What’s New in ITG This Fall

Byillona.yosefov Hours

Here’s a roundup of some new features in instructional technology at Emerson!

Canvas: New Template 

The new template in Canvas has updated syllabus policies. If you are importing from a past course, update your syllabus page to include the new policies.

As a result of the updated class recording policy above, moving forward faculty will not be asked to collect signatures from students before recording. ITG removed the consent form from our template. You might still see it in your Canvas course if you imported content from a past course. The new policy states that faculty should announce to students whenever they are recording, but have no obligation to collect written consent.

Canvas: Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader

Most of the updates to the SpeedGrader happened in the background to improve performance and speed. They tweaked the UI a little too. If you don’t like it, you can revert back to the old SpeedGrader by going to Settings>Feature Options>Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader and clicking on the check icon to turn it off:

Canvas: New analytics 

The analytics tool now pulls data every 8 hours. In the past, the tool would pull data every  24-48. It has a different interface, but the information is the same. You can read more about the analytics tool in the Canvas Community Page.

Canvas: New Files UI

Canvas updated its File interface and made changes to file organization and management. Changes were made to pagination, sorting, and selection tools.

The image below points out the features in New Files.

New Files allows you to select all files and folders at once. To do that click the Select All checkbox [1]. To select files or folders individually, use the checkbox next to each file or folder[2]. Column headers can be clicked to sort files and folders [3]. To switch between the new and original Files page, click the Switch to Old/New Files Page button [4]. To view the files landing page, click the All My Files button [5]. Bulk action options are available when files and/or folders are selected [6].
The release doesn’t have all the features we’d like yet.  We contacted Canvas support to report that at the moment there is still no way to download all files in a course, and Shift+Click doesn’t select a range of files between two points.

Canvas: New Discussion Sort Options are now live

Last summer Canvas updated the Discussions interface. After some feedback from community members, they made some changes to the sorting features.

When creating or editing a discussion, instructors can configure the default view settings, including thread collapse/expansion and sorting options for students, with the ability to lock these preferences if needed. Additionally, the Sorting section of Discussions and Announcements is redesigned.

Instructors can configure the default discussion view by setting the default thread state [1] between expanded and collapsed and optionally locking it for students [2]. They can also define the default sort order [3] between oldest first and newest first and choose to lock it [4] if needed.

Canvas and AI

Faculty have had some questions about a recent Chronicles of Higher Education story, and we want to confirm that Emerson data is not being fed to AI via Canvas.  Our contract with Canvas says that “All information, data, results, plans, sketches, texts, files, links, images, photos, videos, audio files, notes, or other materials uploaded under Customer’s account in the Service remains the sole property of Customer, as between Instructure and Customer (Customer Content).” If there are decisions to be made about what features to turn on, ITG brings those decisions to the Faculty Library Technology Committee and asks for their guidance about how to involve faculty further.

Panopto: Save As in the Panopto Editor

Users can now save copies of their videos directly within the Panopto editor. You may save different edited versions of your original recording in Panopto without having to create copies in advance. You can read more and see a demonstration in How to use Save As in the Editor.

LinkedIn Learning/Skillshare

Emerson College’s Human Resources department began offering LinkedIn Learning licenses to all faculty, staff, and students earlier this summer! With that in mind, and with considerations to low usage of Skillshare, we’ve elected not to renew our license. We discontinued offering Skillshare on August 23rd .

You can sign into LinkedIn Learning using your Emerson username and password. Faculty can sign up for an appointment to learn more about utilizing LinkedIn Learning with your students, or contact HR with questions about LinkedIn Learning.

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