Hi All,
It’s hard to believe there are only a few weeks left in the semester. In this newsletter I wanted to share some important information to help you finish the semester strong. It includes updates to Canvas and Poll Everywhere, an announcement about Spring Canvas sites, information about the recording studio, and training opportunities to end the semester.
Canvas
Recently Canvas made an update to the gradebook. You can now filter the gradebook by assignment title. Previously you could only filter by student name. This is especially helpful if you create a lot of assignments and the list of assignments extends past the viewport of the page. Now you don’t have to scroll horizontally to find your assignments to grade, you can simply filter them! You can learn more about the feature here if you’re interested.
Poll Everywhere
The web portal for Poll Everywhere was refreshed recently with a new design. I think it makes it more user friendly, especially when it comes to presenting your polls and activities from the web. I made a quick video tutorial that teaches you how to present polls from the web using the new design. The Center for Teaching Excellence has written documentation you can review on how to present from the web and how to embed activities in Google Slides and Powerpoint. Stay tuned for more video tutorials and workshops coming that cover more features of Poll Everywhere.
If you’re interested in setting up a Poll Everywhere account or want to learn more about how it can fit into your teaching you can email lawedtech@bc.edu. You can also read more on the Center For Teaching Excellence resource page here.
BC Mail Merge
There is a new Beta version of the BC Mail Merge available that includes several new features. Here are a few of the new features.
- Added merge conditions to give you greater flexibility over which rows are processed by the merge
- The ability to create a custom PDF attachment using merge template tags from your merge data
- Formatted cell data rather than the underlying value in the cell
Spring Canvas Sites
Canvas courses for the spring semester are officially in Canvas. You should start to see them populate in your Canvas account over the next few weeks. If you need access prior to you being enrolled by the automated process, please let me know. There will be several opportunities for learning how to best use Canvas and its features over the coming months, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, you can find some helpful resources below for when you’re ready to get started building your sites for the spring semester.
- Canvas “Before you publish” guide
- How to set up a “Syllabus Only” site
- How to import course materials from year to year
- How to tell what your students have access to in Canvas
- BC Law Ed Tech FAQ video – covers most basic functions of Canvas as well as other technology tools available to you at BC
Recording Studio Information
Maureen Van Neste was kind enough to share a recent project from the new Law School Recording Studio in the Law Library. In case you missed it you can view the first few minutes of it here to give you an idea of the audio and video quality that the studio is capable of producing. We designed the studio with self-service in mind, but we can also work with you one-on-one for larger projects such as this. The studio is a multi-use space. Below are just a few examples of what it can do.
- Record asynchronous material for your course
- Course introductions
- Deep dives into supplementary topics for your students
- Key takeaways from sections of your course
- Quick lectures introducing new topics or ideas
- Interviews with legal professionals
- Video and/or audio podcasts
- Scenario-based training videos
If you have specific ideas for projects or would like to discuss more generally how you can use it for class or other professional needs, please feel free to email us at atrinbox@bc.edu. If you already have a project you’d like to work on, you can use the link below to schedule time in the studio. For self-service projects we ask that you submit requests at least 48 hours in advance. For larger or more involved projects we will need advance notice in order to better accommodate your request.
Google Workspace Productivity Series
Google Sheets Intro
Friday, December 3rd: 9:30 am – 11:00 am (copy to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
Learn how spreadsheets can help you store, organize, and analyze information to help you make decisions or manage routine processes. Learning how to use spreadsheets is extremely helpful no matter if you’re tracking student employment trends, keeping track of student grades, or even merging and analyzing large datasets. This workshop will cover the basics of what spreadsheets are and maybe more importantly what they’re not. You’ll learn some of the basic functionality of spreadsheets including sorting and filtering information, referencing data from different locations, and an introduction to some common functions.
Google Sheets Deep Dive: Functions and Manipulating Data
Tuesday, December 7th: 10:00 am – 11:30 am (copy to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
Going beyond spreadsheet fundamentals this workshop will go deeper into various functions to assist with turning raw data into something useful. You’ll expand your knowledge about the kinds of functions available to you. We’ll look at some standard mathematical functions, logical operators, text manipulation, and more advanced lookup functions. These are extremely helpful and powerful tools to help combine and make sense of large datasets.
Google Workspace Productivity Tips
December 14th: 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm (add to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
Google Workspace is an ever evolving environment of productivity tools. In this workshop you’ll get a quick overview of the tools available as well as tips for using them to their full potential. If you’ve ever wanted to get more out of using Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Forms, and the other Google Workspace tools this workshop is for you.
BC Mailmerge
December 16th: 10:00 am – 11:30 am (add to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
There are many ways to manage sending emails to large groups of people. This workshop covers the mail merge process using Google Sheets. Mail merges are great for sending customized email messages to recipients. I’ll cover the mail merge process from beginning to end including some advanced uses of the tool. You’ll connect a mail merge to a Google Form, learn how to share the mail merge process with more than one person, set up conditions to send the mail merge to select recipients, and more.
Google Sheets Deep Dive: Collaborating with Sheets
January 6th: 10:00 – 11:30 am (add to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
In this workshop you’ll learn helpful tips and tricks for collaborating on spreadsheets with other people. You’ll learn all about how to manipulate data without affecting the information for others using filter views. You’ll also learn how to lockdown and protect areas of your spreadsheet, how to add data validation to cells, and more.
Educational Technology
Poll Everywhere
January 11th: 10:00 am – 11:30 am (add to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
Poll Everywhere is Boston College’s personal response system. This workshop will cover everything you need to know to get the most out of your account. You’ll learn about the basic types of polling questions, how to organize polls for class purposes, how to present in the classroom, and how to run reports on polls.
Canvas: Getting Started with Your Spring Courses
Friday, December 3rd: 2 pm – 3:30 pm (add to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
This workshop is designed to give you a quick overview of some of the most common features of Canvas. You’ll learn a few best practices for designing your site, how to import material from prior years, how to add and organize course content, and the basics of using Canvas to collect student assignments.
Canvas: Getting the Most out of Canvas
Friday, December 10th: 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm (add to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
In this workshop we’ll go beyond the basics and learn some practical tips and tricks for getting the most out of what Canvas has to offer. We’ll cover several Canvas features that make managing your course content much easier. Things like announcements, discussion boards, leveraging modules for organization, student appointment groups, and making the most out of the Panopto integration.
Canvas: Assessments, Grading, and Feedback
Wednesday, January 12th: 10:00 am – 11:30 am (add to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
In this workshop I’ll cover the Canvas tools for assessing student progress. We’ll take a look at Canvas assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions. You’ll learn how to set up each of these assignments as well as how to provide feedback to students. You’ll also learn the basics of the Canvas gradebook and how its settings affect how your students’ ability to review your feedback.
Classroom Technology Refresher
Multiple Dates and Locations:
Thursday, January 6th: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Stuart 315 (add to calendar)
Thursday, January 13th: 9:00 am – 10:00 am – EW 200 (add to calendar)
Friday, January 14th: 9:00 am – 10:00 am – Stuart 402 (add to calendar)
Attend via Zoom
The classrooms on our campus have several unique features compared to the rest of Boston College. In this workshop you’ll learn how to log into the A/V system, make the most out of the dual screen configuration in each room, share content on the projector, use the Wacom monitors for digital annotations, and learn how to bring in remote guest speakers using Zoom.