Tag: lists

Learning Labs

Introducing Learning Labs

Briana Fraser

Learning Labs are interactive, focused, and supported learning sessions where you can learn how to implement Langara’s teaching and learning technologies and tools. Capacity is limited to ensure all attendees have an opportunity to ask questions, try out tools, and receive support. Support in the room will reflect the technology, tool, and learning outcomes; however, you can expect to interact with EdTech Advisors, Specialists, and Technologists as well as TCDC Curriculum Consultants. The Labs are an opportunity to implement something new or improve what already exists with experts who can answer technical questions and provide advice.

Fall Learning Lab session topics include:

Brightspace HTML Templates

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to:

  • Use the Brightspace HTML editor.
  • Explain the benefits of using the Brightspace HTML templates.
  • Apply the templates to a new Brightspace HTML page.
  • Apply the latest version of the template to an existing Brightspace HTML page.
  • Mix and match HTML elements—such as image placement, accordions, callouts, tables, and tabs—from the various templates.

Adding closed captions to a video in Brightspace

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to:

  • Upload a video to MediaSpace.
  • Add closed captions to a video.
  • Use the MediaSpace captions editor.
  • Use the OneDrive captioning tool.
  • Embed a video in a Brightspace course file.

Creating an accessible Word document

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to:

  • Employ plain language.
  • Select styles that improve legibility of text.
  • Structure a document.
  • Create accessible hyperlinks and tables.
  • Add alternative text to visual content.
  • Use the built-in accessibility checker.

Improving the accessibility of existing PowerPoint slides

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to:

  • Avoid the most common PowerPoint accessibility mistakes.
  • Use the accessibility checker and make corrections.
  • Apply templates.
  • Apply structure.
  • Select accessible fonts and font styling.
  • Employ accessible use of colour.
  • Add alternative text to images.
  • Write meaningful hyperlink text.

Save time marking with Rubrics

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to: 

  • Define the purpose of the assignment or assessment 
  • Decide which type of rubric will be used with assignments
  • Create statements of expected performance at each level of the rubric 
  • Transfer analog rubrics into a digital version on Brightspace 
  • Associate their rubric with the assignment in Brightspace 

 

Fostering Learner Engagement with ePortfolios

Fostering Learner Engagement with ePortfolios

susanbonham

EdTech is pleased to welcome Dr. Gail Ring and Dr. Melissa Shaquid Pirie Cross to campus to share their expertise on ePortfolios on November 21st from 11:00-12:00 (in person and online).

Registration Information

Here’s what they’ve shared about their presentation:

True learning ePortfolios provide students with multiple opportunities to revisit and reconsider the evidence of their learning experiences and present that learning to an external audience. As ePortfolio practitioners and evangelists, we have long believed in the power of ePortfolios to facilitate student learning, agency and engagement. We also understand that the practices of folio thinking, and the benefits that can be achieved by those practices, often requires a pedagogical shift from both faculty and students.

In this presentation we will share stories that demonstrate how portfolios can contribute a more learner-centered, process-oriented approach to teaching and learning supporting:

  • Reflection by giving students an opportunity to pause and reflect on their accomplishments, which often reveals new learning that can contribute to the development of their professional and digital identities.
  • Integrative learning over time, across contexts, and with intention (Patton and Reynolds, 2014) through Portfolio development and folio thinking practices.
  • Engagement of faculty in professional development applications and uses that lead to the integration of portfolios into instruction and assessment throughout the curriculum.

The result of these efforts include reflective, evidence-rich portfolios that have future value for both students and the university to showcase learning successes throughout/across the learning journey.

We will share a variety of examples that encompass everything from preparation for university to preparation for career. The examples presented will demonstrate holistic learning and lifelong folio participation practices.

Bios: 

Dr. Gail Ring, Director of Service and Partnerships for PebblePad, North America

Gail has had an extensive career in higher education. In addition to her work as an educator, she has founded and directed a number of teaching and learning centers. Formerly, she was the Director, Portfolio Program, Clemson University. For more information about Dr. Ring, including her research and publications, please see her professional portfolio.

Dr. Melissa Shaquid Pirie Cross, Implementation Specialist for PebblePad, North America

In addition to being an educator, Melissa has had roles as a public relations and retention specialist, a coordinator of dual enrollment programs, a director of student and academic services, and a faculty training and development coordinator in several community college and public universities. She has taught with portfolios extensively at Portland State University and is passionate about sharing her expertise with folio pedagogy.

What’s New in Brightspace

Ari Crossby

Brightspace Updates 
Assignments:  

  • Instructors who teach several courses can save time by copying assignment folders to other courses.  From your assignment folder, use the context menu to copy your assignment to another course. 

