What’s happening?
.Gradescope – Planned outage, October 25
Gradescope will be conducting six hours of maintenance from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 25. There may be some interruptions in service during that time. For details, see this announcement from Gradescope.
Honorlock – Update release, October 28
On Tuesday, October 28th, Honorlock will release an update for the web application. Some notable changes include:
- Continuity Camera behavior: Fixed an issue where an iPhone’s camera could replace the preselected webcam during a pop-in due to the macOS Continuity Camera feature.
- Post-exam survey language: Resolved a bug where the post-exam survey did not appear in the test taker’s selected language.
- Pause screen reliability: Fixed a bug that allowed test takers who received a “face not detected” pause screen to bypass it by refreshing or closing their camera/proctoring window.
The update will begin at 7:00 a.m. and run for 60 minutes. There will be no downtime. Full details of this release can be found in the release notes, along with information about other recent Honorlock enhancements like enhanced privacy controls and accessibility improvements.
Atomic Assessments – Update release, November 4
Atomic Assessments will be putting out an update on the evening of November 4. Included are several new features as well as some bug fixes. For full details, visit the release notes website.
DesignPLUS – Coming November 4
Learn@UW is proud to announce the launch of a new learning technologies tool, DesignPLUS from Cidilabs.
Beginning Tuesday, November 4, owners and developers of Canvas courses will have access to this powerful design and layout tool within the Canvas rich-text editor.
KnowledgeBase articles will soon be available. In the meantime, get started learning about the tool by visiting the vendor support pages.
Engage – Spring ordering period now open
The Engage ordering period spring 2026 is now open and runs through Friday, December 1.
To explore the tool and how it all works, refer to Learn@UW’s extensive library of Engage KnowledgeBase articles.
To review what resources (i.e. textbooks) are available in digital form, open the Engage order tool, and browse the catalogs.
HelioCampus AC – Being replaced with Blue
HelioCampus AC is being phased out and replaced with a new system for the student evaluation of teaching, called “Blue.”
Some campus groups are already using Blue this semester as part of a soft launch. Campus will continue migration through spring and summer of 2026.
For details, visit the Course Evaluation Tool Transition Project page.
Upcoming events
Learn@UW demystifies AI
Get introduced to the basics of two UW–Madison generative artificial intelligence tools in our one-hour overview workshop. No registration required. Click the links below for Zoom room links.
Mid-semester Canvas training
Using Canvas to Prepare for Next Semester
It’s that time of the semester when some instructors start looking towards the next iteration of their Canvas courses. This one-hour session will help you think through some good strategies, and will introduce several Canvas functions and features that will make that process more effective.
Faculty Center Grade Prep Tool
This is a 30-minute introduction and demo to a nice time-saving tool that will facilitate your transference of grades from Canvas into the Faculty Center.
- Thu, Dec 4, 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
- Fri, Dec 5, 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
- Mon, Dec 8, 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
- Thu, Dec 11, 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Wed, Dec 17, 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Top Hat vendor-hosted webinar, October 30
On October 30 at 1:00 p.m. (CT), Top Hat is hosting a webinar titled “SNAFU EDU: What to Do When Teaching Goes Sideways.” During this session, “Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus will debunk the myth of the perfect professor and share a toolkit of strategies you can use to navigate the chaos with confidence and a whole lot more ease. Plus, receive a certificate of attendance for professional development credit.
To register, click here.
HelioCampus AC training
For all departmental and school HelioCampus AC administrators, we offer the following courses to help you prepare for this semester’s post-course evaluation. Click on any of the links below to attend.