Salisbury University |  Instructional Design & Delivery Newsletter | January 24, 2023

Start of the Semester Checklist

In preparation for the spring semester, the Start-of-the-Semester Checklist provides tips for information about setting up your MyClasses course, which includes:   

• A statement faculty can use in their syllabus to reference standard University Course-Related Policies and Resources.
• Tips for faculty to setup their MyClasses course for the first time.  
• Instructions and video tip on importing course content from a previous semester.   
• Expand the Importing from Another Canvas Course accordion for details about setting up your course to reuse Panopto recordings and refresh Respondus LockDown Browser settings.   

Courses in MyClasses are set to open for students one week prior to the start of the semester, provided that the course has been published by the instructor, as follows: 

• Spring 2023 Regular and 7-Week 1 Sessions: Monday, January 30
• Spring 2023 7-Week 2 Session: Monday, March 27
  

Import Course Content Tips

A few tips from learned experience when importing content from a previous semester:

• Use the Select specific content instead of All content to ensure you are importing only what you need.
  
• If you are using Modules to organize content and activities, unselect Pages and Files. This will clean up your course and only copy content that is linked to items within your course modules (pages, files, assignments, etc.). Old files and unused pages will not be copied over, allowing for quick housekeeping of your course by removing old items.
• Unselect Announcements and Calendar Events to avoid copying over announcements and calendar events (such as previous semester Zoom meetings) related to the previous course.

After importing content if you are reusing Panopto recordings or using LockDown Browser for assessments, you must complete additional steps to ensure your students can use these resources. See the Start of the Checklist information in the previous article for guidance.

Import Resources from Canvas Commons

The Canvas Commons is a learning object repository that enables you to find, import and share resources. Various units across campus have developed resources for you to import into your course, such as:

• Notice of Students with Dependents (page created by SU Women's Forum)
• Textbook and Course Materials with Inclusive Access page
• Student instructions for Using Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor
• Student instructions for Submitting a Panopto Recording as an assignment
• SU Libraries modules on Sources: Searching, Evaluating & Integrating or Research Skills Tutorial

For detail instructions, please see our Canvas Commons KB article (SU login required).

Teaching Tip - Classroom Climate 

Building a positive classroom climate begins with you, the instructor. Plan an activity early in the semester to allow students to get to know you, as well as other students in the course. Fostering an environment with personalization and student cohesiveness increases student satisfaction and positively affects learning. Examples:

• Common sense inventory: Make a list of 10-15 statements related to course content; include commonly held misconceptions. Have students mark true or false next to each statement individually. Group students in pairs or small groups to compare their answers. Then finish with an entire class discussion on each of the statements.
• Have students introduce themselves using three personal artifacts (e.g. T-shirt, favorite drink, picture, knick-knack, etc.). You can introduce yourself on the first day using this same method.
• Survey students early in the course about personal or academic interests – use this information throughout the course to draw connections to course concepts.
• Take 2-3 minutes at the beginning or end of every class to allow students to talk – about the course, their own ideas, or try a conversation starter by posing a general question.

Read more about How to Teach a Good First Day Class and Developing a Positive Classroom Climate.

What's New for Spring 2023

Each month, updates are provided in MyClasses Canvas – some are small, while others have direct impact to instructors and students. The following highlight features that have occurred since August 2022:

• Pages can be set to publish on a specific date by enabling the student to-do option (in Edit mode)
• New Quizzes:
  • Students can clear selection of multiple choice questions during assessments
  • Improvements made to Fill in the Blank with Multiple Word Bank question type
  • Improved grade synchronization in New Quizzes to Speedgrader
   

Please note, New Quizzes will replace Classic Quizzes in summer 2024. ID&D offers a monthly New Quizzes workshop, please see the Faculty Development Calendar for upcoming dates and times.

Perusall LTI 1.3 Upgrade

If you are using Perusall in your course, please note that there is a new/updated tool to enable in your course. From Navigation, you should now enable the Perusall 1.3 tool instead of the Perusall 1.1 tool.

With the updated tool, it is no longer necessary to sync individual assignment scores to MyClasses. Students can use a generic Perusall link and individual assignment scores will still be sent to MyClasses and your MyClasses course roster automatically syncs to your Perusall course.

To use Perusall 1.3, from within your course, click on Settings and Navigation. Then enable Perusall 1.3 on your course menu.

If you have used the Perusall 1.1 integration in the past, you will already have a Perusall account associated with your SU email. Therefore, the first time you use the new Perusall 1.3 tool, you will receive a notice that you already have an existing account through your Learning Management System and you will be prompted to link your existing account to the new integration. You will receive an email from Perusall to complete this step. Then you will be ready to start adding content/creating Perusall assignments. For more information on setting up assignments in your course using Perusall 1.3, review the brief Perusall Instructor Setup Guide.