Learn@UW newsletter, week of May 15
What’s new
Canvas – Updates on last week’s outage
Last week, UW-Madison–and thousands of educational institutions across the globe–experienced a multi-day shutdown of Canvas.
Canvas is currently back online as normal. Learn@UW continues to receive updates from Instructure, the Canvas vendor, about the incident and the steps they are taking to ensure security and stability of their service going forward.
Our team would like to thank our distributed partners who handled the event with professionalism and poise. We are proud to work side by side with you.
If you are interested in following updates from Instructure about this incident, you can find them at their incident update page: https://www.instructure.com/incident_update.
Kaltura – Auto captioning for all new videos
Effective May 13, UW-Madison’s Kaltura media management service will automatically add machine-generated captions (auto captions) to all new videos. Kaltura’s auto captioning process converts audio content of a video into text and displays the text at the bottom of the video screen.
- “Do I need to opt into this process?” No. This is an automatic service that applies to all videos uploaded after May 13.
- “What if I want to make changes to the transcript/caption file?” Captions can be quickly edited. For instructions, click here.
- “Will this auto-captioning apply to videos uploaded prior to May 13?” No. If you would like older media files processed through auto captioning, click here.
Honorlock – Recent feature updates
On May 13, Honorlock released several changes that improved the test-taking process, such as clearer recording indicators to help test takers better understand when recording begins. For more information about what was included in this update, see Honorlock’s release notes.
Engage – Update to Engage eReader, May 15
This morning (May 15), Unizin transitioned the Engage eReader tool from RedSource to VitalShelf. The functionality remains largely the same, with some slight adjustments in the interface. For more information about what to expect, review this Learn@UW news item.
Top Hat – News and releases for May & June
Top Hat is planning to introduce some new features in May and June, including respecting course-based roles in Canvas. They are also offering training sessions this summer. For full details, see Top Hat’s monthly newsletter.
Upcoming events
Learn@UW Demystifies AI
This hour-long, fully remote session provides an overview of artificial intelligence for employees of UW-Madison. All faculty and staff are invited to attend any of the following sessions.
Registration is required, and enrollment for each session is capped at 100.
Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring
Enhancing Online Education summer programs
Enhancing Online Education helps instructors adopt evidence-based methods for successful online teaching. This summer’s topics are:
- Instructional Materials
- Course Planning
- Course Management
- Fostering Community
- Cultivating Inclusivity
Top Hat Summer Camp
The Curiosity-Driven Classroom
“Help your faculty gain practical, research-informed strategies to boost student motivation and belonging this fall. At this this free, two-day virtual event, renowned experts Dr. Derek Bruff and Dr. Todd Zakrajsek will share how to design learning environments that spark curiosity and participation in the age of AI. Discover how small shifts in course design can drive deeper thinking and ensure every student feels motivated to succeed.”
- Thursday, June 18, 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CT
- Thursday, July 16, 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. CT
(This training is provided by the vendor.)
DesignPLUS – Summer School, June 22-26
All instructors, instructional designers and support staff are invited to attend Cidi Labs DesignPLUS Summer School. It is a free one-hour commitment, each day, for the week of Monday, June 22.
Click here for more information and to register. (This training is provided by the vendor.)