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THIS IS NOT THE CURRENT EDITION OF THE OAT UPDATE
Browse all OAT Updates
New Announcements
Reminders
Browse all OAT Updates
New Announcements
Create More Engaging Discussions with Discussions Plus
Are you looking for a more engaging, visual tool for running class discussions in Canvas? Or maybe you'd really like to set multiple due dates within an online discussion activity? Move beyond the limitations of Canvas's built-in discussions tool and explore Harmonize, a.k.a Discussions Plus!
Attend the Introduction Workshop on November 16 @ 12pm. The session will be lead by Harmonize co-founder Marcus Popetz and feature insights from Karen Zandarski, who uses Discussions Plus in her ENGL courses.
Karen shares:
"About the same time it was introduced on campus I decided I wanted to add an end of week reflection into each module, and this application fit perfectly for that need. While I also use it for discussions, I really love the ability to interact with every student in a personal way every week. I genuinely look forward to every Monday morning when I sit down with a cup of coffee and read or listen to student reflections. I may have been able to use a different app and get similar results, but these weekly reflections have really brought more joy into my asynchronous online teaching as it allows me to humanize myself and for students to be more humanized to me."
Register to attend. (and receive the session recording)
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Two Hypothesis Updates
Hypothesis has announced a couple of features that may be of interest to instructors who use the collaborate text annotation tool in Canvas. Wait, what is Hypothesis?
#1 - Reuse Hypothesis Annotations
Hypothesis has enabled a new feature in their social annotation tool: reusable annotations. Instructors can now export annotations they've made in a document in one course and import them into the same document being used in a different (future) course.
For example, reuse the question prompts associated with your syllabus or other course reading from semester to semester without having to re-annotate the file each time.
Learn more
Watch the video
#2 - Annotate a Canvas page
In addition to PDF files, web sites, and YouTube videos, Canvas pages can now be added as a source document for social annotation by students. A Canvas page is a web page created by the instructor using the Pages tool in Canvas. In this way, instructors can use social annotation on documents they've assembled themselves directly in Canvas without the need to create a separate file and upload it.
Choose "Select Canvas Page" from the list of items to annotate when setting up your annotation activity in Hypothesis.
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LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor: Protect the Integrity of Online Tests
Comprehensive training webinars are offered by Respondus about using LockDown Browser and/or Respondus Monitor with online exams. Each session provides a detailed demonstration of both applications, including enhancements that make Respondus Monitor even more effective and easy to use.
Click a link below to register.
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Respondus 4 Question Banks: Quickly Create Online Exams
Find out how Respondus 4.0 allows you to create and manage exams that can be printed to paper or published directly to your LMS, and how the "Test Bank Network" enables instructors to create online tests from official publisher test banks.
Click the link to register for the webinar.
Note: Respondus 4 is a Windows-only software application. To get access to it, email oatsupport@csustan.edu.
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Reminders
Canvas Basics and Enhancements: Recordings Available
Recordings of the August 2023 series of workshops remain available for use by instructors. Check them out and contact OAT with any questions!
Open the recordings page
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Canvas Support Options for Fall 2023
All Canvas users have access to various support options when questions or problems arise.
Instructors
Options for instructors are:
- Call Canvas support 24x7 (open Help menu)
- Chat with Canvas support 24x7 (open Help menu)
- Email oatsupport@csustan.edu
- Review online documentation
In general, the OIT Tech Support desk cannot help with Canvas issues - all Canvas administration is handled by OAT and it is best to start with one of the options listed above.
Students
Students can get basic support in these ways:
- Chat with Canvas support 24x7 (open Help menu)
- Review online documentation
Any issue that cannot be solved by Canvas support will be redirected to OAT for further assistance.
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Ally Accessibility Gauges
Ally is the automated accessibility checking tool that is installed within Stan State's Canvas system. This tool makes it easy to spot accessibility issues with your course materials and ensure access for all students. There are two main purposes of the Ally tool:
- Scan every piece of content/document/image in a course and gauge its accessibility. Instructors are then guided through steps to address the accessibility issues. The severity of issues (and the lack of issues at all!) are indicated by a color-coded system of gauges.
- Provide students with alternate formats for most content, and even language translations in some cases. Alternate formats may be PDF versions of documents, spoken audio versions of documents, etc.
Gauge Colors & Access
Ally uses a small gauge icon next to each piece of content or image to represent its accessibility status. The colors correspond to those on a traffic stop light:
The gauges are only visible to instructors. Students never see the accessibility status of an item. Instead, they only see a small "download" icon next to each item that allows them to access alternative formats for the item.
More Information
Learn more about Ally and accessibility.
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Canvas Teacher App
It's the Modern Era™, so everything has an app, even for Canvas instructors. In addition to the app for Students, instructors can install the Teachers app to help manage courses when you're not in front of a laptop or desktop computer.
Use the Teacher app for the following situations:
- Create a course Announcement (will be pushed to students based on their account notification preferences)
- Send a message to a specific student or class (will be pushed to students based on their account notification preferences)
- View your course and/or module content
- Grade submitted assignments and discussion posts
The Canvas Instructor guides have full details on the capabilities of the app (available in the app stores for iOS and Android)
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