Archive for What’s New

Welcome Back: Fall 2014

By Charles Woods · Comments (0)
Monday, August 25th, 2014

Dear Faculty and Instructors,

Your Fall 2014 CourseWorks course site is ready for you to use. To begin working on your site, log in with your UNI and password at  http://courseworks.columbia.edu/.

Your CourseWorks site makes it easy to post your syllabus, course objectives, textbooks etc.  In addition the course sites also make it easy for you to post assignments, share documents, and communicate with students and more.  For help getting started, download the QuickStart guide and find other documentation at: http://support.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/knowledgebase/articles/6137.   There are also several workshops offered by CCNMTL and the details can be found at http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/workshops/

Over the summer CourseWorks underwent two major changes.  First, CourseWorks was upgraded to a new version. which includes the following changes:

  • New UI Layout
  • Improved text editor
  • Gradebook can now drop the highest/lowest grade in a category
  • Easier to read interface in Test & Quiz
  • New question types in Test & Quiz
  • Separate Hide and Disable tool options in Page Order.  Hide will prevent students form seeing a tool, but they can be linked to the contents.  Disabling a tool prevents the students from accessing even if linked to the tool.

The second major change was CourseWorks move to a brand new infrastructure.  This was a change on the servers CourseWorks is hosted.  With this change we expect to see improvements in performance as the semester progresses.

If you need any assistance with:

We look forward to helping you make the most of your CourseWorks site this semester!

Sincerely,

The CourseWorks Team

 

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Categories : News, Uncategorized, What's New

March 15th Update 8AM – 2PM

By Charles Woods · Comments (0)
Monday, March 3rd, 2014

We will be taking CourseWorks down for maintenance on Saturday March 15th, 2014
8AM – 2PM.  During this time we will be doing a number of enhancements and patches on CourseWorks.  Changes’ being made include the following:

  • Adding a link to view Ninja print quotas for Columbia College, SEAS and School of Social Work students
  • Adding Student reports of past courses evaluations
  • Fixing the display options for Library Reserves and Research Guides
  • Adding a time out dialog message while filling out an evaluation
  • New features and bug fixes in Evaluation Administration including:
    • Adding an option to display rating scales in reverse order
    • Ordering reports for courses added to existing evaluations
    • Correcting an error while exporting Evaluation data to Excel

If users continue to experience issues after the service-interruption hours, please contact the CUIT Helpdesk at:

Web:     https://cuit.columbia.edu/support

Phone:   212-854-1919

Email:     [email protected]

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Categories : Maintenance, News, What's New

NewCourseWorks Redirect

By Charles Woods · Comments (0)
Monday, January 6th, 2014

Please Note: https://newcourseworks.columbia.edu is no longer active.  Please go to https://courseworks.columbia.edu to login to CourseWorks.

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Categories : What's New

Features and Bug Fixes January 2014

By Charles Woods · Comments (0)
Sunday, January 5th, 2014

New Features

  • CourseWorks users are now authenticated via CAS (Central Authentication Service)
  • The Syllabus tool interface has been redesigned to make it easier to create and update content
  • Library search is now available easily via Coursework search page
  • CKEditor has been updated to a newer version.  CKEditor is the text editor interface used by many tools within CourseWorks
  • Delegated administrators can look up site membership for individuals.
  • Evaluation administrators can set default settings for Evaluations and Reports
  • Evaluation administrators can create student reports of course evaluations
  • Instructors can now customize the Student view of their Gradebook grades
  • Imported site members are added as NRA members

Bug Fixes

  • An error deleting Sign Up tool meetings has been fixed.
  • A bug in the numbering of Evaluation questions has been fixed
  • A bug in the reordering of Evaluation questions has been fixed
  • A bug preventing Auditors from viewing Assignments has been fixed
  • GSB Student’s no longer get an error the first time logging into CourseWorks via Canvas
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Categories : News, What's New

New Tools and Features in New Courseworks for Fall ’13

By Charles Woods · Comments (0)
Tuesday, August 27th, 2013

Here’s a list of some of the exciting new changes Fall 2013 has brought to CourseWorks!  Now, when you log into CourseWorks, users have access to:

Expanded classroom information

Includes details on classroom size and equipment.

My Evaluations Page

Provides a consolidated view of all evaluations, listed by term, that are assigned to each student.

Improved syllabus tool

Allows instructors to update key information, such as creating multiple sessions and linking sessions to a calendar for students to view.

Piazza

A robust discussion board and online Q&A platform.

Big Blue Button

An interactive web conferencing tool, designed to enhance the classroom experience for distance learning.

 

Please Note: Piazza and Big Blue Button are available to all faculty upon request. For more information on how to use this tool, visit the CourseWorks website.

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Categories : What's New

What’s New in CourseWorks for Spring ’13

By Chuck Eigen · Comments (0)
Friday, January 18th, 2013

The Spring 2013 semester has brought these new changes to CourseWorks!

