This guide provides guidance on several core topics including the use of Canvas LMS and Microsoft Teams and acts as signpost to additional resources available to support you. It will be particularly helpful for new members of academic and support staff to Belfast Metropolitan College or those returning from an extended period of leave.
What is Canvas LMS?
Canvas is the Learning Management System (LMS) at Belfast Metropolitan College used by staff and students to access and manage online course learning materials, connecting various digital tools in one easy place.
It provides a variety of customisable course creation and management tools, course and user analytics and statistics, and various communication tools.
The easiest way to access Canvas is to use the link provided via the Staff Intranet or bookmark the URL: https://belfastmet.instructure.com
Access to Canvas modules is managed by your school admin staff, via EBS. If you find you do not have access to a Canvas course or have been assigned an incorrect role (e.g. Teacher role, Teaching Assistant (TA) role, etc.) please contact your school admin.
What is MS Teams?
Microsoft Teams is a powerful communication and collaboration tool that provides a simple and easy-to-use app for staff and students to work together and share information via a common space, in real time. It can be used to facilitate teaching, seminars, tutorials, video meetings, Chat communications, sharing of files and other Office 365 applications.
What can I do with MS Teams?
Schedule, attend or record online meetings such as; lectures, tutorials, seminars, team meetings, conferences etc.
Use features such as Breakout Rooms to bring students into smaller groups for more focused project activities, collaborations and communication.
Add external users / guests to BMC Teams and Teams Meeting, for example a guest lecturer who is not a BMC staff member.
Use Microsoft Teams for a quick and easy way to capture audio, video, and screen sharing activity for the purpose of asynchronous learning. A recording will be saved directly into your Office 365 Microsoft Stream account. Closed captions are automatically generated on all video recordings for accessibility purposes, which you can then review and edit if required.
Getting Started with Video Recording
There are a number of tools available at Belfast Met to allow you to record a video. Microsoft Teams is the quickest and easiest way for you to record a video. Other supported tools such as Powerpoint or BigBlueButton will allow you to screencast but if you are looking for a very quick way to get started with screencasting, MS Teams is currently the recommended solution.
There are two main approaches to record video content: a screencast, which is a recording of your computer screen combined with an audio narration or a talking head video which focuses on the presenter rather than on a screen being shared or a presentation (also referred to as a ‘piece to camera’).
Important Considerations
Talking Head videos are best suited to addressing an audience directly and discussing areas that do not require visual representation on screen. Examples could include; introduction to a course, sharing thoughts on a subject or discussion topic, giving feedback on a piece of work a learner has created, general feedback to the class, making a course announcement or providing reassurance on a particular issue.
Keep it brief and to the point (under 5 mins). By nature a talking head video is not dynamic, as the video shot does not change. It will therefore be more challenging to keep the audience engaged.
Screencasts work best when videos are short (15 mins max) and to the point, directing the learner to further information or introducing them to concepts that they can then gain a fuller understanding of through additional reading and research.
Please DO NOT try to replicate a long lecture using video as this is likely to exceed your learners attention span and they are unlikely to fully engage for the duration of the video. Instead, focus on explaining key concepts in short bitesize sessions with accompanying links to resources for further research on the topic.
It is really important to ensure your videos are made accessible for learner variability and are fully compliant in terms of accessibility.
Always provide a transcript of your video. For audio or video that is not hosted on MS Stream, you can use Microsoft Word to create a transcript.
Why is Accessibility Important?
Accessibility promotes equality, diversity and inclusion. Accessibility is not the responsibility of any one department, school, team or directorate, but involves a combined whole institution approach, where everyone strives to be more accessible.
The UK Digital Accessibility Regulations came into force in September 2018 which means that we have a legal obligation to make any material presented online fully accessible. Not only is it morally and ethically the right thing to do, it is required by law.
For Digital Accessibility, think ‘THRIVES‘ a useful acronym to help you to easily remember key accessibility considerations which help to comply with UK digital accessibility legislation. THRIVES has seven basics to get you started on your accessibility journey and is an easy way to recall the fundamentals of accessibility.
How do I cater for Accessibility?
Plan, design and develop online content (e.g. word documents, powerpoints, video, visuals etc.) in a more inclusive and accessible way for your students.
The Accessibility Toolkit is an online course which will guide you in the design of accessible content for learner variability and show you how to use the two main accessibility checker tools:
- The Canvas Accessibility Checker – available within the Rich Content Editor of Canvas Pages, Announcements, Discussions, Quizzes and Assignments.
- Blackboard Ally -a tool that integrates seamlessly with Canvas to gauge the accessibility of your digital content and provides step-by-step guidance on how to fix any accessibility issues.
You can also refer to the Accessibility Checklist when developing content as it incorporates a full list of accessible design practices.