Wrapping Up the Semester and Canvas Update

Wrapping up the Semester

Here are a few things to do before wrapping up the semester and enjoying the holidays.

• Check your Grade Center total column to make sure it is calculating correctly 
• Check to make sure you haven't hidden any students that have actually been in the class (Grade Center > Manage > Row Visibility) 
• Download the Grade Center to your hard drive for safekeeping 
• Archive (backup) your course

The last two items are more important than ever now that we are transitioning to Canvas. Please be sure to do this for every course you teach before Blackboard goes away in June 2018.

Canvas Update

OEI recently reported that 106 of 115 California Community College campuses (including Compton Center and North Orange Adult) have committed to moving to Canvas. There is a rush of activity around the state at all these campuses to make the transition. We're not alone in this!

We are on track for our pilot faculty to begin teaching with Canvas in 2017 spring. These 12 hardy souls will be on the bleeding edge for everyone else. They will discover problems we don't know about yet so we have solutions in place before the whole college moves to Canvas.

Spring semester is the right time to start learning Canvas. Everyone can begin teaching with Canvas during summer and fall of 2017. All faculty will need to teach all courses with Canvas during the spring 2018 semester. If you want to get started over the break, view the Lynda.com Canvas videos. This two hour course will give you a good start with Canvas.

I scheduled four Canvas workshops for Flex Week. Space is limited, so reserve your spot early. See my workshop schedule for more information on all the workshops I will be offering.

I will begin writing a series of blog posts about Canvas starting during Flex Week. Please help us get everyone on campus to subscribe to this blog at the bottom of my website.

I wish you all a joyous holiday season and happy new year!

@ONE Courses Offered Starting in January

@ONE is offering several sections of online courses you may be interested in taking.

Introduction to Teaching with Canvas 

This course will prepare you for teaching with Canvas. Email Rhonda to receive a coupon code our faculty can use to take this course for free through @ONE. This course is also taught at Cuyamaca College.

Introduction to Teaching with Canvas (SP173) (New)

1/9/17 - 2/3/17 (Pacific Time)

Introduction to Teaching with Canvas (SP174) (New)

2/27/17 - 3/24/17 (Pacific Time)

Introduction to Teaching with Canvas (SP175) (New)

2/27/17 - 3/24/17 (Pacific Time)

Introduction to Teaching with Canvas (SP176) (New)

2/27/17 - 3/24/17 (Pacific Time)

Online Education Standards & Practices (OESP)

OESP is the new certificate program for teaching online. This certificate is accepted by Cuyamaca College as preparation for teaching online.

Online Education Standards & Practices (OESP) SP171 (New)

1/9/17 - 3/31/17 (Pacific Time)

Online Education Standards & Practices (OESP) SP172 (New)

1/9/17 - 3/31/17 (Pacific Time)

Online Education Standards & Practices (OESP) SP173 (New)

2/27/17 - 5/19/17 (Pacific Time)

@ONE is offering other online courses that may tempt you, but they are remnants of their old certificate program which is being phased out and are not recommended. OESP the better course to take at this time.

The Teaching With Canvas Train Has Left the Station!

Spotted on the Grand Lawn last week:

This past week marks the beginning of Cuyamaca College's journey from Blackboard to Canvas. The decision has been made and I've been asked to help make it happen.

Like the Hogwarts Express, with less literary flair, the Teaching With Canvas train is chugging through Cuyamaca College to get us to our destination. Last week, this train picked up passengers for the  first Teaching With Canvas online course and I couldn't be happier with the exceptional group of adventurous faculty who have come together to share this ride. We have a team of smart, creative, and funny colleagues keeping it light and fun while we figure out all this techy stuff.

We have about 2 years to get everyone on board. We will be stopping to pick up passengers for the Teaching with Canvas train twice every fall and spring semester, and once every summer until everyone is on board.

I am anxious to share Canvas with everyone. So far the response is very positive and many of those who try it want to start teaching with it right now. Unfortunately, we won't have the GCCCD server up until late this year. We hope to get our Canvas server talking to Colleague/WebAdvisor so it can manage all the automatic enrollments in time to offer our first courses in Canvas beginning with the spring semester.

There's no rush to get on board right now; the big push will come after we get our server running. I want to keep you all updated about where we are, where we're going, and let you start thinking about when you want to hop on board this train. Take a look at the Route to Canvas Timeline for more information.

I plan to start offering "how to" posts on Canvas as soon as we get our GCCCD server running, so have everyone you know sign up to receive emails from this blog.

If you want to be in that first group of faculty to teach courses in Canvas for the spring 2017 semester, sign up for a Teaching With Canvas course this fall.

• Teaching with Canvas Syllabus
• Sign up for Teaching With Canvas
• Sign up for the Cuyamaca Online Blog