“New Courseworks” has become “CourseWorks@Columbia”:

The URL https://newcourseworks.columbia.edu has become https://courseworks.columbia.edu.

The old system can now be accessed at https://oldcourseworks.columbia.edu. Please be sure to update any bookmarks.

Assignments – Extended Year Limit:

The calendar limit in the Assignments tool has been extended.

Embed Videos:

YouTube, Vimeo, and Columbia Surelink videos can now be embedded in any tool in CourseWorks that uses the text editor. To use, click on the “Embed Video” button and paste the link to the video.

Facebook Roster – Instructor Printing:

The print function has been added to the Roster for use by instructors, due to popular demand.

Files & Resources – Hiding Files:

Files and folders can now be hidden by selecting the “Hide” option from the “Actions” menu.

File Uploads – Creation of Groups:

Create and populate one or more groups within a site by uploading a CSV file containing group name and UNI data.

New Evaluation System:

Course evaluations can now be created, managed, and completed in the new CourseWorks system. Training will offered to admins in the coming weeks.

Photo Roster for Students:

Students can now opt in to allow their official photo to be seen by other students in the Roster tool. Changes can be made to this setting at any time by accessing Profile options under “My Workspace”.

Shopping Period Changes – Automatic Updates:

Shopping Period changes made by instructors no longer take 24 hours to go into effect.

Textbook Information – Import Enhancement:

Textbook info can now be imported from one site in CourseWorks to another by using the “Import from Site” option within the “Site Settings” tool.

Yaft Tool Renaming:

The tool formerly entitled Yaft is now the Voice Tool.

Courseworks is also getting a facelift! Watch for upcoming changes. We look forward to bringing you all the same great resources from a new sleek and streamlined interface.

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Categories : News, What's New

New Tools and Features in New Courseworks for Fall ’12

By Chuck Eigen · Comments (0)
Thursday, July 26th, 2012

Here’s a list of some of the exciting new changes Fall 2012 has brought to New CourseWorks!

Enhanced Shopping Period Search:

Additional search fields and increased information returned allow for a new, more effective search for viewable courses.

Gradebook Letter View:

Instructors and students can now see all grades in letter view.

“My Reserves” Tool:

Library reserves for multiple courses can now be viewed from the “My Courses” page via a link that can be added below the “My Workspace” heading.

Wikispaces Tool:

A new tool now makes Columbia Wikispaces available for integration within course sites.

Tool Offerings List:

New tools and available pilot tools are now highlighted within New CourseWorks on a list of offered tools.

Guest Password Reset (Self-service):

Guest users added to New CourseWorks can now reset their own passwords simply by using a link on the New CourseWorks landing page: https://newCourseWorks.columbia.edu/welcome

Calendar Date Changes in Bulk:

This new feature makes it possible to view and update many unrelated calendar events all from the same page.

Upload Textbooks:

Textbook information for multiple courses can now be uploaded all at once using an excel file.

Clog (Pilot Tool):

A collaborative tool for posting and viewing blog entries by course site members.

Evaluation System (Pilot Tool):

Online courses and instructor ratings by conducting formative and summative evaluations of courses.

There are always new changes and enhancements being planned for New CourseWorks.  Be sure to check this page often to stay up-to-date!

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Categories : What's New

New Tools and Features in New Courseworks for Summer ’12!

By Chuck Eigen · Comments (0)
Thursday, May 24th, 2012

Curious about the May 19th upgrade? Here’s a list of some of the changes we made!

Enhanced “My Courses” Page:

The new Info channel on the “My Courses” page ensures access to all the latest New Courseworks information the moment you log in! School-based announcements also give you instant access to important school-based updates.

Enhanced Home Tool:

Instructor information is now displayed on the Home page of every New Courseworks site. Instructors have the ability to grant Teaching and Staff Assistants access to edit the Home page, and the layout of the page can be streamlined into a single-column layout.

Syllabus Tool Access for Teaching and Staff Assistants:

Instructors can now grant Teaching and Staff Assistants the ability to edit the Syllabus tool in New Courseworks!

Textbook Tool:

Instructors can add textbook information directly to their New Courseworks sites, and students can view textbook info from within a site, or see aggregated textbook information for all their courses under the “My Workspace” section of their “My Courses” page!

Facebook Flash Cards:

Instructors can view the class roster as a series of “flash cards”. Pictures are first shown without identifying information, then names can be revealed and a score can be kept of how many were guessed correctly.

Sign-Up Tool:

Instructors can organize available office hours as calendar meetings, and students can sign up for appointments during offered time slots.

Customized Time-Frame for Guest Access:

Guest access to New Courseworks sites can now be customized in monthly intervals to last between a month and six months.

“Polls” Tool Import Options:

Polls can now be imported between New Courseworks sites.

Most of these modifications are the direct result of suggestions from the Columbia University community. If there are changes you’d like to see in New Courseworks, be sure to send them to us!

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