. Click on the Feature Previews tab at the top of the page;
3. Scroll down until you find the “Discussions/Announcements Redesign” feature;
4. Click on the red “X” to the right of the option, select Enable from the option list and the red “X” will become a green checkmark.

Once you do that, all of your existing Discussions and Announcements in that course will use the new interface, along with any you create moving forward.

Here are links to the student and instructor help guides:

• Announcements Redesign
• Instructor Guide Links to an external site.
• Student Guide Links to an external site.
• Discussions Redesign
• Instructor Guide Links to an external site.
• Student Guide Links to an external site.

eLearning will be talking more about the new Discussion redesign in the future, as new features become available.

Canvas Quizzes Redesign

In 2017 Instructure announced that they were initiating an overhaul of Canvas quizzes.  Since that time, after considerable effort, they have developed the New Quizzes quiz engine. New Quizzes will replace the current quiz engine in July of 2022 and over the next months we will transition CCS in time for the deadline. You can begin your journey by reviewing the comparison document Links to an external site. that shows the differences and similarities between the two quiz tools, and once you have done that, review some short videos Links to an external site. that explain the migration process and let you look at the new interface.

eLearning will offer more details and training opportunities as the New Quizzes gets closer to going live.

eLearning Department Contacts

Instructional Technology Support
Rick Suhr Instructional Media Specialist I can help you create video and other media for your courses and projects Rick.Suhr@ccs.spokane.edu  509-533-3443	Jerry Troupe LMS Administrator I can help with eLearning technical support and software training Jerry.Troupe@ccs.spokane.edu 509-723-6241
Instructional Design Support We can help faculty with course design and instructional strategies
Caleb Hutchins Instructional Designer Caleb.Hutchins@ccs.spokane.edu	Ben Whitmore Instructional Designer Ben.Whitmore@ccs.spokane.edu
Nick Taylor Instructional Designer Nick.Taylor@ccs.spokane.edu
Student Support We can help online students solve problems and reach their academic goals
Julie Hands Online Success Coach Julie.Hands@ccs.spokane.edu 509-222-8522	Karen Sandall Online Success Coach Karen.Sandall@ccs.spokane.edu 509-808-0935
Administrative Support We help launch, implement, and support eLearning projects and initiatives
Patrick McEachern Associate Provost Patrick.McEachern@ccs.spokane.edu 509-533-7010