New Toys Coming To Canvas           
   

• NameCoach provides students with a simple way to record a pronunciation of their name and convey their gender that is easily shared with their instructor. This student equity tool helps build an inclusive campus community.
• Proctorio is a tool is designed to ensure academic honesty while students are taking exams. Among other feature options, Proctorio allows you to record audio and video, along with disabling copying, printing, opening new browser tabs, and right-clicking. It only works in the Chrome browser, so you and your students will have to use Chrome, which is the preferred browser for Canvas anyway. Also, Proctorio only works on desktop computers and laptops; it won't work yet on mobile devices.  
• NoteBowl is a social learning tool that integrates with Canvas to increase engagement and collaboration. With an interface similar to Facebook, NoteBowl includes a bulletin board and discussion board that you can use instead of the Canvas Announcements and Discussions features. 

             Distance Education News & Notes

• The revised DE Handbook was approved by the Academic Senate on Nov. 14. It is divided into 8 sections that tell you everything you need to know about the college's distance ed efforts: Introduction, Legal/Accreditation Requirements, Policies/Guidelines/Agreements, Online Instruction, Classroom Management, Professional Development, DE Governance, and Support. View the handbook.
• The state's Title 5 regulations for DE were updated to include regular effective contact not just between the instructor and students, but also among students. This new stipulation applies to both online classes and DE hybrids (those over 50% online).
• The ACCJC has changed its procedures for Substantive Change Proposals for DE. Based on answers provided in an application from a college's ALO, it can approve programs with over 50% of its offerings at a distance very quickly. This happened Oct. 16 when the ACCJC approved 21 of our programs. View the approval letter.
• The OEI Course Design Rubric has been updated. Sections D and E on web accessibility have been combined, and relatively minor changes were made to Sections A-C. View the updated rubric.                  

             Can•Innovate Recordings Available

How to Use Headings in Canvas

You should already know that one step in making Microsoft Word documents accessible to students with disabilities is to use heading styles. You need to do the same in Canvas. Headings add structure and meaning to pages by organizing content into sections and indicating the relative importance of those sections. Screen-reading software for blind or low-vision students presents a list of headings that allows the student to jump to individual headings and establish the importance of content categorized under the headings.

In Canvas, the title of the page is automatically styled under Header 1, so you can't choose that in the Rich Content Editor. Use the headers in order beginning with Header 2. Do not skip any of the header levels (e.g. using only Header 2 and Header 4). The Paragraph style is used for regular text. You will not use Preformatted. To create headings (in edit mode), highlight text, and select a style from the Paragraph drop-down menu.
 

View a 7-minute video titled Chunking Content & Using Headers to Design Accessible Content Pages in Canvas.

If you need one-on-one help with web accessibility, you can make an appointment with LPC's Instructional Technology Specialist Wanda Butterly, aka The Wizard of Accessibility. Known for her Magic Wand(a), she can help you ensure that all of your Canvas materials are accessible to all of your students.

                                                                  

  Canvas Tip: Restoring Deleted Items