Dear All,
This email follows the June 16 communication from Vice Provost Hughey and is designed to provide specific updates on instructional resources and available support. We wish you the best for a productive and successful summer session.
Sincerely,
Jody Greene
Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning
Leslie Kern Operations
Manager, Faculty Instructional Technology Center
Michael Tassio
Director, Online Education
Major Updates to Instructional Tools and Resources
- YuJa is UCSC’s new video platform. It can be used to create and curate instructional videos. The first workshop—which is an overview of the platform, Yuja features (in-video quizzes, captions), and how to embed media into Canvas—is on June 25 from 10:00–11:00. You can access the workshop event here.
- Gradescope is now available and can be directly integrated within Canvas. Gradescope is a grading efficiency tool featuring flexible rubrics and feedback for digital or paper-based assignments, detailed analytics for overall assignments or individual questions, and seamless workflow for multiple instructors or TAs grading simultaneously. Visit this page for more information about how your course can benefit from using Gradescope. Gradescope workshops will be offered in the summer, dates to be announced.
- Zoom Cloud Recording (now available) - Zoom Cloud Recording is now active and on by default for Summer instructors. This means that the next time you click the Record button in your Zoom meeting, you will be prompted with the option to record locally on your computer or to the cloud. Local recordings will be converted at the end of your meeting and stored on your computer. Cloud recordings will start converting at the end of your meeting and uploaded to your Zoom account automatically - an email notification will be sent to you when the recording is ready. Visit Zoom’s support documentation for more information on recording. Cloud recordings will be deleted after 30 days, but see the next bullet for a solution on that.
- Zoom Cloud > Yuja - As a summer instructor, your Zoom cloud recordings will be automatically uploaded into Yuja. This is both for ease of access to share with your students, and so that your Zoom recordings will persist after 30 days. Yuja has unlimited storage, so no worries about recording long lecture sessions. Videos will also automatically be captioned in this process. A couple of tips if you are using Teaching Assistants for Zoom support:
- Be sure that you, as the instructor, initiate the recordings in Zoom so that they are created and stored in your YuJa account. If you have someone else make the recording, it will not automatically transfer.
- If you have a TA that will also need to create recordings of sessions, please have them contact the FITC at canvas.help@ucsc.edu to request access to Zoom Cloud recording and the YuJa Zoom connector for auto-transfer of their recordings.
- UCSC Online Education has just released a full redesign of their Orientation Module, which provides students with information on how to use Canvas, to access the library, as well as information on the Student Code of Conduct, accessibility, and critical campus resources to ensure that students are supported to be successful in your course. The module can be imported into your course using the instructions linked above.
- As a reminder, students will not be able to access your course materials until you publish your course in Canvas, and all of the content items in the course. Learn more about publishing in Canvas.
Additional Staff Support
- Daily drop-in office hours — Questions about Canvas, Zoom, YuJa, Gradescope, or remote instruction in general? UCSC Online Education and FITC staff are just a click away on Monday-Friday from 2–3 p.m. Drop-in using Zoom by clicking on this link.
- Additionally, the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning is available by appointment to answer your pedagogical questions. Email citl@ucsc.edu to schedule an appointment.
- Join UCSC Online Slack! By joining you’re getting access to a space that is dedicated to addressing questions about teaching remotely and online.
- If you’d like someone to check your course in Canvas to make sure that everything is working correctly, request a course readiness check with an email to online@ucsc.edu.
- Keep Teaching is updated daily and includes curated content for remote teaching practices, effective use of instructional tools, and guides for Teaching Assistant (see here).
- For a crash-course in designing and developing courses for remote instruction, self-enroll in Integrated Course Design for Remote Instruction. This course was designed by Online Education and the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning, and is being updated weekly with new content.
- You can request a student to provide 1:1 support throughout the quarter for Zoom, Canvas, and YuJa through the Zoom Corps. Send an email to help@ucsc.edu with the subject “Zoom pairing”.
- Everything you need to know about using Zoom for Instruction is in this document.
- You can get equipment, such as headsets, document cameras, web cameras, and microphones on loan from Learning Technologies. Contact media@ucsc.edu for more information.
- If you need Canvas support in the evening or during the weekend, contact Instructure 24x7 through the HELP link at the bottom of the left-hand navigation in Canvas.
