CTL Blog

Prepare or Retool Online Learning

By Helice Agria | February 13, 2015

Web-Based Teaching & Learning

Prepare for or Retool Your Online, Hybrid and Web-Enabled Course

The CIS 236 and CIS 237 series is designed to help you get started in or retool for the unique world of teaching & learning in the hybrid and online formats. It can also help support you in web-enabling your ground/face-to-face course.

First, experience the ‘student’ perspective of online learning in CIS236. Get helpful tips to facilitate a course including policies, procedures and content management (copyright and accessibility). Along the way, see what the Canvas learning management system can do to enhance any course format and discover new digital teaching tools to engage learners. Then explore course design and content creation more deeply in CIS 237. Build engaging assignments, group activities and integrate technology to support learners’ needs.

Instructors will complete the series with practical tips, researched pedagogy and a duplicative structure for building and facilitating an online or hybrid format class or supporting a ground/face-to-face course with an online presence.

Advantages of the Open Entry / Open Exit Format

Mesa Community College is offering CIS236 and CIS237 in the Open Exit/Open Exit format for the Spring 2015.

Flexible Learning!

Pick your own start date (1/19 – 3/13)
Set your own pace over an 8 week period
No hard deadlines.

Enroll Today

Enrollment through My.Maricopa.edu. (SIS will be unavailable until February 16)

Complete your Student Information Form
Register for Class
Pay for the course, Learn About MCCCD Tuition Waivers:http://www.maricopa.edu/publicstewardship/resources/tw.php

If you have difficulties registering or have questions about these courses, contact the instructor:

CIS236 – Helice Agria, M.Ed.(helice.agria@mesacc.edu)
CIS237 – Dr. Jennifer Strickland (jennifer.strickland@mesacc.edu)

CIS 236: Web Based Teaching & Learning I (2 credits), Section #31761

Experience using a web-based learning environment from an online student’s perspective. Use communication tools, submit assignments, use evaluation tools, and navigate an online-learning environment. Introduction to the basics of online pedagogy and lots of hands-on experience with a web-based learning environment and digital teaching tools! Prerequisites: CIS133CA or CIS 133DA, or permission of instructor. Contact instructor for override code.

Offered fully online during Spring 2015 (Open Entry/Open Exit) – Choose a start date between January 19 and March 13. Students will have 8 weeks to finish the course from the start date.

CIS 237: Web Based Teaching & Learning II (3 credits), Section #31762

Discuss theories, methods, and best practices for designing, developing, and delivering an online course including Classroom Assessment Techniques, Flipped Classroom, Quality Matters and more. Create an online or hybrid course module using a web-based learning environment. Prerequisites: CIS 236, or permission of instructor. Contact instructor for concurrent enrollment code (allowing students to take CIS236 and CIS237 simultaneously).

Offered fully online during Spring 2015 (Open Entry/Open Exit) – Choose a start date between January 19 and March 13. Students will have 8 weeks to finish the course from the start date.

Canvas Updates Feb 9

By Helice Agria | February 10, 2015

Canvas Updates Week of Feb 9

SIS (CS9) Go-Live & Canvas

As you may be aware, Maricopa’s Student Information System (SIS) is being upgraded soon! SIS will not be available to users between Friday, February 13 and Monday, February 16. This update will have no affect on Canvas and students and faculty will see no difference in their online classrooms.

Alert your students! Accessing Canvas! Some students access Canvas via the My.Maricopa portal “Student Tools”. This will be unavailable during the planned downtime. Canvas will still be accessible from the Mesa Community College web site (top menu) and directly from learn.maricopa.edu or maricopa.instructure.com.

Other issues: Faculty will not be able to view their course rosters in SIS or make changes to student drops/withdrawals during this time. Students will not be able to able to add/drop classes, pay for classes or view financial aid during this time.

Additional information for faculty:

its.maricopa.edu/helpdesk/sis-cs9-go-live-information

Additional information for students:

my.maricopa.edu/sisinfo or the FAQ page.

