Treks

Date: April 2026

The folks behind Canvas are constantly working on new features and enhancements to existing features. This session will look at new additions to Canvas Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, Differentiation Tags, and other new features that have been released over the last twelve months. Through a short presentation and a few demonstrations, we will explore what’s new and how to get started. We will close our time together in a discussion of how these changes might impact how instructors and students use Canvas.

Treks Spring 2026: What’s New in Canvas (Google Doc)

Recording Treks Spring 2026: What's New in Canvas (Kaltura MediaSpace 51 minutes)

Date: March 2026

We are fast approaching the deadline to meet the new federal standards for digital accessibility. Wondering how to ensure your documents, files, slide presentations, and teaching materials are ready? In this session, we’ll share:

• How to create digitally accessible content from the start, such as a course syllabus, handouts, presentation slides, and PDFs
• How to evaluate the accessibility of your existing files and documents
• Tips for how to update existing files and documents to make them more accessible

View the slide deck for Digital Accessibility: Files, Slides, and Documents (Google Slides).

View a recording of the Digital Accessibility: Files, Slides, and Documents (Kaltura, 49:31).

Date: November 2025

Looking for ways to make your course more interactive and student-centered? FeedbackFruits, fully integrated within Canvas, allows instructors to design active learning experiences while saving time by streamlining the feedback process. Whether you're teaching online, hybrid, or in-person, this tool transforms passive participation into meaningful engagement. Join us for a session that covers the essentials of the tool—plus a look at its latest features, including interactive annotation, designed to enhance your teaching toolkit.

View the slide deck for FeedbackFruits (Google Slides).

Date: October 2025

First-generation (FG) students, those whose parents or primary caregivers do not possess a 4-year college degree, comprise 34% of undergraduates and 29% of graduate students in CEHD. Join the First-Generation Institute and the Digital Education and Innovation Team to engage with instructional resources that promote asset-based understandings of FG students through teaching practices and course design. We will share examples of how instructors can reveal the hidden curriculum in higher education, reframe academic struggles, and build students’ academic confidence in order to support more learners.

View the slide deck for Supporting First-Generation Students through Course Design (Google Slides).

Date: September 2025

We are fast approaching the deadline to meet the new federal standards for digital accessibility. Wondering how to ensure your documents, files, slide presentations, and teaching materials are ready? In this session, we’ll share:

• How to create digitally accessible content from the start, such as a course syllabus, handouts, presentation slides, and PDFs
• How to evaluate the accessibility of your existing files and documents
• Tips for how to update existing files and documents to make them more accessible

View a recording of Digital Accessibility: Files, Slides, and Documents (Kaltura, 48:48).

View the slide deck for Digital Accessibility: Files, Slides, and Documents (Google Slides).

Date: April 2025

Learn how to adjust your existing courses to make them more accessible. This session will focus on tools available directly in Canvas courses that are helpful in identifying and quickly resolving accessibility issues. We will spend the majority of the presentation demonstrating how to use these tools to resolve some of the most common issues you might find in your course such as: correcting broken links, adding page heading structure, adjusting alt text for images, and more.

Date: February and March 2025

Digital accessibility involves creating web and media content that everyone can use, regardless of their abilities. A new addition to the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that our online content meet a specific standard. By improving our digital accessibility practices, we can enhance student engagement, reduce learning barriers, and comply with these new federal standards. In this session, we’ll focus on what instructors need to know about digital accessibility, including key skills and strategies for meeting accessibility guidelines and helpful resources from the University and the Digital Education and Innovation Team. 

• Digital Accessibility for All (Google Slides)  with resources in the speaker's notes
• Digital Accessibility for All Zoom Recording (Kaltura, 31:01)

You might be wondering what you can do to ensure your Canvas course site and materials are digitally accessible. The 7 Core Skills are a set of recommended practices that anyone can learn and implement to make their course materials meet the digital accessibility requirements. In this session, we will demonstrate the 7 Core Skills and how they are used in Canvas, Microsoft Word and other familiar tools.

• 7 Core Skills for Digital Accessibility (Google Slides) with resources in the speaker's notes
• 7 Core Skills for Digital Accessibility Zoom Recording (Kaltura, 44:37)

Date: April 2025

Canvas includes the UDOIT tool embedded in every course. This tool is helpful in identifying and resolving accessibility issues. This session will begin with a brief overview and recap of the previous two accessibility sessions. You are not required to attend the previous sessions but it may be beneficial. We will spend the majority of the presentation discussing and demonstrating how to use UDOIT to resolve some common issues in your course such as: correcting broken links, document heading structure, and moving content into an archive course if you are no longer using it for your current course.

• Using UDOIT to Apply the 7 Core Skills for Digital Accessibility (Google Slides)
• Using UDOIT to Apply the 7 Core Skills for Digital Accessibility Zoom Recording (Kaltura, 33:06)

Date: November 2024

This session introduced participants to all the ways Canvas courses, content, and activities can be shared. Including Canvas Commons, Course Import Tool, development sites, and the "Send to" feature. We will share our recommendations and tips about what Canvas settings/features that can help instructors and teaching assistants work together. We will invite participants to share their own tips and recommendations.

• Working with Other Instructors in Canvas (Google Doc)
• Canvas and Zoom: What Teaching Assistants (TAs) Need to Know (Google Doc)

Date: October 2024

As you may have heard, Jamboard (Google’s whiteboard tool) is now view-only and will be retired on Dec. 31st, and Flip (Microsoft’s video discussion tool) is no longer available at the University. Fortunately, there are alternative tools that can help facilitate collaborative whiteboard activities and video discussions. Zoom Whiteboard allows for collaboration both during and outside of Zoom meetings with features similar to Jamboard. Canvas Discussions, VoiceThread, or Video Ant can each be used to conduct video discussions in your classes. In this monthly Treks session, we explore these tools and demonstrate how to use them in your courses.

