Reading Time: 2 minutesLast week we talked briefly about the Microsoft-Canvas integrations. Today, we’ll be taking a deeper dive into one part of it — the Microsoft Teams integration. At first glance, it may seem that the Teams integration isn’t anything special. But on closer look, adding Teams to your course opens a new world of possibilities. You can host and record meetings and easily link the recordings back into your Canvas course. And you can take advantage of all the features within Teams itself — creating channels for groups to conduct small group discussions and work. The first step for using Teams with your course is turning on the integration. This will create a Team within Microsoft…
-
-
Introducing the Microsoft-Canvas Integrations
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWe’ve briefly talked about Microsoft’s partnership with Canvas, especially with the Microsoft Immersive Reader. But the relationship goes deeper than that – both Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams can be integrated with your Canvas course. The Teams integration, in particular, is an especially exciting prospect. It allows you to host and record meetings and easily link the recordings back into your Canvas course. With Teams, you can also assign channels for groups to allow for small group discussion and work. There are also opportunities for collaboration and communication. Plus, the integration of the entire Office suite means you can easily link Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents into your course. You and your students have access to…
-
Prayer: A Great Place to Start
Reading Time: 2 minutesIt feels like fall today. In Cedarville and much of the surrounding area, it is raining and there is a dull grey blue glow in the sky. Some may think it’s a perfect day for a hot bowl of soup or a hot beverage infused with pumpkin spice. For others it may provide a more somber or bleak outlook because of difficult circumstances in which they find themselves. For teachers this may represent the start of the year with the disruptive effects of COVID-19. COVID-19 disrupted the start of the school year making normal teacher/student relationships more of a challenge—especially for new students and faculty. Even though…
-
Adjusting to the Unknown – Reminders You’re Not Alone
Reading Time: 2 minutesWith the adjustments and on-the-fly tweaks that have needed to be made over the past week, there’s no doubt that things are a bit hectic at the moment. And in times of great change, stress, and uncertainty, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Because of that, we’re not going to do any kind of deep dive into Canvas features or look ahead to shiny new tools on the horizon. We’re going to stand alongside you and remind you of the resources and groups here to help and support. Flexible Learning at CU Course The Flexible Learning at CU course covers a lot of the basics for tweaking your course to fit…
-
Introducing Servant Teaching
Reading Time: 3 minutesLast year, we talked about Servant Teaching through a series of blogs posts, and we’re revisiting that concept today. For a bit of context: Servant Teaching’s more popular cousin Servant Leadership was first developed by Robert Greenleaf. In it, Greenleaf established ten characteristics of being a servant leader: Servant Leadership is a mainstay of most Christian organizations, including Cedarville University, as a way of modeling Philippians 2:3-8: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though…
-
Servant Teaching: Listening and Learning
Reading Time: 2 minutesI was so grateful to have the opportunity to teach a face-to-face section of the ITM-2100 Database Management course this semester. When I was assigned to this class earlier this year, I thought that the pandemic would be gone by then. However, this was not the case. Thanks to Dr. John Delano, who designed the course to be hybrid and flexible so I could adjust the course for this semester quickly. But the challenge continued … This semester I had 24 students in the class. Students were from a variety of majors—accounting, economics, finance, IT management, etc. During the first couple of weeks, the class focused on the SQL query which is fundamental for data processing and management. I received many questions from the students and noticed two major problems: “Am I…
-
Four Practical Steps for Servant Teaching
Reading Time: 3 minutesI don’t know about the rest of you, but this semester feels different. It’s either the weather or because it’s a leap year… Oh wait! It’s because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Right. The overcast on the skies of our lives. As part of my duties as an instructional designer at CTL, I teach a course during the academic year. This semester, I taught a face-to-face section of ENG-1400. Much like you, I began my semester with a bit of apprehension; I had a plan for face-to-face and hyflex. We would meet one day a week and then supplement the other day with online discussion, videos, and other activities. But after a…
-
Servant Teaching with the Mind of Christ
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThose whom God has called to serve have an extraordinary calling – to be conformed to the image of Christ through the power of Christ’s Spirit. This calling is true of every person who confesses Jesus as Lord. Phil. 2:1-18 shows Christ as our example of humility and can be summed up in the phrase “seeking to serve.” While this phrase is simple, the concept is also nuanced – anyone acting on Christ’s model with Christ’s mind will encounter conflict both internal and external. These conflicts are humbling, and they require honest reflection which reveals the need for supernatural power to overcome the situation. But you may ask “What does that have to do with…
-
How Can I Proctor an Exam for Students Unable to be in Class?
Reading Time: 3 minutesWith the pandemic and all the associated challenges, you may have students who are unable to take an exam in class. In those cases, you have options available to you – you could email the exam to students and have them complete it and upload it into Canvas, you could add your exam into Canvas using the quiz feature and have the students complete it there, or you could use another method that suits your needs. Whichever method you choose, you may want to proctor the exam. Proctoring the exam is not required – this is not a “thou shalt do this.” Using the method below to…
-
TurnItIn: Feedback Studio Updates and Contract Cheating
Reading Time: 2 minutesWe’ve talked about TurnItIn before in our Three Tips for Accurate Similarity Report Assessment, where we discussed how to efficiently set up TurnItIn to easily interpret the Similarity Report. Today we’re going to look at some updates to the tool which make TurnItIn even more robust and useful. TurnItIn now flags replaced or hidden characters as well as equips instructors to address suspicions that a student didn’t write a submitted paper. Feedback Studio Flags This new section of the Feedback Studio marks items that you should review. A Flag does not guarantee a problem – it just identifies an item that warrants your attention. You can select…