All posts by Stephanie Olson

I am an Instructional Technology Specialist supporting LHS, CMMS, and MMS. I have a BA in English, MA in English, and a MA in Secondary Education; I taught middle school and high school ELA for 11 years before transitioning to a role in educational technology. I love collaborating and working with teachers on how best to integrate technology into their curriculum to create a dynamic learning experience for students. I also love showcasing how technology can engage students and bridge gaps by making content more accessible for all learners. I am very excited to be a part of such a dynamic team and innovative district.

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Actively Learn Transition to Free Version

As ISD transitions from the Prime version of Actively Learn to the Free version, we'd like to offer support and tips on how to be prepared and to make sure that you have access to the content you need from the district library or shared content. We have created a general guide, which is included ...

Canvas Integrations & Apps

As our comfort using Canvas increases, we might be ready to explore some of the integrations available either at the district level or school level. You may want to bookmark this post for future reference as it will give you the ABCs of Canvas apps that are available (district or school) and how best to ...

Canvas Submit on Behalf of Student

Starting March 18, 2023, teachers will be able to submit file upload assignments on behalf of a student. By accessing the assignment from the grade book and opening the sidebar Grade Detail Tray teachers will then see the option to submit the assignment. Once the Grade Detail Tray is open, teachers will then see the ...

Canvas Navigation Check

While courses populate with navigation pre-set to the basics, as we start copying courses from previous terms to our newest terms, we are keeping the navigation settings that we have active at that time. As new programs are added to our account in the form of apps they will often automatically appear in the course ...

Canvas Submission Comments

You are likely commenting on student work and they might be writing comments back to you. You can find these comments in several places, but here are some of the ways to ensure that you are being notified of submission comments and how to quickly find them. Setting Notifications First, you might ensure that you ...

Canvas Comment Library

As a classroom teacher, you are likely using some of the same comments over and over to encourage your students to become better writers, thinkers, problem-solvers, and more. One of the features Canvas Speedgrader offers is the ability to create a comment library. To create your comment library, you can start in Speedgrader. On the ...

Interactive Choice Boards with Canva & Canvas

Many teachers have been embracing the high-leverage practice of Universal Design for Learning and making student choice a priority. The UDL principle of Engagement encourages individual choice and autonomy and might include choice boards and playlists as a vehicle to provide student choice. In Mrs. Buck’s 6th-grade science class at Maywood, she created a choice ...

Canvas Gradebook Toggling Tip

Entering scores & statuses for students is easier using the slide-out gradebook feature. You can quickly launch it by clicking any assignment score box and using the arrow for the slide-out box to appear. You can then enter scores, status, and comments and use the arrows to toggle to the next student or the next ...

Canvas Missing Assignment Auto-Scoring

We are enjoying hearing about the tips and tricks you are learning as you continue to build your Canvas knowledge base. This tip is for how to make your grade book do the work for you while still communicating missing and/or late policies. To better support students and observers, having assignments marked missing or late ...

Undelete Your Canvas Artifacts

Did you accidentally delete something from your course that you still need? There is likely a way to recover it.   Open your course and make sure you are on “Home”  Click on the URL and then at the end add “/undelete”  This will then provide you with a list of course-deleted artifacts and offer you ...