Mythical Class

This was a pretty helpful tech tip this week, and seemed to be pretty appropriate. As we are entering the end of the semester, it is important to see exactly where I stand in terms of progress in the course. I was able to use the total grade in the top right to see where I stood, as well as the progress chart to compare with the paced class. It seems I should be fine to finish by the end of this week, but if not I will not have any problem at the beginning of dead week. The assignment groups were a little confusing on the gradebook, but I think it had to do with the way the extra credit assignments were laid out in the modules. Overall, checking out the gradebook from a canvas perspective like this is still useful. I always end up doing my own calculations, as I think the ones at the bottom of the screen usually don't include pending assignments, but being able to view all of the assignments on one page makes this step easier.

Oh No!  Well! I tried to add the weather to my blogger site. I wanted to add both Norman and Jerusalem. With so many of my reading notes centered around biblical texts, I figured that would be a good addition. Plus, I could be consistently seeing an opposing climate, which just could be refreshing. But, the widget builder seems to be down. AccuWeather reads that "The free weather widget from AccuWeather is no longer available." What a bummer! So, I will see if I can do it for my portfolio via google sites. Image Source: Link . 

I went ahead and got the Canvas Mobiel App to see if it would help to stay organized with classes. Seeing as I have already been enjoying the Calender , the mobile app is a great addition to the program. I can see at a glance what assignments I have coming up and see message strings that are happening over the canvas messenger. I was a little disappointed in the interaction limitations with files for my classes, but it is useful to be able to pull things up and view them at least. Plus, being able to take quizzes on the app if I am in a pinch is incredibly useful. Though, I hope I will never have to use it, as I would be too worried about my phone crashing to truly focus on the material!

I wanted to add a box that had quick links to my most recent posts. This way, instead of navigating the table of contents, it would have an immediate way to find my most recent work. I think that it will make constructive comments more useful and spread out, instead of concentrating feedback on titles that "stand out." The instructions found on the tech tip page are very easy to follow, but there was one snag. When applying the feed, the first prompt asks for a "feed URL." I just went ahead and copy/pasted my blogs URL into the dialogue box. That way it will pull the most recent stories from the homepage, instead of having to manually link each post.

Wow! The canvas calendar was a world of usefulness that I had no idea about. I am a big hard-copy notes guy, and this includes my planning. I really only use digitcal calenders for my appointments, that way I have alerts on my computer/phone for upcoming doctors appointments and such. For school and work, I prefer to keep a running physical calender. Every month I print out a blank month and fill it out as the month progresses. Tests, reading, quizzes, due dates, and many other deadlines go onto this. However, there are often situations where something is just too voluminous to add to the month calender. The weekly activity schedule for this class is a great example. However, when I saw that I could print my canvas calender (with my class assignments already listed) I about jumped out of my seat. This will definitely help me keep track of assignments that otherwise would have not been worth copying down.

I set up the recommended word count tool  . I used it throughout my story writing exercise today and I have some mixed thoughts on it. The bad, first- I wish (and was expecting) the tool to have a status box in the toolbar that listed the word count for whatever text box in which the cursor was active. It does make sense to me that people would need to check the word count on other groups of text, so I do see the point of the selection-right click function. However, this should be an attribute included WITH the toolbar. The positive: I really do like the widget and I wish that I had heard of this earlier! I have been in so many discussion classes where this was needed, as well as general writing edits. Most of the wiritng that I do is with a word processor, so I do not do too much personal writing online. But this widget would have been (and still will be!) very helpful in my classes.