Canvas Cornell Tis the Season to Retire Blackboard and Embrace Canvas
Canvas Cornell the New Year. The blackboard has gone. May you rest at ease. Canvas is here, and we hope that we enjoy a long, productive time together.
There is a single immediate step you should to take immediately:
If you wish to access to use content from previous Blackboard sites, you have to transfer the content into Canvas and archive the site. As of May 1st 2020, Blackboard will totally gone from Cornell (along with the data you stored on it). Instructions on exporting your website can found on the CTI’s tutorial site here.
Every course in this semester will have the Canvas site. Students students will automatically registered when they enroll in the course (and taken off when they leave).
CTI is in Engineering always ready and able to assist starting on Wednesday (Jan 15, 2015), CTI will hold Canvas office hours in Rhodes to assist faculty with everything related to Canvas. Visit us whether you are a beginner or an expert.
When: Every Wednesday 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Location: Rhodes 191 conference room
Who CTI Canvas staff
Quick Tips for Effectively Using Canvas Cornell:
Staff members: Although Canvas will handle the enrollment of students, you need to individually add the TA as well as other staff.
Think Modules: There’s an important paradigm shift in the transition from managing files using Blackboard (folders as well as subfolders) to modules that are part of Canvas. We often thought of Blackboard as a repository of documents. Although Canvas may function in this manner (awkwardly) however, it was intended to be organized into tasks, with each module comprising notes, slides as well as quizzes, assignments and other materials. This is integrated seamlessly with Canvas Calendar flow (one module each week or topic). Think about switching to this model since students find it to be more efficient when they use Canvas websites. The effort you put into organizing it in this way could be used significantly more easily in subsequent years (using the feature to publish on/off).
Accept the fact that navigation isn’t easy Everybody is aware that navigation system needs to be improve. I hope we’ll see improvement very soon.
Save and Publish: Search for an “SAVE” button before navigating to the new page (not all, but the majority will require you to save first). Also the material (including courses) needs to posted prior to students being in a position to view it. It is possible to access”student view” to verify the configuration “student view” to verify the configuration of your site.
Calendars for Students: “Assignments” will add to the calendar of your student in the event that they are due on a date. If you are using due dates, it is recommended to constant to ensure that they are always up (or don’t do).
Canvas Cornell Gradebook unfortunate quirks: The default gradebook for Canvas lists all scores (course grade) without weighting. There have been numerous instances that this has led to students getting a an inaccurate (wildly optimistic) perception of their expected grade.
Solution 1. Block the entire course entire “feature” from students
In the navigation of Course (inner toolbar to the left) click on Settings.
Select other options
Choose “Hide totals in student grades summary”
Select “Hide grade distribution graphs from students”
Click on Update Course Details
Solution 2. Utilize several “assignment groups” and assign weighting factors to each group.
Instructions in detail can found on this page (canvas tutorial on the weighted Grading).
Take note of specific options for handling “0”s (both could result in shocking behaviour).
Make sure that students are aware that you, and not Canvas give final grades. You might want to attempt to explain the behavior of Canvas and, as engineers, they might be able to understand the logic.