Based on faculty feedback, we are pleased to announce that a new faculty-focused monthly eNewsletter was launched in late October.
If you would like to subscribe to our eNewsletter, please visit our sign-up form.
Content from our October 2016 newsletter featured the following:
Canvas: New Feature Visually Shows Student’s Total Grade to Date
We were recently notified about another new update to Canvas:
A new feature has been deployed in Canvas courses that visually represents a student’s total grade and completed grade.
The total grade represents the number of points the student has earned out of the total number of points available in the course. The completed grade represents the student’s score only on the assignments they have submitted in the course to date.
It is recommended that faculty enter zero for any unsubmitted assignments so that the completed points will be accurately displayed to students. A shortcut way to do that is to use the default grade setting in the Gradebook. To see how to set default grades to zero, visit https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2797/ in the Canvas Guides.
If instructors are interested in turning off this feature, they may do the following:
1. Enter the course on Canvas
2. Click the “Settings” navigation menu item
3. Click the “more options” link at the bottom
4. Check the box for “Hide totals in student grades summary”
5. Click “Update Course Details”
Canvas Updates Scheduled Soon
Canvas is planning on releasing its next update on October 29th. Not all of the updates may apply to Penn State’s usage of Canvas. However, our faculty may be interested in the following:
Intra-Group Peer Reviews
In this new feature, Canvas will soon offer the ability for group assignments to support intra-group peer reviews. This feature will only available in group assignments when an instructor automatically assigns peer reviews.
Global Navigation Menu Width
In a planned feature, Canvas will soon allow the Global Navigation Menu (the blue one) to be manually collapsed to hide the menu text.
Faculty may view all the updates and more details on the above directly from Canvas https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-8403.
Faculty Feedback
Last month we reached out to IST Faculty to gather their thoughts on communication preferences and possible updates to our Course Template Design. Read the results from our recent Faculty Survey http://istlearningdesign.psu.edu/2016/09/26/faculty-feedback/
Join Us for the Online Teaching Community Luncheon
Please join us for our next Online Teaching Community Luncheon happening Friday, October 28th from 12-1 p.m. (EST).
Faculty may participate online by visiting: https://psu.zoom.us/my/agarbrick
Learning Design Updates
Amy Garbrick, Director of Learning Design, and Chris Gamrat, Instructional Designer, have achieved another milestone on the way to getting their PhD’s in Learning Design and Technology. Both will be completing their comps soon. Congrats to Amy and Chris!