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Canvas Faculty Support

Updated, September 20, 2023

Notes and News

Canvas Readiness Profile Survey - Please Help Us Help You!

As we move into the busiest phase of our Canvas transition, the IDT team is requesting assistance from all faculty in completing our short (only four questions) online Canvas Readiness Profile Survey. Your responses on that form will help the IDT team determine and plan for faculty training and support needs for the rest of this project.

Thursday Emails - "What's Up with Canvas?" 

OIT's Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team will send "What's Up with Canvas?" emails to all UHCL faculty and staff every other Thursday. We anticipate maintaining this communication schedule through the end of January 2024, once the SP24 semester is underway in Canvas. We'll also provide archived copies of each email attachment on this webpage, in addition to our existing and expanding Canvas -related resources.

For those instructors interested in a “light” overview of things to know about moving from Blackboard to Canvas, we recommend reviewing the online interactive lesson “Before You Migrate Courses From Blackboard to Canvas…” Although developed by another institution, the information provided is extremely applicable to UHCL’s migration to Canvas. Additional information and resources are available below on this Canvas Faculty Support webpage.

Please email any Canvas-related questions to IDT@uhcl.edu. You may also use this email address to  opt in to the IDT team's weekly newsletter through which we'll post most of our Canvas-related updates and information.

IDT Monthly Faculty Spotlights

Beginning in June 2023, the IDT team selects one faculty member from the ranks of our Canvas early adopters or with whom we collaborate in other matters to "spotlight" for their commitment to technology-supported instruction, active learning, innovation, or similar efforts. 

June 2023 - Dr. Alper Kayaalp, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology in the College of Human Sciences and Humanities (HSH)

July 2023 - Dr. Jennifer Fritz, Professor of Behavior Analysis in the College of Human Sciences and Humanities, completed Quality Matters' online course, Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (Higher Education).

August 2023 - Dr. Jeff Lash, Associate Professor of Geography in th College of Human Sciences and Humanities. Dr. Lash has been very helpful throughout the first round of Canvas early adoptions, regularly providing suggestions and asking questions that enable our IDT team to better serve all Canvas users in the long run.

"What's Up with Canvas?" Archives

The IDT team will email a "What's Up with Canvas" document to all UHCL faculty/staff every other Thursday through Junary 2024. Links to all of those documents will also be posted below.

Current and Upcoming Canvas Training Options

September Face-to-Face Canvas Training Recap

Canvas dispatched one of its trainers (Helen Wilson) to UHCL to provide several introductory sessions and four more advanced offerings during this week. Although attendance was low, those who attended the sessions (including several IDT team members) reported that Helen's training was beneficial and praised her training abilities!

Dr. Kathleen Garland, a senior lecturer for the Environmental Management program in the College of Business, was among those who shared her positive experience in the training. Dr. Garland reported that within the first few minutes of the Understanding Canvas Assignments Session, she had already learned something new and very useful! She also praised Helen's ability to teach to the different Canvas experience levels of training participants within each session. The IDT team thanks Dr. Garland for her feedback and for her ongoing participation as a member of our FA23 Canvas Early Adopter Cohort! 

October Face-to-Face Canvas Training Opportunities

We are working out a schedule for Helen Wilson to return to campus in October for another round of training sessions, primarily the three-hour session for novice Canvas users. Per a request made in the most recent Faculty Senate meeting, at least one of those dates will be a Friday.

Once we have a finalized October Canvas training calendar, we'll announce dates, times, and topics in this newsletter, on this Canvas faculty Support page, and in the IDT team's every other week "What's Up with Canvas?" email to current faculty.

Other Canvas Overview/Introduction Training Options

  • 100% Online Asynchronous: The online Canvas training for faculty (Growing with Canvas) should already be available to you in Canvas. If you don't see the training in your Canvas Dashboard, please email our team at IDT@uhcl.edu and we'll add you ASAP.
  • COMING SOON! 100% Online Video-Based Asynchronous: Faculty will watch a series of videos that included embedded activities and questions. The content and length of the combined video sessions will align with that of the current In Person/Face-to-Face introductory course. 
  • In Person/Face-to-Face: In addition to the September sessions listed previously, OIT's Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team plans to coordinate a second round of vendor-provided in-person training sessions in October 2023.
  • Online Synchronous: Beginning in mid-October, IDT staff will begin offering some online synchronous Canvas trainings via Zoom, Teams, or Echo360 Live.

Dates, times, and topics for October face-to-face and online synchronous sessions will be posted in our newsletter and on UHCL's Canvas Faculty Support webpage as they become available.

Other Intermediate/Advanced Training Options

  • Canvas Training Portal On-Demand Training Courses: Built into the Canvas Help area for faculty users is a Canvas Training Portal. It currently contains only a handful of short Canvas-based tutorials. However, the two primary ones are very worthwhile, and the IDT team is currently evaluating updating UHCL's Training portal licensing to include more similar on-demand lessons for faculty. To learn how to access these resources, please review the Current and Upcoming Canvas Training Options section of the IDT team's September 20, 2023 online newsletter. We've provided step-by-step access instructions under the Speaking of More Training Options...heading.

Canvas Interactive Lessons

Quickly access individual interactive articles from our Articulate-based newsletters via the hyperlinks below.

From Blackboard to Canvas

Canvas Basics

Intermediate Canvas

Advanced Canvas

Student Resources

Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) Team

Through training, documentation, and consultation, the Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) Team supports faculty in identifying, evaluating, and implementing instructionally appropriate software tools to deliver and support face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online learning. We also provide ongoing technical support for university-approved applications and tools for web-based teaching and learning, thereby facilitating the creation and maintenance of easily navigable, well developed, accessible, high-quality web-based instructional environments for our users – the faculty, staff, and students of University of Houston-Clear Lake. Please see our team's blog for more information.

Contact

  • Instructional Design and Technology

    Phone: 281-283-2981
    IDT@uhcl.edu 

    Bayou 3608
    2700 Bay Area Blvd.
    Houston, TX 77058-100


    Virtual Drop-In Hours

    Zoom Meeting Link
    Monday: 10-11 a.m.
    Tuesday: 1-2 p.m.
    Wednesday: 6-7 p.m.
    Thursday: 10-11 a.m.

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