Magna 20-Minute Mentor | How Can I Assess Critical Thinking with Objective Items?

In this video from the Magna 20-Minute Mentor series, Dr. Linda B. Nilson suggests some ways that objective tests can be used to assess certain types of critical thinking (CT). Dr. Nilson begins by describing the importance of establishing clear learning outcomes that determine exactly what types of critical thinking you want to assess. She emphasizes that learning outcomes must be observable performance behaviors that demonstrate how a student can manifest their knowledge. However, objective tests will not do well in assessing certain CT skills such as creativity, organization or communication skills.

Dr. Nilson explains critical thinking activities apply to materials where a claim (interpretation, theory) is disputable or questionable - not a fact or definition. CT always involves analysis and evaluation, as well as other higher order forms of cognition such as interpretation, problem solving, and synthesis. She then proceeds to give examples of how to employ various forms of objective test items such as matching, multiple choice, and true/false questions to assess/evaluate CT skills.

Dr. Nilson states that fill-in-the-blank test questions are not very suitable for assessing critical thinking, because they tend to focus on the memorization of one particular answer. However, matching and multiple-choice tests can be applied to many CT outcomes that focus on concepts, cause and effects, hypothetical problems and new examples in a content area. She also feels that multiple true/false tests that are constructed with a question and are followed by a series of T/F response choices can be effective for assessing critical thinking. These types of questions create more decision points for students and work best when they are based on a new concept for students to analyze and interpret. At the end of the video, Dr. Nilson provides references for many examples of CT skills and questions for different types of subject-matter.

This video addresses the LCCC Faculty Competency Domain for Competency-Based Design and can be accessed by completing this one-time registration to view all the videos in this professional development series.

Professional Development Opportunity | eLCC Virtual Conference 2021

The eLearning Consortium of Colorado (eLCC) announced they are providing their virtual conference from April 7-9, 2021. This free national event has been attended by many LCCC participants over the past few years and offers an informative range of presentations. Some of the session topics from last year included: Using Active Learning to Enhance Student Comprehension, Metacognition and Building Connections with Students in the Online Classroom, and Neotraditional Students and Online Discussions: What do they Really Want?

The 2021 eLCC conference will be larger than past years by collaborating with the Northwest Managers of Education Technology (NW/MET) and NW eLearning Community (NWeLearn) to provide a joint online conference. Last year’s conference had over 1,000 attendees, and for 2021 there will be openings for up to 1,500 participants. This year the conference will be held virtually over Zoom, and may also include other delivery platforms depending on the various session formats. Registration is free for this conference and can be found at the eLCC 2021 Virtual Conference site.

The conference is currently requesting session proposals and more information is available at these links:

• Call for presentations
• Call for poster sessions

eLLC is also seeking nominations for their annual Learning Technologies Team Award which is open to all members of the organizing groups, presenters, and attendees.

Please consider attending and participating in this useful virtual conference event!

Part II | Student Feedback About Improving their Canvas Course Experience

At the end of the Fall 2020 semester, students from two sections of the Human and Public Services STRT courses participated in a survey about “Things that would improve Canvas at LCCC”. A previous blog post covered Part I of their survey replies. The following is a continuation of their responses, which includes some suggested methods to address that feedback.

1. “Grades on first page/ Having the grades on the main page/ Have all grades in "one place"
   Instructors can make Grades visible in the Course Navigation menu and remind students about this location. Also, consider providing a link to Grades from the Course Home page.
2. “Side bar not being in alphabetical order” Faculty can arrange the sequence of tools to appear alphabetically or in any order for their Course Navigation - by going to Settings and proceed to the Navigation tab.
3. “Having separate due dates for first discussion post and replies”
   Currently there is no automatic way to do this, however when creating the Discussion assignment, faculty can list due dates for first post and second reply post. Example: 1st Post due September 22 (10 points) and 2nd Post reply to classmate due September 25 (10 points). Another option is to create a Canvas Page that follows the Discussion assignment, and provides a due date for the second post by checking “Add to student to-do” at the bottom of that page.
4. “Posting all the deadlines at the beginning of semester” Instructors should provide a tentative schedule of all assignments and due dates in the course syllabus, or refer students to the Canvas Syllabus page which generates a Course Summary of all assignments and dates.
5. “Having all zoom links in the same place for each class” Faculty can enable a link to Zoom in the course Navigation menu from Settings. Another option is to create a link for Zoom sessions on the Course Home page or within the Course Overview module. It is also helpful to send weekly reminders to students about Zoom sessions and links in Announcements or Inbox messages

Having this student feedback provides some useful insights into their concerns and can be very helpful to improve their Canvas course experience.

