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 faculty coming on board this year, despite being interrupted by a tornado warning! That was a new one.
It’s also been wonderful to be able to reconnect in-person with our amazing returning faculty. We like to take the opportunity in the Fall to give an overview of the newest and the greatest edtech tools at WPI, as well as some timely reminders of how to get support from your friendly, local Academic Technology Center. Welcome back!
New & Noteworthy in Academic Technology for 2021
- Still thinking about your course and how you can support your students who might need more flexibility in A-term due to the ongoing pandemic? Check out this infographic and consider consulting with one of our Instructional Designers to help identify what asynchronous and synchronous teaching and learning activities you might consider incorporating into your course using either Echo360 or Zoom.
- Canvas Updates: Check out “what’s new in Canvas” this year!
- Microsoft Teams & Canvas: Each of your courses may have a Microsoft Team generated from your course roster. If you have a cross-listed course, please contact us at canvashelp@wpi.edu to merge your sections (if desired) before generating your Team.
- Logitech Meetups are available in classrooms to facilitate using Zoom to connect with remote students. Echo360 appliances are available for lecture capture in classrooms.
- We have a new lightboard studio in Gordon Library available for faculty to use to create more dynamic video recordings. Want to know more about how or why you might use a lightboard?
Here’s our usual bit to remind you of the services the ATC offers to help you get ready for Fall.
- The Technology for Teaching and Learning (TTL) team is back in the office for A-Term! In addition, we are available via Zoom if you are not able to stop by to see us in the library or Fuller. We can help you with the tools you use every day like Echo360, Studio, Ensemble, Zoom, Canvas, Poll Everywhere, and Qualtrics. We also have 2 Instructional Designers on the team who can help you design an engaging experience for your students no matter where you’re teaching from and where your students are.
- All WPI classrooms are now equipped with Echo360 Lecture Capture recording. If you want to broadcast live to remote students, you can do it with Echo! To connect your Canvas course to your Echo recordings, please use our form. Not sure if Echo is the right tool? What about Zoom? Check out our comparison chart to determine which software is right for your needs.
- Canvas is now connected to Workday! All courses that are listed in Workday receive a blank Canvas course site, ready for your customizations! Spring 2022 courses will be added to Canvas later in September. To request changes to your Fall/A/B 2021 site (merge multiple sections, add TAs, or import older content) please use our form.
- Want a new Canvas site for something not class related? Please use our form to request a brand new site.
- Looking for training? We have an ever growing list of pre-recorded trainings from our team so you can learn something new on your schedule. Check out our Workshops page for the schedule of live trainings, and the On Demand Trainings page for previously recorded trainings. We love doing one-on-one trainings in person or via Zoom, if you’d like one please email us at atc-ttl@wpi.edu.
Not sure what you need? Other questions? Email atc-ttl@wpi.edu and we’ll point you in the right direction.