Copy Assignment to Other Courses

  • Access new shortcuts to undo and redo PDF annotations on evaluations.  Previously, the only way to remove PDF annotations in Assignments was to use the eraser tool or delete the selection.  Now, an undo / redo button has been added for PDF annotations when evaluating in Assignments. 

Classlists: 

  • Pronouns can now be viewed from the Classlist and by hovering over a learner’s name or profile in the submission views within the assignment area.
  • If you have students in your course with Extended Time on Exams within their accommodation letter, you may now Edit Accommodations directly from your Classlist.  Using the context menu for the student with the Extended Time allotment, choose Edit Accommodations.  From there, you can adjust the timing to suit the accommodation letter.

 

Quizzes: 

  • “Disable Right Click” will be retired as of August 2022 within the quizzes area of Brightspace courses.  As the web has developed and browsers have become more secure, browsers have reduced the ability for web sites to control end-user behaviour.  Students are now able to install extensions such as “Allow Right Click” or use the browser developer console to skirt any restrictions, so “Disable Right Click” feature in Brightspace gives you a false sense of security.  
  • Save time and prevent data loss with the Restore Deleted Quizzes functionality.  This feature adds a new option in quizzes that allows instructors to restore deleted quizzes.  This option appears in the More Actions menu in the Quizzes tool.


 

Turnitin and Student Privacy

Ari Crossby

Turnitin is a text matching tool that compares students’ written work with a database of student papers, web pages, and academic publications. The two main uses for Turnitin are: 1) for formative or low-stakes assessment of paraphrasing or citation; and 2) for prevention and identification of plagiarism.

Privacy Concerns

When an assignment is submitted to Turnitin for a text matching report, the student’s work is saved as part of Turnitin’s database of more than 1 billion student papers. This raises privacy concerns that include:

  • Students’ inability to remove their work from the database
  • The indefinite length of time that papers are stored
  • Access to the content of the papers, especially personal data or sensitive content, including potential security breaches of the server

Copyright Concerns

In addition, saving a student’s work on Turnitin’s database without their consent may put an institution at risk for legal action based on Canadian copyright law (Strawczynski, 2004). 

Guidelines for Using Turnitin

To mitigate these concerns, we recommend the following guidelines for all instructors using Turnitin:

  1. Be clear and transparent that you will be using Turnitin. Even if a course outline includes a statement indicating that Turnitin will be used in a course, we recommend not relying on that statement alone. Ideally, instructors should also explain to students that their papers will be stored on the company’s database and ask for their consent. If they don’t provide consent, have an alternate plan (see below).
  2. Decide whether or not students’ work needs to be saved on Turnitin’s database. The default is for all papers to be saved, but this can be changed. Not saving papers to the database means that those papers can’t be used to generate future similarity reports, but it does remove the privacy and copyright concerns.
  3. Coach students to remove identifying details. If the students’ submissions will be added to Turnitin’s database, make sure you get them to remove any personal information from their assignment, including their name, student number, address, etc. Meta-data that is embedded should also be removed (e.g. in track changes or file properties). If you’re having them submit to an assignment folder on Brightspace, their name will be with their submission so it shouldn’t be a problem if it’s not on the paper itself.
  4. Don’t run a similarity report for an individual student without their knowledge. Ethical use of Turnitin occurs when it is transparently and equally used for all students. Running a report only on a specific student’s work without their knowledge or consent is not transparent or equal.
  5. Consider whether or not the assignment is appropriate for Turnitin. If the students need to include personal or sensitive information in the assignment, Turnitin should probably not be used. If you do decide to use it, the students’ papers should not be stored in the database.
  6. If contacted by another institution, be cautious about revealing student information. If at some point in the future there is a match to one of your student’s papers in Turnitin’s database, Turnitin does not give the other institution access to the text of the paper but will provide the instructor at the other institution with your email. If you are contacted about a match, consider carefully before forwarding the paper or any identifying details about the student to the other institution. If you do want to forward the paper, you should obtain the student’s consent.

Alternatives to Confirm Authorship When Turnitin is Not Used

If a student objects to having their paper submitted to Turnitin, or if the assignment is not appropriate for submission to Turnitin because it includes personal or sensitive content, you can increase confidence that the students are doing their own work in other ways. For example, an instructor can require any or all of the following:

  • submission of multiple drafts
  • annotation of reference lists
  • oral defence of their work

Requiring students to complete any or all of these will increase the student’s workload which would mean that students who opt out of Turnitin aren’t at an advantage over students who opt in.