Canvas & Zoom Updates, January 2021

Canvas Updates

The Assignment Enhancements feature is now available for students. This update to the classic assignment details page improves the assignment interface and submission workflow for students. To see this feature from a student view, see this short video:

“The benefits that students get with the new workflow (saving progress, or uploading a document before processing the submission) was well worth turning this feature on!”
– David Stokowski, Principal Learning Consultant for the State of Wyoming, Instructure

The student workflow is focused on keeping everything on one page (no separate page for submission details), access to previous submissions, and better DocViewer feedback visibility. See How-to Student Guides for steps for each assignment type.

Zoom Updates

Enhanced privileges for co-hosts for managing Breakout Rooms; sharing slides as a virtual background; in-meeting security controls. These feature updates require the most recent version of the Zoom desktop client to be installed. If the features are not available in your classroom, submit a work order to the LCCC Support Desk to update the Zoom software.

• Windows: 5.4.3 or higher 
• macOS: 5.4.3 or higher

Canvas Changes are on the Horizon!

New changes will be implemented in Canvas before faculty return on January 12, 2021. Among them will be the new Rich Content Editor (RCE), as previously blogged about here, as well as updates to where media uploads are stored and the new student view button.

First, media upload changes will be as follows:

• Newly recorded media, using the Upload/Record Media link, will now be stored more appropriately depending on the destination of the file. For example, media recorded for a discussion post will now be stored in the course files, whereas media recordings for an assignment will be store in the student's user files.
• This change will only affect the storage quotas for courses if the media file is directly uploaded to the course files rather than recorded within Canvas using the Upload/Record Media link. More information about this change can see in this demonstration video.

Next, the student view button is moving! The student view button is leaving the right sidebar and being placed in the top right corner of pages that the student role can view. For example:

• The student view button will show on the top right corner of the home page because this is a page that students can view.
• The student view button will not show on the course settings page because this is not a page that students can view. You can see the new button in action in this demonstration video. 

For more information about these changes and others, such as the "View Ungraded as Zero" option in the gradebook, please check out the new Canvas release notes for December 19, 2020.

Have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy the break with friends and/or family. The weekly CET blog posts will take a brief hiatus but will return for the Spring semester on January 18, 2021.

Student Survey Indicates Effective Online Learning Practices

Top Hat recently administered a survey of 3,400 undergraduate college students to learn about their experiences with the recent shift to online learning. The results provide some interesting insights into what aspects of these online courses had the most positive impact on student learning.

Students indicated there are certain technologies and teaching methods that they feel have been most helpful. Almost 80% of students say that video-conferencing tools such as Zoom and MS Teams have improved their online experience. These learners appreciate being able to view and interact with their instructor and classmates, plus having the flexibility to review recorded lectures at their own pace. Students also like being able to use those conferencing tools to communicate with their peers outside of class-time.

Online learners report that having more opportunities to interact with the instructor and other students helps build a sense of community which improves their learning experience. Students appreciate faculty who make frequent announcements, check-in with students about course progress, and provide timely feedback on assignments. Learners value having an open Discussion board where they can post questions about course activities that can be shared with their classmates. Being able to interact and work in smaller groups with their peers in Zoom breakout rooms is also viewed as an important activity to help establish relationships. Over 70% of students feel more engaged and motivated in courses that promote a sense of belonging and community.

Another key finding is that 77% of students responded that their instructors are including more active learning during class sessions to apply what they have learned. Students are attracted to quizzing tools such as Kahoot! and Socrative that provide opportunities for whole class interactions to review and enhance comprehension of course materials. When courses promote more in class activities, discussions, and collaborations 66% of online learners report more engagement with their learning.

The results of this survey indicate that using video-conferencing, creating a sense of community, and including active learning exercises can enhance the online course experience.

LCCC Lightboard Up and Running!

