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November 2021 Faculty Forum on Canvas course site design - Summary and video

  • by Margaret Merrill

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

On Friday, November 19th, faculty and instructors gathered to share and hear ways we teach effectively and innovatively with UC Davis Canvas. Please review the recording of the event.

Consider this list of some of the recurring topics from the lively conversation:

  • Canvas as a powerful automator - you set it up and then it runs on its own! Faculty called out these specific automated features that have made their lives easier:
    • Quiz question banks - Create a set of questions and then instruct Canvas how many to use from the bank for each student’s quiz. Students get unique quizzes, and you can keep adding and removing questions in the quiz bank from quarter to quarter.  
    • Rubrics - Transparently communicate expectations for your assignments while setting up a framework that speeds up the grading process.
    • Bulk change of due dates of assignments when copying a course from one quarter to another
    • Reviewing quiz data into a spreadsheet
    • SensusAccess - Make your course content in Canvas accessible
    • Gradebook - “Message students who…” - sending messages to students who meet certain criteria (e.g., missing a certain assignment, below a certain grade on a quiz)
  • The Learning-Curve Challenge: Often we must make a significant up-front investment of time in order to benefit later in the quarter and in future quarters from this investment.
    • You are not alone! See the list of support resources, below.
    • Once the elements of your Canvas course ARE set up, you and your students can keep reaping the benefits, quarter after quarter!
  • Managing complexity: Where do I start? Faculty and staff recommended the following:
    • First ask yourself this question: “What is the teaching challenge that I’m facing?”
    • Canvas can do SO much - Look for the simplest way to achieve your goals
    • Pace yourself - Iterate 
  • Getting feedback from students

Available support resources include:

Although ATS staff prepares thoroughly for each of our events, we find that faculty attendees always bring the best content to our Faculty Forums, for which we are grateful. We thank all of you who could join us and contribute to the conversation, and we hope this compilation of resources will continue to serve you and your students in the coming academic quarters.

Best,

Dr. Andy Jones
Academic Associate Director, Academic Technology Services
University of California, Davis

P.S. We are cancelling our December 3rd DOLCE; we encourage you instead to attend the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference to be held that day. We’ll see you there!

Additional links / resources shared 

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Faculty Events