Teaching without Canvas

Communication with students

It is important to make sure that students know how to reach lecturers and/or how they will receive information from lecturers.

Outlook: Lecturers can use Outlook to contact students directly via their student number or names. We recommend lecturers email using the BCC function.

• The list of student numbers can be provided by the department education desk
• On outlook.office.com (in Chrome) you can paste student names or numbers in the BCC field and the email addresses will automatically be retrieved

Datanose: Students can also be emailed or downloaded through datanose, Check if your course is also available there.
Click on course tile > Sent email under Actions (top right)

In your first email, we recommend that lecturers communicate:

1. How you will communicate in the coming days
2. Ask students to confirm with classmates that everyone got the email.
3. Let students who did not get your email contact you on your uva mail

Sharing web lectures and videos

It is possible to share public links to your web lectures with your students. Contact your local ICTO team to get your link. Please provide them your full course name. You will receive a link for the entire course.

Kaltura

You can login to Kaltura to retrieve a share link for your videos or playlists. It is also possible to have students submit video assignments.

Download guide to using video outside Canvas

Maintain oversight

During the Canvas outage, we recommend that lecturers keep track of all emails and submissions. With this in mind, we recommend that lecturers:

• Make an outlook folder and put all student email in there
• Document any deadlines or assessment changes
• Be flexible with deadlines during disruptions
• Coordinate with programme management and your examination boards as applicable
• Inform students regularly, even if there are no major updates

Distribute course materials

Lecturers must be able to provide students with access to teaching materials through alternative platforms. Possible methods include:

Shared documents via SURFdrive

• Login to surfdrive.surf.nl with your UvAnetID
• Create a folder “Course Information for students” and click  on share
• Click on Create public link (no password) to create the link
• Copy link to share with students
• Share link is now set to view only. Put all the relevant course documents in this folder
  

Share documents via OneDrive:

• Login to OneDrive and go to My files
• Add new folder with +Make (top left blue button)
• Go to folder, click 3 dots and Share / Delen (default is view only)
• Click on the gear icon select Everyone and Apply
• Copy link to share with your students (the link will be public for one month)
  

We recommend that lecturers:

• Organise materials clearly by week or topic
• Use consistent file naming convention (Example: “Week 3 Assignment – submit before Friday 17:00 via the SURFdrive upload folder.”)
• Provide simple written instructions alongside materials

Alternative submission methods

Students need a clear and reliable way to submit their course work. We recommend the following options:

Outlook e-mail small number of students
For small student numbers submission via Outlook email can be sufficient.

SURFdrive
For larger student numbers, SURFdrive request/upload folders is recommended.

Microsoft Onedrive file request
Microsoft Onedrive is an alternative option for larger student numbers.

Download guide for SURFdrive and MS Onedrive

Assignment with plagiarism detection

If you have an assignment that requires plagiarism detection, it is presently recommended to extend the deadline so that the student can submit normally in  Canvas when it is back up and running. If Canvas is out for a longer period of time, a workflow of individual submissions via TurnItIn will be provided here.

We recommend lecturers to:

• Provide one clearly defined submission route per assignment
• Ask students to include:
  • Course code
  • Student number
  • Assignment title

Example naming convention: StudentNumber_CourseCode_Assignment1.docx

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use Turnitin to run a plagiarism check?
As a lecturer you can log in directly via the UvA login page on Turnitin.com to upload documents and generate plagiarism reports. This method does have some drawbacks. You will need to enter the student’s name yourself when you upload the work. A lot of metadata that would normally be sent from Canvas with the document (such as the course name and the assignment) will also be missing. This makes the reports harder to find later and more difficult to share with colleagues. It is therefore recommended to use this method only when a plagiarism report needs to be generated urgently. There is no way for students to submit their work directly to Turnitin.

Download guide to generate Turnitin plagiarism report

Can I change the assessment for my course?
Because of the Canvas hack, you may adjust your assessment. Please coordinate this with your Examinations Board.

How can I register grades now that Canvas is out of order?
If you urgently need to register grades, for example in the case of graduation, please contact your department’s Education Desk.

Is it possible for me to receive access to submitted student assignments or other materials on my Canvas page?
We regret that, at this time, we cannot provide any access to Canvas material. The infrastructure team is hard at work to determine what is possible, and at what risk level.

How can I receive technical support?
If you have any questions, please contact the ICT Services Servicedesk by phone at +31 (0)20 525 1402 or via the service portal: serviceportal.uva.nl.