New Year, New Updates to eLearning Tools
As you settle into a new semester at Ohio State, be sure to review the latest updates from the Office of Technology and Digital Innovation (OTDI). Learn more about new accessibility features added to CarmenZoom; check out a few improvements in CarmenCanvas as well as official guidance for proctoring; remind your students to renew their Adobe licenses; and learn about changes for accessing important software like Minitab.
As always, don’t forget to consult the Teaching and Learning Resource Center for guidance on using eLearning tools at Ohio State, as well as the Administrative Resource Center for support on other technology offerings, like Microsoft 365.
Zoom Accessibility and Scheduling Updates
Several new features are now available in CarmenZoom, many of which improve the accessibility of the tool. You will notice in any of your Zoom meetings the option to Show Captions across the bottom of your screen. Previously, meeting attendees had to request that the meeting host enable these captions, but now any audience member can toggle captions on for themselves.
If you choose the arrow symbol next to the Show Captions option, you will also see a larger selection of available languages. Zoom’s automated caption feature now offers Spanish, French, Ukrainian and more. Keep in mind, these are not translations—this just means that Zoom now recognizes more speaking languages.
When you are scheduling meetings, in addition to adding spoken language interpreters, you can also designate sign language interpreters. Participants who are assigned this role will appear in a separate window, so your attendees can view the presentation as well as the sign language interpretation at the same time. This feature must be enabled by the meeting host.
Zoom has also released a much-requested improvement for those who rely on others to schedule meetings on their behalf. If you have assigned scheduling privileges to others in your account (say an assistant, or a TA), you can also now grant them the ability to manage any cloud recordings from the meetings they schedule on your behalf. You can enable this feature for your account to grant all your schedulers this permission.
Keep Your Zoom Apps Up to Date
Be sure you are running the most recent version of Zoom across all your devices. It is always best practice to keep your apps updated for security reasons, and with Zoom it ensures you can take advantage of the latest features. Zoom now requires you to have a recent version of their app installed in order to join a Zoom call. University-managed devices receive routine updates to Zoom, but you should ensure your personal devices are up to date. Learn more about updating Zoom to the latest version.
CarmenCanvas Updates
Just in time for spring semester, Canvas has made a few updates to their interface. When creating Pages as an instructor, you can now delay their publication to a specific date and time, keeping the Page invisible to students until the set time. This makes planning ahead in your course even easier! Canvas has also updated the Grades view for students to improve the visibility of assignment scores and new feedback comments.
New Quizzes in CarmenCanvas
The New Quizzes tool is available for instructors to explore and can be enabled on a course-by-course basis. At this time, we do not recommend using the tool in active academic courses, as it is still in development. However, if you’d like to take a peek at upcoming quiz features, you can enable New Quizzes in one of your master or forum courses. Activating this feature for your course will allow you to choose between Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes when creating a new assessment. You can also view a release timeline in the Teaching and Learning Resource Center.
In-person Proctoring Alternatives
If you plan to use Proctorio or other online proctoring tools in your course, you must provide in-person proctoring options for students as well. Potential options include the Student Testing Center, Consortium of College Testing Centers, an Ohio State regional campus, Clark County Extension Office, OSU Extension Operations (Caldwell Office) or certified proctors. Learn more about proctoring options at Ohio State.
The Provost’s office has shared this guidance and syllabus language for proctoring accommodations, as well as recommended wording for religious accommodations and weather or other short-term university closings. Learn more at the Office of Academic Affairs site.
PebblePad
Ohio State has selected PebblePad to serve as an ePortfolio tool in support of the new General Education (GE) program, and its use will be required in some GE courses. All Ohio State faculty, staff and students will have access to PebblePad to create personal, professional and academic portfolios. If students in your course have questions about this tool, they can learn more in the Teaching and Learning Resource Center or at eportfolio.osu.edu.
Adobe Creative Cloud
All faculty, staff and students at Ohio State have access to Adobe Creative Cloud and its suite of desktop and mobile apps. You and your students can use Adobe to create professional videos, photos, websites and so much more. Please note, if your students opted into Adobe last semester, they will be asked to renew their access in January. If you plan to utilize Adobe for assignments this spring, you may want to remind your students to renew at the start of the semester.
Access to Minitab
Minitab has changed the way that they provide access to their software for faculty, staff, and students. Going forward, users will need to request access to receive a Minitab account through the Ohio State site-licensed software program. To request access to Minitab this semester, either personally or in a lab/classroom, email software@osu.edu to be given access to set up an account. Once access is provided, you will receive an email from Minitab that will step you through setting up an account. You can learn more about this change at the it.osu.edu site.
Remotely Access Software Using Virtual Desktop
Virtual Desktop has been used at Ohio State to remotely access software for several years, and the tool is currently available for all students and instructors at the university. From accessing software that usually requires a trip to an on-campus lab, to running Windows programs that are typically unavailable on a Mac, or using course-required software that can only be run on a high-powered machine, Virtual Desktop provides several benefits by making a select set of software available from anywhere with an internet connection. Be sure to remind your students of this valuable resource, especially as the weather may impact their ability (or desire) to visit an on-campus lab this term.
Microsoft 365 for Instructors and Students
If you or your students are looking for help with Microsoft 365, be sure to check out the Administrative Resource Center. Here you will find helpful guides, video demos, FAQs and more for the Microsoft 365 suite of tools. You can also join an upcoming training session, view recordings of past trainings, or request sessions for your college or department.
Looking for more information as you plan out your semester? Be sure to visit the Teaching and Learning Resource Center for help with our eLearning tools. Here you will also find a growing repository of teaching topics to learn more about best practices for planning your courses, choosing teaching strategies, supporting your students and more.