Update: Canvas Access & Enrollment Issues

On Thursday, January 22nd an outage occurred that affected faculty and student access to Canvas and Canvas courses. The district will soon provide a detailed report regarding the incident including the underlying cause and plans to prevent future issues.

What is important to note is that this was not an issue with Canvas itself. It was a disruption in how our MCCCD systems (SIS) communicate enrollment to Canvas. While MCCCD had lost access to Canvas during this period, Canvas itself was still available outside of our system. Canvas continues to be very stable, with over 99% up-times.

How can I know if there is an issue with Canvas?
To check the status of Canvas subscribe to Canvas Status Updates. If no issue is being reported it is likely an issue with service at MCCCD. These outages will be communicated via email.

Are all the MCCCD classes and enrollments restored?
Yes, all SIS driven courses and enrollment should be restored at this time. The majority of manually created and development courses should also be restored. If you find that you do not have access to a particular course, please contact the MCC Center for Teaching and Learning at ctl@mesacc.edu.

Is there anything I can do to protect my course materials?
We do not anticipate that this problem will reoccur, however, best practice is for you to back-up your work at least once per semester.

Export your course at the end of the semester.

Download your course gradebook a few times during the semester.

Canvas Update Cycle

Canvas is on a 3-week update-release cycle. The next beta (preview) release is on 2/9, production notes will follow on 2/17 with the release and documentation to follow on 2/21. For information about Canvas updates follow the release page.

Please contact the MCC Center for Teaching & Learning if you have any questions or would like support using Canvas.

What’s New in Canvas?

Here are some highlights of the recent and pending changes to Canvas including a summary of the most recent production release on January 31st and the beta release on February 9th.

February 9th Beta Release

The Canvas beta environment is for trying new features, which are subject to change based on user feedback and the results of testing. In this release look for updates to the gradebook menus, outcomes and files area to make it easier to manage your work flow.

Read the Beta Release notes for details. To try the features, log-in to our beta environment at https://maricopa.beta.instructure.com/login with your MEID/Password.

Remember this is not a live environment so do not teach your course from this site. Note: The beta environment will be more sluggish than production (live) Canvas and resets every few weeks. Not all features in beta are available at MCCCD. Placing a feature in beta does not guarantee it will be part of the upcoming production release. Please view the February 21, 2015 Production Release Notes (published February 17) for complete release details.

January 31st Release, New Quiz Statistics

Canvas has added a new statistic interface to review quiz results and some new settings to make it easier for instructors to structure the options to deliver a quiz. The new features include:

A statistical summary that shows all score percentages (average, high, low and standard deviation), as well as the average time of completion.
A clearer statistical interface for reviewing the breakdown the results for each question including bars relating to the percentage of each answer choice.
A new discrimination index for True/False and Multiple Choice questions and distribution scaling for Fill-in-Multiple Blanks, Multiple Dropdowns and Matching Questions.
Additional settings for managing quizzes that allow more than one attempt, such as restriction options for showing correct answers after the last attempt.

Learn More:
New Quiz Statistics
Quiz Settings Options

Other Updates & Bug Fixes

Review the full January 31st Production Release Notes for details of all the recent changes to Canvas including the Bug Fixes. Want to ask Canvas to consider a feature option? All Canvas users are encouraged to make feature requests that can benefit the teaching and learning environment of the Canvas tool. Learn more about making Feature Requests.

Canvas “On-the-Go”! – Mobile (Android & iOS) Updates

Review the latest release notes for each mobile platform. Android update featuring sent messages/user bios and iOS update featuring favorite courses management.

Did You Know?
Attend InstructureCon 2015

InstructureCon 2015 Logo Each June Instructure, the makers of Canvas, hosts their annual conference – InstructureCon. This dynamic and exciting conference will be held June 16-18, 2015 at the Canyons Resort in Park City, Utah. This year the conference will celebrate its 5th Anniversary!

Who should attend?

The conference is open to K12 educators, college faculty, administrators and IT professionals. In addition to the keynote speakers and general presentations, helpful and informative breakout sessions are offered by educational professionals, vendors and Canvas employees on a variety of subjects including:

basics
advanced user tips
innovative uses
design strategies
pedagogy best practices
technical integrations
3rd party tools
and more!

