In recent surveys, 80 percent of UVA students indicated that captions are or would be helpful to them in some way; 78 percent of students have used captions with recorded materials such as lectures; and 70 percent of students have used captions in Zoom meetings. Numerous advantages of captions were cited, including as a tool for improved comprehension, as an aid for content review, and as an alternative to poor audio quality. The Student Disability Access Center (SDAC) has prepared a helpful captioning infographic that includes these and other helpful statistics and notes. Instructors with questions about captioning can contact SDAC or the Learning Tech team.
Following a request from the School of Architecture, Miro is being reviewed as a potential addition to UVA’s suite of learning technologies. This process includes assessing the tool’s capabilities in a variety of areas, including pedagogical value, accessibility, security and data protection, and financial and other costs. Instructors, staff members, and students interested in Miro are invited to visit the request page in Learning Tech and selecting the Join This Request button to indicate their support and subscribe to receive updates on the review process. Significant support can help the request move forward, so don’t be shy!
Currently, most UVA students use university-provided Google accounts for services such as email, contacts, calendars, and document storage and collaboration. However, the ITS department has announced a project to migrate these accounts from Google to Office 365, which is used by instructors and staff members. Most accounts will be migrated next summer, with the goal that all instructors, staff members, and students will be in Office 365 before the beginning of the Fall 2022 semester. Anyone with questions about this project can contact the Office 365 team at office365project@virginia.edu.
The latest update for the Zoom app is now available for download on desktop and mobile devices. The update includes presentation slide control, polling enhancements, and functionality for chatting with waiting room participants.
UVA is beginning a project to select and implement a new learning management system (LMS) for all undergraduate students. The project will include multiple phases and will be led by a steering committee of representatives from each of the University’s thirteen schools. Throughout the process, there will be opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to participate and share their feedback by responding to surveys, joining focus groups, and testing potential products. More information is available on the LMS project website.
Digication will introduce a number of accessibility updates the week of November 8, including improved interaction with screen readers, higher color contrast, and larger spacing. Additional labels and focus indicators will be added as well. A full list of updates is available on the Digication support website.
A new partnership between UVA and TimelyMD offers virtual mental health services to all students who have paid the comprehensive health fee, including a dedicated mobile app and twelve free telehealth visits with providers with experience in issues related to higher education.
The latest issue of the Arts & Sciences magazine includes a profile of the Cavalier Online Experiences Program (CONEX), a digital program designed to help incoming students strengthen their quantitative skills in preparation for STEM courses.
Two grant opportunities are currently available for UVA instructors. The 2021-22 Arts and Sciences General Faculty Teaching Support grant, which is accepting applications from general faculty in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences until November 8, offers support for inviting collaborators to Grounds, registering for virtual conferences, or conducting projects related to pedagogy. The Affordability and Equity grant, which is accepting applications from all UVA faculty teaching two-, three-, or four-credit courses until January 7 of next year, offers support for adopting, adapting, or creating open educational resources (OERs).
UVA instructors and students using Collab can register for the upcoming Sakai Virtual Conference for just $5. (Sakai is the open-source platform on which Collab is based.) Proposals for ten-minute lightning talks will be accepted until October 18; general registrations will be accepted until November 9.
File uploads in Digication will be unavailable between 6:00 AM and 7:00 AM on Wednesday, October 27 due to system maintenance. The tool will remain accessible and no other features will be affected.
A&S Learning Design & Technology has released an entirely new website for their team, featuring valuable resources, timely announcements and updates, and options to schedule consultations with their experienced group of instructional designers and technologists.
Created by the University Teaching and Learning Technology Committee, the Small Changes, Big Impact series features UVA and UVA Wise instructors talking about the ways they’re improving the teaching and learning experience. In the videos, some faculty point to a specific learning technology that has been particularly useful in their courses, especially since the shift to online teaching. They share how these tools are promoting student engagement, helping to build community, and streamlining the grading process. Watch their stories below.
Poll Everywhere has been an easy way for School of Education and Human Development Associate Professor Ottilie Austin to give her students a preview of the material for the upcoming week. READ MORE >
Biology Assistant Professor Jessamyn Manson discovered some great opportunities after the pivot to online teaching. She would usually have students do in-person presentations in her upper level seminar course, but during the pandemic, she had them create pre-recorded presentations instead.
