New Attendance Tool in Canvas

Instructors rejoice! You can now take attendance in Canvas. Click on the Attendance option in the left hand course navigation menu and you will be directed to Roll Call, an external tool that has been integrated into Canvas courses at WSU. Follow these links to the Canvas Guides for more details:

How do I take attendance using Roll Call?

How do I use Roll Call Badges?

How is Roll Call Attendance graded in Canvas?

Free Electronic Access to the NY Times

Thanks to NYTimes.com Academic Passes, WSU instructors and students have full access to the extensive news, multimedia and archives of The New York Times without needing a subscription. Each time you claim a pass you get 24 consecutive hours of access to NYTimes.com.*

TO CLAIM YOUR FIRST PASS:
• Visit nytimes.com/passes
• Click on REGISTER and create a NYTimes.com account using your school e-mail address
• Check your e-mail and click on the link in the NYTimes confirmation e-mail. You’re done!

NY Times Ad

*You must have a valid e-mail address from a participating school. Academic Passes do not include e-reader editions, Premium Crosswords or The New York Times Crosswords apps. Mobile apps are not supported on all devices. Other restrictions may apply. All NYTimes.com Pass users receive access to The New York Times archives, including five free articles from 1923 through 1986 for their 24 hours of access. Pass users have unlimited access to archived articles outside the 1923–1986 date range during their 24 hours of access. Academic Passes are available only during the time that our school’s New York Times program is active.

Do you use Extra Credit?

Instructure has posted a very informative guide about extra credit in Canvas?
You can find it here: Extra Credit Guide.

–WSU Online

Awesome Online Workshops

Take your online teaching to the next level.

WSU Online has purchased a package of workshop “seats” from the Sloan Consortium and would like to offer you the opportunity to enroll.

All you need to do is select an interesting topic from the 2013 schedule, send an email to RC Callahan (rccallahan@weber.edu) requesting enrollment, attend the online workshop, complete all the requirements, and forward the completion certificate to his attention.

It’s that easy!

Requests will be taken on a first come, first served basis. We have approx. 25 seats to giveaway, so act fast.

Check out the schedule by clicking the Sloan-C banner above.

NOTE: These workshops are not just webinars. They are actual classes that require you to log in regularly and complete assignments. We ask that you complete all assignments at a satisfactory level in order to receive a completion certificate. If in doubt about the time commitment, please don’t request a seat.

Start Spring with an A+

Professors and Instructors

Check out our Semester Start Checklist to help you get your Canvas courses running at full speed before the semester starts.

We also have a Faculty Newsletter to make your teaching lives easier.

Students

The Student Newsletter has tips on how to start your semester ahead of the game and how to rock your online (and face-to-face) classes.

You can thank us later.

How to Chat Using Big Blue Button

Using the Discussions tool is a great way to stay connected in your Canvas courses, but sometimes you need to get everyone together in one place at the same time.

Canvas uses a Conference tool called Big Blue Button that allows students and instructors to meet virtually in real time.  Big Blue Button integrates audio, video, and presentation capabilities along with a snappy chat feature.

Note: Big Blue Button will support up to 30 users at a time.

Here’s how to create a chat session in your Canvas course using Big Blue Button:

STEP 1

First, instructors will need to create a Conference in their Canvas courses before the class can chat.

Instructors, read these quick instructions on how to do this.  Students, you won’t see the Conference until your instructor creates it.

Another note: The current version of Big Blue Button does not keep a history of the chat session.  However, you can save the chat text by right-clicking in the chat window, selecting Copy All Text, then pasting the text into another document.

STEP 2

Click on the Conferences link in your Canvas course at the left sidebar.

STEP 3

Click Start it Now.

Students will not be able to Join the conference until the instructor has clicked the Start it Now button.

STEP 4

If prompted, click Allow for the Adobe Flash Player settings.

STEP 5

If prompted to test the audio, click the X in the right-hand corner of the prompt.

STEP 6

You should see the chat window on the right-hand side of the Big Blue Button screen.  When finished, you can save the chat text by right clicking in the chat window (control click for Mac users), selecting Copy All Text, and then pasting the text into another document.

How to See Crocodoc Comments

Canvas recently added a tool called Crocodoc that allows instructors and students to annotate online assignment submissions in Canvas.

Instructors, be sure to read this quick-start guide on how to use Crocodoc in Speedgrader if you haven’t used it yet (note: functionality is questionable on mobile devices).

Students and curious instructors, here’s a quick play-by-play of how to review the comments your instructors have given you in your Canvas courses.

STEP 1

Start with using Internet Explorer or Google’s Chrome browser.  We suggest Firefox or Chrome for the majority of Canvas tasks, but Firefox and Crocodoc often butt heads so functionality is questionable at this time.  Use Chrome!

Go to your list of assignments in your course and click the assignment you’d like to review.

STEP 2

Click Submission Details.

STEP 3

Click the Preview Icon. If you click the file name, the comments will NOT be displayed.  Also, if the Preview Icon doesn’t show up, you may be using Firefox (see Step 1).

STEP 4

Comments will show up on the right side of the screen.

If you have any trouble viewing comments in Crocodoc, please contact WSU Online at 801-626-6499 and we’ll be happy to help!