The CET is super excited to announce that a fantastic new tool is now available for use at LCCC: a lightboard!

A lightboard is a glass board that instructors can write on which is backlight with stage lights. Like a white board, the instructor uses erasable markers to write on the board, but unlike a white board the instructor does not need to turn their back to the viewers! The recorded results, when flipped horizontally, is that the instructor can give a lesson all while facing and speaking directly to the camera.

See the lightboard in action with this video recorded by Troy Amick, Program Coordinator for CIS, in which he teaches binary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThXxBea675k 

To book time with the lightboard—currently located in BT 109—create a new Outlook meeting and invite Lightboard@lccc.wy.edu as a required participant, choose an available day and time, and then indicate in the description whether or not you would like setup assistance from the CET (recommended for your first time using the equipment). The Location field in your meeting invitation should automatically populate with “Lightboard”. If not, simply search for the location in the Outlook Global Address Book Room List. 

If your chosen day and time are available, you will get an approval from the CET. Just before the scheduled time of your recording session the room will be unlocked by Monica Hudson, Administrative Assistant to BATS, and the CET will be available to help get you setup and started. Please keep your scheduled sessions to a reasonable length of time to allow others use of the room throughout the day. The room will be available Monday-Friday 8 AM-5 PM.

Documentation for using both the lightboard hardware and software will be coming soon, which will be available on the Faculty Resources Site, along with printed and digital copies in the room itself.

Students Miss F2F Interactions during Remote Learning!

The recent shift to remote learning has provided various challenges for students. Many learners are experiencing online and hybrid courses for the first time, which has impacted their educational experience in several ways. Student feedback from certain surveys indicates that their most difficult adjustment to remote learning is they miss face-to-face interactions with faculty and other students during class. This is to be expected with many forms of remote learning and poses challenges to communications and engagement with the course content.

Much of education is based on social interactions and students value having personal connections with their instructors and classmates. An important aspect of learning is sharing ideas and perspectives that help make new mental associations and expand our knowledge. Social presence is the perception that other people are physically present and this enhances communications through visual and verbal cues: eye-contact, facial expressions, and body language. Certain types of remote learning communications such as email and online discussions do not readily convey these important emotional signals. Therefore video conferencing is an important activity to include with remote instruction to provide visible contacts and exchanges that enhance learning.

Many students report that video conferencing through Zoom or MS Teams is a valuable learning activity that provides opportunities for real-time interactions. Students appreciate being able to visually and verbally participate in a dynamic dialogue with their instructor and classmates that makes them feel part of a learning community. Learners value interactive Zoom lectures that are structured with dedicated intervals for questions, and use breakout rooms where students can communicate with one another in smaller groups. By participating in these more intimate groups, student-to-student interactions can be established that allow learners to engage and build connections with one another. While videoconferencing sessions are not the same as live F2F interactions, they can afford a sense of presence and engaging personal communication.

GlobalCon4 Microsoft 365 Virtual Conference is FREE!

This is your chance to learn SharePoint, OneNote, Teams & more. Microsoft 365 is so big and changes so often; at this event you will learn the latest to keep your skills fresh.

The next GlobalCon4 Turbo Tuesday session (Tuesday, November 10th) gives you a whistle-stop tour of 18 incredible sessions. Build your Turbo Tuesday schedule by downloading calendar invites to the sessions that interest you most. Below are descriptions of a few sessions.

NOV 10: TURBO TUESDAY (15-MINUTE SESSIONS)

• Graphic design for the non-graphic designer on a budget
  Step up your graphics, icons, images, etc. using Microsoft Office tools already on your computer. No expensive Adobe subscription is required to make your digital workplace look polished. In this session, we rapid-fire demo how users of all experience levels can perform photo background removal, create transparent backgrounds for existing images, use out-of-the-box icons (in Office and SharePoint), and where to find royalty-free, Creative Commons images for use in your digital workplace.
• Take Note in Teams: Integrating OneNote with Teams
  Partner these two powerful platforms, Microsoft Teams and OneNote, to optimize your notetaking and maintain historical data collection of your meeting minutes. Add meetings directly to your Team notebooks, take attendance and notes for ongoing recordkeeping and organization. The result is easily accessible to all members of your Team.
• How to setup and use Bookings
  Stop sending meeting invitations only to receive a decline or a proposed new time. Setup Bookings, add it to your email signature line and let people schedule with you based on their needs. Setup multiple time intervals and let others schedule with you based on your availability. And best of all... add it to your email signature line and it's always available.
• Microsoft Stream is for More Than Just Meeting Recordings
  In this session, you will learn how to use Microsoft Stream to troubleshoot issues and start your own video blog. Will also cover what's coming in the new version of Stream. 

