Category Archives: tutorial

assessment, Teaching, tutorial, Uncategorized

Brightspace: Advanced Assessments

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Previously Titled: New Feature in Brightspace: Graders and Grade Release Permissions

 

Step by Step Advance Assessments

Create an assignment in Brightspace

Go to the Evaluations & Feedback side panel and expand it to see the options.

visual of side panels associated with assignements

expanded evaluation & feedback vidual

These options, depending on what you pick, reveal additional options.

Click on Select Evaluators (you can choose from the people enrolled in your course with a grading permissions role.)

picture of the select evaluators area of brightspace

Choose how evaluations will process with multiple evaluators.  You can choose between:

  • All evaluators work on the same evaluation together. Publishers release this evaluation to learners.
  • Evaluators work on their own evaluations separately. Publishers aggregate results into one final evaluation and release it to learners.

screenshot of the stated evaluation options

IF you have multiple evaluators: Allocate Evaluators to Learners (select which graders will grade which students)

 

the pull down menu lets you choose from

  • Allocate all evaluators to every learner
  • Randomly allocate 1 evaluator to every learner evenly

screenshot of the allocation methods

You can manually finese these generic selections by using the Evaluator Allocations options area and checking or unchecking students for a given evaluator.

If you have new students come in to the course, Brightspace will follow the automatic allocation method you picked for the new learner enrollments.

Choose publishers:

screenshot of the select publishers area

 

Important: It’s best to configure these settings when creating your assignment. If that’s not possible, make any necessary adjustments before receiving submissions. Once a student has been graded, these settings become locked and cannot be changed. Additionally, if submissions exist but no students have been graded, removing all evaluators will permanently disable advanced assessment features. This means grading will revert to the standard assignment process as it existed before these features were introduced to Brightspace.

 

 

notebooklm icon to indicate chat featureChat with my Advanced Assessments NotebookLM about this subject if you have any questions. You must use your SBU gmail to use this feature. (I am learning how to do this and may need to add each person who wants to use this chat. Feel free to reach out with a request if that turns out to be the case.)

 

Deep Dive by NotebookLM: Listen to the Audio here.

 

AI, tutorial, Uncategorized

ANOTHER cool tool from Google

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image of the whole Whisk desktop

labs.google/fx/tools/whisk

Drop a sample Subject, Scene and/or Style image and the AI creates a more detailed text description of each element and then recombines them.  This takes away some of the hassle of creating prompts for a new AI image.

 

Oh – and here is your audio “deep dive” from NotebookLM.

 

 

 

assessment, grades, information, tutorial

Gradebook Quicktip

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If you are looking to work on your grades offline in excel, and you know you will want to create new columns that you want your students to see, create the columns first in Brightspace, and then export the file as a CSV.  Even though there is language in the process that suggests you can create columns offline, I do not suggest trying to do this.

To create a new column, go to Manage Grades -> New -Item.

Shows the dropdown menu to choose "Item"

If this column only needs to be seen by students, and will not interact with anything else in brightspace, I suggest choosing the Text option for the item type.

shows the list of item types with Text circled.

Text columns are only visible  to students if you have the setting “grade scheme symbol” checked in Grades -> Settings -> Org Unit Display Options -> Student View Display Options.

screen shot of Org Unit Display Options and the Grade scheme symbol

Conversely, if you don’t have this box checked, I guess you can use this column type to make notes about each student that you don’t want them to see? Like name pronunciations or pronoun notes.

 

 

