Academic Technology Updates for August 2023

We have new updates for MyCourses! See below for details, and please contact helpdesk@ggc.edu if you encounter any problems or have questions.

Reminders

Please read, Major Changes to the MyCourses Quiz Tool and Zoom Updates for Fall 2023 for detailed information about recent updates.

MyCourses

Announcements – Pin announcements to top of Announcement widget and tool pages

With this release, instructors and administrators can now pin announcements and global announcements to the top of the Announcement Widget and Tool pages, allowing important information to remain visible to learners. Announcements so pinned are indicated to learners as such with the use of a new pinned icon that appears on the announcement. Pinned global announcements appear at the top of the page before any announcements pinned within a course offering.

Note: Pinning or viewing pinned announcements is not currently supported in Slim Announcements.

The Announcement page with the Pin to top option selected and the Announcement has been pinned message.
Figure: Select Pin to top to pin an announcement to the top of the Announcement Widget.
Rubrics – Improve your evaluation experience with the new collapsible panel for Assignments and Discussions in mobile view

When evaluating assignments or discussions in a mobile browser, instructors can now collapse the containers for Rubrics, Grades & Feedback, Outcomes, and Competencies. The new collapsible container appears in the right-hand panel and reduces unnecessary scrolling, giving instructors more control over which fields are displayed to them. Each component is open by default when the instructor accesses the item. Instructors can open and close each collapsible component by selecting the triangle beside the name of the container.

Note: This change applies to the mobile view only.

The Rubrics tool was updated in the July update to include collapsible panels as part of interface improvements.

The previous mobile view for evaluations. There is a pop-dialog for the Rubrics evaluation tool.
Figure: The previous mobile view for evaluation components.
The new mobile view for evaluations. Multiple evaluation components are displayed as collpabsible panels instead of a pop-up dialog.
Figure: The new mobile view that includes the collapsible evaluation components. Instructors can open and close each collapsible component by selecting the triangle beside the name of the container.
Rubrics – Pop-out details provide increased evaluator awareness

To provide a more complete context for learner evaluation, rubric pop-outs now provide activity details including activity title, course name, learner name, and evaluator name. The evaluator name only appears if it is explicitly assigned; implicit evaluators’ names do not appear with the additional details. These additional details are critical for new multi-evaluation workflows, where evaluators can have access to view and edit multiple rubrics concurrently. However, having the additional activity details in the single-evaluation experience also provides consistency across all evaluator experiences.

Note: Multi-evaluation workflows are currently only available as part of a development pilot program.

Previously, the activity title, course name, learner name, and evaluator name were not visible in the rubric pop-outs.

Note: Learner name information respects user information privacy policies and displays Anonymous if evaluating with the Anonymous role or marking in Anonymous Mode.

The Rubric pop-out displaying the additional detail of the activity title, course name, and learner name. The evaluator name does not appear in this example.
Figure: An example rubric showing the activity title, course name, and learner name.
User Progress – Class Progress displays absent periods more clearly

This feature updates Class Progress to better align the login date and the absent period. When viewing data for Course AccessLogin History, and System Access History, the absent period now correlates to the login date on the same line.

Previously, the login date and absent period were misaligned, which caused confusion to users viewing the data.

Need to learn more?

Need to learn more about MyCourses, Zoom, Accessibility, or Classroom Technology?

Check the IT Webinar Schedule – OR- Schedule a 1-1 Consultation