End of Semester Reminder – Spring 2023
Greetings VCU Faculty,
We hope everyone has had a successful Spring semester. Below you will find some items to consider while closing out your course for the summer.
All 2023 Course Shells Now Available
Course shells for the Summer and Fall 2023 semesters are now available to instructors within Canvas. As a reminder, 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.
Just-In-Time Support
In need of support to complete your end-of-semester checklist? We’re here to help. For an overview of available support resources for Canvas and Kaltura, please see the “Help & Resources” tab located on the Learning Systems website.
Final Grades
Final grades are due by noon on May 16, 2023 via Faculty eServices, not Canvas. For more information visit the Faculty Grade Entry page.
Carrying Over Incompletes to the Next Semester
The last day for grades of incomplete to be converted from the Fall 2022 semester is May 6, 2023. See the Academic Calendar for details.
If you have students who are finishing out the course with an ‘incomplete’, there are specific steps the instructor needs to take before the term concludes on June 2, 2023, at which point, you will only be able to access the course in Read-Only mode.
For step by step instructions, visit the Incompletes within Canvas page or contact lsrequest@vcu.edu.
Training Opportunities
Upcoming Opportunities – For upcoming training, you can register at www.training.vcu.edu (Keyword: Canvas or Kaltura.)
Summer Training
Faculty can now request individual or group training using the “Request a Virtual Training Session” button located on the Learning Systems website. This training is intended for faculty who want to learn how to use the instructional tools supported by Learning Systems (i.e. Canvas and Kaltura). For pedagogical guidance, reach out to VCU Online and/or the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. For additional information, visit the Learning Systems website Training tab.
Open Office Hours (OOH) will not be offered from May 15th – Aug 4th; however, VCU Online will be providing 1:1 consultations by request only (request options will be posted on their website when relevant.) OOH will resume the week of August 7th, 2023 with a new time (TBD.)
Asynchronous Training
Surviving in Canvas Mini-Courses – Academic Technologies and VCU Online has collaborated on a series of asynchronous (self-paced) courses designed for beginner to intermediate experienced users.
Pedagogical Assistance – VCU Online has put together a series of courses designed to help faculty enhance the online teaching experience for themselves and students.
Between their Excellence in Online Learning Program and Online Learning Specialization Program, you are sure to become well versed in online teaching.
These courses are available as open enrollment and, once registered, participants have roughly 45 to 60 days to finish. Timely feedback and best practices are provided throughout by the VCU Online team.
Recorded Training – We hope that you were able to participate in this fall’s offered training opportunities; but if you were not, you can catch up via the recorded training sessions largely led by Learning Systems’ Learning Support Specialist, Jon Reed and some in partnership with VCU Online.
Visit the Learning Systems Academy for a library of short videos on topics ranging from beginner Canvas to using Kaltura.
Spring 2023: Canvas Updates
In case you missed it…
- VCU improved Canvas usage by altering text colors to better serve those with any form of visual impairment. Visit the Canvas Accessibility Update blog for details.
- Respondus LockDown Browser, located in your Canvas instance, will soon end their support for Windows 7 computers. Visit the Respondus – End of Windows 7 Support for LockDown Browser blog for details.
- The Canvas Training Services Portal has updated the way content is delivered in an effort to streamline the training experience. Visit the Canvas Training Services Portal Update blog for details.
We Appreciate your Feedback
As usual, we welcome and appreciate your feedback; it is a valuable resource to our team’s continued success.
Currently, there are two surveys available with a request for your feedback:
- Canvas Faculty Survey: Spring 2023
If you are a faculty member at VCU, you should have received an email on April 24th from LSfeedback@vcu.edu with the subject line “Canvas Faculty Survey: Spring 2023” requesting your feedback. This survey will be open until May 22, 2023 and your participation is highly encouraged – your responses will directly inform our team’s work and support services. If you are unable to locate this email, a link to the survey is included below:
The Learning Systems team is collecting feedback regarding faculty use of instructional tools at VCU. The results of this survey will be used to assess support needs for Canvas and other tools used to enhance teaching and learning at VCU. If you have any questions, please reach out to the Learning Systems team at LSrequest@vcu.edu.
This survey is 11-13 questions long (depending on your responses and including optional questions) and is expected to take 10-15 minutes to complete. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
We have contracted with QuestionPro, an independent research firm, to field your confidential survey responses. Please click on this link to complete the survey:
Start “Canvas Faculty Survey: Spring 2023”
- Learning Systems Support Survey
Whenever you are assisted by anyone in any capacity on the Learning Systems team, please take a moment to fill out this short 4 question survey whenever – Learning Systems Support Survey.
Additionally, if you would just like to give us general feedback on any of the systems we support, training we provide, suggestions, our website, etc. please email lsfeedback@vcu.edu.
For any information regarding our team, what we do, what we support and/or how to get support, visit the Learning Systems website or email lsrequest@vcu.edu.
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Enjoy your summer!
Categories Canvas, End of Semester, Faculty, Online Teaching and Development, Teaching with Technology, Workshops and Training