accessibility, tutorial

When Accessibility Issues in Google Apps Require External Solutions

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  1. Complex Navigation or Interaction Challenges:
    • Google apps generally follow WCAG standards, but certain complex workflows (e.g., navigating large spreadsheets or documents with multiple interactive elements) may not fully support screen readers or keyboard-only navigation.
    • Example: Managing extensive pivot tables in Google Sheets may not be fully screen-reader-friendly, requiring a switch to Microsoft Excel or a tool like JAWS for better accessibility.
  2. Non-Editable Content Embedded in Google Docs or Slides:
    • If you embed non-accessible elements such as images without alt text, charts, or external media with no captions, these cannot always be fully fixed inside Google apps.
    • Solution: Use external software like Adobe Acrobat Pro to enhance accessibility in exported PDFs or a dedicated media editor to caption videos.
  3. Lack of Advanced Semantic Structuring:
    • Google Docs supports headings, but for advanced semantic markup (e.g., ARIA roles or custom landmarks), its capabilities are limited. If you need to ensure accessibility for complex documents, moving to Microsoft Word or HTML editors with ARIA support is necessary.
  4. Inadequate Support for Custom Accessibility Features:
    • Custom interactive features (e.g., custom menus or JavaScript-like interactions in Google Slides) may lack robust ARIA tagging or keyboard navigation.
    • Solution: Transition to software like PowerPoint or InDesign, which allows detailed accessibility tagging.
  5. Color Contrast and Design Issues:
    • Google Sheets and Slides allow some color customization, but there are no built-in tools to check and enforce WCAG-compliant contrast ratios.
    • Solution: Use external contrast-checking tools or design software with integrated accessibility checks (e.g., Figma or Adobe XD).
  6. Non-Compliant Form Design in Google Forms:
    • Google Forms often falls short in supporting accessible error identification, labels, or custom ARIA roles. Advanced forms with full WCAG compliance may require a platform like Microsoft Forms or a web development environment.
  7. No Detailed Accessibility Auditing:
    • Google Workspace apps do not provide native tools for auditing accessibility across documents or designs.
    • Solution: Use external auditing tools such as WAVE or Axe to identify and resolve WCAG violations.
  8. Language and Multilingual Accessibility:
    • Google Docs supports some basic language tagging but cannot fully address accessibility for multilingual documents with specific pronunciation or semantic needs.
    • Solution: Use advanced editing tools that allow precise language tagging, like Microsoft Word or InDesign.

How to Decide When to Move to a Different Program

You should consider moving away from Google apps when:

  • The task involves a critical WCAG violation that Google Workspace cannot address (e.g., no alt-text for key visuals or inaccessible interactive content).
  • External auditing tools consistently flag issues that cannot be resolved using Google’s built-in accessibility options.
  • You need advanced customization or integration of assistive technologies (e.g., full ARIA implementation, detailed tagging, or robust form accessibility).

 

Example workflows:

1. Document Accessibility in Microsoft Word

  • Why Word? Microsoft Word has advanced accessibility tools, including a built-in Accessibility Checker and robust support for semantic structure (e.g., heading levels, alt text for images, table summaries).
  • Example Workflow:
    1. Use Word’s Styles feature to apply semantic headings (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.).
    2. Add alt text to images by right-clicking the image > Edit Alt Text.
    3. Use the Accessibility Checker (Review tab) to identify and fix issues such as missing headings or poor color contrast.
    4. Export to a tagged, accessible PDF using Save As PDF with the “Create Accessible PDF” option.

2. Presentation Accessibility in Microsoft PowerPoint

  • Why PowerPoint? PowerPoint includes tools to ensure slide layouts are screen-reader-friendly, proper reading order, and video captioning.
  • Example Workflow:
    1. Use built-in slide layouts (e.g., Title Slide, Content Slide) to ensure proper semantic structure for screen readers.
    2. Add alt text to all images, charts, and graphs.
    3. Use the Accessibility Checker (Review tab) to catch issues like insufficient text contrast.
    4. Add closed captions or subtitles to embedded videos via the Insert Captions feature.

3. Data Accessibility in Microsoft Excel

  • Why Excel? Excel is more screen-reader-friendly than Google Sheets and offers features like named ranges and accessible pivot tables.
  • Example Workflow:
    1. Use Named Ranges instead of referencing raw cell coordinates (e.g., =SUM(SalesData)).
    2. Add descriptive headers to all columns and rows for better navigation.
    3. Use the Accessibility Checker to identify common issues like merged cells, which can confuse assistive technologies.
    4. Export to a PDF with accessibility tags to retain structure.

4. Accessible PDFs with Adobe Acrobat Pro

  • Why Acrobat Pro? It’s the industry standard for ensuring that PDFs are fully accessible, with tools for tagging, alt text, and reading order adjustments.
  • Example Workflow:
    1. Import your document from Word or PowerPoint and open it in Acrobat.
    2. Use the Accessibility Tool to run a full check of your document.
    3. Fix issues such as missing tags, reading order problems, and alt text directly in Acrobat.
    4. Verify compliance with the built-in Accessibility Checker.

5. Form Accessibility in Microsoft Forms or JotForm

  • Why These Tools? These platforms provide greater control over form labels, field instructions, and error messages than Google Forms.
  • Example Workflow:
    1. Add clear and descriptive labels to every form field.
    2. Include placeholders or instructions for input requirements (e.g., “Enter your 10-digit phone number”).
    3. Enable validation for required fields with error messages.
    4. Test the form with screen readers to confirm navigation and readability.

