Beginning of Semester Reminder – Spring 2022
Greetings VCU Faculty,
Welcome back from winter break! Spring 2022 begins our second full semester using Canvas and we hope the experience so far has been positive and encouraging.
Canvas Login
Login to Canvas by going to canvas.vcu.edu and clicking on the Rodney the Ram astronaut image. Be sure to use your eID and password.
If you have been granted a non-VCU account using your personal email, click the “Login for non-credit/other” link and use your email and the password you have created.
Copy a Canvas Course
Course copying is the fastest way to transfer content from one course to another in bulk. This can be performed by anyone listed in the Canvas course with a Teacher role. Please be aware that you can only copy content to an existing course, not a new course. For more information, visit the Copy a Course page or watch the Importing Course Content in Canvas video.
What is Course or Section Cross-Listing?
Cross-Listing is the equivalent terminology to merging in Blackboard. It allows you to move section enrollments from individual courses and combine them into one course. This feature is helpful for instructors who teach several sections of the same course (or different courses that need to be merged together, i.e. HIST course merged with an AFAM course) and only want to manage course data in one location.
In Blackboard, instructors were required to enter a ticket to request that their courses be merged. That is no longer the case with Canvas. Instructors can now perform cross-listing (merges) themselves.
Please do not manually enroll students in courses as this may result in your student(s) being unenrolled each time the automated system enrollment file runs,causing confusion, and potential loss of student activity in your course.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Cross-listing should be done while courses are unpublished. DO NOT cross-list after you have published your course and students have accessed it. Course work is retained within the course, not within the sections, so if a published course is cross-listed after publishing, all cross-listed enrollments will lose any associated assignment submissions and grades.
For more information regarding Cross-Listing instructions, best practices, and FERPA Compliance, visit the Cross-Listing Course Sections page or watch the Cross-Listing in Canvas video.
Publishing and Unpublishing courses
A course will not be visible to students until it has been published by the instructor.
Publishing a course means it is available to students and can now be accessed from their Canvas dashboard. Here, you can find more information on how to Publish and Unpublish a Canvas Course.
Academic Integrity Concerns
In the case that a faculty member requests a Course Access Report or other Canvas administrator-level report for the purposes of addressing a suspected academic misconduct issue, the office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity (SCAI) has provided the following guidance:
The VCU Honor System & Standards of Academic Conduct states that Faculty “must report suspected violations to SCAI as provided in the policy.” (III.2) To initiate this report for use in an academic integrity violation, we would need to receive the request from VCU Student Conduct & Academic Integrity. You can report this suspicion of an honor violation to SCAI using the Honor System and Standards of Academic Conduct Reporting Form.
Requests for administrator-level reports will come directly from the SCAI office.
Classic Quizzes End of Life Announcement
The Classic Quizzes end of life has been extended to June 30th, 2024. For additional information visit the Classic Quiz Sunset Timeline page.
Canvas Enrollment Status Update
New for the Spring 2022 semester, at the recommendation of the LMS Faculty and Stakeholder Workgroup, ‘Withdrawn’ and ‘Waitlisted’ students will appear in the Canvas roster and gradebook as ‘Inactive.’ This allows the instructor to see the student but does not allow the student access to the course.
For additional information, visit the Canvas Enrollment Update blog post.
Google Assignments Announcement
Please be advised that the previous Google Assignments LTI, v1.1, will be removed from Canvas on May 31, 2022 and will be replaced with the new Google Assignments LTI v1.3.
Please note that the Google Assignments 1.1 LTI is referenced within Canvas as the “Google Docs” embed for the rich-text editor and as “Google Apps”. The Google Assignments 1.3 LTI includes new assignments functionality and the new Google Drive “LTI.”
Documentation and support for Assignments can be located on the Collaboration Services Assignments page. Here, clinical users will be able to find the process that they should be following as well.
Collaboration Services (drgee@vcu.edu) is the primary support contact for this tool and will be happy to assist with any additional questions you may have.
Spring 2022 Training Opportunities
Teaching with Technology Survival Bootcamp – VCU Online and VCU Academic Technologies will be offering another 4 day bootcamp from January 11-14, 2022. The bootcamp will include sessions from Top Hat and Respondus – Enroll Here
Canvas Overview Workshop – (January 21, 2022 from 1pm-2pm) – Register
Sponsored by Learning Systems, this workshop will explore the steps for creating a course in Canvas and will highlight the basic and most effective features, tools, settings, and content options.
Canvas Support at VCU: Training and Resources
As a reminder, the following resources are available to you for Canvas support at VCU:
- VCU Canvas homepage & askIT knowledge base: go.vcu.edu/canvas
- Learning Systems Academy, for short how-to tutorials: https://learningsystems.vcu.edu/learning-systems-academy/
- Upcoming Canvas Trainings: http://go.vcu.edu/canvas-training
- Previously recorded training sessions: https://ts.vcu.edu/askit/teaching-and-learning/canvas/faculty/training-recordings-list/
- Email LSrequest@vcu.edu and this will automatically generate a ticket with the Learning Systems team within the Academic Technologies unit (not 24/7 vendor support)
- Join Open Office Hours every Tuesday and Wednesday from 12pm to 2 pm – drop in any time.
- If you have a question at midnight or 3:00pm, Canvas Vendor Support is available for live 24/7 support to both students and faculty. Visit Canvas Support to learn the different ways you can find assistance.
- Call the 24/7 Canvas support hotline at (877) 636-1744
- Chat live with a Canvas Support Technician (Chat is the quickest way to get assistance)
- Report a Problem (same as entering a ticket)
All other inquiries should be directed to VCU’s IT Support Center by calling (804) 828-2227, through email itsc@vcu.edu or by chat http://www.ts.vcu.edu/it-support-center/
SoftChalk End of Life
On May 22, 2022, SoftChalk will no longer be available for use.
As an alternative, Technology Services has established an Articulate 360 Team Agreement to provide VCU departments/schools quick access to Team licenses and benefits.
Articulate 360 provides a suite of e-Learning web authoring tools used to create a lesson or course, and enables you to add custom interaction and quizzing. Available templates allow you to create well designed courses with limited effort.
To purchase an Articulate 360 Team license, submit a service request identifying the number of licenses, name, eID, and email of each license recipient, as well as the billing budget code.
We Appreciate your Feedback
In an effort to gain feedback and improve the support we provide the VCU community, Learning Systems kindly requests that you take the time to fill out our short Learning Systems Support Survey whenever you receive any assistance from our team. This survey was created to help us take advantage of any opportunities for growth, as well as, pinpoint where we are excelling. You can find a link to this survey in each of our email signatures and on the Learning Systems website by clicking the “Give Feedback” link.
Categories Beginning of Semester, Canvas, Faculty, Online Teaching and Development, Quizzes/Assessments, Teaching with Technology, Workshops and Training