WHAT’S INSIDE THIS ISSUE?
- Accreditation Forum: Distance Learning & RSI
- New Accessibility Tool in Canvas! Alternative Formats
- Easier Access to Canvas Support
- Discussion Alternative: Perusall + OpenStax Texts
- Blog Spotlight: Pope Tech – Expand your Accessibility Arsenal
- Appointments for Instructional Design Help
- In Case You Missed It
1. ACCREDITATION FORUM: DISTANCE LEARNING & RSI
Join the Accreditation and Distance Learning teams this Friday 10/21 from 3-4 PM to get an overview of Regular & Substantive Interaction (RSI) and how it relates to the accreditation peer review process. Register on POD Connect. This is approved for 1 hour toward SPOT Recertification. 💻
2. NEW ACCESSIBILITY TOOL IN CANVAS! ALTERNATIVE FORMATS
We have added a new tool in Canvas called Alternative Formats that replaces Ally by Blackboard. You may have noticed a new Alternative Formats course navigation item in your Canvas courses. This is available for both students and faculty to convert files to various formats such as MP3, eBooks or electronic Braille. The Accessibility formats include text, HTML, Word among many other file types. Please let your students know that this resource is available to them! For more information, please check out Hugo Aguilera’s blog post with details about how to use this tool. (Note: Alternative Formats doesn’t make documents accessible.) 📄
3. EASIER ACCESS TO CANVAS SUPPORT
We’re excited for a new feature in Mt. SAC Canvas coming soon! It’s called Impact, and it will bring a new, more streamlined way to find answers in Canvas and faster, easier access to support. Impact will be available to all users in our Canvas instance. Be on the lookout for Impact messages in Canvas! 👀
4. DISCUSSION ALTERNATIVE: PERUSALL + OPENSTAX TEXTS
Tired of discussion forums? Want an alternative to high-priced publisher content for your students? Perusall, a social annotation tool and OpenStax are teaming up this week to present a webinar, Fostering Inclusivity & Engagement with Perusall and OpenStax on Thursday, 10/20 from 9-10 AM. Register directly to attend and/or receive a recording. (This is not eligible for SPOT recertification or professional development credit.)
If you are curious about using social annotation in your class, you can visit the free for teachers Canvas course from the 2021 Online Teaching Conference Developing Active and Social Readers Through Annotation Tools presentation by Katie Datko & Doug Cummings. This will let you try out Perusall from the student perspective and access more detailed resources about social annotation. (You may need to register for a free for teachers Canvas account if you do not have one.)
⭐ Bonus: Social annotation is a great way to create Regular and Substantive Interaction in your course!
5. BLOG SPOTLIGHT: POPE TECH – EXPAND YOUR ACCESSIBILITY ARSENAL
Check your Canvas Pages/Assignments/Announcements/Discussions for accessibility as you create or edit them! To learn more about the Pope Tech Accessibility Tool, check out Hugo Aguilera’s blog post from Fall 2021, Pope Tech – Expand Your Accessibility Arsenal! 🔎
6. APPOINTMENTS FOR INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN HELP
Just a reminder that the FCLT staff is available to help you with all your instructional technology needs! This includes help with online course design & pedagogy. To make an appointment, please go to the FCLT Bookings Page. 📆
7. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
by Eva Figueroa
If you missed our previous newsletters, check your email, or see our blog for our past issues of News Bytes Weekly.