6. Design Accessibility in Figma or Adobe XD

  • Why Figma/Adobe XD? These tools allow detailed accessibility checks during the design process, including color contrast and interactive elements.
  • Example Workflow:
    1. Use plugins like Contrast or Stark to ensure your color palette meets WCAG contrast requirements.
    2. Annotate designs with accessibility notes (e.g., “This button must have ARIA role=’button'”).
    3. Export designs with accessible descriptions for developers to implement.

7. Website Accessibility with WordPress

  • Why WordPress? WordPress supports accessibility-ready themes and plugins to ensure WCAG compliance for websites.
  • Example Workflow:
    1. Choose an accessibility-ready theme (marked in the theme directory).
    2. Use plugins like WP Accessibility to add ARIA roles, skip links, and other enhancements.
    3. Test the site with tools like WAVE or Axe to identify accessibility barriers.

8. Interactive Accessibility in ARIA-Supported Development Environments

  • Why Use ARIA? For custom interactive content, ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) helps ensure assistive technologies can interact with dynamic elements.
  • Example Workflow:
    1. Develop interactive content in HTML using ARIA roles (e.g., role=”dialog”).
    2. Use tools like Deque Axe or Google Lighthouse to test ARIA implementation.
    3. Include keyboard navigation testing to ensure all users can interact with your content.

 

accessibility, tutorial

Getting PDFs ready for Accessibilty Requirements

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AI created attention grabber - decorative

The compliance of scanned and OCRed files from Adobe Acrobat Pro with accessibility standards depends on several factors, especially when dealing with complex layouts like columns and tables. Here’s how these elements fare:

1. Text Recognition (OCR) Accuracy

  • Adobe Acrobat Pro’s OCR is generally reliable for converting scanned images into editable and searchable text.
  • Challenges with Columns: OCR might misinterpret multi-column layouts, reading them linearly rather than by column.
  • Challenges with Tables: OCR may struggle to preserve the structure of tables, often interpreting them as unstructured text.

2. Tagging and Accessibility

Acrobat Pro can automatically tag OCRed documents, but the tags may not always be accurate, especially for complex layouts:

  • Columns: Acrobat might not detect column order correctly, causing screen readers to read content in the wrong sequence.
  • Tables: The software often fails to generate proper table tags, leading to a loss of row and column relationships crucial for screen reader users.

3. Alt Text for Images

  • Scanned documents often include graphical elements, which Acrobat cannot automatically assign alt text to. You must manually add descriptive alt text for meaningful images.

4. Reading Order

  • Acrobat’s “Reading Order” tool is essential to correct the logical reading sequence, especially in multi-column and table-heavy documents.
  • Default reading order for OCRed files may require significant manual adjustments to ensure compliance.

5. Compliance with Accessibility Standards

To meet accessibility standards like WCAG 2.1 or Section 508, additional steps are often necessary:

  • Manually Adjust Tags: Verify and edit tags to accurately reflect document structure, including headings, lists, tables, and columns.
  • Use Acrobat’s Accessibility Checker: This tool helps identify and fix accessibility issues but may not catch all problems in complex layouts.
  • Supplement with Manual Efforts: Complex documents may require manual remediation with tools like Adobe Acrobat or third-party software specialized in accessibility.

Best Practices for Improving Compliance

  1. Pre-OCR Processing: Clean up scanned files to enhance OCR accuracy (e.g., ensuring straight scans, good contrast, and minimal noise).
  2. Use Proper OCR Settings: Select the correct language and enable the “Recognize as Table” option where applicable.
  3. Manually Review Tags: After OCR, manually inspect and adjust tags for accurate representation of document structure.
  4. Simplify Layouts: If possible, avoid overly complex layouts in scanned documents to minimize accessibility challenges.

By taking these additional steps, you can significantly improve the compliance of scanned and OCRed documents, even with complex layouts.

 

AI, tutorial

How to Tell the Chat GPT: Privacy Please!

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a privacy sign hanging from a door knob

 

To opt out of using your data to train Chat GPT:

Go to Settings

image of settings location

Click on Data Controls

image of settings menu

Click on “Improve the model for everyone” and set it to off.

Image of the prompt that asks you if you really want to not help the model train.

ALTERNATIVELY:

You can go to this website, and click on the button in the upper right that says “Make a Privacy Request”

Note that Enterprise ChatGPT has privacy enabled by default.

