Week's End Report - June 8, 2018

Course Checks Completed!

This week we completed the online course checks and notified faculty of our findings. We were pleased to send out 55 emails for sections that did not contain a single error in course setup- that's nearly 40% of our online sections!

Here's a list of the percentage of our current online courses in compliance with each check point:

Profile

• 67%, up from 59% in spring

Syllabus

• Instructor contact info- 84% down from 90% in spring
• Supervisor contact info- 96%, down from 97% in spring
• Online Learning support contact info- 87%, slightly up from spring
• Non-attendance and last date of withdraw- 64%, the lowest compliance rate in 2 full academic years
• Additional Communication section- 93%, slightly up from spring

Calendar (observing non-instructional days)

• 75%, up from 66% in spring

While there's always room for improvement we were fairly pleased with the results of the summer course checks. Please remember that the following information can be found on the Getting Started website:

• Online Learning Support contact info
• Non-attendance and last date of withdraw
• Non-instructional days

Because the correct information is provided and communicated each semester by email, the compliance rates for these should be 100%. To reference that website please be sure to read all emails received from GWC-Online@ivytech.edu and bookmark the following website:

https://link.ivytech.edu/GetStart

Week's End Report - Mar. 23rd

What's New?

IvyLearn has made available a new version of the Gradebook!

There are some great benefits, including:

• Additional sorting options
• The ability to limit gradebook view by filtering based on
• Assignment groups
• Modules
• Automatic point deductions for late assignments
• Automatic 0s for missing assignment

There are some risks as well, including:

• Once turned on, the new gradebook cannot be turned off
• Automatic point deductions are retroactive, which could result in excessive score reduction

Want to learn more?

We made some notes to help you better understand what the new gradebook will look like:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1s1Hvipy_jUZSvlVclIQq86nAas8q1VPi3KsNSnziWZY

The following YouTube video provides a demo of the new gradebook (11:22):

https://youtu.be/cuHB6VMdwT0

Week's End Report - Dec. 15th

Finalizing Your Course

The semester is nearly over. For information to help you finalize your course, please check out the Finalizing Your Course website:

https://link.ivytech.edu/Finalize

Google Accounts in Chrome

Those of you who have Google accounts for personal use may have noticed some difficulties in accessing shared files, Google Drives, or Google Hangouts. You may find yourself constantly having to log out of one account and log into another or getting error messages indicating that you don't have access to certain documents. This can be a huge hassle but is actually very easy to remedy.

To resolve these issues, create accounts in Google Chrome. By doing this you can create a unique Chrome shortcut for each Google account, this eliminates the need to log out of one account and log in to another and allows you to access two different Google accounts at the same time.

Click on the following link to learn more:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mEyz6mBR0OqfllyoWFC9kP8OMDXt8S8C

This information may also be found on the IDC website under Resources > General Information.

https://link.ivytech.edu/GWC-IDC

Week's End Report - Oct. 13th

Tip of the Week!

As we head into the second 8 weeks, please take a few minutes to look at the Getting Started website! Changes have been made to make the course set up checklists more specific and user-friendly. 

http://link.ivytech.edu/GetStart

Woz U, Tech Education Platform Announced

Earlier this week, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak announced that he will be launching a new tech education platform called Woz U.

The platform will offer training in technical fields such as cybersecurity and mobile application development. In addition to the standard curriculum, Woz U will offer tech companies the ability to train their employees and recruit potential new employees.

In addition, there will be a K-12 platform to reach out to young people who display an aptitude for and interest in technology-related career fields.

To read more about Woz U, read the following article from Business Insider:

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-cofounder-steve-wozniak-launches-woz-u-2017-10

Week's End Report - Sept. 22nd

Tip of the Week!

Canvas blogger bch0111, from the University of North Texas Health Science Center, shared some tips for faculty using Canvas/IvyLearn.

His tips include:

1. Customize your Canvas/IvyLearn notifications
2. Update your syllabus page (not only is it recommended, it's also required!)
3. Use graded activities to encourage students to interact with the Learning Management System (LMS)
4. Simplify your course navigation
5. You're more likely to have a heart attack on a Monday
6. Make a plan for communications- and stick to it!

You can read the entire post at: https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/designers/blog/2016/05/20/canvas-tips-for-faculty-success