You’re here (sorta)! You’re back(ish)! Life’s a little strange, regardless! The one shared truth for almost all Northwestern faculty this fall, especially instructors teaching online or in a blended format, is that you’re going to spend more time using Canvas and in Zoom meetings than you probably ever have before. And while that may mean additional time spent preparing for classes or updating pages on your course site, the silver lining is that most of the content you create can be used in future iterations of your class.
Given that time is at a premium, here’s a helpful list of items from the Teaching & Learning Technologies team to help you make the most of it throughout the quarter:
A Few Things You Can Do Now
- Make some easy-to-implement updates to your Canvas courses (the article includes an estimated time commitment for each).
- Utilize NU Worldwide to easily see which of your students are in different time zones and NameCoach to make sure you are correctly pronouncing student names.
- Consider how you provide feedback to your students in Canvas and maximize the tools available to you.
- Set up a Manual Posting Policy to control when grades and comments are released to students.
Need Help?
- Ask the Canvas Support Chatbot for answers to common Canvas questions (you can also ask it to do things like create a prep site or increase the storage limit for your course).
- Run your quick questions by a Canvas expert with a 15-minute consultation.
- Do a deep dive into a specific aspect of Canvas like Quizzes or a learning app like Panopto in one of our regular workshop offerings.
- Bookmark the Canvas Learning Center, Zoom Learning Center, and Keep Teaching pages in your browser of choice to keep helpful resources for remote instruction close at hand.
Thinking Ahead to December
- Consider your options for final evaluations and the potential of alternative formats.
- Enable GradeSync to effortlessly transfer final grades from Canvas to CAESAR.
And remember, the Teaching & Learning Technologies team is always here to help. If you have a question, just send us an email at canvas@northwestern.edu.