Pedagogy

CPH AU20 New Template and How to Use It

| Margaret Murphy

Template cut outs

Hi all,

By now, most of  you know that CPH uses templates in our Canvas courses. By and large, the majority of courses and instructors had been using the template I put in your course 2 years ago. (Except those who went rogue. Don’t think I don’t know who you are. :). Standardization in course appearance and navigation is beneficial for both instructor and student. (Read why here.)

We have recently updated our template again to align more with both Quality Matters standards and other standards set by ODEE as described in their Quality Assurance process: https://keepteaching.osu.edu/.

And because we are really freaking cool, we have also come up with a super-duper process (leveraging Canvas’s Blueprint tool).

 

WHY THIS NEW TEMPLATE AND PROCESS IS AWESOME

All CPH courses should include some standard information such as:

  1. How to get tech help and contact 8Help
  2. How to request accommodations
  3. Information about academic integrity
  4. How to seek support for mental health
  5. How to find resources for writing

This new template includes all of those goodies and more but, as information changes (say the Writing Center moves to a new location) updates can be pushed out to all PUBH Canvas courses with the push of 2 buttons  and we will do all of those updates for you!

 

 

BUT WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE AND HOW CAN I EDIT?

Again, because we love you, we (well…really Christy and Mukta) have actually already gone ahead and made your AU20 course shells. (That’s right. Go to carmen.osu.edu right now and see that they are made. You are welcome.) If they are not already in there, the new template will be in your course by the end of this week (July 24th at 5pm.). Please make sure you watch the videos below for full details.

A few important notes:

  1. Some items from the new template are “locked” and you cannot edit. But only a few.
  2. When you copy over content from Master or other course you don’t loose or override the template; instead you will have objects from both courses. Delete as you wish or just leave your pages, modules, or assignments unpublished what you don’t want students to see.

 

CHECK IT OUT

And because we *love* you, we created some instructional videos:

Home Page: Overview and How to Edit

 

Modules: What’s New and How to Edit

 

 

Pages: What’s New and How to Edit

 

 

 

 

 

Creating alternative/ accessible content in your course with one click

| Margaret Murphy

*Content Accessibility

Anyone else sometimes leave the captions on when watching TV, even though they can hear the audio just fine?

TV with captions

What you are doing is taking advantage of material that was made “accessible” in a variety of modes  – auditory and text. Accessible content is content means that a space is always, 100% of the time, welcoming to people in as many modes as possible. Accessibility means that “accommodations” are integrated into a space and are not particularized to an individual. (An “accommodation” on the other hand, is a modification made to a specific aspect of a system—for example a document or facility—that has been adapted to meet the needs of a specific individual or group. An accommodation in higher ed, is often initiated by a formal request from a disabilities service office.)

Ever need to convert a Power Point into a PDF? What about wanting to make your Power Point slides readable on a Kindle or other ereader? Tools like Blackboard Ally and BeeLine make this easy.

 

Blackboard Ally

https://ally.ac/covid19/

With a simple drag and drop, you can use BlackBoard Ally’s “File Transformer” tool to upload a course file and download it in an alternative format. You do not need to be using BlackBoard LMS to use this tool. This way, you can personalize your learning experience to better fit your needs, devices, and learning preferences. This tool is free and will covert your files in a matter of seconds.

After uploading your file, pick an alternative format that best suits your current task or situation. You can pick and mix formats too.

Learn more here:

 

 

BeeLine

https://www.beelinereader.com/

Do your eyes tire after looking at text on a screen all day? Chances are your students’ do too. Another free tool out there is BeeLine reader which is a digital reading technology that uses color to accelerate reading speed and literacy acquisition.

You can actually test out this tool for free here but trying it out on their demo text.

BeeLIne Demo text

 

 

* both of the items mentioned here are being offered for free in response to widespread school shutdowns due to COVID-19. Prices subject to change.

Considerations for Access to Content –

| Margaret Murphy

Hi all.   

 As we continue to provide students access to learning, please remember that many of our students may struggle to keep up. There are many reasons for this, but no matter what the reason, you will still need to think of strategies to do this.

Check out this list below to get you started

 

Suggestions for Adaption 

Here are just a few options for ways to adapt or differentiate instruction to accommodate students. (Links to resources – “How To” Guides –  at end of page.)

 

DOWNLOADING CANVAS COURSE AS AN EPUB 

Generating ePub Files 

Instructors can allow students to download a course as an ePub file. This feature allows students to view course content when they are offline, such as files, pages, assignment details, discussion topics description, or quiz instructions. Please note students cannot interact with the course content in ePub material; course materials are displayed in a read-only state and any tasks such as submitting an assignment or quiz must be completed online. 

It is important to note a couple of things about this new feature. 

