As we approach the fall semester the Digital Learning Support team would like to update you on changes and new features that have been made available in Canvas. Additionally, we are providing some options on how to meet the requirements outlined by the Provost around Canvas use for all classes this fall.
Increased Canvas Course Storage
- We’ve doubled the course storage quota from 500MB to 1000MB for all courses going forward. We hope this will alleviate some of the storage issues we were seeing in the spring. If you think you’ll need more than 1000MB of storage, you’ll need to identify a place outside of Canvas to host your files. Especially if you plan on creating videos to share with students, you will quickly run out of space if you try to store them in Canvas.
- If you will need more space for files, we recommend OneDrive (all UMW faculty and students have OneDrive accounts with 1 terabyte of space) but you are welcome to use any cloud storage solution you are comfortable with (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.). If you are interested in using OneDrive, take a look at our guide for “Getting Started with One Drive”.
- If you will need more space for video, we recommend YouTube for storing or Screencast-O-Matic for creation and storage of videos. If you are interested in using these solutions please see our guide for “Getting Started with YouTube” or “Getting Started with Screencast-O-Matic”.
- If you aren’t sure how much course storage you have used in the past it might helpful to look at your previous Canvas courses to get a sense of your average use. For instructions on how to find your course storage use in a course please see the “Storage in Canvas” section of our Canvas guide.
Zoom Integration
- Instructors can use Zoom from within their Canvas courses to schedule recurring virtual class meetings, record class sessions, and generate captions and transcripts for videos recorded in Zoom. We’ve created a “Using Zoom in Canvas” guide to help you learn how they work together.
-
- Note: The guide only applies if you have a Zoom account tied to your UMW email address. All faculty, staff, and students will have Zoom accounts for fall 2020. Please contact the IT Help Desk for issues or questions about your UMW Zoom account.
Adding pronouns to your profile
- We have enabled the personal pronouns feature in Canvas so that users can choose to display their preferred pronouns next to their display name. It will appear like this in Canvas:
See the Canvas guide on “How do I select personal pronouns in my user account as an instructor?” for details on how to add this to your profile. We will also be making a separate Canvas announcement for students to make them aware of this new feature.