Essential Resources / Applications

 Canvas Announcements

The easiest way to communicate with all of the students in your class is through the Announcements tool Links to an external site. in Canvas. You can use this tool to send a written message or you can record and upload a video. You can also attach files and include links in the rich content editor. You will need to make sure your course is published in order for your students to see the announcements.

Click on the Announcements link in the course navigation, then click on the +Announcements, give your announcement a title, and then type your message in the rich text editor. 

 The Canvas Inbox

If you need to email all of your students, and you don’t want to use an Announcement, select Inbox in the left-hand global navigation menu in Canvas, compose a new message to your course and send it to all students. If students reply to your message, you may read and reply through the Canvas Inbox or through the notifications you receive in your campus email.

 Pronto

As we move forward during this unprecedented time in the school's history, know that we are taking every measure possible to ensure the success of our students at this time. As part of those efforts, we have launched a new communication tool (Pronto) to facilitate conversation, connection and engagement. If you are interested in using Pronto for your course, please complete the form to request Links to an external site. the application be enable.  Then you will see a Pronto icon at the bottom of the global Canvas navigation that will bring up a chat window with all of your courses and groups already synced.

Pronto is a great way tool for communication in your classes, both directly through direct (one-one) messages and whole class streams. You can use it to send quick reminders, live stream video announcements that you be immediately view on your phone or desktop.  

Pronto (Links to an external site.) is simple way to improve communication and create community in your courses. This real-time student-to-student, instructor-to-student app allows you to create a community feel by providing technology that connects your students to you and most importantly to each other.  Download the Step by Step Instructions for Teachers Guide. Download Download the Step by Step Instructions for Teachers Guide.  

Review and share the instructions for your students, feel free to copy and paste into page, announcement or email.  You may also want to provide the Pronto Feature for Students PDF File Download Pronto Feature for Students PDF File (Download and save, then upload into your canvas course or send as an attachment to students). 

Although you don't have access to your physical classroom, you do have many options to continue teaching your students and supporting their learning.

 Lecture

Use the ConferZoom to schedule and host live lecture sessions during your class's scheduled days/times.

• Schedule a recurring ConferZoom meeting. (Links to an external site.)
• View tips for preparing and managing a Live Zoom event. (Links to an external site.)
• If you have a student that requires an accommodation for hearing, request live captioning. (Links to an external site.)
• Since not all students have access to a laptop/computer with broadband internet, encourage students to download the free Zoom mobile app for iOS or Android to connect from a smartphone:

• Share these 6 Things to Consider When using the Zoom Mobile App (Links to an external site.) with your students.
• Share the ConferZoom Participants Guide Download Participants Guide
  with your students.
• To Learn more about Zoom options and to get set up, scroll down to next section about ConferZoom

 Share Materials

What content do your students need to access to meet the learning outcomes for your course? In Canvas, create a Module for each new content topic. Within a module, create a page and type instructions for your students about the resource. What is it? What do you expect them to do with it? And how does it support learning? Then add the resource (PDF, video, link to an online article) to the page.

 Discuss

Learning is social! There are two simple ways to ensure your students do not lose the opportunity to interact with their peers.

• Use Canvas Discussions to provide prompts for students to interact with one another. Make the Discussion graded to give points for contributions.
• If you are using ConferZoom to host live class sessions, use the Break Out Room Links to an external site. feature to have students interact in small groups, just like they would in class.

Since you won't be meeting face-to-face with students during this time, you need to figure out how to collect assignments and administer quizzes and exams online.

 Assignments

If you need to collect written assignments or media projects (PowerPoints, videos, etc.), use the Canvas Assignment tool to create a place for students to submit their work. It will make your life easier, as you will not need to track and manage emails from students. Make sure that you:

• Include clear and detailed instructions, just as you would provide in class,
• Choose the “file upload” option for the submission type,
• Indicate a due date and time,
• Send an announcement a day or two before the due date to remind students to submit the assignment.

Once students submit their work, you can view and grade the submissions through the Grades area in Canvas.

Learn how to create an Assignment in Canvas. (Links to an external site.)

Review additional Canvas Assignment guides.

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 Quizzes

To administer a low-stakes quiz, use the Canvas Quiz tool and consider:

Allowing multiple attempts,
Not including a time limit, and
Allowing students to see their quiz responses.

Be sure to send out an announcement a day or two in advance to remind students about the quiz. Without face-to-face class meetings, your announcements are essential to keep students on track for success.

Learn how to create a Quiz in Canvas with individual questions. (Links to an external site.)

Review additional Canvas Quiz guides. (Links to an external site.)

 Exams

To administer a high-stakes exam, use the Canvas Quiz tool and consider:

• Shuffling the answer options,
• Using a time limit,
• Hiding student quiz responses, and
• Pulling questions from larger question banks so students receive different sets of questions.

Don't forget to send out an announcement to remind students about the exam.

Review the options you can set for a Canvas Quiz.

Importing Quizzes into Canvas

Canvas quizzes will be the best feature to facilitate the exams. If you already have your exams in a word format, you can use Respondus to import those questions into Canvas, otherwise each question has to be manually entered (copy and Paste). You can install respondus on any off campus device, if you need it on a campus computer you will need to place an IT ticket so they can install it. Use the resources to get respondus installed, and it review some quick start guides. 

Online Proctoring

Proctorio is an automated remote proctoring service integrated into Cuesta College's Canvas learning management system. This enables faculty to require quizzes within Canvas be taken in a limited and/or monitored environment.

There’s a couple of things you should be aware of: To set up proctoring on a quiz, you must be using the Chrome browser (Links to an external site.) with a particular extension enabled. To get that extension, fire up Chrome on your computer and go to https://getproctorio.com/ (Links to an external site.) .

Please view more resource on setting up Proctrio and the student experience. 

 (Links to an external site.)