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Many faculty have a welcome video to greet students and provide them with information about the class鈥�and this is absolutely GREAT! But don鈥檛 hesitate to do even more with video, including:

• Monday morning announcement of what鈥檚 ahead this week. For example: 鈥淗i class! This week we鈥檒l be covering Module 2 on Congress which is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.鈥� Once you鈥檝e created these, you can reuse them in future semesters!
• Providing feedback on student assignments which can be as short as 20-30 seconds. Something as simple as 鈥淗i Jen! Great job on this assignment. I鈥檝e provided specific comments in my submission comments in Canvas. Let me know if you have any questions.鈥�
• Short mini-lectures to supplement the textbook and readings. This is particularly effective for learning of more difficult and technical concepts. While Khan Academy and YouTube videos are great, insert a bit of yourself into the class!
• Check-in or wrap up of students鈥� posts in a discussion forum. Rather than typing in a reply in the discussion, record your comments and post in the discussion.

In trying to get to know my students, I take notes from their introductory posts in the first icebreaker discussion forum. For example, Sylvia may be a returning student with two small children and working part-time, and Jose is new to WVC and plays on the softball team.

Then each week, I focus on a handful of students (3-4 from each class) and reach out with a personal message via Canvas Inbox. I might check in with Sylvia about how she is handling juggling of her work, family and school? And for Jose, I may ask about how the softball team did in its last game?

My biggest challenge was where to keep this list of short notes about students in a convenient place that I could access when needed? Voila! Canvas Notes can do just that!!

To activate Canvas Notes, go to the Gradebook in your class, click on 鈥淰iew鈥� and check 鈥淣otes鈥�. A Notes box will show up next to the students鈥� names where you can enter in your notes. And no need to worry, students are not able to see what you鈥檝e typed in so this space is just for YOU!

In creating a video for feedback to an assignment, you may come across a student name that you don鈥檛 know how to pronounce. Sometimes names can be difficult to pronounce simply because we are not familiar with them or they may not be pronounced the way they look on paper. Wouldn鈥檛 it be great if you could hear the student saying their own name so that you can avoid this problem?

NameCoach is an app that provides accurate pronunciations of students鈥� names in their own voices. While this may not seem to be such a big deal, consider this quote: 鈥淎 person鈥檚 name is to them the sweetest, most important sound in any language.鈥� (Dale Carnegie)

NameCoach is being installed into all of our Canvas courses (WVC and MC) sometime this Fall 2021, and will be fully available in Spring 2022. More info including a workshop is planned, so watch for announcements on this.