Well, friends, it’s that time again. Spring is almost upon us. And you know what that means… we’re about done with winter! As you close out your Canvas course sites for winter quarter and turn to spring, please refer to the list below for a few housekeeping items that all instructors and TAs should keep in mind to save time and effort when it comes to preparing for the upcoming term.
And don’t forget—winter quarter grades are due by 3 p.m. on Monday, March 22. If you have a large class, be sure and use GradeSync to send your final grades to CAESAR with one click.
Update Your Zoom App
First, update your Zoom app before the start of spring quarter. The latest Zoom update, Version 5.5.4 (13142.0301), has a number of great updates which will come in useful. The most significant update has to do with allowing guests from outside Northwestern into an authenticated meeting. You can now designate a guest’s email address as “safe” ahead of time so that they can join directly into a meeting without having to use the Waiting Room feature. This allows you to keep the recommended “Authenticated Users Only” security setting active for all of your class meetings.
Directions to Set Up Meetings with Guest Speakers or Guest Attendees
See this page on the Zoom Help Center for directions on how to find out which version of Zoom you are using. If you do need to update, you can find it here.
Deleting or Moving Old Zoom Recordings
On March 29, Zoom cloud recordings made before January 1, 2021, will be moved to Zoom Trash. If you have recorded asynchronous lectures in Zoom, it is recommended that the recordings be moved to Panopto, Northwestern IT’s lecture capture and video content management service.
- What recordings should you save? Any asynchronous lectures recorded and shared through Zoom (including in Canvas courses).
- What recordings should be deleted? Synchronous class sessions or recordings where students are present. These recordings should be deleted from Zoom at the conclusion of every term in accordance with guidelines from the Office of the Provost.
In addition, if you are copying a previous course into your new Canvas course, calendar links to previous Zoom meetings will appear on your Syllabus page once the course is published. Please see the directions below to delete these past Zoom events from your current Syllabus page.
MOVe ZOOM recordings TO PANOPTO
Remove Old Zoom Meetings from Imported Course Content
Set up Your Canvas Course
Now that Canvas course sites for have been created for CAESAR-managed courses, please be sure to make your requests for either a course combine for a multi-section course or a custom course site as soon as possible. It takes two to five business days to complete these requests.
CUSTOM COURSE SITE REQUEST FORM
When setting up spring quarter’s courses in Canvas, it’s easy to pull content from previous courses you’ve taught into new course sites. You can import course content, from a single item, such as a specific quiz or assignment, up to an entire course’s content.
Building a Student-Friendly Canvas Site
During winter quarter, Teaching & Learning Technologies launched a new workshop—Building a Student-Friendly Canvas Site. This workshop is for instructors who are newer to Canvas and unsure of the best way to organize a site for easy student navigation. Sessions include quick overviews of important Canvas organizational elements and small group, hands-on building time with Canvas experts. At the end of the workshop, you will have the following items built in your Canvas course:
- A home page
- A plan for general course organization via pages or modules
- One sample assignment
- One sample discussion
- A plan for organizing folders in files
NOTE: This workshop is limited to six participants to provide time for individualized feedback and help so sign up quick as spots go fast!
See Upcoming Offerings and Register
Sign up for a 15-Minute Check-In
Have a quick Canvas question? Register for a 15-minute consultation with a learning engineer or learning technologist in Teaching & Learning Technologies. You can also ask the Canvas Support Chatbot for answers to common Canvas questions (and ask it to do things like create a prep site or increase the storage limit for your course).
Cover image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay