CIT News
How long is a Canvas Course Available?
For every course that appears in the Course Catalog and Banner, a corresponding Canvas course shell will be automatically created and be updated regularly with the correct instructor and student enrollments. These courses will be added to user Canvas account a few months before the start of each academic term.Instructors can access the course shells as soon as they are synced from Banner, while students can access the courses as soon as they are published by the instructor.
Six weeks after the end of the academic term, the Canvas courses will enter the Concluded state where students can still see course content, but will not be able to participate in the course (upload assignments, post messages, take quizzes .etc) Instructors can still access the course at any time. They can also can explicitly control when the course becomes concluded by overriding the default end date of the course and control if students can access and see the course at all by setting the view restriction options.
Need Canvas Help Fast?
All USF Canvas users can contact a live support representative from Instructure, the makers of Canvas, anytime day or night through the Canvas Support Hotline (844 702 5213) and the Chat with Canvas Support tools accessible through the Help button located in the USF Canvas dashboard menu. Support representative will be able to access your Canvas environment directly to help troubleshoot any issues.
Posted: June 2016
New Canvas User Interface
On Friday May 27th USF will go-live with the new Canvas User Interface (UI). The new UI provides a responsive user experience for the Canvas Dashboard and Global Navigation menu. The Course Navigation menu also collapses on smaller screens, allowing for a more content-focused and responsive layout. The redesigned Dashboard defaults to the Course view, which provides access and updates in favorite courses, while the new Global Navigation menu provides quick links to all main Canvas areas and can be accessed from any screen in Canvas.
This is strictly a cosmetic and usability update, no existing content will be affected or need to be recreated.You can get a live preview of the new interface by logging into the USF beta instance here.
Here is a video tour of the new interface.
Here is a document with descriptions and screenshots of new the user interface.
Turnitin
Reminder: Recent changes by Turnitin.com modified the way Turnitin assignments are created in Canvas, please see the Turnitin.com page on the USF Canvas blog.
Posted: April, 2016
USF Grad Students Build a 3D printing Workplace
Implementing design thinking to transform a computer storage room, students from the Digital Technologies for Teaching and Learning program have built a space designed for 3D printing technology. The Makerspace, which now resides at the Center for Instruction and Technology, is an invaluable resource for USF community members interested in 3D fabrication work. The small designated work space is meant to be a place for creative activity and features CIT's recently acquired 3D printer, a Type A Machine Series 1 Pro.
Although 3D printing technologies have existed for several decades, developments in the last few years have led to much more widespread use. New 3D printing tools like the Type A Machine, provide a personal factory for students and faculty to easily scan, design, and produce detailed custom 3D objects such as sculptural pieces, mechanical parts, and product prototypes. The 3D printing process begins with a digital model of a 3D object and the file is then exported to a printer, much like clicking "control-P" when printing a document. Through this process, the possibilities are only limited to a few technical requirements and your imagination.
Faculty and staff from any discipline interested in learning how to print 3D models using Type A Machine, are welcome to join one of CIT's upcoming 3D printing workshops. The sessions are designed to be an introduction to 3D printing processes and the variety of 3D models under Creative Commons available at Thingiverse.
Posted: April, 2016
Polling in the Classroom
Polling in the classroom provides instructors with instant feedback from questions created during or before a presentation. With Polling software, instructors can customize questions and display results to suit their learning environment. The most attractive feature about Polling in the classroom is students can use the devices they come to the class with to participate, and there can even be anonymous Polling for sensitive topics.
Polling in the classroom is known by various other names, such as Audience Response Systems, or Classroom Response Systems (CRS) amongst others. They can be integrated into PowerPoint and a Learning Management System (LMS), to create a single sign. iClicker is a popular system currently in use at USF.
"Live Audience Participation" is highlighted prominently on the Poll Everywhere website. So is the fact that Poll Everywhere lets you engage your audience or class in real time. Socrative is another leading Polling product, free to both instructor and student. So, how does polling in the classroom work? Instructors create a poll in three easy steps: ask the question, audience answers using their mobile devices, and the presenter can share the results instantaneously. Questions can consist of several basic types including multiple choice, open ended, and rank answer.
Instructors can take the pulse of the class by providing timely feedback on what students understand or may have questions about by assessing their comprehension. Polling in the classroom doesn't necessarily require a student to purchase new devices, since the audience uses tools they already have. It is an excellent tool for instructors to engage their students. For more information contact cit@usfca.edu or register for a class online.
Posted: April, 2016
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