January 19, 2016 | SharkAdmin Canvas Has a New Look! Canvas recently introduced a new User Interface and Alamo Colleges has made the switch. The new user interface is intuitive and user-friendly and affects how you navigate within Canvas. It does not affect your course content. These modifications were based in part on user feedback about look and feel, to improve mobile compatibility, and address accessibility issues. The most obvious difference is that the global navigation is now located on the left side of the screen. The course navigation remains on the left side of the screen. To expand or collapse the course tools, please click the “three lines” icon at the top left of the page. For more information, see https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-4368. Turnitin Integration with Canvas The integration between Turnitin and Canvas has been upgraded. This change will create a better and richer experience for you and your students. Some of the changes resulting from this integration include full functionality of Turnitin including drag-and-drop comments and the ability to save frequently used comments; more options for student submissions, including draft papers; allowing students to view originality reports; and adding student work to the Turnitin repository. Also, you can now select Turnitin from the External Tool drop down menu within an assignment. PeerMark and GradeMark are also now available within Canvas. For more information, see https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1799 Concourse Integration with Canvas The Concourse LTI has now been implemented in Canvas and your Concourse syllabi are now available inside your Canvas courses. This means that every course now has a new navigation item labelled Course Syllabus. When you, as the instructor, click on the Course Syllabus link, you see the Concourse syllabus in a logged-in state and you can edit your syllabus without leaving Canvas. When students click on the link, they see a public view of the syllabus. The Syllabus link is still available and it takes you to the Canvas Syllabus tool page. You may want to remove the Syllabus link to avoid confusion with the Course Syllabus link. Note that Concourse is not available within cross-listed courses and non-credit courses. Published Courses Visible to Students Prior to Start Date Canvas recently released a new feature (“Restrict students from viewing course before start date”) that has an apparent side effect of allowing students to have read-only access to published courses before the class start date, if the option is NOT selected. So any current semester course that is published can be viewed by students in a read-only state (the way they view past enrollments) even if the semester has not yet started. To prevent your students from viewing your published Canvas courses before the start date, we recommend you UNPUBLISH the course until the start of the term, OR select the “Restrict students from viewing course before start date” option (on the Course Details tab in your course settings). For more tidbits on how to you Canvas, make sure to attend: aculty development session that will give you tips and tricks you can start using right away. “Using Canvas to Generate Interaction” is designed to help you increase active learning. There are three types of student interaction in any class: Student-Content Student-Student Student-Instructor Whether you teach face-to-face (f2f), hybrid, or online courses, all three types are important factors in student success. In this interactive session, we will look at some of the tools offered in Canvas that can help create, enhance, or improve interaction in all three areas, no matter what types of courses you teach. Coffee and light breakfast snacks will be served. When: Friday, Jan. 22, 9:00 – 11:00 AM Where: MZH 204F What to Do: Please sign up in AlamoTalent so we will buy enough food.
