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| SDCCD Chancellor's Cabinet Update, February 2020 |
Canvas Hacks: Coronavirus
Well, not only is it flu season--the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) just this week urged schools to begin making plans for "teleschool" in case there is a nationwide spread of coronavirus that leads to school closures. In fact, local San Diego K-12 is currently contacting parents about preparedness measures.
We should talk.
Our fully online students are in a sweet spot: if school closes or if they need to quarantine, they have all the materials they need right there online. Read, view, learn, submit, get feedback!
The trick comes in covering classes that are set up to meet in person. Can we use Canvas and other online tools to provide students with ongoing access to course materials if we have to, er, step away from campus for a bit?
Here are some ways we can start right now to use Canvas for possible "away missions," even for in-person classes:
- Store material such as links, videos, handouts, and quizzes in your Canvas shell or other LMS, including things you're currently planning to use in person. You want students to be able to access your materials if you're not there! [You can publish/unpublish individual items at will so you don't give away any secrets before you want to.]
- Use the Discussion Board & peer replies to achieve a virtual class discussion.
- Use Modules and Pages to create short written versions of key concepts.
- Use Announcements to contact your students. Since these go out as emails as well as being stored on the class site, you can use also these to introduce the concepts for the day/week. So far, I haven't hit the limit on length, but I'd opt for several shorter messages over one long one. Just sayin'. The students are reading these on their phones!
- Upload screenshots and still images to illustrate concepts you'd normally demonstrate in person.
- Show students now how to upload assignments electronically. (If you haven't already, set up assignment instructions and submission links in your Canvas shell to test them out, even if you usually grade with pen and ink.)
- Set up a free Zoom PRO account @ https://cccconfer.zoom.us/ so you can connect with students in real-time. Try a Zoom session with them now so you know it will work when you're off campus.
- If you're familiar with filming & posting to social media, consider creating short screencasts or videos of some of your usual lecture/instruction materials.
Yes, these don't cover every possible classroom interaction, especially in classes that require hands-on activities. But they're a start, we can do them a bit at a time now, and they can help us get through any sudden absences. Denise and I recently found that out when we were called into jury duty!
Canvas tutorials for instructors:
Canvas tutorials for students:
Guest Blogger:
Mary Klann
Lecturer, History Department
Collaborative Annotation with Hypothesis
Hypothesis is one of my favorite tools available for encouraging students to engage thoughtfully with course readings and with each other. I’ve used Hypothesis in face-to-face classes since Spring 2018. When I started teaching online last semester (Fall 2019), I made it a key piece of each module.
How it works:
Hypothesis is an open-source annotation tool which allows students to annotate any text on the web. Students can attach text comments, photos, or videos to highlighted words or phrases in course readings. As an instructor, Hypothesis provides a way for me to actually see how students are taking notes. Additionally, all members of the class can engage with each other’s notes by replying to comments.
Why collaborative annotation?
Before integrating Hypothesis into my courses, I utilized weekly reading quizzes. I was never completely happy with these assignments because I didn’t feel as though they were the best gauge for assessing student’s comprehension of and engagement with the course readings. I’ve found reading annotations to be more fluid and flexible in terms of what students can actually get out of course readings. The best things I’ve found?
- Students learn how to take notes! Because I can see their annotations, I can give individual feedback. I didn’t learn how to effectively annotate assigned course readings until I was in graduate school. This is a valuable skill, and one that requires practice.
- Students can talk to each other about the course readings. They can ask and answer questions of other students. Thus, in online courses, Hypothesis helps to build community by facilitating student-to-student communication.
- And, students get credit, just for taking notes! No more creating reading quizzes for me, no more stress of taking quizzes for them. Because annotating readings is about practicing the skills of analysis and written communication, it isn’t really about getting quiz questions “right” or “wrong,” which I find encourages students to engage more thoughtfully and deeply with the material.
What to annotate?
In order to get students thinking about what they should be writing in their annotations, I always provide a brief “Reading Guide” with questions they can answer. I also instruct them that they won’t receive credit for one-word annotations like, “Interesting,” or “Shocking!” For example, in my HIST 109 (US History to 1877) course, students just read John Winthrop’s “city on a hill” sermon from 1630. The reading guide to this source included questions such as, “What did Winthrop believe to be British settlers’ mission in New England?” and “How does Winthrop believe society is regulated by religion?” When they stop to consider a particular phrase or sentence and how it helps them answer the questions in the Reading Guide, they begin to analyze the source itself.
Here is a brief orientation video for Hypothesis that I posted for my online course, to see how Hypothesis works with Canvas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY4y8A9OM1c.
Evaluating annotations:
In my online courses, students are required to annotate 3 brief readings per module. I only require one annotation per reading. However, students rarely annotate just once! As they become more comfortable with the tool, and depending on the source, I have seen quite in-depth analyses of these readings emerge, as well as conversations between multiple students about particular themes. In terms of grading, as long as the annotations are thoughtful (and longer than the one word exclamations I mentioned above), I award full points. The goal with this assignment is to get them reading, and more critically, get them engaging with the reading in a way that helps them to understand the themes from each module more deeply.
Two options for using Hypothesis:
Student create free accounts at hypothes.is:
Students can create free accounts through Hypothesis. They can download and install the Hypothesis app into their web browser, and after downloading a PDF or opening a link to a course reading, they can start annotating. Hypothesis also provides the option of creating private groups, which students can join. This ensures that annotations can’t been seen by anyone outside of your course. Students provide their username to me so I can evaluate them.
Hypothesis App in Canvas:
Hypothesis is currently offering their LMS app for free for testing and limited use (up to 50 students for one academic term). (They are in the process of implementing an LMS Pilot Program that will provide support for schools looking to adopt it.) If you choose this option, students do not have to create a separate Hypothesis account, as the tool will load right in Canvas. You can upload individual readings to each module, or create Assignments using Hypothesis where you can give students feedback through the Speed Grader.
One of my main goals for students in my class is that by the end of the course, they will be able to critically analyze a source and effectively communicate their arguments. Hypothesis is a great way for students for students to practice these skills over the course of the semester. You can learn more at https://web.hypothes.is/.
Join in on the HOOPLA!
If you missed our first HOOPLA Workshop: Regular and Effective Contact, Instructor-to-Student, you can click here to access the workshops slides and activities: Regular and Effective Contact, Part 1 Resources
Head to the Flex site to sign up for upcoming HOOPLA Workshops:
- Regular and Effective Contact, Part 2, Student-to-Student, Friday, March 20, Flex # 2134
- Accessibility in your Canvas Course, Friday, April 17, Flex #2135
- Canvas Gradebook: Tips and Drop-in Support, Friday, May 15, Flex 2136
All workshops are in L-102 from 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Links and Resources
If you have any bandwidth left for reading, here are two recent articles that caught my attention:
"What Counts for Proximity?" a timely article from Inside Higher Ed about working remotely and the question of proximity vs. engagement.
