Canvas at SMU: A New Era of Course Management

Canvas LMS LogoAs we begin the 2016-2017 academic year, Southern Methodist University begins a new era of course management. Consistent with the announcement and transition plan set forth in last August’s message to faculty from the Office of the Provost, Canvas has been transitioned into the sole course management system for university courses of record. If you haven’t heard by now, Canvas is a cloud-based course management system which offers a modern interface designed to better support the increased teaching and learning demands of higher education in functions such as blended learning, “flipping classrooms,” and providing a more robust overall foundation for current and future online education and distance learning activities. Continue reading Canvas at SMU: A New Era of Course Management

How to set up a TA in my.SMU

I wanted to make sure that those who are responsible for managing class scheduling in my.SMU know how to set up a TA, or Teaching Assistant, in the Instructor/Advisor table and add them to class sections. In previous years, TA information could be added to learning management systems (Blackboard/Canvas) directly. This is no longer the case. If a TA needs to be attached to a class section, they must first be added to the section in my.SMU. Continue reading How to set up a TA in my.SMU

Getting TA’s and Others in Your Canvas Course

Canvas Tips & TricksThe process to put people and classes into Canvas is an automated one; whatever information is in my.SMU is what will be used to populate those users and roles into Canvas. There are several designations in my.smu that help to get people in their correct course and role, such as, Instructors, Co-Instructors, TAs, and students. All students, Instructors, secondary instructors, observing/supervising instructors, and students are enrolled every couple of hours throughout the week. Continue reading Getting TA’s and Others in Your Canvas Course

Canvas Resources for Faculty & Staff

Canvas Tips & TricksThe Academic Technology team has worked feverishly to get our faculty and staff up and running with Canvas, our new course management system that rolled out to campus this summer. While some faculty members may have already engaged in this new system, many will be using it for the first time this semester.

Since January, Academic Technology and IT Training, have trained over 400 Canvas users to help them get their courses built. We’ve done this by facilitating departmental training, hosting weekly Canvas workshops, and providing additional learning opportunities through our Canvas Boot Camp and Canvas Nights webinar series. That doesn’t take into account the number of people the Academic Technology team has assisted through personal meetings, help desk tickets and direct phone calls.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to join us for one of our workshops, we will continue offering weekly seminars through the end of September. The weekly Canvas training schedule is available at smu.edu/ittraining. Also, we have other Canvas resources and learning options available for you: Continue reading Canvas Resources for Faculty & Staff

Canvas WalkMe Provides Canvas WalkThru

Canvas Tips & TricksThe new Canvas WalkMe provides real-time guidance that is easy to follow. WalkMe simplifies the user experience by providing on-screen, step-by-step guidance at the moment of need so that our instructors can complete any task successfully. This makes learning specific Canvas tasks more efficient and boosts SMU’s overall productivity. Continue reading Canvas WalkMe Provides Canvas WalkThru