In This Email

• Quick Tip - New Analytics Tool
  
• What's New with Webcourses@UCF
• Video Tip - Tips from Video@CDL
• UCF Apps for Remote Access to Software
• Sunsetting of Flash Technology
• Design with Quality in Mind - Academic Services in Your Syllabus
  
• Kelvin's Corner - How to Live with Wonder

With the withdrawal deadline of Friday, October 30th quickly approaching, now is a great time to reach out and communicate with students who might need additional reassurance or guidance. The New Analytics tool in Webcourses@UCF provides an easy way to message students who meet specific criteria such as missing or late assignments, or grades within a certain range. For example, you can send a message to students with an overall score greater than 80% to tell them they’re doing great or to inform students who turned in their assignment late that the late submission won’t be graded immediately.

New Analytics can be accessed from your Course Navigation bar or from the New Analytics button in the Course Home Page. Watch this New Analytics video for more information on how to use this very useful tool.

If you have questions or need assistance with New Analytics, please contact Webcourses@UCF Support.

This informative (and entertaining) video from the Video@CDL team provides great suggestions for recording your video presentations from home, including helpful tips for camera placement, lighting, backgrounds, and noise management.

Do your students need to access software only available in computer labs on campus? UCF Apps is the campus solution. It allows you to remotely access desktop software that is typically available only on campus in computer labs or by purchasing and installing that software on a student PC. Students can also access lab computers in Technology Commons and the UCF Library through the UCF Apps portal.

Access to UCF Apps is available in Webcourses@UCF from the Success Recourses page, under Tools. If you have questions or need assistance with UCF Apps, please contact Webcourses@UCF Support.

Do you have Adobe Flash files such as FLV or SWF in your courses? They will not be supported by the end of 2020. If you currently have content in any of the Flash formats, your students’ experience may be impacted now, and certainly will be in the near future. Explore the sunset of Flash technology. If you need technical assistance with your Flash content, contact Webcourses@UCF Support.

Looking for tips on designing your online course? Design with Quality in Mind is a collection of brief articles that explore best practices in online course design. Each post in this collection highlights one item that exemplifies quality online course design, based on UCF’s Quality and High-Quality Course Reviews, and showcases examples from UCF faculty. Check out our newest post of the collection, Introduce Academic Services and Resources in Your Syllabus, that describes ways to support students to succeed in your online courses.

To better serve faculty and allow for increased access to the Lightboard and other recording and editing tools, effective October 19, 2020, the Faculty Multimedia Center (FMC) is offering 2-hour reserved time slots available from Monday through Thursday. This will accommodate more teaching schedules while also continuing to ensure the safety of the FMC staff and faculty utilizing the space.

More information can be found on their recent announcement page.

As college instructors, we strive to demonstrate passion and invite students to find their passion. In today’s Kelvin’s Corner, we invite you to listen to this Good Life Project podcast titled, “How to Live with Wonder and Write the Truth”.  Guest speaker Shobha Rao -- an engineer, practiced attorney, celebrated literary novelist, and college instructor -- shares her journey, her love of literature, and her commitment to passion and wonder. Don’t skip this inspiring story.

Kelvin Thompson is the Executive Director for the Center for Distributed Learning. He is always finding, sharing, recommending interesting and insightful resources about teaching and learning.