GSA eLearning News

This week's 2 Minute Tech Tip shows staff how to use Discussions to facilitate learning and teaching in Canvas.   Discussions can be powerful tools for interaction, but can also be difficult to get students to contribute. Think about the following hints and tips when setting up and managing discussion:   Be clear about the purpose of the discussion. Discussions work best when linked to a specific activity or task. Be clear about what it is you want your students to post e.g. initial thoughts ideas or well considered and thoughtful written responses / resolved works. Ensure you have a clear structure and timeline – Who will post, what will they post, and when should they post. Set interim deadlines for initial posts, follow up posts or comments and final responses. Ensure you have given enough time for posts to be formulated Allow for different types of media to be used e.g. video, audio, graphics, animations, links, minds maps, documents etc.  Clearly signpost your role i...

Get ready for a new improved editor in Canvas! Canvas has updated the rich content editor (RCE) so it is more accessible and user friendly on mobile devices. It's coming into all courses in January.  If you want to turn it on in your course now to see how it looks, the RCE can be enabled by teachers (it is currently off by default). It looks similar to the existing RCE but includes some improved functionality. It will replace the current RCE in January, 2021 so you are encouraged to begin using it now. To enable the new RCE: Open your Canvas course Click Settings from the navigation menu Click Feature Options. Find "RCE Enhancements" on the page and move the slider to the "ON" position.  Click the Save Changes button.  If you have a teaching team on the course, please let them know beforehand as this feature will be turned on for the whole course. Rich Content Editor - new features: Expands to the full width of the browser The toolbar includes a condensed, more ...

LinkedIn Learning has loads of useful videos for your students, and now you can embed them directly into your Canvas course. All LinkedIn Learning (LIL) videos have HTML embed codes that allow you to display individual videos directly in Canvas Pages, Assignments, Discussions, etc. Anywhere you see the Rich Content Editor, you can access the   Insert/Edit media   button. The Insert/Edit media button allows you to embed a LinkedIn Learning (LIL) video into your Canvas content. NOTE: The embed option is only available to those who have connected their LinkedIn account to their LinkedIn Learning account. See instructions for doing this in this guide , or follow the steps below: Login to linkedin.com/learning Select any course Navigate to the Q&A tab Select the button Connect 'My LinkedIn Account' and sign in with your personal LinkedIn profile credentials. Limit There is a limit of five embedded videos per month. If you want to share multiple videos or an entir...

In the first of our new series of 2 Minute Tech Tips, we show you how to create a virtual studio wall in  Padlet  so students can share images of their work as it progresses.  To access your Padlet Dashboard at GSA, please log into  glasgowschoolofart.padlet.org , and select "log in with Microsoft" using your usual GSA email and password.  For further information on using Padlet, please visit the Engaging with Students Online Canvas course, where you can find information on using Padlet in Canvas and also and recordings of pervious webinars  covering a range of subjects, including Padlet. 

Last week we shared a post that described a variety of strategies and software you can use when creating video content. Software for creating and editing videos includes PowerPoint, Adobe Premier Pro, Screencast O Matic, Planet eStream, and in-built tools in Canvas. To make it easier for you to choose which software to use, we have created a flowchart in Miro that you can use once you have created a plan for your video. Please click on See the Board below to view the flowchart in Miro.

How do I go about creating video content for my students? This is one of our most frequently asked questions, and it is often hard to respond to because there are so many possible answers. This post will provide an overview of the process and some of the tools that can be used to create and share video content with students at GSA.  The process can be split into six separate steps: Plan what you will record Record the content Edit  Upload  Create subtitles Embed and Share Each step in the process is detailed below with link to relevant resources: Plan It is usually very useful to write a script for your video. This will make the recording process easier, and keep your videos concise. Aim to keep your videos quite short, and if you have large amounts of information to convey, look for ways to break it up into smaller videos.   Decide what you would like your students to see in the video. You can use your webcam to record yourself, you may wish to narrate over pow...