Learn@UW Newsletter, week of August 2 - UW–⁠Madison Information Technology

What’s Happening?

Canvas – New “Smart Search” Available as Feature Preview

A new Canvas “Smart Search” course search tool is available as a feature preview for instructors to enable. Students and instructors can use the tool to search for content in Canvas courses. For more information about the tool and how to enable it, refer to this KnowledgeBase document. Instructors using Smart Search are encouraged to share feedback by posting to the Smart Search discussion forum on the Canvas Community.

Canvas – Changes to Librarian Role

Effective August 1, the Canvas role of Librarian has been altered. Individuals possessing that role are now able to view and edit grades, and view student submissions. The KnowledgeBase article on Canvas course-level roles has been updated to reflect these changes.

Atomic Assessments – Lunch & Learn, Aug. 8

On Thursday, August 8, from 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm (CT), interested individuals can attend a free vendor-hosted Atomic Assessments session, “Lunch & Learn – Back to School: Navigating Atomic Assessments’ New Simplified UI”. For more information and to register, click here.

Kaltura – New Player and Canvas Integration, Aug. 15

On August 15, Learn@UW–‍Madison will enable two Kaltura product enhancements: a new player with transcription widget, and a revised Canvas integration. For more information, refer to this KnowledgeBase News article.

Canvas – Changes to Syllabus & Course Summary, Aug. 16

The Learn@UW–‍Madison team is streamlining syllabus options in the UW–‍Madison instance of Canvas. As a result, changes will be made on August 16 to the Course Summary tool as well as the HelioCampus AC Syllabus integration. Instructors and course designers will need to be aware of these changes and adjust their Canvas courses accordingly. For more information, please refer to this website news article.

Engage – Order Period for Spring 2025

All instructors and instructional support staff interested in using eTexts or Publisher digital learning tools for spring 2025 should mark their calendars. The order period will run from October 21 to December 2. Watch future newsletters for reminders.

Learn@UW–‍Madison – New Training Session: Canvas – New Analytics

Learn@UW–‍Madison is hosting training sessions in August. We just added a brand new event, Canvas – New Analytics. This session explores Canvas’ New Analytics tools, intended to help instructors and course designers better understand how students engage with course content. This session is developed and delivered in partnership with UW–‍Madison’s Learning Analytics Center of Excellence.

For dates and times, and to register, refer to the Upcoming events section, below.

Upcoming Events

HelioCampus AC Training

HelioCampus AC is UW–‍Madison’s enterprise course evaluation platform. The following training sessions are intended for our 150+ HelioCampus AC school and departmental administrators.

Click here to register for any of the sessions.

Clean Up NEW!

Running HelioCampus AC surveys for multiple years may result in a lot of “clutter”: outdated survey forms, defunct survey schedules, unwanted (unexpected?) survey instances. This new “Clean Up” session provides the opportunity to explore your school or department’s HelioCampus AC dashboards, and consider effective strategies to reclaim control of the content.

Monday, August 5, 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Canvas Non-Credit Community of Practice, August 21

Join us for an engaging Community of Practice event on August 21st at 10:30 am! Discover invaluable Tips & Tricks for utilizing Canvas and enhancing your teaching/training experience. Don’t miss out—expand your Canvas skills and connect with fellow educators! No registration necessary. You can find a link to the meeting on the flyer, or visit the SharePoint Board for the Non-Credit Community of Practice. Join our growing community!

We are constantly seeking new members for the Non-Credit Community of Practice SharePoint board. Request access today to stay updated on all events and valuable information available. Use the SharePoint Board link to navigate to the page and on the right side of the page, select Join this Community. If you already have a MySite, the community you just joined will be added to your list of followed sites.