Tips & Tricks Blog
Have any ideas for our blog? Please email DE Coordinator Bri Brown at brianna.brown@gcccd.edu or Instructional Design Technology Specialist Amber Toland Perry.
Undeleting Course Content & The Redirect Tool
Undeleting Content
Sometimes you are working on your Canvas course and you realize you have deleted content you need. There is a solution. You can undelete most recent content that has been deleted. See the following page on undeleting content - Undelete & Restore Course Content
Redirecting Navigation Links
Also, it can be very handy to create a new navigation link in your course that is a custom navigation link pointing to content inside your course or to an outside website. See the following page on using the Redirect Tool - Redirect Tool and Navigation Links
Archiving Emails and Backing Up Courses
How to Archive Emails
Your inbox usually contains all emails from all students. At the end of each term, you may want to archive your old emails in your inbox as you prepare for the next semester. See the following page for easy instructions! Archive Inbox Messages
How to Backup Your Course
You may want to save your course content (including grades) as a personal backup, share with other instructors, or use the same course content in different courses and institutions. See the following page on the different methods on backing up your courses - Backup or Archive a Course
Mobile Phone Tips for Teachers & Students (April 6, 2022)
Many instructors and students are now using their mobile phones to access Zoom and Canvas. This usage is expected to grow. Here are some tips on using mobile technology to help you succeed.
Canvas and Mobile Phones for Teachers & Students
Canvas is built on open web standards, so most features are supported on mobile devices. With the growing use of mobile devices, you should build your courses with best practices for mobile in mind.
The following link includes information for instructors and students on how to use their mobile phones with Canvas and also includes comprehensive user guides. Some topics covered include how to download the teacher or student app, navigating the Canvas app, how to access modules, discussions, and announcements, grading, and many other useful tasks.
Canvas and Mobile Phones for Teachers and Students
Zoom & Mobile Phones for Teachers & Students
Zoom has become indispensable in the modern classroom. Here are some great tips to help you use Zoom! The following link contains information about sharing your screen, enabling, disabling and using chat, and how to use non-verbal communication, feedback and reactions, and also how to create and use polling in Zoom.
Zoom and Mobile Phones for Teachers and Students
Conclusion
We hope these tips have been helpful! Please share these tips with your peers and students as needed. Thanks for visiting this month's post!
Creating & Managing Group Discussions (March 1, 2022)
One question we have gotten is how to manage discussion boards in large online classes. With the Group Discussions feature, you will be able to split the large class into manageable, smaller groups. Then, you can comment in each group space rather than responding to every individual student.
Interacting with students in their groups
There are a couple different techniques that you can use to interact with students in group discussions. You can either respond individually to a subset of students in each group, or you can create one summary announcement for each group. For a summary announcement, you can highlight the main themes that you read in your students' posts, offer responses to those theme, and suggest feedback for further consideration or development. You can also invite students to respond to your posts within the groups. Responding in each online group discussion simulates the process of teaching face-to-face and walking around and sitting in on small group discussions in the classroom.
Not only does this reduce the number of responses each week, it allows students to interact more deeply with their peers. Often in a large class size, students are unable to read all of their peers' posts due to having to scroll, but in a smaller group, they have fewer posts to read and can respond more specifically and thoroughly, as well as circle back and respond to those who replied to their initial posts, as the thread is easier to navigate.
Creating Group Discussions
Please navigate to our page on how to create group discussions.
Conclusion
Give group discussions a try! This can be a handy way to save time while maintaining instructor presence and interaction and facilitating a deeper discussion among your students.