Beginning of Semester Reminders – Fall 2024
Greetings Faculty and Staff,
We hope everyone had an amazing summer full of unforgettable memories! Below we wrap up of reminders that we hope will help get your semester off to a smooth start. For questions, email [email protected].
Canvas Login
Login to Canvas, VCU’s designated Learning Management System (LMS), via the Canvas Login Portal page at http://go.vcu.edu/canvas.
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 the role of ‘Teacher’. 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.
Please note that Canvas Third Party tools all have unique functionality and course copy behavior may vary.
Note: If you are copying a course with embedded VoiceThreads, those entries should copy over seamlessly. If you have any trouble, email [email protected].
Course or Section Cross-Listing
Cross-Listing Update: The Learning Systems team has developed a new custom merge tool designed to simplify course management for instructors offering multiple sections of the same course; and enhance student clarity by providing a clear, custom name for the merged parent course.
For things you need to know before cross-listing, cross-Listing instructions, including “How to Perform a Custom Cross-List (Merge) of your Courses”, best practices, and FERPA Compliance, visit the Cross-Listing Course Sections page or watch the Cross-Listing in Canvas video.
Note: Do Not manually enroll students in courses; this may result in your student(s) being unenrolled each time the automated system enrollment file runs resulting in a potential loss of student activity in your course.
Publishing and Unpublishing courses
A course will not be visible to students until it has been published by the instructor. We recommend not publishing your course until you are ready for students to see it.
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.
Course Navigation
As a result of the Technology Services 2024 Student Feedback Survey, students expressed that they would prefer and request that the instructor hide any Course Navigation menu items that are not in use. This would make navigating the course much easier.
Here are instructions on How to Manage your Course Navigation Links.
In case you missed it…
- Möbius Update – VCU’s Newest STEM Tool – We are very happy to announce that an agreement to procure Möbius has been reached and is now available to all VCU faculty, staff, and students for your STEM-based learning needs.
Möbius, a DigitalEd product, is a cloud-based learning platform designed to create and deploy STEM course materials for all modalities. Providing lessons, assessments, and interactive learning activities, it unfolds the potential for the STEM student to acquire knowledge at a guided yet self-defined pace. Visit https://go.vcu.edu/mobius for more information, including support, FAQs, and how you can get started.
Visit the Discover Möbius blog for all the details.
- Canvas Third-Party Tool Changes
- During the Summer 2024 term, four additional Canvas-Third Party Tools have been installed and are now available to the VCU community. For additional support information about tools integrated within Canvas at VCU, please see go.vcu.edu/canvas-tools.
- Canvas Third-Party Tools Update
- Zoom/Zoom HIPAA Users: the Zoom or Zoom HIPAA tool must be re-enabled within the Canvas course navigation. For additional information, please see: New “Zoom Pro 1.3” Tool in Canvas
- Instructors using, or planning to use tools integrated with their individual course(s), such as BigBlueButton, Evolve Link, Macmillan Learning, MyBusinessCourse, Packback, TurningPoint Registration, Vista Higher Learning, and WileyPLUS must obtain their own credentials (i.e. secret and key). You will need to add the tool to your course, following the directions provided by the tool vendor. Any questions or issues should also be directed to the vendor supporting the tool.
- Kaltura My Media is now only located in the Account Navigation and can no longer be accessed via Course Navigation.
- Ellucian ILP Grade Passback Tool – Update – Ellucian Grade Passback functionality has now been enabled within Canvas at VCU. Please note that this tool is only available for those with an academic account in Canvas and will only be available for courses with an official record in Banner.
The Administrative Systems, Learning Systems, and the Office of the University Registrar teams have been working together for the last year to test out and implement this interface.
If you use Canvas to store and calculate your course grades, you will now see an option to push them directly into Banner once you are done. For cross-listed courses, faculty should be able to do this all from the merged Canvas roster, precluding the need to go into eServices and enter grades on individual rosters.
After grades have been pushed from Canvas, we recommend that instructors verify that grade data has passed successfully to eServices. Visit the Banner Grade Entry page for general information regarding grades and support. - Cloud Recording Enabled for “HIPAA” Account Members – To take advantage of Cloud Recording as a user/host, log in to your account page at vcu.zoom.us and go to “Settings > Recording.” Look for the “Cloud Recording” tab and make sure it’s enabled.
Policy Reminders & Updates
- VCU’s New LMS Policy – VCU has adopted a new LMS Policy that establishes a framework that governs how instructors, students, and administrators interact with the digital learning environment.
- Course Retention – Five-Year Retention Mark – Course records approaching their five-year retention mark will be archived following the VCU Records Management Policy.
Visit the Records Management Policy & Canvas Usage at VCU page for information specifically addressing VCU’s retention practices regarding Canvas courses. - Academic Integrity Concerns – In the case that a faculty member requests a Course Access Report or other Canvas administrator-level report to address 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 must come directly from the SCAI office. - Thinking about using AI resources in your course? See this link for guidance from Technology Services. https://go.vcu.edu/ai
For all other guidelines and procedures, please see http://go.vcu.edu/lsprocedures
Fall 2024 Training Opportunities
Upcoming Training Opportunities
For upcoming training hosted by Learning Systems, please register at www.training.vcu.edu. (Keyword: Canvas, Kaltura, or Mobius)
Individual or Group Training
Instructors can request individual or group/departmental training from the website using the “Request a Virtual Training Session” button. This training is only reserved for faculty who want to learn how to use the instructional tools supported by Learning Systems (i.e. Canvas and Kaltura).
Asynchronous Training
Surviving in Canvas – Academic Technologies and VCU Online have collaborated on a series of asynchronous (self-paced) courses designed for beginner to intermediate experienced users.
Training Recordings
We hope that you were able to participate in the training opportunities previously offered. If 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 a VCU Online instructional design team.
Visit the Learning Systems Academy for a library of short videos on topics ranging from beginner Canvas to using Kaltura.
Academic Technologies Website
Visit the Academic Technologies page for an overview of AT Teams, what we support, and how we can help.
We Appreciate Your Feedback
As always, we welcome and appreciate your feedback; it is valuable to our team’s continued success at providing the tools and support you need. Please take a moment to fill out this short 4-question survey whenever you are assisted by anyone in any capacity on the Learning Systems team – Learning Systems Support Survey. Additionally, if you would just like to give us general feedback on any of the systems we support, the training we provide, suggestions, our website, etc. please email [email protected].
For information regarding our team, what we do, what we support, and/or how to get support, visit the Learning Systems website or email [email protected].
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Categories Canvas, Faculty, Online Teaching and Development, Policy, Staff, Teaching with Technology, Workshops and Training