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Engaging Students and Building Community Through Announcements

Posted: May 9, 2025 | Last Modified: May 9, 2025

With the bulk of the course content prepared before the term begins, announcements are your best opportunity to personally coach students, to motivate them through the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Teaching, Tools & Technology Tagged With: Announcements, Canvas, Instructor, Instructor Presence, Social Presence

Creating Accessible Announcements

Posted: April 14, 2025 | Last Modified: April 14, 2025

Throughout the semester, you are encouraged to post announcements to establish instructor presence in your course. You might use them to provide additional insight into … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Teaching

Saving Announcements as a Page in Canvas

Posted: May 22, 2023 | Last Modified: January 25, 2024

As a policy, iDocs instructional designers do not copy announcements when we copy your courses from term to term. We've found that this often leads to confusion for the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Teaching, Tools & Technology Tagged With: Announcements, Canvas, Instructor, Instructor Presence, Multimedia, Social Presence

Quick Tip: Receive Notification When Someone Posts in a Discussion

Posted: March 4, 2021 | Last Modified: January 25, 2024

Receiving notifications when someone posts in a discussion is a two-step process, and you have some options. Step 1: Subscribe to the Discussion  First, tell Canvas … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Teaching, Tools & Technology Tagged With: Canvas, Discussion, Instructor, Instructor Presence, Notifications, Student

Adding Answer Comments in Canvas Quizzes

Posted: March 2, 2021 | Last Modified: March 7, 2024

Adding Comments in Canvas Quizzes As you create questions in a Canvas quiz, you’ll notice three colored boxes at the very bottom of each question. The box on the left is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Teaching, Tools & Technology Tagged With: Academic Integrity, Assessment, Canvas, Feedback, Grades, Instructor, Quick Tips, Quizzes

Reusing Old Announcements

Posted: December 21, 2020 | Last Modified: January 25, 2024

One great way to build social presence is through announcements. An original announcement (one created in the course and not copied over from a previous course) has the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Teaching, Tools & Technology Tagged With: Announcements, Canvas, Instructor, Instructor Presence, Social Presence

Providing Flexibility for Students, Especially During Disruptive Times

Posted: November 25, 2020 | Last Modified: January 25, 2024

Many students take online courses because they have obligations — work, family, health, military service — that impact their ability to attend courses on-campus. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Course Design, Online Teaching, Tools & Technology Tagged With: Accessibility, Assessment, Canvas, EDI, Extra Credit, Instructor

Quick Tip: Using Free and Paid Captions on Videos

Posted: November 5, 2020 | Last Modified: November 5, 2024

Captions are the text representation of the audio in a video. Captions are legally required for course material. Some learners are deaf or hard of hearing and require … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Teaching, Tools & Technology Tagged With: Accessibility, Instructor, Kaltura, Kaltura Capture, Multimedia, Quick Tips, Social Presence

Adding Videos in Canvas

Posted: October 1, 2020 | Last Modified: November 5, 2024

Students and instructors have a few options for how to record videos for their courses. Those options are below, but first let’s cover a few terms to get oriented to our … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Course Design, Online Teaching, Tools & Technology Tagged With: Accessibility, Announcements, Canvas, Instructor, Instructor Presence, Kaltura, Multimedia, Social Presence, Student

Student Group Areas in Canvas

Posted: February 28, 2019 | Last Modified: January 25, 2024

Groups in Canvas can facilitate robust student interactions because Canvas generates a group area, a small version of the course for each group. In the group area, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Teaching, Tools & Technology Tagged With: Canvas, Discussion, Groups

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About This Blog

Through the partnerships we form with our instructors, we develop engaging and interactive online courses. Here you’ll find ideas on course design informed by the latest research and teaching strategies that build community and instructor presence. We’ll also we share our experiences with technology, with Canvas, and with administering our online educational programs.

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