Professional Learning Community Evolving: For the past two summers, Online Learning Services hosted a series of gatherings to explore and discuss issues and opportunities around online teaching and learning. One takeaway, among many, was that faculty who seek to improve their online or hybrid pedagogy, and to better understand the motivations of students who seek online classes, want more frequent… Read more →
Beginning-of-Semester Checklist: Canvas Edition!
Hello and welcome to a new semester, everyone! We’re glad to see you back. 1. Things to Remember You can still merge your courses in Canvas like you did in Blackboard – for more information on that, check out our guide! You have access to 24/7/365 technical Canvas support through the Help menu in Canvas. For instructional design support, reach… Read more →
Canvas Tips & Tricks: Volume II!
We here in Online Learning Services get asked, from time to time, for some Canvas “tips and tricks,” or, in simpler terms, how to use Canvas more effectively. Here’s a roundup of some of these ideas! Don’t forget to check out Volume I for our first round of advice. MasteryPaths During your Canvas trainings with us, we suggested you steer… Read more →
First-Time Online Teaching Tips & Tricks
I taught online for the first time this summer semester, and it was a whirlwind. I intend to write more of a narrative about my entire process soon, but for now, here are some things I learned the hard way that I hope I can spare you from. Our students use Google Docs. Google Docs does not show them page… Read more →
A Saint Rose Professional Learning Community, and You’re Invited
Last summer, the Online Learning Services team introduced a professional learning community for faculty teaching online to come together over issues of effective and high-quality online development, delivery, and support. We, as an office, didn’t have specific goals – other than getting people together to talk about their practice, to “cross-pollinate” ideas between departments, to hear about how our faculty… Read more →
OLS Does NERCOMP 2019
This March, Abi and Tom of OLS had the opportunity to attend the Northeast Regional Computing Conference (NERCOMP) in Providence, RI. We presented a “sort-of” literature review on using video to reach all types of students. Here’s an abridged version of our talk. Encountering specific challenges with teaching online? Apply UDL to your video content! We know that there are… Read more →
Turnitin, one paper at a time.
Have you ever gotten a last minute paper, or a a resubmitted assignment and find yourself in need of the Turnitin plagiarism assessment tool for just that one paper? In Blackboard, faculty had a “Direct Submit” option with the SafeAssign tool, but now with Turnitin (which needs to be accessed through Canvas), you can use your sandbox course to create… Read more →
Communicating and Understanding Notifications in Canvas
Your friends in OLS conducted a faculty survey to see what you’d like clarity or more information on, and notifications/communicating in Canvas were two of the most-cited topics. Since these topics go hand-in-hand, we created this short video to help you understand the way Canvas notifications and communication work. If you like reading better than watching, keep scrolling for more… Read more →
Getting to Know Your Canvas Dashboard
Welcome to your Canvas Dashboard! The Canvas Dashboard is the first thing you or your students see when logging in to Canvas, and it’s designed to help you organize your current and upcoming courses. Your friends in OLS conducted a faculty survey to see what you’d like clarity or more information on, and the Dashboard was one of the most-cited… Read more →
Importing the Mini Module Into Your Canvas Course
The Course Tools Mini-Module is available to all teachers as an addition to your Canvas course. It can help students be successful by introducing them to the Canvas learning system, and ensuring that they understand how to interact with online course content before the semester is underway. You can import the Course Tools Mini-Module into your course in a few easy… Read more →