We hope you'll take advantage of these quick session to boost your familiarity with the Microsoft tools that you need most!

New Resources and New Enhancements!

20-Minute Mentor is here! Since 1972 Magna has been a leading provider of higher education professional development resources.  The 20-Minute Mentor Commons offers on-demand versions of Magna's popular 20-Minute Mentor programs, covering a broad range of faculty development topics such as course design, teaching strategies, inclusion and assessment. This rich resource requires a one-time registration to establish your access to the group subscription. The resources in our Magna subscription are available to all LCCC faculty, staff and students.

 

 New Zoom Features released 9.21.2020 in version 5.3.0 (Windows):

• Studio Effects - Users can now apply eyebrows, mustache and beard, and lip color filters as part of their video appearance. This feature is currently in beta.
• Roll-up Closed Captioning - Closed captioning will now roll up as new captions are added. Users can also move through captioning by dragging the text. Enhanced scheduling with default settings - Scheduling a new meeting will always check the user’s web settings and use those as the default. Any changes from the default will be saved for that meeting only.
• Virtual Background not compatible explanation - When you are unable to use the virtual background feature, the desktop client will provide clarification, for example, "the i7-5500U processor is not currently compatible with this feature".
• Self-select Breakout Room - The host can now create breakout rooms with the option for participants to self-select which breakout room they would like to join. If enabled, participants can move freely between breakout rooms, without needing the host’s help. Both the meeting host and participants need to be on Client 5.3.0 or later to self-select Breakout Rooms.
   
• See Release Notes for updates on other operating systems.

A New Academic Year Begins!

Whew…we’ve learned lots in the last few months and the CET believes you all rocked it! We’re looking forward to the year ahead and the opportunity to start fresh and start to build and strengthen the practices that we all had to learn on the fly. Please note the following as you prepare for the year ahead:

• We post weekly to this blog with news on everything from technology to teaching. Follow by email so that you don’t miss a beat!
• We’ve aligned all Canvas course shells with course start and end dates in Colleague to meet student expectations in terms of course availability at the start and end of each block. Faculty do have access to inbox communications with class rosters in any course that they’ve published so you can send your Syllabus Supplement to your students for the 2020 Fall semester.
• All faculty are encouraged to share the Online Introduction to Canvas enrollment link with their students. This self-paced course is a great introduction to using Canvas as a student and can pave the way for a successful start to the semester. The course is available now. All Strategies for Success 1000 courses will be requiring students to finish the course beginning this Fall.

2020 Fall In-Service Sessions from the CET

• We’ll be introducing the features of Roll Call in Canvas (Attendance Tool) through the scheduled In-Service sessions and look forward to seeing you there via Zoom.
• Using the LTI integration in Canvas for Zoom and Teams is an easy way to schedule your virtual class meetings. Thirty minutes and we'll have you up and running!
• PowerPoint Live is a new tool Microsoft released this summer that allows students to interact with your PowerPoint and view live subtitles.
• Respondus Monitor is available to all faculty and is now compatible with New Quizzes. Monitor is a remote proctoring solution that enables video recording of online exams. Respondus offers free webinar training on Monitor and the LockDown Browser. Look for quick 30-minute sessions during the In-Service for tips on how to use Monitor in your course.

More Resources

• The Exchange is a one-stop-shop containing information and useful guides on topics such as technology usage, course design, and much more!  Detailed information about the syllabus supplement, Roll Call, PowerPoint Live, and Respondus is in this Canvas course.
• Growing with Canvas is a self-paced course demonstrating the basics of using Canvas as a teacher.  LCCC Adjunct Orientation is a self-paced course designed to orient adjunct faculty with the college. Also useful for full time faculty!
• Canvas Support via telephone, chat or report a problem, can be reached by clicking the Help icon in Canvas.  Available 24/7 whenever you need it and staffed by employees of Instructure that know Canvas inside out.   

