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This semester marks the completion of the implementation of Canvas. Blackboard is no longer available for teaching, though faculty, staff, and students will continue to have archival access to it.
The McGraw Center is excited to launch this newsletter for faculty and staff. We will share news, resources, and ideas for how to teach with Canvas and the numerous digital tools that integrate with it.
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Import a past Canvas course
You can easily import a previous version of your course into your fall ’21 site by selecting Import Course Content and then Copy a Canvas Course under Settings. To avoid overriding the basic settings of your course, choose Select specific content and then select everything but Course Settings.
Import content from Blackboard
You can import content from a Blackboard course site into Canvas. Please consult our Field Guide to Canvas for tips on how to move content over. Course teams can also reach out to their instructional designer or canvas@princeton.edu for help.
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Set up the gradebook sooner rather than later
We have learned that instructors avoid issues and save time later if they set up the gradebook at the start of the semester. In addition to individual consultations, we also offer training sessions on assessments and grading in Canvas.
A new system for book orders
Timber, Princeton’s new system for book adoption and purchasing, can be accessed through the Books icon in the global navigation bar in Canvas.
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McGraw’s instructional designers
Every faculty member and course team has been assigned an instructional designer from McGraw to help move content from Blackboard, set up their course site in Canvas, and provide instruction on specific features and tools.
Service Now ticketing support
Depending on the specific issue, questions sent to canvas@princeton.edu will be answered by staff in the McGraw Center or by the technical Canvas team in OIT.
Canvas 24/7 support
Faculty, staff, and students also have access to Canvas’ 24/7 support by clicking on the Help icon in the global navigation bar in Canvas.
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Field Guide to Canvas
We have created a Princeton-specific guide to Canvas, with lots of useful information about Canvas’ communication and collaboration tools, how to share syllabi and course materials, how to assess student understanding through assignments and quizzes, and how to set up the gradebook. We also provide information about the teaching tools that integrate with Canvas.
Training sessions
The McGraw Center offers a variety of training sessions for faculty, staff, and teaching assistants. We also partner with vendors to provide tailored training sessions on teaching tools like Gradescope, iClicker Cloud, Ed Discussion, and Harmonize Discussion.
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One exciting aspect of Canvas is that it integrates with a wide array of additional learning tools. We are happy to introduce two new tools that we have recently adopted and integrated into Canvas: Harmonize Discussion and iClicker Cloud. Both encourage student engagement and participation in ways that are intuitive to use and accessible to many learners. |
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Harmonize Discussion
Harmonize is an asynchronous discussion platform fully integrated with Canvas’ assignments and Speedgrader. It has a participation-friendly interface, including a grid view of posts, and provides many opportunities to add images, text, links, and to record and annotate video and audio. Harmonize Discussion allows faculty to define milestones and assign student facilitators.
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iClicker Cloud
iClicker Cloud is an in-class student response system that provides instant feedback to instructors. It can be used to promote active learning through low-stakes knowledge checks and polls. iClicker Cloud is synced with Canvas’ roster and gradebook, and students can participate via a mobile device, laptop, or the classic iClicker remote. The use of iClicker Cloud is free for instructors and students.
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Princeton’s new Syllabus Library
We are excited to launch a Syllabus Library for students, faculty, and staff at Princeton! The Syllabus Library is integrated with Canvas and can also be accessed through the Princeton Syllabus Library portal. The Syllabus Library is an optional tool and fulfills several important purposes:
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First, it provides a simple way for instructors to share their syllabus (in document form) with students enrolled in their course. The Syllabus Library is accessible in the navigation bar in every Canvas course site.
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Second, it provides students with easy access to the syllabi of courses in which they are considering enrolling. Many students, including representatives of the Canvas Implementation Student Advisory Board, have requested this functionality.
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Third, it is searchable by keyword, term, instructor, and subject, and will also be valuable for students, staff, and faculty who are simply curious to learn more details about the courses offered at Princeton.
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Please note that access to the Syllabus Library requires a Princeton Net ID—it is not available to non-Princeton users.
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