• Canvas,  Educational Tools

    Kaltura: Adding Videos to your Library

    Reading Time: 4 minutesNow that you have some Kaltura context from our Intro & Terms post, we’re going to talk about how to add videos to Kaltura. We’ll cover uploading videos to your Kaltura library, transferring videos from OneDrive, linking YouTube videos, and adding from a mobile device.   Uploading Videos to your Kaltura Library  Log in to Media Space (video.cedarville.edu) or go to My Media in your Canvas course  Click “Add New” then “Media Upload”  Add a video by dragging and dropping it or clicking “Choose a file to upload.”  As the video uploads, you will get a screen to add video details.   Once you click “Save,” the video will…

  • Canvas,  Educational Tools

    Kaltura: Introduction and Important Terms

    Reading Time: 2 minutesWelcome to the start of our series about Kaltura, Cedarville’s new video management platform and replacement for Ensemble. Across this series, you’ll learn about topics such as accessing media previously stored in Ensemble, creating new videos or slide presentations, editing videos inside Kaltura, creating playlists, and adding media pieces to your Canvas course.  We’re going to get started by going over some Kaltura terms and notes about how to access various features before diving into all of the great information about working with this new platform.   Kaltura Terms  Media Space  Library of videos accessible through video.cedarville.edu. Media Space is where you can compose, add, edit, and…

  • Teaching & Learning

    Accessibility Best Practices: Color and Text

    Reading Time: 3 minutesLast post, we talked about the importance of captions, best practices for graphics, and tips for writing good alt text. Today, we’re looking at two other aspects of accessibility and usability – using color properly and working with text.   Color  Using color can be a powerful way to accentuate the information you’re presenting.   But color shouldn’t be used as the only way to draw attention to or distinguish items. It’s easy to put warnings or urgent information in red, but that kind of visual indicator just doesn’t work for everyone. People who are red/green colorblind, for example, can have trouble distinguishing between and identifying those colors –…

  • Teaching & Learning

    Accessibility Best Practices: Captioning, Graphics, and Alt Text

    Reading Time: 5 minutesToday, we’re going to dive into some accessibility best practices to implement into your courses. We’ll be looking at media in this post, and in our next, we’ll be talking about color and text.   Captioning  Captioning is likely one of the first things people think of when considering accessibility, and rightfully so. But it isn’t only beneficial for people who are deaf. Captions are helpful when people are in a loud, distracting, or public environment, especially if they forgot earbuds at home. With a captioned video, a student who forgot earbuds in the dorm could still work on that last piece of homework while all their roommates…

  • Educational Theories,  Teaching & Learning

    Introduction to Accessibility Series

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteOver the next few posts, we’ll be diving into accessibility. It’s easy to hear “accessibility” and think of captions for videos, but more goes into it than just that.   Instead of focusing on just specific practices (which are important and we’ll cover), we’ll start with an overarching principle – designing for the whole person, and not the disability (21 Kalbag). If you base your work, whether it’s designing an element or building a course, on empathy and understanding (and good pedagogy), usability and inclusion will be “baked into” the result.   This type of designing for the whole person is an element of universal design,…

  • Canvas,  Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    Microsoft Teams and Canvas Roundup

    Reading Time: 2 minutesWith Zoom soon going away, now’s the perfect time to do a brief recap of everything we’ve talked about so far with Microsoft Teams. Teams provides an easy replacement for Zoom – it’s integrated directly into your Canvas course, and you can access many helpful Microsoft products from inside a meeting. Let’s review some of the most pertinent information you’ll want to refer to as you get up and running with Teams.   Setting up the Integration and Creating Meetings  The first thing you’ll need to do is turn on the integration in your course from the settings page. After that, you’ll be able to create meetings from…

  • Canvas,  Educational Tools

    Canvas Feature: Microsoft Immersive Reader

    Reading Time: 3 minutesWe’ve talked a lot about the Canvas/Microsoft partnership and how more Microsoft products and features are being incorporated into Canvas. Today, we’re revisiting one of those features – the Microsoft Immersive Reader.   The Microsoft Immersive Reader is now available through more of Canvas. Initially only released on Canvas pages, it’s now also available on the syllabus, assignments, and a course’s home page. This reader presents the page text in a more accessible format where the user can choose the text preferences, grammar options, reading preferences, and to have the page content read to them.  To launch the reader, click the “Microsoft Immersive Reader” button at the top right of a Canvas…

  • Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    Microsoft Teams Meetings Recordings: Tips and Notes 

    Reading Time: < 1 minuteIn our deep dive on different Teams Meetings features, today we’ll turn our attention to recordings.   You Can’t Pause Recordings  In Zoom, you could temporarily pause a recording, then restart it. However, you cannot do this with Teams meetings. If you stop a recording then start recording again, you will have two separate recordings.   Remember to Stop Recordings  Teams will automatically stop a recording when all participants leave the meeting. However, you shouldn’t rely on that. If one of your students forgets to leave the meeting, the recording will continue for four hours before it’s stopped.   Recordings Won’t Capture a Couple of Things …

  • Educational Tools

    How Do I Set Meeting Options and How Can I Test out Teams Meeting Features?

    Reading Time: 2 minutesThis week, we’re continuing our deep dive into various aspects of Microsoft Teams meetings and looking at both meeting options and how you can easily run a practice meeting to test various aspects of teams.  Getting to and Adjusting Teams Meeting Options  The Microsoft Teams Meeting options allow you to control some valuable aspects of the meeting, such as setting up a meeting lobby, restricting who can present, and turning on automatic recording. Before we give best practices for some of these settings, we’ll go over the different way to access these meeting options.   Now that you’ve gotten to the meeting options, let’s go over one very…

  • Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    What’s the Difference Between the Sharing Options in Microsoft Teams Meetings? 

    Reading Time: 2 minutesToday, we’re going to take a deeper dive into screen sharing in a Microsoft Teams meeting. When you open the share menu, you’ll see several options. But what does each do, and how can they help you achieve your goals Screen Sharing with a Document Camera  If you want to share content from a document camera, first make sure that your document camera is plugged in. If the camera isn’t plugged in, you won’t see the options in the meeting to share from the camera.   Select “Share content” inside your Teams meeting and choose “content from camera.” That will then open a tab where you can…