Manson also had to rethink how to hold effective office hours. She decided to create weekly Zoom meetings as a space for students to continue to talk to, teach, and inform each other. Manson monitored the chat and popped into the conversation if students had questions, but mainly she just hosted the meeting. These online office hours allowed more people to join and feel comfortable participating. READ MORE >
Drama Lecturer Cady Garey uses Flipgrid to encourage engagement among her students. She feels that the tool helps to create more personal and authentic conversations and give students more practice sharing their ideas in an embodied, spoken form, as opposed to traditional writing assignments. READ MORE >
McIntire Associate Professor Adam Koch realized it was taking him way too long to collect, grade, and return exams when classes transitioned online. Then he found his solution: Gradescope. This online tool allows him to streamline the grading process and also has had other unexpected benefits. READ MORE >
Despite teaching large-enrollment courses, Chemistry Assistant Professor Alicia Frantz is managing to build community among her students with the support of Microsoft Teams. She creates learning communities with 40 students and a graduate TA and each have their own page in Teams for sharing documents, getting together to study, or meeting virtually. She also uses Teams paired with OneNote for office hours. READ MORE >
If you’re interested in sharing your story, email Kristin Sloane at ks8yx@virginia.edu. You can also use #smallchangesbigimpact on social media to continue the conversation.
UVA’s inaugural Tech Week included interactive virtual sessions with faculty and staff sharing how they use various learning technologies in their courses and projects. Check out the recordings below to see the tools in action and discover how they can support teaching and learning. Some presenters also provided their slides for review.
Also, tell your colleagues what you think about any tools you’ve used! You can evaluate and share your experiences with each tool in the Learning Tech catalog. Click the Submit Rating buttons below to get started.
The past year has presented unprecedented challenges for higher education, but it’s also demonstrated the value of learning technologies and the opportunities they offer for our teaching, learning, and research. As we prepare to return to the classroom this fall, the Learning Tech team and partners across Grounds are joining together to present a series of interactive virtual sessions on more than a dozen tools and strategies, from transforming feedback with Gradescope to fostering textual conversations with Hypothesis to increasing engagement with Poll Everywhere.
Most of these sessions will feature UVA instructors and staff members sharing details and demonstrations of how they use the tools in their courses and projects.
Select the button below to register for sessions, and continue scrolling to browse the complete schedule. You can register for as many sessions as you like. Registrants will also receive links to the meeting recordings after their conclusion, so we encourage you to register for any sessions that interest you, even if you aren’t able to attend them live.
On Wednesday, August 18, UVACollab will receive a major system upgrade, with new features and enhancements included in virtually every tool. A selection of some of the most notable additions for teaching and learning are listed below; detailed descriptions of these and almost every other aspect of the system are also included in the Collab online help portal.
Select an item to learn more, or scroll through the list to explore them all:
Note that Collab will be unavailable between 12:00 PM and 8:00 PM on the day of the upgrade to complete the necessary technical work—so please plan accordingly!
File Preview for grading in Assignments
The Assignments tool will offer the ability to view assignment submissions alongside the evaluation pane during the grading process, allowing you to review submissions and enter grades simultaneously, without having to navigate back and forth between them.
Select the Grade link below the assignment, then enable the File Preview toggle above the list of submissions. Select a student to view their submission alongside the evaluation pane.
By default, the submission will be displayed on the left, and the evaluation pane will be displayed on the right. To reverse this order, select the Settings (gears) icon above the submission, then select the Dock the grader on the left checkbox.
Individual and group exceptions in Tests & Quizzes
The Tests & Quizzes tool will offer the ability to enable custom access settings for individuals and groups, allowing you to address circumstances such as absences and accessibility accommodations much more easily.
Select the Settings option in the Actions dropdown menu to the right of the assessment, then select Exceptions to Availability Dates and Time Limit. Select the individual or group who will receive the exception, enter the appropriate information, then select the Add an Exception button.
Extra credit questions in Tests & Quizzes
The Tests & Quizzes tool will also offer the ability to designate questions as extra credit. Select the Edit link to the right of the question, then select the Extra Credit checkbox in the list of question settings.
Custom Overview layouts
The Site Settings tool will offer the ability to customize the layout of the Overview page, which serves as the homepage for most course and collaboration sites.
Select the Manage Overview tab to make changes. Widgets associated with the tools included in your site will be displayed; you can arrange them in one or two columns, or remove them from the Overview page if you prefer.
Bulk updates for date settings
The Site Settings tool will also offer the ability to edit date settings for content in a variety of tools in a single location, allowing you to quickly update items imported from previous course or collaboration sites. The option includes all of the key tools with available date settings, including Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, Gradebook, Lessons, Resources, and Tests & Quizzes.
Select the Date Manager tab to make changes. Available content will be organized by tool; select the tool, enter new date settings into the fields, then select the Save Changes button.
Automatically generated groups
The Site Settings tool will also offer the ability to automatically generate groups from site participants—the product of a joint project between UVA and Pepperdine University.
Select the Manage Groups tab, then select the Auto Groups tab. Follow the four-step process to create groups based on criteria such as roles, rosters, number of groups, and number of group members.
