Quick Follow-Up to Canvas Survey

First, thank you all for completing the Canvas survey. We are still going through the responses, but there were a couple of items that I thought I would quickly address.

Friday Five: Quick Responses to Canvas Survey Items!

1. 

   Finding Student Credentials:  Next year, the login sheet that students get on the first day of school will clearly indicate that student’s Canvas credentials and 365 credentials are the same. Students also have access to the log-in credential  structure on the high school home page under the Student’s tab. These credentials are slightly different than what we have used in the past.

2. Canvas for Clubs: One response asked about using Canvas for clubs. This is absolutely a possibility and something that is already being done by Key Club and NHS. Any teacher can create a course from the “Start a New Course” button on the lower right of the teacher dashboard. Advisors can then either give students a link to join the course or add each member to the course manually. If you are an advisor and would like help with this, let me know!

3. Quiz Security:  There were a few comments about creating secure environments for testing on a computer.. There are ways to password protect and lock a quiz. Please see me if you would like to explore these features. People also asked about lockdown browsers which would disable other functions on students’ computer while they complete online assessments. This issue continues to be explored.
   

   

4. Canvas in the Summer🌊:  This was a big question: Will I be able to work in Canvas over the summer?  The answer is yes! Your 2017-18 PowerSchool created courses will not be there until the year roll-over occurs (this usually happens sometime in July), but you will be able to build in a shell course and then move everything over. You will also be able to copy everything from your current PowerSchool created courses. Please note, that you will not want to build in your 16-17 PowerSchool courses after June 30th. At this time they become read only which means that you can see and copy everything, but you will  not be able to edit those courses. Here is a video that demonstrates how to copy a course and here are printable directions.
5. Further Support:   I will be in the CAP room for most of the school day next year. I am in the room to help support our cyber program and to help teachers with Canvas and other tech integration questions. Please do not hesitate to call, email, or stop in. Taking this step is the best way to make sure your individual needs and questions are being addressed. If you don’t have time to stop in or don’t know how to set something up, tell me what you want to do and I can hop into your course and set it up for you or walk you through the steps via phone, email, or one of my awesome videos!😃😃😃

Semester Switch and Canvas Drop-In Sessions

Many of you teach semester courses. Below are some steps you are going to want to take as the first semester ends and the second semester begins.

1. Grades in your First Semester Course-  You will be able to continue to grade work and push those grades to Powerschool (if you are utilizing the grade push) until January 31st. This corresponds with the grading timeline that Alice sent out. After January 31st you will have read-only access to your course material. This means you can see all of your assignments, files, discussions, student work, etc. but you can’t edit within the course. To edit the content you would need to copy it into a new course (see #2)!

2. Copy Course content to New Semester Course- If you teach the same course second semester you can easily copy all of your Semester 1 content to your new course. Here are directions on how to do this.

3. Semester Course Content Next Year-  You will also be able to copy any course content from a semester course (or Year Long Courses, too) into the PowerSchool created courses you will teach next year. Don’t worry- Your work first semester will not disappear!

4. Don’t forget to Publish Your Semester Two Courses-  You must publish your second semester courses just like you did semester one. Here are directions.

5. Semester 2 Try Something New!-  Please stop in and see me in room 307 if you would like to review how you have used Canvas in semester 1 and discuss ways to expand upon your use in Semester 2.  Things to consider: collecting assignments through Canvas, Discussions, Modules, GradeBook Push, Group Assignments. These suggestions will all be explored in the opportunity which follows.