Deans' Council Update
Butler Online Department
December 2015
Merry Christmas
Butler Online wishes each of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for the support in getting instructors enrolled in Canvas training. Many are using Canvas for more than just grades and syllabi thanks to your encouragement. We are anxious for the new semester in Canvas.
Canvas Student Survey Results
Butler students were asked to complete a Canvas survey - one for online/blended courses and another for face-2-face courses. Of 196 respondents in the face-2-face survey, 184 students reported that they find Canvas to be a valuable resource. This is an encouraging statistic and should provide incentive for those instructors not using Canvas to get on board. The vast majority of students commented that Canvas is easy to use and navigate. You can view the face-2-face course survey results at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7C2ruFKXQKpcllBQ2lfaDUtNkE/view?usp=sharing. View the online course survey is at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7C2ruFKXQKpcllBQ2lfaDUtNkE/view?usp=sharing. The surveys provide interesting reading.
Canvas Essentials
We have developed a new Canvas Essentials training course that combines the information from WebE I and II but allows instructors to complete the work more quickly if they are tech savvy or have used Canvas or another Learning Managements System.
We added all of the new adjuncts to this course, along with any instructors who have not completed Canvas training. I called and emailed each adjunct to welcome them to Butler and explain how to get started in Canvas. Of course, I had to leave a message for some but was able to speak to ten of them, resetting passwords, etc. as needed. Hopefully, this will help these adjuncts get of to a successful start at Butler.
We added all of the new adjuncts to this course, along with any instructors who have not completed Canvas training. I called and emailed each adjunct to welcome them to Butler and explain how to get started in Canvas. Of course, I had to leave a message for some but was able to speak to ten of them, resetting passwords, etc. as needed. Hopefully, this will help these adjuncts get of to a successful start at Butler.
New and Exciting Workshops
The Butler Online Team is busily creating workshops for presentation in the Spring 2016 semester. The workshops will be offered on a variety of days and will also be available for online completion. Some of the topics include:
Discussion Strategies
Canvas Calendar and Scheduler
Online Strategies for Retention
Through the Learning Glass
Gamify you Canvas Course
Basic HTML Coding for Instructors
Annotating Videos and Websites
Projecting Presence in the Online Environment
Importing Content and using the Commons
Discussion Strategies
Canvas Calendar and Scheduler
Online Strategies for Retention
Through the Learning Glass
Gamify you Canvas Course
Basic HTML Coding for Instructors
Annotating Videos and Websites
Projecting Presence in the Online Environment
Importing Content and using the Commons
Add the Butler Online Calendar to your Outlook Calendar
We have created a Butler Online calendar to put important dates for the semester, workshop dates, etc. at the tips of your fingers. Currently, we have added the SALSA/Canvas Open Labs schedule, several spring workshops and important dates for January. We will continue to add to the calendar throughout the semester.
Follow the instructions at http://hdwiki.butlercc.edu/index.php/How_to_Add_a_Shared_Calendar_to_Outlook to add the Butler Online calendar to your Outlook account. Of course, you will choose to share the Butler Online calendar rather than the Learning calendar that is listed in the instructions.
Follow the instructions at http://hdwiki.butlercc.edu/index.php/How_to_Add_a_Shared_Calendar_to_Outlook to add the Butler Online calendar to your Outlook account. Of course, you will choose to share the Butler Online calendar rather than the Learning calendar that is listed in the instructions.
Remembering how to SALSA
The Butler Online Department conducted 11 SALSA/Canvas open labs in November and December: 6 at BOE and 5 at BOA. We have one scheduled at each site for this last week of the semester. The schedule is available at Remembering how to SALSA (click the link to access the calendar). We created this workshop with the instructors in mind. We know they only update their syllabus and course once per semester and, sometimes it can be a little confusing and hard to remember. Attendance has been good and the instructors are beginning to see the benefits of using Canvas and SALSA.
TurnItIn Update
We have added a new feature to TurnItIn in Canvas which will automatically sync/set the dates, points, etc. in TurnItIn when instructors set them in Canvas. There is no longer any need to enter this information in both places. Thanks to Brian for finding the relevant code!