Canvas New Quizzes!

Below are all the updates CET has about new quizzes (previously known as quizzes.next) in Canvas. The link to create new quizzes moved from assignments to quizzes.

• Respondus LockDown Browser Compatibility
  Currently, new quizzes are not compatible with Respondus LockDown Browser which is causing issues with remote proctoring of those quizzes. Canvas has updated its timeline for new quizzes but it has not come fast enough to help with the Spring 2020 semester and COVID-19. The CET has been in contact with Respondus and with Canvas and expressed our urgency and we are hopeful that Respondus LockDown Browser will be compatible at the beginning of the Summer 2020 semester.
• Temporary Solution for Proctoring
  The CET is working with both the main campus and the ACC Exam Lab to do remote proctoring with Zoom as a temporary solution. Proctoring via Zoom requires one proctor for every student, requiring lots of help from our co-workers. Many of the paid-for solutions do not fit the needs of LCCC or are way too expensive. Please help us get the students what they need to complete this semester; look for further communications in email.
• Classic Quizzes Deprecated
  Classic quizzes will be deprecated by February 2021, therefore once LockDown Browser is released to be compatible with new quizzes, we recommend you begin migrating your quizzes over to the new tool. You will need to be ready to use it for the Spring 2021 semester. See new quizzes resources for additional information and contact us in the CET for additional help.
• Additional Question Types
  One of the most exciting features of new quizzes, is there are four new question types! The links below are to the Canvas guides for each.
• Categorization questions require students to place answers in the correct categories
• Hot Spot allows instructors to upload images and have their students identify a specific area in that image
• Ordering questions, allow students to place answers in a specific order
• Stimulus gives students a piece of content with associated questions

New Quizzes Overview from Instructure Canvas Community on Vimeo.

Canvas Moves to LA!

Canvas has recently unveiled their new tool named Learning Analytics (LA). LA provides some excellent measurements that will predict a student’s potential success or failure within a course. LA uses a predictive model designed by Instructure and implemented into Canvas that uses our own data. Machine learning is also employed to refine the accuracy of the model over the semester. The data is automatically fed into LA from LCCC’s Canvas instance, so there is no additional work on our part to use this new feature.

Learning Analytics in Canvas' Global NavigationLA is available to all faculty through a new button in the global navigation of our Canvas instance. The first time you click on this button you’ll be presented with some information about what the tool does for us. You’ll then be given the option to set a threshold for what you would consider “on track” for your students. Additional information can be found in a one-page document provided to us by the LA team at Instructure on the Faculty Resources Site (Canvas Learning Analytics Beta Info).

Please note that LA is currently in beta and you may experience some minor issues as an early adopter. Instructure has assured us that the predictive model is rock-solid and working correctly, so they have only asked for feedback regarding the user interface. If you see anything that seems out of place, isn’t working as you believe it should, or even just a feature suggestion, please contact the CET by email at . We will send your comments directly to the LA team.
cet@lccc.wy.edu

As a final note, please know that LA pulls data only from assignments, submissions, discussions, and other Canvas specific activity. As such, third-party web sites are not compatible with the LA.

New Video Features in YuJa and Canvas!

YuJa

YuJa is continually updating their software. Here are a few of the recent improvements.

• As of November 2019, a new feature in YuJa allows you to deep import YouTube content allowing it to be managed like other uploaded media, including editing and captioning abilities (if the YouTube licensing setting allows.) Importing is allowable under copyright law for instructional purposes. See these instructions for importing from within Canvas and the view your students will see using the Canvas Student mobile app.
• The latest Software Capture, accessible from the Create Recording dialog, can perform a one-click installation-to-launch process. Once the user has clicked on the installer file, it will quickly install, configure and launch the Software Capture in a ready-to-record state. The full installer is under a new Downloads tab under the My Account section. The new version of the Software Capture includes these additional features:
  
  • Integrated support for IP-based wireless and Ethernet cameras 
  • Capability to record internal system audio
  • Performance improvements for recording high-resolution video sources at high frame-rates

Video Restrictions in Canvas

When using the Canvas media recording feature, you are limited to uploading a 500mb video (about 2-3 minutes long). These are other options available for you to use for longer videos:

• YuJa can be enabled in your Canvas course under the navigation tab in settings. Once the link is clicked on in your course a folder is created on the YuJa platform to upload and share videos.
• Using the YuJa mobile app, students can upload from the video library on their mobile device and publish the video to the class folder.
• Students can also copy a direct link for the video into a Canvas assignment setup to accept website URL. Links can be accessed by anyone without a login.

