CIDI Newsletter, Midsummer 2022
Midsummer 2022 Newsletter
The CIDI newsletter shares the latest news, teaching tips, and technology updates to help you succeed as an instructor.
Wow! Summer is flying by! We hope you’ve taken some well-deserved time off this summer to relax, rejuvenate, and reflect. As your thoughts turn to your Fall classes, our team at CIDI is here to help you get ready. Now can be a good time to chat with your instructional designer about updating the look of your courses, increasing opportunities for student interaction, adding authentic assessment activities, or simply requesting a quality review of your course to ensure that everything is working as intended.
Scheduling Design Help
At any time, you can check our website to find your department's current designers and set up a consultation for help with your courses. We recently re-assigned some of our instructional designers to new departments after some staffing changes, so if in doubt, be sure to check our site.
Fall Workshops
In addition to one-on-one consultations, we offer workshops on a variety of topics. New workshop topics this Fall include:
- Canvas "New Quizzes"
- Pressbooks (for reusing and publishing open-access online textbooks)
- Canvas badging
- Gamification with Delphinium
We continue to offer workshops on Canvas, Zoom, Atomic Assessments, and lecture recording as well as workshops on effective teaching through various delivery methods. You can learn about writing learning outcomes, designing a flipped class, creating opportunities for interaction in your class, and more.
Important Technology Updates
- Login Screen Change for Canvas: Campus has been moving to a new login system this summer. The change has already occurred for email and Canvas and will occur for other tools. You will be asked to enter A#@aggies.usu.edu rather than just your A#. If you bookmarked the Canvas login page, you might need to bookmark it again. Go to https://canvas.usu.edu to get the latest login page.
- Turnitin Update: The plagiarism checking service Turnitin has changed the way it integrates with Canvas. We will disable the legacy integration and install the new integration on July 27. A mid-term change is unusual, but has become necessary because of malfunctions in the legacy integration and the need for a working integration for final papers. We will re-enable Turnitin automatically for all upcoming Summer course assignments using Turnitin and work with teachers to access earlier-term reports as needed. For Fall courses, instructors will need to enable Turnitin using the new integration for every assignment that needs plagiarism checking.
Contact CIDI
For on-demand support with teaching technologies, contact CIDI at cidi@usu.edu, via chat, or at 435.797.9506. Schedule an appointment with an instructional designer to get help making your courses more engaging, usable, and accessible.