Attendees can also depend on a fun-filled event that typically includes lots of free Canvas gear, special product announcements, entertainment, networking opportunities, etc. Watch videos from last year’s conference to see what you can experience if you choose to attend the Canvas event of the year!

Will the college pay for my attendance?

Professional Growth dollars are available for all policy groups. Carefully review the options at the MCCCD Human Resource web site. DO NOT register for the event without funding pre-approval.

Can the MCC CTL help me?

Yes! The CTL is happy to discuss the event with you and can direct you to the relevant Professional Growth Resources to help you apply for funding.

Contact the CTL:
clt@mesacc.edu or
(480) 461-7331

Learn more about InstructureCon.

Learn Canvas

Sneak Peak of the Canvas Commons

Share the love with Canvas this week in honor of Valentine’s Day and get a sneak peak at Commons, currently in beta, and available only at select schools. The Canvas Commons is a learning object repository (LOR) where the best ideas, courses and curriculum can be freely shared — all seamlessly integrated into the Canvas LMS environment. This special course will give you an opportunity to share and search Commons, while having some Valentine’s fun!

Register Now

NOTE: You will be prompted to create a new username and password (regardless if you have another canvas account). To access the course after registering you will need to enter the resources.instructure.com web address.

CTL Logo

Course Design Series at MCC

Join the MCC Center for Teaching & Learning for our three-part Course Design Series that focuses on the best practices in course design pedagogy to engage learners and promote student success. Sessions begin February 13th. Take this opportunity to participate in a highly engaging and collegial process of mapping and aligning your course and building informative assessments linked to your learning objectives! Sessions may be taken in a series or as individual stand-alone opportunities! Tips and tricks for designing courses in Canvas will also be explored! Review the full schedule for details!

Course building teams welcome! Faculty Professional Growth (FPG) Approved!

Online Resources, Tutorials & Guides for Faculty

Canvas 101 is an open enrollment course that will walk you through the basics of setting up a new course in Canvas. To enroll, simply click on the “Join this course” button on the Course Home Page. There is no facilitator, but it is a good series of self-paced exercises for faculty wanting to learn Canvas basics.

Canvas 102 Demo Videos Pt.1-3 is a comprehensive 3 hour video presentation of all things Canvas for instructors.

Canvas Guides are available that cover all major features of Canvas by question topic. They are easy to navigate and mostly image-based walk thru demonstrations of how to use a particular feature.

MCC Center for Teaching & Learning How-To Documents include a variety of helpful how-to guides such as the Getting Started with Canvas in 10 Steps resource.

MCCCD Canvas Help Area provides how-to documents, and support information to all Canvas users, students and faculty.

CanvasLive Webinars

CanvasLIVE is a free webinar series designed to give Canvas users additional training and a place for members of the Canvas community to share their knowledge. Each session includes a quick tutorial and overview on a Canvas tool or feature, followed by a focused demonstration and a short Q&A. Sessions are archived so if you are not able to attend a live session you can still benefit from the presentation.

Check out all of the upcoming sessions on the CanvasLIVE Schedule currently featuring the Commons (2/9 – 2/14), Designing Courses with Measurable Objectives (2/19), Feedback (3/5) and more!
Check out the forum which includes all CanvasLIVE Archives
Have an idea for a future CanvasLIVE webinar? Click to Suggest a Future Topic

Keep Learning Blog

Keep Learning is an education technology blogging project created by the makers of Canvas, Instructure. The purpose of the blog is to engage educators in meaningful dialog around educational technology. Posts are written by educators and technologists around the world. If you would like to contribute, send an email to jared@instructure.com or just visit the site and Learn. Teach. Share.

Design Series Begins Feb 13

By Helice Agria | February 8, 2015

Course Design: Love Your Course

Do you love your course, but find yourself looking for ways to take your relationship to the next level? Or are you starting a new course romance?

Join the MCC Center for Teaching & Learning for our Course Design Series that focuses on the best practices in course design pedagogy to engage learners and promote student success. Take this opportunity to participate in a highly engaging and collegial process of mapping and aligning your course and building informative assessments linked to your learning objectives! Sessions may be taken in a series or as individual stand-alone opportunities!

