Using "Students in Need of Attention" at the Course Level in Canvas
IT Update Thomas Lewis IT Update Thomas Lewis

Using "Students in Need of Attention" at the Course Level in Canvas

Identify At-Risk Students Early with Canvas’s New “Students in Need of Attention” Dashboard
Discover how this powerful tool in New Analytics helps faculty spot disengagement, low performance, and missed assignments before they become barriers to success. Learn how to customize alerts, explore student trends, and take meaningful action—right from your Canvas course.

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Improving Assignment Setup Ease and Academic Integrity with the Turnitin Plagiarism Framework
IT Update Brandi Bleak IT Update Brandi Bleak

Improving Assignment Setup Ease and Academic Integrity with the Turnitin Plagiarism Framework

One key advantage of the Plagiarism Framework is the required checkbox students must click before submitting their assignment, confirming that the work is their own, original content. This small but intentional step can serve as a deterrent to academic dishonesty by prompting students to reflect on the integrity of their submission.

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Improvements to the Canvas Course Import Process
IT Update Thomas Lewis IT Update Thomas Lewis

Improvements to the Canvas Course Import Process

Recent updates to Canvas have improved how course content is imported and managed. Instructors will now notice that importing previously used materials no longer creates duplicates—content is overwritten instead, helping keep course shells more organized. The Import Content interface has also been refreshed for clarity, with enhanced timezone displays and flexible options for shifting or removing due dates. These changes aim to simplify course setup and support a smoother teaching experience across terms.

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New Canvas Features: March 2025 Updates
IT Update Thomas Lewis IT Update Thomas Lewis

New Canvas Features: March 2025 Updates

As part of our commitment to improving your teaching and learning experience, we’re excited to share new updates in Canvas, available as of January 18, 2025. These updates foster collaboration, simplify course management, and promote inclusivity. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the most impactful updates and their benefits.

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Studio Now Has Automated Captioning!
IT Update Thomas Lewis IT Update Thomas Lewis

Studio Now Has Automated Captioning!

Creating accessible content is an essential part of effective teaching in higher education. Canvas Studio now offers automatic captioning to make your media files more inclusive and user-friendly. This feature not only enhances accessibility for students with hearing impairments but also supports learning preferences for non-native speakers, visual learners, and others who benefit from captions.

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Importing and Exporting Course Content
IT Update Thomas Lewis IT Update Thomas Lewis

Importing and Exporting Course Content

As part of our course archival process in Canvas, it’s important to ensure that all course materials are securely backed up and easily accessible for future reference. This guide will walk you through the steps to export and import Canvas courses, providing a reliable way to save your course content for subsequent use. Additionally, instructions are included to help you access your files and folders through Microsoft OneDrive using your FSCJ credentials. 

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Announcing, Simple Syllabus as the FSCJ Approved Syllabus Platform
IT Update Brandi Bleak IT Update Brandi Bleak

Announcing, Simple Syllabus as the FSCJ Approved Syllabus Platform

We are very excited to announce the adoption of Simple Syllabus as FSCJ’s improved process for creating, submitting, and sharing course syllabi. Simple Syllabus will replace the FSCJ Online Syllabus Builder, and instructors are required to use Simple Syllabus for all syllabus creation and submission starting with the Spring 2025 term. 

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Discussions Bug - Threaded Replies
IT Update Thomas Lewis IT Update Thomas Lewis

Discussions Bug - Threaded Replies

A recent Canvas update caused some inconsistencies in discussion settings, where certain discussions may have had threading disabled unintentionally. If you created a discussion intending to allow threaded replies but found this option disabled, you can correct it by unchecking the "Disallow Threaded Replies" setting when editing your discussion.

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What’s New in Canvas for the Fall 2024 Term?
IT Update Thomas Lewis IT Update Thomas Lewis

What’s New in Canvas for the Fall 2024 Term?

Recent updates to Canvas include enhancements focused on usability and readability for FSCJ faculty. Key improvements include the option to disallow threaded replies in discussions, visual separators between discussion posts for better clarity, and a generative AI-powered discussion summarization tool. Additionally, the Smart Search feature enhances search functionality, while updates to SpeedGrader and the Gradebook improve grading efficiency with features like draft indicators for comments and streamlined messaging options.

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