GSA eLearning News

For teaching staff at GSA Digital Accessibility is about ensuring the online learning environment and resources are easily accessible for all students and staff, including those with disabilities and specific learning differences. All staff at GSA should have an awareness of the importance of accessibility, and strive to create accessible learning materials. This post contains links and guidance on how staff can create accessible digital learning materials and best meet the requirements of the UK Governments's Accessibility Regulations.  (Links to an external site How do I create accessible content? Structure Content  Structuring digital content correctly helps make text compatible with screen reader software. This allows users with visual impairments to quickly find the most appropriate part of a document using a screen reader. By using text styles (headings), tables and lists appropriately when inputting text you can create accessible content in Canvas pages...

The Zoom desktop app Zoom is a video conferencing service that is fast becoming one of the most popular tools for online meetings, lectures, seminars, webinars and video calls. It is simple to use, yet loaded with advanced features. With a few simple steps you can get set up to host or participate in online meetings. What hardware and software do I need? A laptop with a built in-webcam and microphone is the most common (and simple) hardware setup. If you don't have a laptop Zoom will run on an iPhone or Android mobile via the Zoom App. You also need to hear audio either via speakers or headphones. If you don't have a microphone you could use the text-based chat feature to participate. You can use a desktop computer but you may need an external webcam and microphone. As usual, try to keep your web browser up to date to avoid any problems. Here are the detailed system requirements for Zoom.  Do I need an account? Participants in meetings do not need...

Photo by Andrew Neel This blog post explains some of the ways GSA staff can continue to support students off-campus. Tutors can communicate with students and provide access to many types of learning materials via Canvas and other integrated tools. Detailed information about the methods listed below is available on the GSA Canvas for Staff guide . For further help or advice please contact LTHelp@gsa.ac.uk . Communicating with students Maintaining good communication with your students vital. The easiest way to communicate with your entire class is to post an announcement from within Canvas. Students will receive an email notification (if they have not changed their notification settings), and will also see the announcement when they log into Canvas. Here is a useful Canvas guide to making announcements. Online conference tools There are two options available to staff at GSA for web conferencing available within Canvas: Virtual Classroom and Canvas...

Screen recordings are a great way to demonstrate complex software-based tasks to students with narration. They can also be used to capture lectures, tutorials or powerpoint presentations.  There are 3 main ways to create screen or webcam recordings for use in Canvas, which are detailed below.   1. Browser-based (Mac or PC)  The GSA Planet eStream web recorder is a useful Chrome extension tool that can be used to create webcam or screen recordings. To access the recorder on Planet eSteam click the Create menu and select 'Web Recorder' or access the link here . The enoder is only compatible with the Chrome browser.  You will be prompted to install a browser extension which allows the recorder to capture your desktop, webcam, or a specific window (or windows) of your choice. Once recording is complete, the video will be available in your Planet eStream account where it can then be edited, shared or embedded into Canvas.   (Links...

www.zamzar.com ZamZar  is a useful online file type converter. It works with hundreds of file types, including most audio, video and graphics files. The free version is limited to two conversions per day, up to 150MB, but it can be very useful for solving compatibility issues between software. The drag and drop interface is really easy to use, and most conversions are processed very quickly. The site offers an unlimited premium version via a subscription model, although if you find you need to regularly convert certain file types, there are usually offline software-based solutions for this. For advice with online or offline file type conversion or any other Learning Technology issues at GSA, visit us in the Learning Technology Office located in the library or contact us at LTHelp@gsa.ac.uk You can find the terms of use for the Zamzar service here .

The Canvas gradebook has been updated - New features mean workflow changes for the way instructors and admin support use the gradebook Muting / Posting Policy The new grade posting policy is the biggest change in the new gradebook. Previously, instructors or admin staff would mute an each assignment when creating it or prior to grading; then admin or tutors would unmute the assignment to release the grade. This was done in the gradebook by clicking on the 'eye' icon to mute or unmute (release) the marks.  The New Gradebook allows instructors to set a Grade Post Policy for all assignments in a course with a few clicks. All GSA 19/20 courses have been set up with a 'manual posting policy', which means all course marks and feedback are hidden until manually posted.  Grades are posted when the 'eye' is clicked in the top left corner of speedgrader and 'Post Grades' is selected. Please review the  New Gradebook and SpeedGrader Muting Behavior ...