Review the full schedule below! Course building teams welcome! Faculty Professional Growth (FPG) Approved!

Registration Instructions

Having Trouble? Call us at (480) 461-7331 and we will help register you.

Part 1: Curriculum Mapping & Lesson Design – FPG Approved

Learn more about Faculty Professional Growth (FPG), including how to apply.

Session Description: In this session, you will design a curriculum map based on the most relevant concepts related to your course and competencies to build thematic units. Using this map, you will create a unit alignment by writing measurable learning objectives that connect your course materials and assessments to the course competencies.

Pre-requisites: None

Session Dates: (Select from one of the following)

Friday, February 13, 9:00am – 12 noon

COURSE #001760, Session #0011 Register through HRMS

Tuesday, February 17, 3:30pm – 6:30pm
COURSE #001760, Session #0012 Register through HRMS

Part 2: Building a Conceptual Framework – FPG Approved

Session Description: In this session, you will build a Conceptual Framework based on the most relevant concepts related to your course and competencies to build course modules. Using this framework, you will create a module aligning your measurable learning objectives to your course materials, assignments and assessments.

Pre-requisites: None

Session Dates: (Select from one of the following)

Tuesday & Thursday, February 24/26, 4:00pm – 6:00pm
(Split Session, attend both evenings)

COURSE #001976, Session #0009 Register through HRMS

Friday, February 27, 8:30am – 12:30pm
COURSE #001976, Session #0008 Register through HRMS

Part 3: Outcome-Based Learning & Informative Assessment – FPG Approved

Session Description: Participants will be able to connect the three main functions of formative assessment (including Classroom Assessment Techniques) with instruction. You will be provided the opportunity to identify and/or create formative assessments, that are clearly aligned to lesson objectives, to check for understanding, adjust or refine instruction and give appropriate feedback to students. This process is student-centered and will promote the development of metacognitive skills for learners.

Pre-requisites: None

Session Dates: (Select from one of the following)

Friday, March 27, 9:00am – 12:00pm
COURSE #001762, Session #0011 Register through HRMS

Tuesday, March 31, 3:30pm – 6:30pm
COURSE #001762, Session #0010 Register through HRMS

*Note: 6 participants are required for these sessions to run. Participants will be notified 24 hours prior to a session (via email) if a session is to be canceled.

Questions? Call the CTL (480) 461-7331.
Visit the CTL Calendar, ctl.mesacc.edu/events/calendar for all upcoming learning sessions and activities.

2015-2016 Learning Grants Open, Apply Now!

By Helice Agria | February 3, 2015

DIVISION OF ACADEMIC AND STUDENT AFFAIRS
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI) 2015-2016 LEARNING GRANTS

Academic year 2015-2016 will be the fifteenth year of the Maricopa Community College District Learning Grants program.

The program is designed to support:

Innovative projects that are designed to enhance student learning, promote student success, and further innovation in teaching and learning.
Projects on a one-time, one-year basis.
Ideas and projects at the appropriate stage of development.

Qualifying proposals will range from formative ideas that explore learning concepts to fully tested models ready to be adopted and disseminated.

Who can Apply for Learning Grants?

Faculty (residential, adjunct, and one-year-only) are eligible to apply.
Adjunct faculty and one-year-only faculty should team up with a residential faculty member or department/division chair to provide an on-campus contact for the grant. Inclusion on a learning grant application does not guarantee future employment with Maricopa.
Faculty may be compensated through special services assignments throughout the duration of the grant. Each college determines how to distribute the funds for faculty participating in the grant.

How can the MCC Center for Teaching & Learning help me with the grant?

The MCC CTL, as a resource for innovative teaching and learning, is happy to help you consider ideas for your grant application. We can connect you with best practice research in the areas of educational pedagogy and technology that align with your grant proposal. Contact us to set-up a time to talk about your innovative ideas! ctl@mesacc.edu or (480) 461-7331.

How Much Money is Available for a Grant?