Students Report Engagement with Online Videos

A recent webinar from the Quality Matters organization presented some interesting information about how students interact with videos in their online courses. The following summary is based on recent research about how students perceive and engage with instructional video materials.

Does including videos make a difference for students?

• Yes, a positive influence has been demonstrated with increasing student satisfaction in their online courses
• Helps students build constructive connections to the content
• Viewing the instructor present course content enhances their teaching presence and increases esteem about their expertise
• However, as the semester progresses, the amount and length of time students view videos decreases

How long is too long for a video?

• Six minutes or less works best
• A steady decline in student engagement begins to occur after two-minutes
• Longer videos should be chunked into one to three minute-segments to maintain attention
• At LCCC you can use the Yuja video editor to make smaller video portions. Contact the CET for help with using YuJa for recording at your desk or in the classroom.
  

Do students want to see the instructor talk?

• Students like to see enough on-screen instructor presence to establish a positive connection, but not necessarily too long
• Video lectures that include periodic views of the instructor along with text or slides are more engaging than just slides alone, but constant instructor face-time is not needed
• Much of the time students do not actively view the video-lecture, but they often listen to the audio while they are multi-tasking

Do the videos need to be of high studio-based quality?

• No significant difference for student engagement
• Many students prefer low-production videos (e.g. from an office) as providing more of a human connection
• Too much production with music, backgrounds, and effects can be distracting and diminishes attention from the content
• Audio flubs are acceptable because that is perceived as more authentic and promotes rapport with the instructor

Examining these reported student perceptions provides some valuable insights and guidelines that can help improve instructional strategies for delivering video content.

Adding Media Contributes to Student Learning

Incorporating media components as part of your course content produces many benefits for instruction and student learning. Whether you are delivering course information through face-to-face lecture or an online course, media helps sustain the audience’s attention, as well as offering different perspectives to improve comprehension of the content. Using assorted forms of media enhances the learning process by merging text, verbal, and visual information that promotes engagement and retention.

Everyone processes information through a mixture of our various sensory perceptions. In essence, we are all multi-modal learners, and even though there may be a personal preference for a certain learning style, we all learn more effectively when information is presented in multiple formats. Allan Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory (1971) is a long-standing and well-supported educational principle that maintains learning increases when textual and visual information are combined. These two different pathways of receiving and coding information begin to supplement and connect to one another, which broadens our mental associations. Presenting content as a combination of words and visuals creates two different mental representations that link together to increase retention. One of the reasons that videos are an engaging and effective form of communication is because they present a mixture of media formats that extends descriptions and connotations. In effect, including multimedia elements into the delivery of course materials can provide various viewpoints and contexts about the information, which promotes additional insights as well as deeper learning.

This list of websites offers a list of media resources available for instructors. Many of these sites and resources are free and open for instructional use. However, it is best to check into any copyright information or restrictions by visiting the Copyright and Fair Use guidelines available through this LCCC Ludden Library libguide.

Integrating Media into Lectures Helps Maintain Attention

In a previous blog post the importance of creating breaks within a lecture in order to provide student-centered learning tasks was described. This not only allows students opportunities to actively process the lecture material, but also helps overcome lapses in maintaining attention. Another method for sustaining student’s attention and improving understanding is to incorporate different forms of media into the lecture format.

Designing periodic pauses during the lecture to offer different media representations of the content can help grab the learner’s attention, as well as enhance comprehension. Adding variability to the delivery of the lecture material by including media such as images, graphs, tables, audio, and video clips creates a new sensory stimulus that requires a shift in perception and awareness. This can arouse additional attention, and also presents information in various formats that can accommodate diverse learning styles (e.g. auditory, visual, and verbal).