Helping Students Make Turnitin Work for Them

If you’re using Turnitin, it’s highly recommended that you adjust the settings to allow the students to see their similarity reports. You may need to teach students how to interpret the reports if they haven’t learned how to do so from a previous course. Turnitin’s website has resources if you need them (https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/student/student-category.htm#TheSimilarityReport) and you can also point your students to the Turnitin link on Langara’s Help with Student Learning Tools iweb (https://iweb.langara.ca/lts/brightspace/turnitin/). Finally, remember that these reports won’t be helpful to a student if they’re not given the chance to revise and resubmit after they see the report. In Brightspace, we recommend that instructors set up two separate assignment folders with Turnitin enabled: one for their draft and one for the final submission.

Have questions?

If you need support with Turnitin, please contact edtech@langara.ca

References

Strawczynski, J. (2004). When students won’t Turnitin: An examination of the use of plagiarism prevention services in Canada. Education & Law Journal 14(2), 167-190. 

Vanacker, B. (2011). Returning students’ right to access, choice and notice: a proposed code of ethics for instructors using Turnitin. Ethics & Information Technology, 13(4), 327-338.

Zaza, C., & McKenzie, A. (2018). Turnitin® Use at a Canadian University. Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2018.2.4

Zimmerman, T.A. (2018). Twenty years of Turnitin: In an age of big data, even bigger questions remain. The 2017 CCCC Intellectual Property Annual. Retrieved from https://prod-ncte-cdn.azureedge.net/nctefiles/groups/cccc/committees/ip/2017/zimmerman2017.pdf

Increasing Accessibility of Course Content: Tips for using the Brightspace Accessibility Checker

Ari Crossby 2 Comments

Increasing accessibility of course content: Tips for using the Brightspace Accessibility Checker

Web Accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of making websites and online content usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. Use the Brightspace Accessibility Checker to identify common accessibility issues on your Brightspace course pages.

How to run the Accessibility Checker

The Check Accessibility button is located on the bottom right of the Brightspace HTML EditorThe Accessibility Checker is available within the HTML Editor. When you are in edit HTML mode, the checker is located on the bottom right corner of the Editor, next to the Spellcheck button.

Alternative Text

The most common accessibility issue is missing image alternative text (alt text). Alt text is background code added to a digital image that allows a screen reader or other assistive technology to describe the image’s content and meaning to those who cannot see the image or may be unable to process the image due to a cognitive disability. When alt text is missing, the Brightspace Accessibility Checker will flag the issue, noting Images must have an alternative text description.

The Accessibility Checker flags missing alternative text with the message Images must have an alternative text description

How to add alt text

The easiest way to add alt text is to include it when inserting images into a Brightspace page. When you insert an image using the HTML editor, a pop-up appears, prompting you to add alt text. Brightspace add the alt text to the HTML code (e.g., <img src=”filename.jpg” alt=”Example of Microsoft Forms response results.” />).

Treat informative images as decorative by supplying an empty alt attribute or checking the box next to This image is decorative. Brightspace will add alt text of “” to indicate an empty alt attribute.

Brightspace prompts users to add alt text when inserting images

If the Accessibility Checker flags an image as missing alternative text, you can fix the issue by adding alt text inside the report panel or by adding it directly to the HTML code.

Tips for creating alt text

When deciding what to include as alternative text, imagine that you are describing the image aloud over the phone to someone who needs to understand the image.

According to WebAIM, alternative text should:

  • Be accurate and equivalent in presenting the same content and function of the image.
  • Be succinct.
  • Not be redundant or provide the same information as text within the context of the image.
  • Not use the phrases “image of…” or “graphic of…” to describe the image unless the fact that an image is a photograph or illustration, etc. is important content.

WebAIM offers a fantastic guide to creating appropriate alternative text for images.

Note: It is always a good idea to double-check the alt text included in your HTML code. An accessibility checker only indicates whether alt text is included, it cannot check the quality or usability of the alt text.

Contrast

Low colour contrast is another common accessibility issue. Insufficient contrast between the foreground and background reduces readers’ ability to perceive content on the page.

Insufficient colour contrast is flagged by the checher

The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 define specific contrast ratios that must be met in order to comply at particular levels. To meet the guidelines, text or images of text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 (or 3:1 for large text).

The maximum contrast is black vs. white but other options are available such as navy/white, cream/dark brown, yellow/black, and similar color schemes. A colour scheme is considered legible if it can be read in grayscale/black and white mode.

The Accessibility Checker flags:

  • Large text that does not have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1.
  • Visual presentation that does not have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.

Adjusting contrast

Try using the WebAIM Color Contrast Checker to adjust the contrast by lightening or darkening elements.

