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Welcome to Spring semester! Now that you’ve dug out from the storm, uncover some improvements to our platforms that we think you’ll welcome. Check out the Canvas custom role update in particular since we have been looking forward to that one for a while!
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Teaching and Learning Remotely
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 Zoom updates for teaching & learning
- Users can now quickly blur their backgrounds, without needing to access their Zoom client settings. The Blur option is available from the start/stop video menu in the main toolbar, the 3-dot menu on the user’s video tile, and by clicking anywhere on your video image. The option is also available on the self-preview screen before the user enters a meeting.
- Add a video when customizing the the waiting room in the web portal. Participants in the Waiting Room can view the video while they wait to be let into the meeting. This feature requires client version 5.7.3 or higher.
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To be released February 2
At long last, custom role names will be consistently displayed across the platform. You’ll now see your school’s familiar names (like Enrollee, Instructor, Course Support Staff, etc.) in user details screens and within course sections.
Classic Quizzes deprecation
Instructure plans to replace Classic Quizzes with New Quizzes. We will continue to highlight updates in this newsletter as the transition progresses.
Join the Quizzes Transition User Group to follow updates on the transition and to test the migration of Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes in beta.
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 A slew of minor issues were fixed as part of Panopto’s update on January 27th. If you previously noticed odd behavior that has since been resolved, this gigantic update could be the reason why!
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 Students have a new way to clear their responses. Each item has a trash icon next to it, allowing individual items to be cleared. This is an improvement over the single “Clear last response” option.
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 There is a new survey layout called “Simple.” It can be applied to most themes and projects, making the resulting survey more mobile-friendly, easy to use, and accessible.
 - Reminders about user interface (UI) updates:
- On February 7 users will be opted-in by default to the new Results dashboard that was rolled out in December. The legacy Results-Reports will become read only in June and will be retired in September. If you haven’t already done so, check out the new results dashboard in one of your surveys! Highlights include improved accessibility, better data visualizations, and new page and widget filtering for better exploration of data.
- The legacy Look & Feel editor will be retired on February 19. Users will no longer have access to use the “old Look & Feel editor,” an option currently located in the footer of the UI. Find out more about the New Look & Feel editor.
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 Record audio and video clips up to five minutes long.- A new formatting option allows you to create messages with code blocks within blockquote text formatting.
- Slack Connect updates:
- Use channel management tools to adjust permissions for external users working in Slack Connect channels.
- All things Slack Connect can now be accessed from the sidebar. Find external channels and DMs organized by organization, browse Slack Connect channels you can join, and view pending invitations.
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 The Confluence wiki was updated earlier today, February 1, to version 7.13.3. This release improves wiki performance and fixes bugs.
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 HUIT AT office hours
Drop in for advice on software development or to ask questions about any of Academic Technology's services.
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HUIT AT Panopto office hours
Panopto office hours will be held every Friday during the beginning of the semester, then will return to a biweekly schedule.
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Join colleagues from across the University to share best practices, discuss strategies for navigating in this fast-changing landscape, and hear from guest speakers. Formerly known as the ExEd Summit.
Learn directly from Zoom about their products, features, and best practices.
Outstanding First-Year Experiences to Boost Retention. Learn from Charleston College about their first- and second-year student programs and connect with colleagues in this discussion-based forum.
Join every other Wednesday to learn the latest from Poll Everywhere’s marketing manager. This next series is about collaborating at scale. Bring your questions for the Q&A!
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—The HUIT Academic Technology Team
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