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Increase the Quality of Discussion Posts

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Discussion posts can engage a wider variety of students than in-person, time-driven discussions. The deep thinker, the shy student, the serial responder can all use a discussion post to further engage with your course content – if you correctly set one up. Consider the following tips and use the resources referenced to add a new depth to your Canvas courses.

Discussion Post Guidelines

Discussion Posts benefit from specific guidelines to assure successful participation by students. Provide a link to your Discussion Post Guidelines for every class Discussion Post. The bottom of the RCE is ideal for this or a similar notice:

Of course, that means you need to create a page to link to which contains your Discussion Guidelines – and that you have Discussion Guidelines. Both are easy to accomplish. Discussion Guidelines help students meet instructor expectations and allow the instructor to thoughtfully craft a discussion. Consider the two versions in Commons: Search Discussion Guidelines in Hall County Commons.

Sample Discussions

Consider importing the Sample Discussion Post from the Hall County Canvas Commons to customize. Link your Discussion Guidelines and then duplicate for multiple modules:

To Grade or Not to Grade?

Graded discussions do not count toward user storage quotas. Also remember that grading can be as simple as complete/incomplete. However, if you want to be more precise – and take advantage of the awesome Speedgrader – consider adding a rubric to your discussion.

Consult the Canvas Guides on Discussions for more specific information.

 

 

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Two Fresh Resources for Canvas Training

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Teachers may be interested in more self-paced Canvas learning management system (LMS) training before August. Share these resources with them while the time is right to learn at a more leisurely pace.

Teachers with some Canvas Training:

  1. Use this Canvas Field Guide registration link to create your Canvas Network Account using your HallCo email address. Use the Join code below to enroll in the Canvas Field Guide course.  What is the Canvas Network?
    The Join code is: ****** (see your BLaST leader for the code)
  2. Once, registered, click HERE to access the Canvas Field Guide Course.


Teachers new to HallCo/Canvas:

  1. Access the Help>Training Services Portal. If you are new to this, find a Canvas Guide HERE.
  2. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Under Learning Library complete the learning pathway “K12 First Day Ready.” A series of four badges will be generated for the participant. One certificate will be generated upon completion and could be collected by the school.

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2020 Summer Courses

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2020 is our 5th year of Blended Learning June offerings, we are excited to offer Hall County teachers access to professional learning around the most effective tools to use in a blended learning setting. Online offerings open for enrollment May 22nd.

All eLearning sessions are online this year.
Some sessions have a synchronous component, please check your calendars in advance of signing up.

As always eLearning keeps a waiting list and strives to fill any vacancies which arise, so please consider signing up for the waitlist if you were not able to get into your favorite offering.

*teachers are not eligible to participate in certifications if they already hold that certification.

Visit Catalog when signed into Canvas to sign up for these courses and more!

 

 

 

 

 

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Canvas Training Updates

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Canvas Training has been updated!

Hall County School District offers many ways to learn about Canvas by Instructure, our learning management system (LMS).

Learn Canvas Face-to-Face

Five iterations of face-to-face training:

  • June 3, 4, 5
  • August 14, 15, 16
  • October 2, 3, 4
  • January 28, 29, 30
  • March 3, 4, 5

Each iteration offers Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced training. Each training contains activities directed by an expert from Canvas and the training contains activities that show participant competence.

Training Descriptions:

Beginning – Course Basics, Canvas Commons, Course Settings, Modules, Creating Content/Accessibility, Communication Tools, Assignments

Intermediate – Assessment Tools, Outcomes and Rubrics, Group Work & Collaboration, Gradebook and Speedgrader.
PREREQUISITE: Beginner Canvas Training or Growing with Canvas in Hall County online course (found in Catalog)

Advanced – Agenda to Include: managing assessments, group work and collaboration – Google and Office, mastery paths, getting starter with Badgr.
PREREQUISITE: Intermediate Canvas Training

Learn Canvas Online, on your Own

Online, Asynchronous Beginners Canvas course. Each month this course offers a way to work through the content on your own. See your BLaST leader for a reminder of how to sign-up in Catalog for a course as needed.

September 2019 Online Course

 

Learn On Demand with Canvas Experts

Canvas Training Support Services

You can watch videos or sign up for future, live webinars. These webinars have one expert who shows you what to do in Canvas and one Canvas expert who runs the chat window answering your questions.

You need to Authorize this, much like you did the first time you used Google within Canvas.

Make sure once you are logged in to look through the Learning Library and Training Calendar (below).  Your My Learning section is a listing of the sessions you have signed up for, with an option to reschedule.

Register for Live Webinars

Ther remain many ways for educators in our district to learn about Canvas.

Follow this blog for more information and to keep up on the latest face-to-face training on our calendar.

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Lucid Chart and Press Is Now Available

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Find Lucid Chart and Lucid Press on LaunchPoint for K-12 Hall County students and teachers.

Initial train-the-trainer training happened 9/26/19.  Find the session handouts at the end of this document.  The demonstration concept map can be found: bit.ly/LC-Demo and will work for anyone with a Lucid Chart account.

Lucid Chart

The Flowchart menu contains Flowchart symbols with specific meanings.

Lucid Chart allows for assigning a chart to students via Canvas.  Students receive a copy of the chart in their Lucid Chart account.  Students can submit their Lucid Charts to assignments (just like Google).  Additionally, student submissions can be graded and annotated in SpeedGrader within Canvas.

Lucid Chart offers the ability to create slides from the infinite canvas inside Charts.  The presentation is a “Prezi-like” experience and is worth your time to look at what this could mean for your classroom.

Lucid Press

Many products would benefit from the color palettes and/or the school mascot icons at identity.hallco.org.

Lucid Press offers Smart Templates with multiple product options.  More common products include brochure, flyer, invitations, magazine, and posters.  Lucid Press offers the features for high-quality printing for those interested in that specific facet.

 

Both Lucid Charts and Press offer the ability to collaborate between teachers and between students.  The share functionality can be activated through the platform and via a shared link.

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