 The ePub Export option is Course Level Feature Option 

Instructors must enable this option for it be available for students. In your course click settings in the left navigation of a course. Click the Feature Options tab. Move the slide to On position next to ePub Exporting. 

epub enable   

 

The Default ePub Generation is Based on Module Organization 

This means that only items including in modules are what students will have access to in the ePub file. However, instructors can set their course organization by content type (e.g. assignments, quizzes, etc.). This option can be changed on the course details tab by checking the checkbox next to Organize ePub by content type (default is by module). 

epub organize 

 

The ePub File Generation Option is Available in Personal Profile 

Students and instructors alike can access the option to generate an ePub file in the personal profile settings. From the right sidebar click Download Course Content. Downloaded content can be viewed in any ePub reader, such as iBooks (Mac) or Moon+ Reader (Android). Other ePub applications can be used. In ePub content, students cannot interact with course content directly such as completing an assignment, but they can view the assignment details, availability dates, and point values. In ePub content, students cannot interact with course content directly such as completing an assignment, but they can view the assignment details, availability dates, and point values.

epub download 

The ePub File Only Includes Files that are Compatible with eReaders 

If the content in your course includes Word, PowerPoint, and Acrobat files, please note this content will NOT be part of the ePub file. A separate zip folder option will appear when the ePub file is generated. Students can download the zip file to see the associated files.  

epub download files 

 

REPLACING LECTURES (SUGGESTIONS): 

  • Assign book readings. 
  • Create lecture notes (typed, handwritten and scanned, Powerpoint) and post them on Carmen or deliver via mail.  
  • Use Zoom to record lecture or share slides and record your Zoom presentation.  Zoom automatically provides captions and transcription files for your recordings. Deliver via email or mail.  
  • Find and vet YouTube or other opensource videos on your course topics and link them in Carmen. 
  • Use a video camera or document camera with Zoom (or MediaSite) to record instructional videos.  (Videos should be stored on YouTube, Zoom, MediaSite, or Buckeyebox.  Uploading directly to Carmen will cause you to hit the file size limit.) Email me to get them captioned/transcribed. I will send you files to send to your student(s) via email or mail 

 

If at all possible, consider alternatives to synchronous content, video (streaming or other) – students may have unreliable internet access and may be at a disadvantage in obtaining any such content.  Ideally, all content should be delivered in an asynchronous manner.   [Note:  synchronous content is “live” while asynchronous content is “pre-recorded”.  With a poor internet connection, “live” lectures can collapse.] If you must use this format, make sure your sessions are recorded to the cloud so that you can access the recording and transcript files if you need to email or mail out to students.  

 Check out this article:

Videoconferencing Alternatives: How Low-Bandwidth Teaching Will Save Us All by Daniel Stanford

REPLACING RECITATIONS (AS APPROPRIATE): 

 TAs should take direction from their lecturer for any specifics; however, some general points should be followed: 

  • TAs should plan on producing guided solutions to problems that would otherwise be regularly covered in recitation.  Inclusion of full derivations in these solutions is encouraged.   
  • TAs should plan on participating in any discussion boards that are set up for students in this course.   
  • If your instructor directs you to create any video content for your students, this content will be shared with all students in your lecture, including those in recitations led by other TAs.   
  • The expectation is that you spend an amount of time in these new ways that is comparable to that spent on your usual TA duties.   

 

REPLACING ASSESSMENTS (SUGGESTIONS): 

 Paper assignments (homework, projects):  

  • Students can submit handwritten assignments online using Notability (if they have an iPad) or by using a scanner app on their phone. 
  • Work can be submitted on Carmen. 
  • Submission by email. 

 

Exam Options:  

  • Take home exam submitted to Carmen. 
  • Give online assessment using Proctorio and Carmen (multiple choice, short response with equation editor). 
  • Give an online assessment in a homework system that is available for your textbook. 

 

REPLACING OFFICE HOURS AND TUTOR ROOM HOURS (SUGGESTION): 

  • Set aside a specific time for online discussion.   

 

  

HOW-TO GUIDES: 

General websites to get help: 

 

 

Getting Started (if you don’t have a Carmen course yet): 

    • Make a Carmen announcement 
  • Upload Content to Carmen 
    • Upload your course files and materials, and links to other websites in Modules.  A module acts like a folder to organize your materials. 
  • Create Assignments 
    • You should create an assignment for each item that students are supposed to turn in or that students receive a grade for.   
    • You (or your TA/Grader) will enter grades into the Gradebook. 
  • See the section below for additional steps for teaching online using Carmen. 

 

Adapting your Carmen course to online instruction: 

  • Turn on discussion boards 
  • Turn on Zoom link (if using for live classes or to create videos) 
    • Recording a meeting (or lecture) with Zoom 

 

How to make course videos (if desired): 

    • When you record in Zoom using Cloud Recording, you will get a link to the video you can put in Carmen modules.  If the Zoom room is created using the Carmen Zoom link (as opposed to going directly to carmenzoom.osu.edu), your students will all receive an email automatically when you complete recording with a link to the recording. 
  • Creating videos using other methods 
    • If you create a video using your phone, a document camera, etc., you will need to find cloud storage for this video.  You upload to YouTube, MediaSite, Buckeyebox, or OneDrive