Name pronunciation
The Profile tool will offer the ability to enter a phonetic pronunciation and an audio recording of your name, encouraging equity by allowing instructors, students, and colleagues to interact more personally and respectfully.
Select your name in the top right corner of the page, then select the Profile link. Tap or place your cursor over Name Pronunciation, then select the Edit link that appears to the right. Enter the phonetic pronunciation into the field, or select the Record button to make a recording. Select the Save changes button to continue.
Featured content templates
The text editor available throughout the system will offer the ability to format content with specialized templates to highlight important concepts, requirements, or deadlines.
Select the Templates button in the top left corner of the editor, then select the desired template to embed it on the page. You can edit the template text after embedding it.
Notifications and reminders
Multiple tools, including the Assignments tool and the Gradebook tool, will offer the ability to send manual or automated reminders to students to complete outstanding assignments before their due dates. A new notifications tool will appear as a megaphone icon in the menu bar at the top of the page and display a global list of recent alerts across all available sites.
Updated integrations with connected tools
The upgrade will also feature updated integrations between Collab and other connected tools—including Gradescope, iClicker Cloud, NowComment, Piazza, and WordPress—in accordance with the latest technical standards. In most cases, the connected tools will continue to look and feel as they did before the upgrade, but with improved stability and performance.
The Site Settings tool’s Duplicate Site option will also no longer be available. However, you can continue to duplicate tools and content from your previous sites—and even add additional tools—with the From Previous Site option in Site Builder.
Look for additional information and announcements as the upgrade approaches, and contact the Collab Support team with any questions.
Beginning August 30, Poll Everywhere will introduce two significant enhancements: redesigned presenter controls and focused moderation. Instructors and staff members can begin using the new presenter controls before the official release date by submitting a request.
UVACollab’s system upgrade on August 18 will also include upgraded integrations with NowComment and Piazza, utilizing the latest standard—LTI 1.3, or LTI Advantage—to improve security and performance.
For more than a decade, iClicker remotes have been an integral part of the student experience in many courses—recording attendance, encouraging participation, conducting knowledge checks, and more. Due to recent advancements in technology and flexibility, UVA is ending support for the iClicker Classic platform and traditional iClicker remotes. Instructors who would like to continue using iClicker in their courses are encouraged to use iClicker Cloud, which allows students to submit responses through the iClicker Student app on their mobile devices. While the setup process differs slightly, the creation and scoring of activities remains largely the same.
You can transition from iClicker Classic to iClicker Cloud in four steps: creating your instructor account, creating your course, enabling the grade sync feature, and setting up the iClicker Cloud tool in your course site in Collab.
Step 1: Create your iClicker instructor account
If you haven’t done so already, you’ll need to create your iClicker instructor account in order to create your course in iClicker Cloud. Visit iclicker.com, select the Create an Account link at the top of the page, and follow the step-by-step instructions from iClicker, or check out this short video:
Step 2: Create your course in iClicker Cloud
After creating your iClicker instructor account, you can create your course in iClicker Cloud to allow your students to access activities in the iClicker Student app. Sign into your account, select the Create New Course button in the top left corner of the page, and follow the step-by-step instructions from iClicker, or check out this short video:
Step 3: Enable the grade sync feature and copy the course link
If you have any questions about transitioning to iClicker Cloud or syncing grades in your course site, you can contact Stephanie Bragg, UVA’s senior client relationship specialist with iClicker, the Collab Support team, or the Learning Tech team anytime.
VoiceThread users can expect to see a new version of the assignments option this summer. The upgrade will take effect for all UVA faculty, staff, and students on Saturday, June 19, between Summer Sessions I and II. It offers new features and improved functionality for faculty creating and managing assignments for their courses.
A few things to know:
The upgrade will be automatic, and users will not need to do anything to proceed. If you’d like to begin using the new version before the upgrade date, you can do so by following the steps for transitioning early.
None of your work will be lost, and previous assignments will retain their old features.
Any new assignments you create after the upgrade date will utilize the new version.
Some of the enhanced features that will be rolled out include a timed release option to set start and due dates for assignments and the ability to grade by percentage or pass/fail (point grading is coming soon!), among many others. View the full list of updates.
One feature that will no longer be supported in this new version is sharing a VoiceThread from an assignment outside of the assignment. You will have to make a copy and then share it.
Be sure to take advantage of the following resources below if you’d like to learn more about VoiceThread’s new assignments. And as always, the Learning Tech team is here to help if you need us. Send an email to learningtech@virginia.edu.
Resources
A&S Learning Design and Technology is offering a workshop on using new assignments in UVACollab Wednesday, June 23 at 11 AM. Learn more and register.