Headings

A heading describes the content that follows it, giving uses a sense of the page’s organization and structure. Headings give sighted users a way to quickly find what they want on the page.

If the underlying code for a page’s headings is correct, screen reader users can also benefit from headings. Screen reader and other assistive technology users can also skip from heading to heading.

The checker flags improperly applied heading styles

How to create headings in Brightspace

Select the text then set it to the proper heading using the Format dropdown menu. Do not skip levels. If the heading levels are not in the correct order, the Accessibility Checker will flag the issue.

Tips for creating headings

    • Headings are ranked <h1> through <h6>.
    • Every page should have an H1 heading, representing the most important idea on the page, and sub-sections organized with <h2> level headings. Those sub-sections can themselves be divided with <h3> level headings, and so on.
  • Headings need to be used in the correct order.
  • Do not skip heading levels to be more specific (for example, do not skip from <h2> to <h5>).
  • Do not select heading levels based on their appearance. Select the appropriate heading rank in your hierarchy.

Note: The Brightspace Accessibility Checker will not flag a page without headings; it only flags incorrectly ordered headings. 

Lists

Lists are great from an accessibility standpoint because they provide structured order to content in a linear fashion. Lists are recommended as potential replacements for simple tables, as tables can be more challenging to navigate. Properly code the lists so that they convey the hierarchical content structure to screen reader users. Use unordered lists <ul> when there is no specific order intended for the list you are creating. Use ordered lists <ol> when there is a defined sequence or order for the list.

The checker flags text that appears to be a list but has not been properly styled.

The Brightspace Accessibility Checker will flag items that appear to be a list but do have  unordered or ordered list styles applied.

How to use lists

Select the items, then choose the Unordered List icon if the order does not matter, or select Ordered List from the dropdown menu if it is sequential.

Use bullets for unordered lists and numbers for ordered lists

Descriptive Hyperlink Text

The Accessibility Checker cannot assess whether links are meaningful or accessible; however, making hypertext links accessible is one of the most basic and most important aspects of web accessibility.

How to create a hyperlink

Select Insert Quicklink icon, then select URL in the popup window, enter the URL and a title that describes the link’s destination.

Suggestions for creating meaningful and accessible hyperlinks

  • Link text should be unique within a page, should be meaningful when read out of context, and should help users to know something about their destination if they click on it. Link text such as “Click here” and “More” fail to meet these criteria.
  • Avoid providing two links right next to each other that point to the same location (it can be confusing for screen reader users).

To request help with improving the accessibility of your course content, email edtech@langara.ca

Meet the people supporting you as EdTech Support Specialists!

Ari Crossby

 
 
Daniel Andrade Fonseca 
My specialties are web development and project management; I offer technical support to instructors in Brightspace and other Langara tools, like Zoom and Kaltura.    
My interest in technology started early.  I’ve loved video games since I was a kid in Brazil; I have a big collection of consoles and games, including PS4, Xbox One, and retro games, such as Super Nintendo.  I am also a big fan of sports, especially soccer and basketball. I recently attended NFL, NBA games and went to the last Olympic Games in Rio. During my weekly 10 k run, I enjoy Vancouver’s weather and think about life. 

  
Nimmy Nelson 
I have been with EdTech since 2016. 
I did my Bachelor’s in Computer Science (2011-2015) in Kerala, India and my PDD in Business Administration here at Langara (2016-2017). 
My hobbies include cooking traditional South Indian dishes like Sambhar and Kozhikode biriyani and I recently picked up crocheting and embroidery. I also love listening to books in Audible. Most recently, I’ve read Inglorious Empire by Shashi Tharoor and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. 

 
Heidi Mede 
I joined the EdTech department in 2006 as Support Specialist and became the Supervisor of Department Operations in 2016. My career path has had several zigzags; working in a shelter for the homeless, with children with physical and mental challenges, in a transition home for people with traumatic brain injuries and operating my own daycare. Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved taking apart electronics, so during the dot-com boom, I went back to school to learn about computers & graduated in network administration. I worked at Oracle Corporation for 5 years, but always felt like a square peg in a round hole and didn’t know why. It wasn’t until I came to Langara that I realized it was the public sector where I belong; showing people how to blend technology and education has become my passion. 
Outside of work, I get out into nature as much as possible and I love to garden. I’m known to remove dead flower heads from plants on my walks, which shocks my walking partners. 

