CIDI Newsletter, March 2024
March 2024 Newsletter
Happy Spring! This month's newsletter comes with updates on Zoom, invitations to participate in a CIDI program and project, and some thoughts on the syllabus.
May 6: Opt-in for Zoom backup to Kaltura
Kaltura offers a Zoom integration that automatically backs up Zoom Cloud recordings from your Zoom account to your Kaltura account. On May 6, 2024, this integration will move to an opt-in arrangement. This protects privacy by ensuring that backups occur only with the meeting host’s consent. If you want all of your Zoom recordings automatically backed up to Kaltura, please email your A number to chris.clement@usu.edu. Researchers who use Zoom to interview human subjects should not opt in.
Zoom AI Companion now available
Be sure to update to the latest version of Zoom so you can use the new Zoom AI companion. The AI Companion creates automatic meeting summaries and lets participants ask the AI questions about the meeting. It can also supplement recordings and whiteboard content creation. To enable the Zoom AI Companion, login to your account at https://usu-edu.zoom.us and configure your preferences in the AI companion tab of your Zoom Settings.
Online course bootcamp, May 30–Aug 2
CIDI, in cooperation with USU Online, is hosting a 9-week, cohort-based program designed to help faculty systematically build or rebuild an online course from scratch. The bootcamp, which runs from May 30 to August 2, includes live workshops, online instructional content, one-on-one consultations with designers, and user testing. Course developers (or their departments, where applicable) are paid for participation. The bootcamp is capped at 20 participants. Applications are due April 19. Apply for the bootcamp today!
Invitation to participate in rubric development
CIDI has been working on developing new evaluation tools to measure course quality, and we are looking for some expert help to review the course quality criteria we’ve identified. The review process will consist of ranking/sorting evaluation items. We anticipate this will take a few hours over the course of a month to rank the criteria through three iterations. If you are interested in helping out, or have questions about the process, please reach out to Amy Carpenter (amy.carpenter@usu.edu).
Some thoughts on the syllabus
The syllabus remains an important cornerstone on which a course is built. It helps students and teachers succeed in the course by presenting a plan for course activities, a two-way description of expectations, and an introduction to the instructor's teaching methods and objectives.
Use the Canvas syllabus tool
The syllabus should be placed in the Canvas Syllabus tool, where students are accustomed to finding it and where it can be easily accessed for accreditation, advising, and other student support services. It can be typed directly into the syllabus description box, or linked there as a file.
Include important components:
The syllabus should provide:
- Course description: This should closely resemble the description in the course catalog.
- Course objectives, including the objectives defined by the instructor and the IDEA objectives selected as essential or important.
- Instructor and TA information, including contact information and office hours.
- Instructor bio, to establish the instructor's credentials and humanize the instructor.
- Course fees descriptions, if applicable.
- Required and optional course materials, with information on how to access them.
- Course requirements and expectations: For example, required activities and expectations for student participation, timeliness, and performance.
- NEW! Expectations regarding the use of AI: You can find boilerplate starter language on the Communicating about AI page at teach.usu.edu.
- Evaluation methods and grading criteria, such as a short description of the course assessments and assignments.
- Course grading scale, i.e. the percentage/letter-grade breakdown.
- Grading policies, such as approaches to late work.
- Course due dates: If you use Canvas assignments and set due dates there, the Syllabus tool will build this automatically for you.
- University policies: A list of policies can be added with the click of a button using the Canvas Syllabus Template. They can also be found on the syllabus resources page at teach.usu.edu.
Use headings and outsource details to other parts of course.
The components above can make a syllabus long—especially when university policies are added. To make the syllabus more manageable for students, place university policies at the end, clearly indicated as such, so that students know when they are done with the information specific to your course. You can reserve more detailed descriptions of assignments for the assignment pages themselves in Canvas, and you can use Canvas modules and pages to provide a detailed course schedule, rather than listing it all in the syllabus. Judicious use of headings can make the syllabus easier to scan. A short video posted at the beginning of the course can explain the most important parts of the syllabus, and a short syllabus quiz can encourage students to review the syllabus all the way through.
An easy way to get started when building a syllabus is to use the Canvas Syllabus Template in Canvas.
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. Also see CIDI's full list of workshops.