The Canvas of Things
Updates, New Releases, and Much, Much More
August 2019
If you have not used this checklist, please do so. It has tons of great tips, tricks, strategies, and resources to make your Canvas courses ready for students and parents.
Pay particular attention to items 3-5 in preparation of getting PTP & Canvas gradebooks ready for grade passback.
SAVE the DATES
Do you need some concentrated time just to design and develop your Canvas courses? How about uninterrupted time to design discussions, pages, quizzes, and assignment?
Join us for the Canvas Design Lab on the following dates. Come to one or come to all.
Each session is from 8:30-3:30 on Optional Teacher Workdays and is worth .6 DLC Credits. Register for each using the following LINQ #.
- October 15, 2019 (LINQ#: 670)
- March 16, 2020 (LINQ#: 671)
- April 14, 2020 (LINQ#: 672)
- May 27, 2020 (LINQ#: 673)
- May 28, 2020 (LINQ#: 674)
- May 29, 2020 (LINQ#: 675)
Each day will be devoted to design time to work on your Canvas content -- to learn new tricks and tips, to build assignments, pages, discussions, quizzes, etc. Basically, to learn whatever you need to create an impactful learning environment for your students.
Each day is limited to 40 people, so act now.
Earn DLC credit and badges, leverage Canvas for student learning, and receive hands-on support while building your learning space.
NEW Canvas Support Protocols - Coming September 3, 2019
Don receives a great many emails about support needs. The problem that arises is the inability to track those requests and to evaluate the trends. Is there a pattern to the kinds of questions that are being asked? If the patterns exist, Don can create some resources that do not exist, or conduct some specialized training support to help with these issues.
Before you submit a ticket, please check out the Canvas Guides. The Guides will help you with the basic How Tos of using Canvas.
On September 3rd, please begin submitting help tickets for any Canvas support issues directly in Canvas. This will help us file and track problems and solutions effectively and efficiently.
Get featured! Get Recognized! Celebrate how you are using Canvas with your students.
You got Canvas Play if you have created interactive content (videos, digital tools, 3rd party apps) and assessments in Canvas. A Canvas Play can be . . .
- A Canvas Module
- A Canvas Page
- A Canvas Quiz
- A Canvas Assignment
- A Canvas Discussion
Be recognized for your Canvas Play and earn a badge. Submit the Canvas Play of the Month form with the details for your Canvas Play. You could be featured in next month's e-Digest.
New Release #1
New Release #2
New Quizzes now has a Preview Button:
Teachers can now preview a New Quiz assessment from the Build page by clicking on Preview.
New Release #3
Teachers can open an item’s sharing window by clicking the Share link from the Item Banks page.
New Release #4
Teachers have the ability to export pairing codes to distribute to parents. Please remember, the codes generated are ONLY good for 7 Days.
New Release #5
New Gradebook
Use the following resources to help you get familiar with the new gradebook:
- Slide Deck with highlights and screenshots. Focus on slides 1-9
- Canvas Guides for New Gradebook
Canvas Grade Sync Update
Refer to Slide 9 about a convenient way to sync your grades nightly from Canvas to PTP.
- Growing with Canvas: Interested in building your capacity in Canvas and becoming a Canvas ninja? Then you can self-enroll in the Growing with Canvas professional learning experience. This learning experience is self--paced and along the ay you will submit activities and earn seven total badges. At the conclusion of Growing with Canvas, you can request a certificate of participation for 1.2 CEUs which can be used for DLC credit.
- Canvas Live: Canvas Live is a portal of online learning searchable by categories (lower right) such as student engagement, content design, and Assessment & Grading.
- Canvas Webinars for Newbies: Evening webinars to meet the needs of busy professionals. Each topic has a 4:00 and a 7:00 session. These session are sponsored by Canvas and NCDPI. Access these details to register. Webinar topics cover a range of Canvas features.
Got a tip, suggestion, hack, solution. Share it with us. We will feature it an upcoming CanvasTip: By Teachers, For Teachers.
And, as a result, not only will your colleagues grow from your recommended strategy, but will receive your Canvas Tipper badge.
App Development with Swift
Teachers of Design Thinking, Computational Thinking, Coding, Computer Science, etc!! You need to check out and use this resource in your Canvas courses. Apple has developed a free resource in partnership with Canvas called App Development with Swift.
This curriculum is designed to teach high school students how to be an app developer, capable of bringing their own ideas to life. The course starts by introducing students to iOS development tools, basic programming concepts, and industry best practices. Building on this foundation, students will follow a step-by-step curriculum, working through practical exercises, creating apps from scratch, and building the mindset of an app developer.
It is FREE and accessible via Canvas Commons.
You will need to have a course to import this content into.
From Don, Your Canvas Admin
Email: don_lourcey@iss.k12.nc.us
Website: https://www.issnc.org/departments/dtl/canvas
Location: 410 Garfield Street, Statesville, NC, USA
Phone: 704-832-2500
Twitter: @ISSDTL