Academic Technology Solutions (ATS) Blog
The latest news on teaching with technology
Promote Your Students’ Mental Health and Wellness with Digital Technologies
College can be an exciting and enjoyable time, but it can also bring with it various stresses. Heavy workloads, looming deadlines, worries over financial aid – these can be a great enough burden even without external stressors, such as family difficulties,new...
Two Ways to Annotate Videos in Canvas
Social annotation promotes active learning and fosters collaboration among students and instructors. With social annotation, students benefit from seeing multiple perspectives and interpretations from their peers, creating a rich, collaborative learning environment....
Hide Grade Distribution Graphs from Students in Canvas
By default, students enrolled in a Canvas course are able to view a grade distribution graph (GDG) for an assignment once five or more students have submitted that assignment. The GDG, which shows mean, high, and low scores for the assignment, is displayed when the...
Technology and Equity: Understanding UChicago’s Diverse Community
The University of Chicago student community is diverse – racially, ethnically, religiously, socioeconomically – and the University’s efforts continue to increase its diversity. Yet there is always the risk that some students may lack access to the knowledge and...
Get Started with Open Educational Resources (OER)
It’s no secret that college is expensive. Tuition, room and board, fees: these costs add up. So, too, do the costs of textbooks. For example, one popular chemistry textbook sells between $185 and $350 brand new. All told, the average cost of books and supplies for...
Create Custom Chatbots to Promote Thoughtful Engagement with Your Discipline
Since ChatGPT became widely available in late 2022, educators interested in using Generative AI in service of learning have found potential in GAI’s strengths like quick generation of many ideas for brainstorming and fluent revision of user-generated text, while also...
Leave Engaging, Accessible Feedback for Students with Canvas Media Comments
The author wishes to thank ATS instructional designer Joe Olivier for helpful suggestions and advice in the writing of this article. He also wishes to thank Instructional Technology Assistant Kinley LaBerge for assistance with screenshots. Earlier this year, Canvas...
Thinking about Bringing AI into Your Class? Ask these Questions to Plan for a Meaningful Experience
"Al is like a free puppy; knowing when to say yes and when to skip it will be important." - José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson, Teaching with AI: a practical guide to a new era of human learning With a new academic year underway and the University’s private...
Getting Started with New Quizzes in Canvas
What is it? New Quizzes is a redesign of Classic Quizzes for instructors seeking enhanced assessment tools. If you are familiar with Classic Quizzes features, then the transition to New Quizzes will be smooth and intuitive. New Quizzes offers a refreshed interface,...
How to Use SensusAccess Inside Canvas
It’s now easier than ever to improve the accessibility of learning materials in your Canvas courses with SensusAccess Inside Canvas. This new integration brings SensusAccess, previously only available via the web, inside your Canvas courses. This tool can help you and...
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