GSA eLearning News

All GSA staff can search and request content from the BBC Digital Archives, which contains over 2 million TV and radio programmes, in addition to content from other providers. The archive is accessed through Planet eStream, and content requests will appear on GSA's Planet eStream site, where they can then be viewed or embedded into Canvas courses. To access the archive go to  GSA's Planet eStream site , and log in with your staff username and password. You can then access the TV and Radio Archive from the Create menu as shown below. Once your request has been placed, the item will be approved by GSA Library staff and the item will be available to all at GSA.  For further help using Planet eStream, come along to the Learning Technology Office in the library or contact us at LTHelp@gsa.ac.uk 

Canvas have just released a useful new feature called Direct Share. This allows users with teacher permissions to copy items between canvas courses, and share content items with other teachers. Pages, assignments, quizzes and discussions can all be copied or shared from the pop-up options menu shown below. You can copy items to any course you are an instructor on. This will include any assets such as files or images. When copying you will be prompted to choose the destination course, and a module within where the item will be placed.     You can share items with other teachers within GSA. Again, this will include any assets such as files or images. Once the content has been sent, the recipient will receive a notification as shown below. It can then be viewed and imported into any of the recipient's courses.  For a step by step guide to using this new feature with individual pages please see the official Canvas documentation below: H...

Image: www.pexels.com (Alex Andrews)  If you need some stock images to liven up your Canvas course, you can try using  www.pexels.com . The site is very quick and easy to search for and download images, with no sign-in required. All images are free to use, subject to its very generous licence (more info  here .) The site operates on a 'suggested donation' model, encouraging you to make an optional donation to the artist before you download their image. To insert your image into your Canvas page, choose the 'Embed image' option shown below, you will then be given the option to upload the image to your Canvas folder. Please remember to fill in the 'alternative text' option when inserting images. This provides screen readers with a description of the image, and helps increase the accessibility of your pages.     

Here is a quick guide to embedding Planet eStream content into your Canvas course.  For more details of how to create screen recordings please visit this guide on creating screencasts.  To embed Planet eStream content into a Canvas page follow the simple process detailed below.   In Planet eStream, select the content you would like to embed  In the video's 'Details' area, select 'Share' then 'Share by embedding' Copy the embed code supplied Switch to your Canvas page , and select 'Insert/Embed Media' from the toolbar Select the 'embed' Tab and paste your embed code Click OK and Save your changes to the page.  Happy New Year! Learning Technology Team