A-Term 2024 Academic Technology Reminders

Happy Fall! We’ve been keeping busy all Summer with projects and are looking forward to the start of A-Term. As always, the ATC team is here to help you with your course preparations, whether in the classroom or otherwise. Please feel free to contact us to schedule a consultation with one of our Academic Technology experts at atc-ttl@wpi.edu.  

Summary  

  • Request Forms 
  • What’s New? 
  • Workshops 
  • Academic Technology Tools 
  • Consultations & Additional Support 
  • Contact Us & Hours 

 

Request Forms  

Canvas: Request Canvas sites to be merged, users added, new sites created, or content copied from a previous term: Canvas Site Modifications and Requests form 

Echo360: Set up automatic Echo360 Lecture Capture for the term: 
Echo360 Opt-in form  

In the Classroom: Request a wireless microphone to use in the classroom: 
Microphone Request form 

 

What’s New?  

Classroom Upgrades 

Stratton Hall is now open! ATC will hold walk-in A/V demonstrations of the podiums and A/V in the new classrooms. Join us on August 20th in SH 201 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM. 

Echo Self-Service 

Scheduling your own Echo class recordings just became even easier! Fill out the new Echo Request Form and your recording will be scheduled for you.  

Once you are done, check the Echo tab in your Canvas course to see your recording schedule for the term. 

Canvas Updates 

  • How do you say your name? This Spring, WPI introduced a Name Pronunciation feature to Workday. Now in Canvas, you can click on Name Pronunciation in the left-hand menu of your course site to hear your students’ name recordings! Encourage your students to record their names in Workday using these instructions. 
  • New Canvas Help Resource: This Summer we deployed a new helper tool inside Canvas. You may see additional guidance as you use your course throughout the term. Click on the Support button on the bottom right-hand side for easy access to customized Canvas Support articles! 

 

Call for Zoom Champions 

Has Zoom been an indispensable part of your course? Are you using any feature of Zoom in a new and interesting way? We’d love to hear from you and share your creative uses of our web conferencing tool with the WPI community and possibly even the higher education community as well! Let us know by e-mailing Jolene at jcotnoir@wpi.edu 

 

 

Workshops 

Canvas 

Perusall (social annotation tool) – Register here 

  • Monday, September 9th, 2024: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM  
  • Tuesday, September 24th, 2024: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM  

TurnItIn (similarity detection tool) – Register here 

  • Tuesday, September 10th, 2024: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (session will be recorded) 

Stratton Hall A/V 

  • Tuesday, August 20th, 2024:  11:00 AM – 12:30 PM, SH201 

 

Academic Technology Tools 

Canvas LMS 

Canvas is WPI’s official course website system to deploy learning materials, assessments, discussions, and grades.  

  • If your course is listed in Workday, a site will be generated automatically for you within Canvas. If you don’t see a course on your Dashboard, click on Courses > All Courses to find it. 
  • Canvas Tech Support - E-mail us at canvashelp@wpi.edu or click “Help” in the left-hand menu of Canvas for 24/7 tech support (available by phone, chat, or e-mail). 

Zoom Meetings and Zoom Phone 

Zoom is WPI’s web conferencing and telecommunications tool accessible from https://wpi.zoom.us 

  • Echo360 and Canvas allow automatic deployment of classroom lecture videos and Zoom Meeting recordings into your Canvas site!  
  • To learn more about using Zoom Meetings to engage with your students, check out the workshops above, or contact Jolene Cotnoir at jcotnoir@wpi.edu.   

Echo360: WPI’s Lecture Capture Platform 

  • Echo360 is available in every classroom or by accessing https://www.echo360.org from any computer with your WPI login credentials.   
  • How does Echo360 differ from Zoom? Start here with our Recording Lectures FAQ post and this comparison chart to learn more about each tool.   

Video Storage Options 

Are you maxing out your Canvas file storage? We can help!  

  • Learn more about options for streaming your lectures and uploading videos or other media that connect into Canvas for a seamless experience for you and your students.  
  • Please Note: Recordings stored in Zoom are deleted after 100 days, so we strongly recommend enabling this feature if you will be using Zoom for your classes.  

For more information or to request training on Echo360 or about storing video and media email echocapture@wpi.edu 

Classroom Engagement & Research Survey Tools 

Poll Everywhere is a web-based polling solution where students use their phone, tablets, and laptops to answer questions used for lecture engagement. You can even use it in Zoom!    

Simply go to https://www.polleverywhere.com and log in with your WPI email address and password to get started.   

Connecting Poll Everywhere and Canvas – connect your course directly from Canvas to Poll Everywhere.    

 

Looking for another way to efficiently assess and grade STEM work? 

WPI has a license for Gradescope. Gradescope is a browser-based tool that supports online, paper-based, and blended assignments, and cuts down grading time for science, math, and programming assessments. You can find more information in this FAQ Guide.  

If you don’t have a Gradescope account, you can create one on their homepage. We recommend using these short videos and the searchable Help Center to get started. 

Join our WPI Learning Community for Gradescope to learn more and to access documentation in our Team notebook.    
 

Adobe AI Tools 

As a faculty member you have access to Adobe products with your WPI email address.  Adobe has some great AI tools.  Learn about Adobe Generative AI and Firefly (the set of tools available online and inside Adobe Apps).
 

Camtasia Studio 

All faculty and staff have access to Camtasia Studio upon request from the IT Service Desk (its@wpi.edu). Camtasia is a screen recording and video editing program for creating highly-polished videos. Our team are ready to help you learn the software.  

 

Consultations & Additional Support 

If you’re looking to brush up on an old topic, or learn something new, the ATC-TTL team is here to help! Check out our consultation and training options below.   

Pre-Recorded Workshops & Micro-Trainings 

  • Micro-Trainings – individual Canvas, Echo360, Zoom topics- Learn in 10 minutes or less! 

Contact Us

E-mailatc-ttl@wpi.edu for any questions and we can help point you in the right direction. The Technology for Teaching and Learning (TTL) team is available M-F, 8am-5pm.  

 

Self-Service Resources 

  • TTL Blog – All academic technology resources, workshops, and new tech tools.  
  • Course Development in Canvas – Need a refresher? Looking for best practices? This site reviews how to build your course site whether you’re teaching face-to-face, online, and everything in-between.  

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *