Your monthly instructional technology updates
Spring 2020
Instructional Technology & Distance Education Training Schedule
Office 365 Forms
Forms can be used to gather information from your students and your peers. I use them to get RSVP for my workshops and have found them to be amazingly effective.
To use Forms, log in to your MyGiant and select Office 365.
From your Office Home page, select Forms
Select New Form
Click anywhere on the Untitled form to start editing and be sure to give it a title and description.
Select +Add New
Select your question choices and complete the options.
Before you share your Form, click on the three dots next to the Share button and select Settings.
Select your sharing options. You can even customize the automatic response for your respondent.
When your Form is ready to share, click on the Share button in the upper right-hand corner.
Copy the link by clicking on the Copy button as pictured.
Sit back and watch the responses come in!
You can even download the responses in an Excel file format to see all your data in detail.
Online - The Fourth Campus
In 2008, the Chancellor’s Office published a set of DE guidelines to help districts comply with Title 5 DE regulations. Those guidelines are undergoing revision and may be approved by the Board of Governors (BOG) this spring. Here are three potential changes that may be of interest to you:
- Additional classifications of delivery modes include “fully online,” “partially online” (hybrid with set times and locations published in the schedule of classes), and “online with flexible in-person component” (range of times and locations published in the schedule of classes.
- Obligation to be in compliance with Section 508 (accessibility) by using Universal Design for Learning, 3rd party instructional materials that are verified to be accessible, and accessibility reviews of DE courses concurrent with curriculum committee course outline reviews.
- Expansion of the obligation for instructor-initiated contact with students to include student-to-student interaction.
The new guidelines will be shared as soon as they are official.
CTE Online Pathways Update
The third quarter of the CTE Online Pathways grant is underway. The grant is designed to increase online pathways for students who want to complete a skill certificate or certificate of achievement in a Career and Technical Education field. In this third quarter, grant-related activity will include modifying curriculum for distance education approval and scheduling online or hybrid sections of courses in addition to traditional on-the-ground sections. Additionally, the grant supports our expert OER librarian and instructional designer to work with faculty to build or enhance Canvas course shells to be used for certificate courses. We’ll also be producing marketing materials to help students become aware of available program opportunities. The grant ends on June 30, 2020.
Attendance
Many instructors enjoy using the Attendance tool in Canvas to support their face-to-face classes. Taking attendance is a proven retention strategy, so please use it. Your students want to know that you know they are there. (Remember that you can’t assign a grade for attendance alone.)
Go to your Canvas course and select the Settings link at the bottom of your course navigation menu.
Many instructors enjoy using the Attendance tool in Canvas to support their face-to-face classes. Taking attendance is a proven retention strategy, so please use it. Your students want to know that you know they are there. (Remember that you can’t assign a grade for attendance alone.)
Go to your Canvas course and select the Settings link at the bottom of your course navigation menu.
Select the Navigation tab in the center of the page.
The top portion of the navigation list contains those items that have been enabled for student viewing. The bottom portion of the list shows those items that have not been enabled for student viewing. Find and select the Attendance tool option, and click on the dots to the right of the word, Attendance.
Be sure to click Save.
The Attendance link will appear on your course navigation menu once you click Save.
Click on the Attendance link, and you’ll go to the app. You can select the List option to see a vertical list of students enrolled, or you can click on the Class option to create a seating chart.
Clicking on student names or images will give you options to mark the student present, tardy, or absent. Clicking on the settings gear in the upper right-hand corner will give you an option to create an attendance report.
Give it a try!
Microsoft Immersive Reader
Microsoft’s Immersive Reader tool has been integrated with Canvas pages. This is great news for our students who benefit from reading and hearing what they are reading at the same time. Instead of just providing a link to a file, paste your content into a Canvas page and publish it. When the student arrives on the page, the Immersive Reader link will be available in the upper right-hand portion of the screen.
When a student clicks on the Immersive Reader link, the student will navigate to the Immersive Reader frame. The student clicks on the Play Button and hears the text read aloud. Amazing.
Call Canvas directly for technical support. Someone is available 24/7/365.
The teacher support line is: 833-221-7459
The student support line is: 877-894-3392
Faculty can learn more about using Canvas by working with Deborah, the "Canvas Coach." Please contact Deborah by submitting this form or click the button to the right.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) & Accessibility
A joint message from
Dr. Deborah Nolan, Distance Education Coordinator, and Sandra Calderon, AAC Director
Using the UDL approach as we create instructional materials means that we provide multiple ways for students to see and engage with those materials. For example, pasting text onto a Canvas page and directing your students to use the Immersive Reader tool, gives students both a visual and an auditory version of your content. This simple combination supports a remarkable number of our students who may have reading comprehension challenges or even have difficulty focusing on text. Check out this resource from the Chancellor’s Office about using Canvas Pages.
Where to Find Things
Early Alert is a Banner application that enables you to notify students about how well they are doing or any concerns you may have. While you probably do this within your regular communication with your students, the benefit to using Early Alert is that student services staff can support your efforts. If a student’s record in Early Alert is highlighted in bright yellow, it indicates that the student is a part of a special program, such as EOPS. Student Services staff will be able to see any Early Alert you send to a student in a special program, and they can reinforce your message.
Students have been known to benefit from these Early Alert messages that they receive. Early Alert supports student success. 2,354 Early Alerts were sent in the Fall 2019 semester.
To submit an Early Alert, log in to your MyGiant and into BannerWeb. Select the Faculty & Advisors option.
Select Send Early Alert.
Select Term Selection.
Select a CRN Selection.
You will notice a horizontal row of notification options.
This legend explains these options:
You will see your students listed below the notification options. Along each row are boxes that you can fill with a letter or check-mark. You can fill only those boxes that are pertinent. At the end of each student’s row, you will find a comment box. You can write the student a message in this box. Be aware that the student will see what you write in this box.
When you have finished selecting your options for selected students, be sure to scroll down to the Submit button and submit the Early Alert.
Your student will receive an email message containing the Early Alert notifications you selected along with your comment if you included one.