Author: Jeff Toorongian

Have you been frustrated with how rubrics work in Canvas? Are you interested in trying out some new rubric features? If so, you can enable the first round of enhanced rubric features (phase 1) in your courses this semester. Canvas enhanced rubrics introduces a new, user-friendly interface paired with enhanced functionality to improve your grading workflows. Key updates include:

• Drag-and-Drop Functionality: Allows you to easily reorder ratings or criteria to suit your rubric design.
• Copying and Duplicating Criteria: Save time by duplicating frequently used rubric elements.
• Customizable Ordering: Choose between “low to high” or “high to low” arrangements for rating scales.

These updates should simplify rubric creation but also ensure consistency and fairness in evaluation.

During the first phase of the Canvas Enhanced Rubrics project developers have focused on providing educators with tools for easier rubric organization and more intuitive marking. By streamlining the grading process, these improvements can support equitable evaluation and save valuable time. Future updates will expand these features further, enabling student self-assessment and other enhancements to promote deeper engagement with learning.

If you’d like to try out enhanced rubrics in your Canvas course(s) you can enable the feature in course settings. From the feature options tab click to enable the enhanced rubric option (see screenshot below).

Canvas considers enhanced rubrics a feature preview option, which means it’s under active development and allows early adopters who opt into the feature to provide the Canvas Community user group with valuable feedback to help improve the feature. This Canvas guide provides additional details on managing enhanced rubrics.

Contact the CTL (elearning@mtu.edu, 487-3000) if you have questions or need additional assistance with Canvas enhanced rubrics.

With the new academic year now underway, we would like to remind instructors of the campus subscription to the Teaching Professor sponsored by the William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning. The Teaching Professor is a highly informative newsletter with a singular purpose: to provide ideas and insight to educators who are passionate about teaching. It’s a source of cutting-edge information and inspiration for more than 10,000 educators at universities and colleges worldwide.

To access the Teaching Professor visit teachingprofessor.com:

• On campus you can obtain full access to all Teaching Professor content (including their extensive archive) if your computer/device is connected to the campus network (except the MichiganTechGuest network). It is not necessary to create an account or log in to access the subscription on-campus.
• Off campus access is also available but does require you to create an account.

Take advantage of this resource and contact the CTL (ctl@mtu.edu) if you have any questions.

As we begin a new fall semester I’m pleased to share an update on classroom renovations that were completed during the summer.

EERC 2nd. floor

The entire second floor of the Electrical Energy Resources Center (EERC) was renovated and all existing classrooms were impacted. The renovation included new wall and ceiling work, new light fixtures and new flooring. Furniture was replaced in all rooms with the exception of EERC 218 which received new active learning furniture as part of a pilot last spring semester. If you are teaching in this area now, we’d love to hear your comments about these updates.

Rekhi G006

Rekhi G006 is a new 54 seat active learning classroom. It features 6-person tables with stacked monitors that can display both instructor content as well as local student group work. Both wall-mounted and personal size whiteboards are also available. The room technology includes a document camera and room cameras for recording presentations or for Zoom sessions.

ChemSci 104

Room 104 in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering building was renovated, combining what was previously two separate smaller classrooms (104A/B). The new 60-seat classroom features multi-level seating options for groups of six students with plenty of whiteboard space. The room technology includes a classroom camera and ceiling microphones for Zoom or recording applications.

The large classroom in Dow 641 also received much needed new furniture this summer. It features larger tabletop works surfaces with available power to better support students who use laptops/tablets and better supports active learning activities.

Contact the CTL (elearning@mtu.edu) if you’d like more information about these classroom updates or to arrange for a room orientation.