Allocations are up to $12,000 per project, depending on project goals; types of activities and events proposed; resources required; degree of involvement of faculty, students, and administrators; and potential benefits to students.

Grant Preparation & Application:

Prior to submitting your grant proposal, you are required to discuss your project idea with your Vice President of Academic Affairs.You may also want to discuss your idea with your faculty development coordinator and department/diviaion chair.

2015-2016 Application Submission Period: October 16, 2014 through January 30, 2015
Application Deadline: 4:30 p.m., Friday, February 13, 2015
Award Status Notification: April, 2015

Application Deadline: 4:30 p.m., Friday, January 13, 2015 The MCLI continues to experience technical issues with the server for submitting learning grants. IT is trying to resolve the technical issues; however, grant applicants continue to receive error messages when submitting proposals.

In order to ensure that all learning grant proposals are received by the deadline, please email rob.morales@domail.maricopa.edu your learning grant proposal as a Microsoft Word document by the deadline. NOTE you must enable macros in order to complete the budget section of the proposal. Download the Proposal MS Word Template.

Details and application procedures may be accessed at: http://mcli.maricopa.edu/learning-grants

For additional information, contact:
Dr. Rob Morales, Instructional Designer
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
Email: rob.morales@domail.maricopa.edu
Telephone: 480-731-8302

Spring 2015 Gold Star

By Helice Agria | January 26, 2015

Call for Gold Star Applications

Mentees and Mentors Spring 2015

Application Due Date, Thurs. Feb 5, 5 pm

The MCC Center for Teaching & Learning in collaboration with the eLearning Committee announces the Call for Applications for Mentees and Mentors to participate in the Gold Star Program for Spring 2015. Gold Star is a faculty-centered, training and peer-review process to support MCC faculty developers (mentee) to redesign an existing or develop a new Internet or hybrid course based on the QM Rubric. The Spring 2015 Program includes both individuals and/or collaborative teams.

Individual:

Faculty interested in re-designing an existing or developing a new online or hybrid course.

Collaborative Teams:

Inner-disciplinary or cross-disciplinary faculty interested in re-designing an existing or developing a new online or hybrid course. Not to exceed more than 3 members per team.

Additionally, the faculty developers are paired with a Gold Star Program Mentor. The Mentor supports with the design of the Mentee’s online or hybrid course.

Program Dates:

To learn more about the Gold Star Program and to submit an application to participate as Gold Star Mentee or Mentor, go to: Gold Star

Questions – Contact – Annapurna Ganesh, Gold Star Coordinator
Email: aganesh@mesacc.edu; Phone: 480-461-7305

Recognize Innovation

By Helice Agria | January 23, 2015

2014-2015 Innovation of the Year Awards

mcli.maricopa.edu/innovate

Call for Innovation Nominations!

We are excited to announce the Call for Innovations for the 2014-2015 Innovation of the Year Awards Program. The Maricopa Community Colleges and the League for Innovation in the Community College co-sponsor the annual Innovation of the Year (IOTY) Awards to recognize an employee or teams of employees who have designed and implemented a significant innovation that has had a positive impact on the education of students. One innovation is selected from each College and the District Office. From those winning innovations, a District-wide innovation will be selected to receive the Dr. Paul M. Pair Innovation of the Year Award, which includes $2,000 to be used to further the winning innovation.

All employees are invited to nominate innovative projects and programs that you have worked on over the past year. To get started, review the Innovation of the Year Program information and criterion on the website, http://mcli.maricopa.edu/innovate. Note: If you have previously submitted an innovation that may not have been selected to receive the Dr. Paul M. Pair Innovation of the Year Award, you are welcomed to resubmit.

There is a NEW online Innovation of the Year Nomination Form:
https://mcli.maricopa.edu/innovate/apply/webform

Online nominations are due Friday, March 6, 2015.

The Process: A winning innovation team selected from each College and The District Office will make a presentation to the Innovation of the Year Final Selection Committee on Friday, March 27, 2015, at the District Office. A review committee will identify the one innovation that will receive the 2014-2015 Maricopa Community Colleges Innovation of the Year and that will be the recipient of the Dr. Paul M. Pair Award.

