Year: 2021

Accessibility Improvements with Canvas & Microsoft Immersive Reader Integration

To bring awareness to Invisible Disabilities Week (10/17-10/23), I wanted to share an exciting Canvas update to our Microsoft Immersive Reader integration. Accessibility tools like Immersive Reader can help remove systemic barriers and ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful learning opportunities. What is Microsoft Immersive Reader? Immersive Reader is a full…Continue Reading Accessibility Improvements with Canvas & Microsoft Immersive Reader Integration

B-Term 2021 Academic Technology Updates 

B-Term is approaching and the ATC team is already preparing for the new term. We’re here to help facilitate delivery of academic content on-campus or remotely. If you have any questions about using the instructional technology tools available at WPI, please reach out to us or attend one of our workshops!  Summary  Canvas Updates and Support Video Publishing,…Continue Reading B-Term 2021 Academic Technology Updates 

Goodbye Ensemble, Hello Echo360

Ensemble is a video content management system at WPI. It has been in used since 2012 and will be sunsetted at the end of the 2021-2022 academic year. New videos will be accepted into Ensemble until December 16th, 2021. After that point, existing Ensemble videos will be migrated to Echo360. This post explains how to…Continue Reading Goodbye Ensemble, Hello Echo360

Compelling Reasons to Caption Video

“When  students are able to access their accommodations, without barriers,  this is a wonderful thing,” says Amy Curran, Director of Accessibility Services at WPI. In the education field, an accommodation refers to a modification that has been put in place in order to enable students to access the curriculum in both an in-person and virtual classroom setting. …Continue Reading Compelling Reasons to Caption Video

Flexibility Options in Canvas

In response to recent discussions about how to extend flexibility options to students in Canvas, I thought it would be helpful to provide to draft up an FAQ guide for instructors… Q: Am I required to post a due date when adding an assignment? A: No! Canvas provides a due date field, but it is not…Continue Reading Flexibility Options in Canvas

Lecture Capture by Default in A/B/F classes

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POST IS NOW CONSIDERED ARCHIVED. THIS “LECTURE CAPTURE BY DEFAULT” FORMAT EXPIRED 5/10/22 AND WPI IS NOW BACK TO AN OPT-IN/BY-REQUEST LECTURE CAPTURE PROCESS. INSTRUCTORS CAN REQUEST LECTURE CAPTURE USING THE REQUEST FORM. In response to the recent email sent out by John McNeill and Reeta Rao, CERT Academic Liaisons, and with…Continue Reading Lecture Capture by Default in A/B/F classes

Welcome back! Another A-Term “Academic Technology Center Update”

Welcome back everyone! The Academic Technology Center has been busy all summer with training and new tech tools to ease the transition for Fall. As always, we’re here to support you every step of the way.  We just had our annual New Faculty Orientation this week, it was great to connect with all the amazing…Continue Reading Welcome back! Another A-Term “Academic Technology Center Update”

Technology Tools for Teaching & Learning

ECHO 360 Can be scheduled to automatically start/stop for classroom capture and can provide live stream if requested. Allows students to re-watch a recorded lecture to gain clarity when they don’t feel comfortable announcing in front of their peers that they are confused about the content. Supports students whose primary language is not English because…Continue Reading Technology Tools for Teaching & Learning

ECE Professor Boosts Engagement with Creative Videos

Maqsood Mughal’s expertise with Open Broadcaster Suite (OBS), an open source software for creating and streaming videos, has been well-earned. After first hearing about the software during a KEEN (Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network) workshop in 2019, it again flew across his radar in 2020, during the Online Pedagogy Workshop. “Last summer, I took this online…Continue Reading ECE Professor Boosts Engagement with Creative Videos