  
Brett Foster 
Since I was a child, I’ve enjoyed taking things apart to see how they work and then putting them back together.  I operated a computer consulting business for over ten years and worked with the IT Department at the Vancouver Sun/Province newspapers for many years. To this day, I love to learn about technology and share what I’ve learned. 
I came to Langara in 2018 to work as a Technical Services Coordinator for Ricoh Canada in the Information Technology Department, where I managed over 100 Ricoh Multi-Function devices. 
In December of 2019, I was hired to work in the Educational Technology Department as a Support Specialist. I love my new job and coworkers in EdTech and TCDC. 
When I am not on the campus, I run, play guitar and listen to music. 

 
Serenia Tam 
My technical education began in San Francisco, from which I have a BA in Industrial Design, concentrating in Web Design; AS concentrating in Computer Science; AAs in Illustration & Fashion Design and a certificate in Library & Information Technology.  I also have certificates in Web Developer & Publisher from Langara, where I’m currently studying photography.  I’ve worked with EdTech since early 2010 after having worked in BCIT, VGH, VPL, and San Francisco Public Library in addition to freelancing as a website designer.  I’m currently a Support Specialist in EdTech and an Instructional Assistant in Library & Information Tech.   
I read and write Cantonese & Mandarin, and have studied Japanese, French & English.  I love traveling, photography, fabric arts and gardening and am passionate about animal rights & social justice.   
  
 
Craig Madokoro 
I’ve been the Media Production Technician for the Educational Technology department for 4 years, after having worked at the College for many more.  In addition to maintaining the EdTech recording studio, I livestream College events, facilitate workshops and preserve and convert analogue to digital material.  I also enjoy helping faculty and staff create audio & video content to enhance learning using state of the art technical equipment. 
After graduating from the Vancouver Film School, I worked in the local film & television industry (CBC, Roger’s Community TV) as an editor, camera operator, audio recorder and special effects artist.  
When I’m not at work, I enjoy painting, playing hockey, and caring for my 2 dogs, Coco and Bboshong.   

Ari Crossby 
I love learning new interfaces and technologies and helping others learn them. I’ve been with EdTech since 2011, around the time that we began the transition from Blackboard to Brightspace. I have a background in web design, and started at Langara in the Library & Information Technology program. Now you can ask me your questions about Brightspace, Zoom web conferencing, Kaltura/MediaSpace, or setting up or maintaining your WordPress site on CourseWeb or iWeb. 
 In my free time I do a lot of knitting, gardening, and fitting in as much tabletop gaming as I can manage

Decorative

12 Apps of Christmas!

Ari Crossby

Originating at Regent’s University London in 2014, 12 Apps of Christmas is a fun and free online micro-learning activity aimed at staff and students working in educational institutions. The idea behind it is to introduce a series of mobile apps sent out via a blog 12 Apps of Christmas logopost over twelve days in December. Each post introduces the app, explains how to use it, suggests some possible uses in learning and teaching, and finally sets a challenge for the reader that is shared on social media. The activity is a bit of fun but is also a great way to find out about some of the useful mobile apps out there and have a go at using them. You can learn about the App and do the challenge in around 10-15 minutes so it is a great professional development opportunity for time-pressed educationalists!

This is the second year that the Educational Technology User’s Group in BC have run the activity. This year’s 12 Apps has been very successful so far with over 200 people from around the world signing up to receive the daily updates. To see the Apps released so far visit https://12appsofchristmas.ca/ You can also register here to receive daily updates for the remainder of the Apps. Check out #12AppsBC on Twitter to see some great examples that participants have created using the Apps.

Introducing MediaSpace: Langara’s Streaming Video Platform

Ari Crossby

All faculty and students now have access to MediaSpace (by Kaltura), a YouTube-like video portal that lets you create, upload and share video and audio. Amongst other things, you can use MediaSpace to create video lectures, curate playlists of existing content from YouTube, or provide an online space for students to upload coursework or video/audio assignments.  

By default all content you upload to MediaSpace is private and can only be viewed by you. You can choose to share content with others, or make it public. Video and audio files are stored in the cloud on secure servers at UBC and content can easily be embedded in Brightspace or iWeb/Courseweb.  

We know that our students expect us to provide them with an inclusive, engaging and accessible learning environment in order to maximize their chances of academic success. MediaSpace is an important piece of the puzzle in that respect. The platform enables instructors to easily incorporate video in face-to-face classroom teaching, or in a mixed-mode or fully online course. We are excited about new features such as interactive quizzing and closed captioning, and look forward to working with you to make the most of MediaSpace in your teaching. 

MediaSpace can be accessed by all Langara staff and students at https://mediaspace.langara.ca You will need to login using your Langara Computer User ID and Password in order to upload content to your MyMedia (your personal MediaSpace library of video/audio content). 

To learn more about MediaSpace and how you and your students can use it, come along to our Information Session on Wednesday September 27, 12:30-13:30 in L342.  

You can sign up for this session here.