mnelso75 – Teaching & Learning

Student Resources is Now On the Menu!

mnelso75 — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 23:00:26 +0000

Great news! You no longer need to worry about some of your links breaking in your online course. Starting this Spring, Ed Tech has included Student Resources in the Canvas Course Menu. BUT you do need to make sure it’s enabled. This will satisfy the access to Student Resources compliance in your Online Course Review. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to add it.

Publisher Integration in Canvas

mnelso75 — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:00:41 +0000

If you are using a publisher website for materials and assessments in your course, you may be able to connect your Canvas course to the publisher course site and/or integrate publisher-provided tools so that students can connect to the publisher resources from Canvas without a separate login. Some publishers also allow for ‘deep integration’ (or ‘deep linking’) between your Canvas course and the publisher site, so that assignments and quizzes are individually accessible in your Canvas course and also integrated with your Canvas grade book.

Using publisher content with Canvas can be challenging. The Educational Technology Center offers support for helping with integrating your publisher tools to your course. For additional support contact edtech@jccc.edu or ext. 3842

Resources

McGraw-Hill

Pearson

Cengage

Tip! – Zoom Room Access Has Changed

mnelso75 — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 16:12:12 +0000

Hello everyone. I know many of you have been trying to get into the Ed Tech Zoom Room lately and found it closed, so I’m here to tell you it’s okay. We’re still here. The thing is, now that we have Zoom phones, you can still meet with us anytime you want – all you have to do is call the department phone. From Zoom, dial 3842 OR type EdTech in the Search box. If we can’t answer your question on the phone, or you just want to see us, we can convert the call to a meeting anytime.

On the other hand, if you KNOW we need to see your screen, or see your face, you can invite any of us directly to a meeting. You can find us by typing in our name in the Zoom search bar and hovering over the contact. Then, select the phone or camera icon.

You can also find some more detailed instructions on this page.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Tip! – Removing Respondus Lockdown Browser

mnelso75 — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 15:36:35 +0000

You may or may not have heard that we are no longer using Respondus for our proctoring needs. We are contracting with YuJa starting in August 2024 and Respondus is officially not being used. As a result, all past courses which used the Respondus Lockdown Browser will be affected by this change.

If you used the Lockdown Browser in the past, you will know that your quizzes migrate over already slated to work with Respondus. You will have to manually disconnect each quiz you used it with for them to work. Students will not be able to take a quiz/exam that is still connected to Respondus.

Here is a short video on how to disconnect your quizzes from the Lockdown Browser. Information about how to connect to the new YuJa Proctoring system will be forthcoming.

Tip! – Sending an Email to a MS Team

mnelso75 — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 18:49:50 +0000

Email lists are a massive pain in the neck to create and keep up to date, but if you have a Team that you already have that you want to send an email to, then you can quickly send an email to the whole group. If you’ve played with Channel emails, you’ll notice that it just goes to the Posts inside Teams, but enabling this setting will send an email to the whole group and have it land in their personal inbox instead of just posting to the channel. Beware, though, members can turn off these emails and ignore you completely, so be sparing with what you send to the whole group. Here’s a little tutorial on how to manage those. Note that only the OWNER of a Team can make this happen, so also be aware of who are owners and who are members.

Here is a PDF of the tutorial if you prefer that.

Tip! – Create an Email Template in Outlook

mnelso75 — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 15:07:16 +0000

Creating a template in Outlook is quite an easy task, but the navigation to get there is somewhat hidden. You’ll find “My Templates” in the App icon in the Insert or Message ribbon. If you use the desktop application, you can manually put it in your ribbon, but if you use the online version, you’ll have an extra click. Still, a couple of clicks is easy if you don’t have to type a whole email! Here’s a short tutorial on how to do it.

If you prefer to follow along on paper, here’s the PDF: CreateanEmailTemplateinOutlook_PDF

Tip! – Changing the Language for Your Class

mnelso75 — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 16:34:35 +0000

Hey FL instructors – make your course a (slightly) more immersive and fun experience by changing the language of your course. Simply change it in Settings > Language.

While it’s true Canvas defaults to English, you can switch for a specific class and change the menu titles, buttons, and functions throughout your course. Beware, though, it also changes things in Settings, so make sure you know the language enough to switch it back!

Tip! – Classroom Equipment Training

mnelso75 — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 15:10:40 +0000

Need some assistance using classroom equipment and technology? You don’t have to wait until PLD to get the help you need. Find tutorial videos and overviews quickly on the Ed Tech Blog site. Of course, we’re still happy to help you in person, so if you need a one-on-one session with one of our Ed Tech Analysts, don’t hesitate to contact us in LIB 375 or x3842.

Here are some helpful links to classroom resources:

Classroom Technology Overviews and Tutorials
Lists of Classrooms and their equipment (includes 360 camera views):
- Active Learning Classrooms
- Remote Ready Rooms

And if you find equipment that doesn’t work in a room – contact the Technical Support Center at x4357, option 2. Don’t leave it for the next instructor!

Tip! – Leveraging Rubrics in Canvas

mnelso75 — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 16:38:01 +0000

Want to make your life and your students’ lives easier? Grade with a rubric. Rubrics in Canvas LMS ensure consistent assessment, save time, provide effective feedback, clarify expectations, and refine teaching methods. Also use them for quick and efficient grading!

Rubrics establish a common yardstick. Whether you’re assessing a poetic analysis or a coding project, the criteria remain steady. No more subjective guesswork; every student benefits from the same measuring tape.

Additionally, rubrics demystify the grading process. As learners, they understand why they earned an 8 out of 10 and it becomes a roadmap for growth.

Here’s how to do it:

Tip – Hide Your File Cabinet!

mnelso75 — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 16:11:23 +0000

Are you one of those instructors that leaves your file cabinet open for students? And then your students can’t find the right syllabus or file because the past five years worth is in there? Or even find your answer keys? Please don’t be. There are better ways to deal with files so that you can control what students have access to AND can store important past files or versions in your course.

I know, I know – you’ve checked to make sure that those files you don’t want to see are unpublished, but there is often confusion with multiple versions and folder access that may cause an interruption in students being able to see files you want. So, how do you give access to the files without the Files on the menu? Link to them.

Link to them in your modules:

Link them in a Page:

Even open them by default in a page:

And finally – how do you keep students from accessing the Files on the navigation menu? Turn it off in Settings > Navigation tab:

As always, let us know if you have any questions or need assistance with your course. Want to do a full evaluation or course redesign? Let us know!