Committed to Your Informed Online Teaching Experience
Contents of this Faculty Update
Quick Tip - Grading Schemes
What's New with Webcourses@UCF
Video Tip - Tips for Faculty, From Faculty
Faculty Multimedia Center - Save the Date for the Grand Opening
Design with Quality in Mind - Accessibility Statements of Third-Party Tools
Reminders - Proactive Captioning, New Quizzes
Kelvin's Corner - The Power of Reflection
Things to Remember - First Day®, Affordability Counts
Quick Tip
Grading Schemes
Get Ready to Upload your Final Grades
Final grades are due in myUCF on Friday, May 6. You can upload your grades directly into PeopleSoft from Webcourses@UCF. To do so, you must have a course grading scheme enabled in Webcourses@UCF
You can select one of UCF’s default grading schemes (S/U, 10-percent scale, +/-) or create your own. Visit the Canvas Guides for instructions on how to add a Grading Scheme to your course.
What's New
What's New with Webcourses@UCF
This weekend's update includes the following changes or new features:
Course Settings – Assignment Default Due Time Field - The Assignment Default Due time can be modified in Course Settings. This change allows instructors to adjust the Assignments Default Due time to fit the course’s needs. The Assignment Default Due time will not update existing assignments with due dates already set.
New Quizzes – Fill in the Blank Questions - This change to New Quizzes allows instructors to create fill-in-the-blank questions with rich content such as scientific or mathematical formulas or a table. Additionally, instructors can format fill-in-the-blank questions to appear on separate, distinct lines.
Assistant Professor and Dziuban Award winner, Matt Dombrowski, highlights the importance of giving students the opportunity to assess and reflect upon their own work, and how this can bring about a better understanding between the student and instructor.
Mark your calendars and save the date for the Faculty Multimedia Center (FMC) grand re-opening on Monday, May 9, at 2:00 PM. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony, snacks, swag, and fun activities to show off the renovated facility. Look for updates on our FMC webpage.
It is important to provide students with information about the accessibility features of all technologies in an online course, including those that will be used outside the learning management system. Check out Link to Accessibility Statements of Third-Party Tools for tips on providing accessibility information about third-party tools.
As you continue to look for ways to improve your online and blended courses, take a look at the other posts in Design with Quality in Mind, a growing collection of brief articles based on UCF’s Quality and High-Quality Course Reviews, that describe ways to support all students to succeed in your online courses.
Reminders
Proactive Captioning
Caption Multimedia Content for the Benefit of All Students
The Proactive Captioning initiative for completely online (W) courses encourages and supports faculty in captioning their multimedia content for the benefit of all students. Funds are still available for the summer semester. Complete the Proactive Captioning request to have your ‘W’ course reviewed for captioning eligibility. Review the FAQs on the Proactive Captioning website for additional information.
A new quizzing engine (New Quizzes) is coming to Webcourses@UCF! You can start exploring what New Quizzes has to offer beginning Summer 2022. To learn more about the new quizzing tool, important timelines, resources, and to enroll in a self-paced online introduction course, visit the New Quizzes Migration page. (Note: Your existing quizzes will not be affected at this time.)
The Power of Reflection
An End of Semester Exercise
Now is the time to reflect and take note of improvements that can be made for next semester. Kelvin recommends this 35-minute episode from the Lasallian Way Online podcast from the Christian Brothers University called “The Power of Reflection.” In this episode, online instructors and instructional designers discuss the multiple ways reflection can be carried out to benefit both faculty and students.
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.
Things to Remember
First Day® Program
The deadline for First Day® eligible Fall 2022 courses is Monday, April 25, 2022.