The Celebration: All selected innovations will be celebrated at the Innovation of the Year Awards Program Reception that will be held on Thursday, April 9, 2015, at the Rio Salado College Conference Center.

Visit the Innovation of the Year Awards Program website at mcli.maricopa.edu/innovate for more detailed program information.

If you have questions, please contact:

Don Jensen-Bobadilla, 480-731-8296 or don.jensen-bobadilla@domail.maricopa.edu

Urgent Canvas User Alert

By Helice Agria | January 23, 2015

Issue Affecting Canvas

As you may be aware Maricopa’s authentication system to Canvas was disrupted yesterday, which meant that neither students nor faculty could log in to Canvas. First, thank you for your tremendous patience as the district Canvas support team worked to resolve the issues. We know that it must have been a frustrating and confusing time for our students, faculty, and staff.

All login issues have been resolved, so students and faculty should now have complete access to their Spring 2015 courses. If you or your students are still experiencing issues accessing Canvas or current Canvas courses, please contact help support:

Student Support:
MCC HelpCenter at (480) 461-7217

Faculty Support:
MCC Center for Teaching & Learning at (480) 461-7331

Accessing Older SIS & Manual Courses

At this time, users may not have access to:

SIS courses prior to Spring 2013,
developmental shells,
practice courses
training courses or
non-academic “courses”.

The MCC Center for Teaching & Learning will have to manually enroll faculty and staff into these courses. To assist us in this endeavor, please follow these steps:

Login with your MEID/Password to the Canvas beta environment, https://maricopa.beta.instructure.com before February 9th. NOTE: The link provided is for the BETA environment. You cannot teach from these courses.
Take a screenshot or type a detailed list (include entire name) of your developmental, practice, training or non-academic courses. If you want access to older SIS courses (prior to Spring 2013), please include them in the list as well.
Email your course list with your MEID to the CTL at ctl@mesacc.edu.

Because this will be a manual and time consuming process, we respectfully ask that you only send us the name of courses that you must have access to at this time. These would be courses that you still use on a day-to-day basis or are required to support programs.

The deadline of 2/9 is important because on that date beta will reset (you will lose access to the list of those courses as well making it difficult for us to reconnect you). If we determine there is a better strategy for the restoration of manual enrollments, we will let you know.

Again, thank you for your patience. We do recognize this is terrible timing and inconvenient, but we are asking for your support as we try to resolve this issue calmly and quickly.

Questions? Concerns?

Contact the Center for Teaching & Learning at ctl@mesacc.edu or (480) 461-7331.

Canvas Updates – Spring 2015

By Helice Agria | January 12, 2015

Important Semester Start Notices

Welcome to Spring 2015 at Mesa Community College! Canvas is the Learning Management System used by 9 of the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges. Whether you are a first-time or ongoing Canvas User please carefully review these updates for best practice information related to semester start-up, recent updates/fixes and training options.

Please contact the MCC Center for Teaching & Learning if you have any questions or would like support using Canvas.

Course Copy

Copying your course from semester to semester is 1, 2, 3 easy. Please see our copy guidelines to get you started.

Important Copy Options – Don’t forget to consider your options to Select Migration Content AND to Adjust Events and Due Dates so you can take only what you need and save yourself some time moving assignment dates. You can also elect to remove all dates.
Don’t wait around! – Depending on the size of your course, the copy process may be ‘Queued’ and take from a few minutes to an hour. Feel free to leave the copy page or logout of Canvas while the copy is being made. To verify the status of the copy return to the Import Page.
Copy Status – After the course copy, check the status. Carefully review any errors reported and take corrective action. Errors will most often be related to broken links or empty pages found in the copy process.
Date & Time Verification – Review all the dates (assignment due and availability dates) and times tomake sure that they are accurate. You can use the Canvas Calendar to quickly move due dates for assignments.

Course Publish

Don’t forget to publish your course to make it available to students. You can find the publish dialog box on the home page. To publish the course find Select Publish and follow the screen prompts. Once a course is published you can continue to make changes and updates as needed. Courses cannot be unpublished. Directions for publishing courses.