Union College offers a wide variety of tools that you can use to extend Nexus' (the College's Learning Management System) functionality in order to enhance your course in the following areas:
If you are interested in any of these tools and would like to get started, book an appointment with a member of the Learning Design and Digital Innovation team or send an email to helpdesk@union.edu.
Assessment:
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Gradescope - grade assignments, quizzes and exams faster and more uniformly–give better feedback to students!
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Grade more quickly and consistently
Use rubrics for point assignments and sets of standard responses to common errors
This tool can be used in conjunction with, or completely separate from, Nexus. Get started by watching this one hour training
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Google Assignments - Create, analyze, and grade coursework
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Quickly and securely create, analyze, and grade coursework using Google Docs through Nexus
Create and analyze assignments with individualized comment bank, rubrics, and originality reports
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Remark - Form scanner
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Scans and analyzes a variety of forms
Easy grading
Can be used for surveys as well as tests and quizzes
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Panopto - create interactive video quizzes and/or student video assignments
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Instructors can create interactive video quizzes
Enable student video creation and submission through a Nexus course site (only the instructor can access the submitted videos).
Easy grading, as both interactive quizzes and video assignments integrate with Nexus gradebook
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Poll Everywhere - engage your students in class with live online polling, surveys, Q&As, quizzes, word clouds, and more.
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Excellent formative assessment tool to help in class discussions and check where students are in their thinking in a low risk way.
Students can use their mobile devices or laptop computers to participate.
Instructors can get an account by contacting LDDI. Online support found here.
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Audio + Digital Media Projects (tools for students)
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Milanote - notetaking, diagram, project plan, mindmapping, and more!
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A digital environment to organize creative work
Milanote operates through “boards." Objects—text-notes, images, links with image previews, or file embeds—can easily be added anywhere on a virtual board.
Contact helpdesk@union.edu to get your class set up with Milanote accounts for the term
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Soundtrap - a cloud-based, audio-creating platform
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Empowers students and teachers to explore creative sound recording in all subjects
Create audio stories, musical compositions, and more
Students can work collaboratively on a group project or individually.
Contact helpdesk@union.edu to get your class set up with Soundtrap accounts for the term
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Sway - Online presentations + content
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Easily create beautiful, and engaging content displays
Intelligently formats content so the user can focus on creating the content, rather than organizing it
Consolidate research over time, especially when visuals are essential for learning
Easily aggregate a variety of media contents on the webpage
Contact helpdesk@union.edu to get your class set up with Sway accounts for the term
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 Adobe Express - Create Infographics, posters, short videos, + web pages
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Make thinking visible through social graphics, web stories, or animated videos from any browser on any device, including Chromebooks. Adobe Express was previously known as Adobe Spark.
The apps are also available on iOS and Android
Go HERE for information about logging into the Adobe Cloud services and getting the Express app.
Contact helpdesk@union.edu if you have questions or problems getting access.
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Collaborative Annotation:
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Perusall - Document and assignment annotations
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Collaborative assignment and annotation tool
Allows students to engage with readings
Creates "confusion report" for instructor to highlight where students misunderstood, disagreed with each other about, or were most engaged with
Automatically grades annotations, making grading easy
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Discussion and Blog tools:
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Muse - Online publishing platform for blogs, websites
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Easy to publish blogs
Make content public or private
Easy formatting
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Kialo - Rational debate platform
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Helps keep arguments concise
Visual map of debate with size of arguments directly related to number of replies
Displays supporting and opposing points in a tree structure
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Interactive Assignments:
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H5P - HTML5 Package
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Easy to create, share and reuse interactive content and applications online
Can create interactive videos, question sets, drag and drop questions, etc.
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Learning Portfolio:
| Muse - Content creation and organization |
Easy formatting
Easy publishing
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Plagiarism Detection:
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Turnitin
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Checks all assignments for plagiarism from books and papers
Helps with grading
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Google Assignments
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Checks assignments for plagiarism through Google
Easy grading
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Embedded Video:
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Panopto- Multimedia content management system
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Can create and upload videos to My Folder library. Basic editing is available.
Can embed libraries or link videos in Nexus
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Screencast or Lecture Capture:
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Panopto - Lecture capture, screen capture, flipped learning
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Easily integrates with Nexus
Automatically uploaded with option to auto-publish
Easily record screen movements with audio, and/or record video with a webcam
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Lightboard - Glass board to write on while recording
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Helps emphasize points while recording
To use: contact User Servies staff via helpdesk@union.edu or this form.
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Production Studio - Located in Schaffer Library, room 208
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Can be used to record any type of lecture or lesson
Newly remodeled
To use: contact User Servies staff via helpdesk@union.edu or this form.
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Zoom - Web based video and screen share
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Includes virtual dry erase board
Record lectures
Faculty and stafff who want to keep Zoom cloud recordings longer than 120 days can set up the "Zoom to Ensemble workflow". When enabled, Zoom recordings will automatically get sent over to your Ensemble video library. Contact helpdesk@union.edu to have a member of the User Services team set this up for you.
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Self-Directed Technology Tutorials:
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LinkedIn Learning - online library
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Teaches latest software, creative, and business skills through video
Beginner to advanced courses
Can link to your LinkedIn account to provide automated content and course recommendations
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Synchronous Remote Lecture, Meeting, or Office Hours:
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Google Appointments - Calendar booking page for office hours, meetings, etc.
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Create an appointment "booking page" that overlays with your personal Google Calendar for people to sign up to meet with you.
For office hours, faculty can have one sign up link for they can paste within multiple Nexus course websites.
With the Zoom Google calendar Chrome extension, you can easily make these meetings virutal meetings!
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 Zoom - Web based video and screen share
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Can host online meetings, office hours, or project collaboration
All members of the Union College community are able to use and access this service
Faculty and stafff who need to keep Zoom cloud recordings longer than 120 days can set up the "Zoom to Panopto workflow". When enabled, Zoom recordings will automatically get sent over to your Panopto video library. Contact helpdesk@union.edu to have a member of the Client Services set this up for you.
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Nexus Setup and Administration:
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Sharing Cart
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Nexus tool that helps copy course content
Can transfer activities between courses
Easy to use
Copies without user data
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Tiles
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Nexus tool that displays topics in a grid format
Allows activities in tiles to be displayed as sub-tiles
User friendly
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Attendance
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Nexus tool that allows users to easily track attendance
Allows teachers to take attendance during class
Allows students to view their own attendance record if the activity is not hidden
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General Nexus Support
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ITS has in depth documentation and online support for getting started wiith Nexus, the College's Learning Management System (i.e., Moodle).
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Thinking deeply about how to improve your teaching? Did you know The Our Shared Humanities initiative made it possible for the Schaffer Library to acquire an impressive collection of in Primo, focused on promoting Teaching Excellence through a student and human centered lens. These texts provide inspiration for small changes and instructional moves you can make is your teaching. Make sure you "check them out" today!
If you are having difficulty or you have unanswered questions, please contact the Help Desk through the ITS Service Catalog or call (518) 388-6400.