CTI Learning Technologies | Spring 2023
This email is being sent by the Center for Teaching Innovation to all Instructors using Canvas @Cornell and includes the following information:

  • Canvas Reminders for Spring 2023
  • Updates to Learning Technologies
  • Teaching Resources
  • Support
Canvas Courses
Spring Session Reminders:
All student enrollments will be added to Spring semester courses on 1/14/2023. The default course start date is set to 1/20/2023 (How do I modify course default start dates?).

If you would like to use Canvas for a course designated as IND or RSC by the registrar, email us at canvas@cornell.edu for assistance.

  • Check the Course Default Settings for course access dates, grade release and visibility options, and file storage limits.
  • Re-use course content from the previous Canvas course site.
  • Check the Tutorials page if you plan to use third-party tools such as Panopto, Turnitin, and more.
  • Review our start-of-semester checklist.
  • Remember to PUBLISH your course.

New Features:
  • Instructors can schedule publishing of pages. The new option is available when editing a page.
  • The default due time will be changed to 5:00 PM (EST) instead of 11:59 PM. The Instructors can also set the default due time in their Canvas course settings.
Learn about Artificial Intelligence Chatbots such as ChatGPT and find strategies for responding.

The new chat feature in the Ed Discussion tool provides an easy way to add instant messaging to your course. Chat might be used for staff-only private conversations, private conversations between staff and a student or groups of students, student group assignment conversations, tutorial group conversations, or open hashtags for private or open channels, similar to SLACK. Contact us to enable the Chat feature in your course.

The new Zoom Whiteboard feature will be available on January 15th. The new and improved Zoom Whiteboard will provide a powerful collaborative space that “persists,” for use in classrooms, meetings, webinars, and training sessions. Check out CIT's Zoom Whiteboard for a more detailed overview of the feature's possibilities.

Two new updates are aimed at improving teachers' experience with peer and group activity creation: user interface changes and the template library. The user interface changes only affect the editing mode with the goal to make the assignment creation easier to follow. The template library allows instructors to create their assignments based on existing templates. Please contact us if you are interested in using templates.

All Canvas courses for Spring 2023 semester have the Ally Accessibility tool enabled. Instructors can make use of the tool to improve the accessibility of their course materials. Students will automatically have access to alternative formats of many course materials. New to accessibility tools? Here are Five Things to Know About Ally.

Canvas courses for co-meeting grad/undergrad classes include separate Canvas sections for undergraduate and for graduate students. This allows instructors to create differentiated assignments for students who are in different class levels.

New Quizzes is available to instructors by default; the migration from Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes will not be enforced as originally planned. When creating Quizzes, instructors can choose either New Quiz or the Classic Quiz option. Here is a summary of updates and feature options for New Quizzes.

The Center for Teaching Innovation offers individual assessment consulting as an opportunity for faculty to benefit from the expertise of technology specialists and to ensure online assessments are functioning as desired. CTI staff are available to help lower the anxiety around online assessments and to improve the experience for faculty and students alike. Request a consult.
The course navigation link named "Course Materials" appears by default in all Canvas courses. Clicking the link will take users to the VitalSource My Courses home page where users will see all materials for which they are licensed, including Instant Access. Courses that do not use electronic text can hide this course navigation link. For any questions about the program, contact textbooks@cornell.edu.

You can annotate CAMP and VitalSource materials using the Hypothesis (social annotation) tool in Canvas. This improves interaction with readings purchased through the bookstore by allowing you to create assignments and group activities. Students can also highlight, annotate, and tag course readings for their own use if faculty enable this.
UPCOMING EVENT:

January 17, 2023, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., 226 Weill Hall (in person)

This event is an opportunity for instructors to explore social annotation tools and practices that have been in use by their peers at Cornell. The workshop will discuss ways to effectively implement Hypothesis or Perusall into various disciplines and class sizes. Instructors will leave with ideas and inspiration for how social annotation can reinforce learning in their own courses. 

MORE WORKSHOPS AND RESOURCES:



  • Check our schedule for upcoming workshops and webinars including past webinar recordings.
  • Daily online Drop-in Sessions: the CTI staff will be available live to answer your questions.

  • CTI Tech Lab: Staff are ready to assist with your technology needs for teaching.