It’s not too early to begin planning your end-of-semester course activities. Here are a few suggestions on Canvas tools, Gradebook tips, and upcoming workshops to help you round out your semester.

Group Projects 

Groups are a subset of a course with their own Canvas site and provide students with opportunities to collaborate, exchange ideas, and review peer work.

Watch the 4min: 52sec video tutorial on creating and managing group sets and groups in a course. 

After creating groups sets and groups, you can: 

• Edit a group set
• View all group sets
• View content and student activity within a group

For graded/ungraded assignments 

• Add a rubric to an assignment or discussion
• Grade group assignments in SpeedGrader
• Prevent students from switching groups in self sign-up groups

Learn more about creating Group assignments and discussions

• Tools to Facilitate Group Work in Canvas

Note: As an alternative to group assignments and discussions, you can create student peer-to-peer interaction by designing Peer Review assignments and discussions in a course. See Peer Review Tips.  

Gradebook Tips 

While the Gradebook is a helpful tool for organizing grading in your course, there are additional features to know about that allow for more than just managing scores.

• How do I use the Gradebook? (A Review) 
  • Providing Audio/Video Feedback — For when you have a lot to say 
  • Messaging Students Who… — For giving students a little nudge when needed 
• Adding annotated comments in student submissions using DocViewer in SpeedGrader 
• Using New Analytics — For giving instructors insight into their course and allowing them to ask and answer certain questions. 

Designing Assessments 

It’s getting close to the end of the semester, so that means final exams, essays, and more.

Helpful assessment information:

• How do I give extra credit in a course? 
• What is Turnitin Similarity, and how do I use it?
• Learn more about building and giving quizzes in the Quizzes section of the Online@UT (Canvas) Resource Guide.
• Use the Akindi Importer to create your quiz.

Best Practices for Online Assessments, self-paced workshops
This workshop offers a comprehensive guide to designing and delivering practical assessments online. The asynchronous workshop will take you through pedagogical design thinking that undergirds valid and practical evaluation. We will cover strategies for using Canvas and Canvas-integrated tools, considerations for providing feedback that learners use, and share information about non-Canvas quiz assessment methods to consider deterring cheating. Log in

Live Workshops 

You won’t want to miss the upcoming live workshops for Turnitin Similarity and Canvas Analytics for Student Success.

Upcoming workshops for the end of the semester:

• Introduction to Turnitin
  April 5^th at 2 PM | April 20^th at 11 AM
  Turnitin offers superlative online text matching via their integration with Canvas Assignments. Instructors will learn how to set up Turnitin Similarity in their Canvas Assignments and how to read and interpret the similarity report that Turnitin generates for each student Assignment submission. Register
  
• Canvas Assignments and Grades
  April 19^th at 9:30 AM
  This workshop will focus on the Canvas assignment tool faculty can use to track and improve student learning. Instructors will also learn the relationship between Canvas assignments and the grade book. We’ll go beyond the nuts and bolts of assignment creation and management by learning about many best practices and helpful hints that can contribute toward a better, more efficient online experience for both you and your students. Register
  
• Canvas: Analytics for Student Success
  April 26^th at 3:00 PM
  Analytics can improve student success by providing insight into student learning behaviors. Faculty will learn how to assess the effectiveness of their online teaching methods, identify areas that need improvement, and identify at-risk students. Register
  
• Check out additional live workshops on the OIT Training Calendar.  

Helpful Links

• Look for OIT’s self-paced workshops in Canvas Catalog.    
• Review our support documentation on Canvas assignments, grading, quizzes, and more. 
• Complete OIT’s self-paced Canvas Training for Faculty and Staff at your own pace. 
• If you need assistance setting up an assessment, please contact us by filling out a Teaching and Learning Technologies help request.