• Exploring Video Discussions and Whiteboard Tools Slides Presentation
• Recording of Exploring Video Discussion and Whiteboard Tools (Kaltura, 37:50)

Date: September 2024

The folks behind Canvas are constantly working on new features and enhancements to existing features. This session will look at the newest Canvas feature releases available this Fall. Through a short presentation and a few demonstrations, we will explore what’s new and how to get started. We will close our time together in a discussion of how these changes might impact how instructors and students use Canvas.

• Presentation Slides with Resources in Speaker's Notes (Google Slides)
• What's New In Canvas Recording (Kaltura, 39:48)

Date: April 2024

Do you use quizzes in your course? Wondering about how to choose between Classic and New Quizzes in Canvas? In this session, we discussed how to effectively use all of the quiz features in Canvas to assess student learning, engage students in learning practice, and gather data to inform teaching.

• A Tale of Two Quizzes - Quiz Options in Canvas Slides (Google Slides)
• A Tale of Two Quizzes - Quiz Options in Canvas Recording (Kaltura, 46:30)

Date: March 2024

Zoom has rolled out several new features (whiteboard, notes, AI companion)  that can enhance your experience beyond the basic video call. This Treks monthly session will include a brief overview of these new tools with special emphasis on what can be useful for remote and in-person instruction.

• View and experiment in the Zoom Whiteboard created for the session
• Watch the What's New with Zoom? presentation (Kaltura, 52:59)

Date: February 2024

How do students see your Canvas site?  What do your students really want from your Canvas site? How might these insights influence how you use Canvas?

In this session, we’ll explore student views of Canvas and discuss what we have learned from recent student focus groups. By the end of the session you will gain insights and recommendations that you can use to create a Canvas site that is designed for student success.

• How Students Access Canvas Slides (PDF)

Date: November 2023

This session takes a deeper dive into the Google tools to share tips and tricks to help you to be more efficient and effective in your work (or play). We share ideas on how to streamline your collaboration, searching, sharing, and planning. 

• Into The Google Verse: Presentation Slides (Google Slides)
• Into the Google Verse Recording (Kaltura, 54:13)

Date: October 2023

Join us for live demonstrations of the advanced video editing features of ScreenPal (formerly Screencast-o-matic) to create impactful videos for teaching and learning. In addition to screen capture and webcam recording, use ScreenPal to add text and images, insert transitions, edit audio effects, and even change existing videos or import clips from other sources such as Zoom. Instructors and teaching assistants are invited to join us for this monthly Treks session via Zoom. 

• Advanced ScreenPal: Do More with Video Handout (Google Doc)
• Advanced ScreenPal: Do More with Video Recording (Kaltura, 48:01)

Date: September 2023

Students ask, “What’s my grade? How am I doing as of today?” Outcomes from recent student focus groups indicate that students want instructors to make full use of the features of Canvas to provide a centralized place for assignments and course information. The Canvas gradebook can be set up to accurately calculate and display course grades, which students can access at any time. This reduces the time and effort instructors spend tracking progress and communicating assessment information. In this session, we demonstrate how to set up a Canvas gradebook to match the plan you have for assessing your students, take full advantage of the features, and provide an overview of the student experience.

• Canvas Gradebook Slides (Google Slides)
• Canvas Gradebook Guide
• Canvas Gradebook Recording (Kaltura, 51:39)

Date: April 2023

You don’t need to be an expert to create quality videos! Join us to learn about the services of the Digital Education and Innovation team’s media producer, as well as the software and tools you can use to create and edit your own videos and the other video services you can use at the University. 

Videos can be used to provide content online. You might do this when you want students to watch a video prior to class and come prepared to discuss or when classes are unexpectedly canceled. This may also be valuable when you need to miss a class while at a conference or when a student is unable to attend class. 

• Video Tools and Services Handout (Google Doc)
• Video Tools and Services Recording (Kaltura, 56:55)

Date: March 2023

Provide your students with opportunities to apply critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation skills, while fostering community in your course. Peer review-- student review of classmates’ work--can increase student engagement and ownership of their own learning. Feedback Fruits (FbF) is a suite of tools for peer review assignments, group member evaluation, skill review, and student self-assessment. FbF has been integrated into Canvas as an external tool assignment. In this Treks session, we take a closer look at the FbF features specifically for peer review. The FbF Peer Review activity enables students to easily review each other’s work in order to give feedback on how the work might be improved. 

• Feedback Fruits Guide (Google Doc)
• Successful Peer Review Assignments (Google Doc)
• The Sweet Rewards of Peer Review: Feedback Fruits (Google Slides)

Date: February 2023

ChatGPT is an Artificial Intelligence program that can respond to questions or prompts on a wide variety of topics and produce written content that is stunningly similar to human-generated writing. The launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 has generated a lot of controversy regarding the future of writing, academic honesty, and the role of Artificial Intelligence in education.

• ChatGPT Demonstrations (Google Doc)
• ChatGTP - Handout (Google Doc)

Date: November 2022

Using papers, quizzes, and exams to assess learning are just a few of many ways to make sure students are meeting the goals and objectives for your course. In this Zoom session, we explore different ways to assess student learning.

• Planning Assessment Alternatives Questionnaire (Google Doc)
• Assessment Alternatives Ideas (Google Doc)

Date: October 2022

We dive into some lesser-known Canvas features to create efficiencies for you and your students.

• Things You May Not Know About Canvas, But Should (Google Slides)

Date: September 2022

• Strategic Use of Recorded Video Discussions Slides (Google Slides)