Besides inserting media, linking to an outside speaker can also help focus and increase attention. Including an external presentation about the lecture content provides a new “voice” and point of view that can be engaging and promote further student interest. This outside speaker could be connected as part of a Zoom session (either live or recorded), and might also be provided by linking to a TED Talks session, or a YouTube video of an expert in the field making a presentation. Integrating assorted media materials and other speakers into your lecture, will help chunk your lecture into more manageable portions, as well as stimulate added attention and perception about the content that is being delivered.

Canvas Common Dashboard will be Realized Soon!

As a member of the Wyoming LMS Consortium Wyo Courses 2.0, and on behalf of LCCC, the CET is excited to announce that Phase IV testing has begun for the unified Canvas dashboard! We are joined in the consortium by our partners in higher education, Central Wyoming College, Eastern Wyoming College, Sheridan College, Western Wyoming Community College, and University of Wyoming. Additionally, Wyoming Department of Education, Laramie County School District #1, and Weston County School District #7 are also partners in  this work.

The Goal

The consortium team has been working diligently with Instructure to produce a unified Canvas dashboard. This means that a student enrolled in courses at more than one of the member institutions and/or school districts would be able to log in to Canvas using any of their available credentials and see all their enrollments!

The Testing (Phase IV)

Phase IV testing is focused on the Canvas LTI (external tools) functionality. Our testing will be done from the perspective of both student and faculty, including users who are affiliated only with LCCC and those who have multiple affiliations across the consortium. Testing will take place in our live Canvas environment. Don’t be worried! Tests will only be done using specially created test user accounts and only by the LMS Administrators from each college. Our testing phase will not affect any live user accounts, their ability to see enrollments, or their ability to use Canvas LTIs.

The CET is working closely with the Wyoming LMS Consortium and Instructure during this testing phase and we will continue to provide updates via this blog as we move from one phase to another.
The future of Canvas at LCCC will be unified!

A New Year Begins!

We’re looking forward to the year ahead and the opportunity to collaborate with you as we launch another transformative year at LCCC. Please note the following as you prepare for the year ahead:

• We post weekly to this blog with news on everything from technology to teaching. Follow by email so that you don’t miss a beat!
• We’ve aligned all Canvas course shells with course start and end dates in Colleague in an effort to meet student expectations in terms of course availability at the start and end of each block. Faculty do have access to inbox communications with class rosters in any course that they’ve published. We’ll be introducing new Canvas features through the scheduled In-Service sessions and look forward to seeing you there. Note that remote options are available.
• Respondus Monitor was purchased in July and is available to all faculty. Monitor is a remote proctoring solution that enables video recording of online exams. CET announced this tool in April, and we’re looking forward to supporting your implementation this semester. Respondus offers free webinar training on Monitor and the LockDown Browser as well as the Respondus 4 test generator.
• All faculty are encouraged to share the Online Introduction to Canvas enrollment link with their students. This self-paced course is a great introduction to using Canvas as a student and can pave the way for a successful start to the semester. The course is available now.

All CET members are engaged in Guided Pathways and we look forward to sharing the lift this year in preparation for Fall 2020. Laura is working closely with the Academic Standards Committee on several upgrades in CurrIQunet; Tim is a charter member of the Competencies team; Richard has joined the Essential Student Experiences team; and I continue to co-lead the Excellence in Teaching team beside Ann Shelby. If you'd like to hear more about these activities, or if you'd like to book some time with any of us you can schedule that through our Bookings link.

Our doors are open!

On behalf of Tim, Laura, and Richard,

Kari

Tech Tools Update | Respondus Monitor

CET is pleased to introduce Respondus Monitor.  Monitor has been available for limited use in the past, but thanks to a collaboration with Dean Mason in HSW and ITS all faculty now have access to this remote proctoring solution.

Respondus Monitor works with the LockDown Browser to offer video proctoring for online quizzes and tests.  Monitor is available now and will remain available through the 2019-2020 academic year, at least.

If you missed the Monitor training at LCCC, access this video orientation.  Additional Monitor resources including videos, guides, and additional training are also readily available!  CET would appreciate hearing of your experience with Monitor and hope you'll share your reactions in the comments below. Please note, like its LockDown Browser partner, Monitor is not currently compatible with Quizzes.Next in Canvas.