“You can access the privacy portal for ChatGPT services by visiting OpenAI’s Privacy Policy page. This page provides information on how your data is handled, including collection, usage, and your rights regarding your information. If you’re looking for specific privacy settings or options to manage your data, they are generally outlined in the policy itself or via account settings within the OpenAI platform.”

 

image of the options inside the privacy portal.

Here you can also Request a copy of the data, delete your account and make a ChatGPT Personal Data Removal requests.

You should absolutely avail yourself of these settings if you are using this for work where you are loading up sensitive information. We work with FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) data, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) data and research data here at the university and need to be careful.

 

Services for businesses, such as ChatGPT Team, ChatGPT Enterprise, and our API Platform

“By default, we do not train on any inputs or outputs from our products for business users, including ChatGPT Team, ChatGPT Enterprise, and the API. We offer API customers a way to opt-in to share data with us, such as by providing feedback in the Playground, which we then use to improve our models. Unless they explicitly opt-in, organizations are opted out of data-sharing by default.

Please see our Enterprise Privacy page for information on how we handle business data.”

 

 

 

AI, tutorial

FACT2 AI Faculty Development Workshops 2024

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Please check out the Spring 2024 Workshops below. The workshops will be offered at no cost, and will be recorded, and the recordings will be available on the Playlist below.

Getting Started with Artificial Intelligence

 

  • March 12, 2024, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
  • March 15, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

 

Description: As GPT has gained widespread attention since the release of GPT 3.5 in late 2022, our digital landscape has been evolving quickly.  With academia, media, governments, and corporations focused on the furthest reaches of artificial intelligence, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the possibilities this powerful tool offers us. This hands-on session focuses not on the outer limits of AI, but instead on:

 

  • Getting started with GPT/ Understanding its roots
  • Establishing best practices for general usage
  • Expanding our comfort zone
  • Working with AI to determine how it can and cannot meet our individual needs Attendees will have the option to observe, click along with provided usage examples, and share their results with others.

 

Presenter: Robert Becker

Exploring Potential and Pitfalls of AI Use in the Classroom 

 

  • March 19, 2024, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
  • March 22, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

 

Description: AI tools have access to enormous data and use enormous processing power to generate plausible patterns that can save time, offer sophisticated text for users to consider, and boost thinking/learning and writing/communication for students and faculty alike. But they also have glaring weaknesses, such as their inability to recognize reality (versus merely “plausible” strings of words), understand context or culture, offer unbiased and ethical responses, avoid privacy or security infringement, etc. Join this hands-on session to learn and share how to help students recognize pitfalls of AI, as well as explore its potentials. We will collaboratively develop and exchange learning activities for our students.

 

Presenter: Shyam Sharma, Michael Murphy, & Cynthia Davidson

Developing Syllabus Statements on AI Use

 

  • March 26, 2024, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
  • March 29, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

 

Description: As faculty navigate the use of Chat GPT and other AI tools in their courses, it is important to communicate their expectations with the students.  This session will provide participants with examples of syllabus statements being used within SUNY and beyond.  The examples will reflect varying levels of permitted AI usage:

 

  • Minimal/ none
  • Some use with specific rules/ circumstances
  • Expected/ required

Participants will be encouraged to discuss the examples and how they relate to their own current or future AI use in their courses.  Following an open discussion and sharing of ideas, individuals will collaborate to adapt/ develop a syllabus statement based on their desired level of AI usage.  Participants will leave the workshop with a syllabus statement that they may use in their course.
 

Presenter: Meghanne Freivald & Keith Landa

AI As An Assistant

 

  • April 2, 2024, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
  • April 5, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

 

Description: AI can be helpful for a number of tasks for students, including suggesting writing improvements, summarizing or rephrasing concepts they are learning, helping with ideation to overcome “blank page syndrome”, or even generating questions for review. The commonly available tools, such as ChatGPT, have been trained on a vast corpus of information that covers many subjects, albeit non-uniformly, and its ability to provide accurate and helpful information varies by subject, as it its likelihood that it will provide incorrect information (they call this a “hallucination”).

Those are factors that are out of your control, but you can mitigate them….with a well crafted prompt.

This workshop aims to help you assess how effective these tools could be for your students – looking at whether they work out of the box, and whether the right prompt can address gaps and concerns. Even if you find that these tools are really not well suited for your course, that can be something that you can share with your students and have a chance to guide them to other options.

Presenter: Maureen Larsen & Brian Cepuran

AI Tools to Help You Build Your Course

 

  • April 9, 2024, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
  • April 12, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

 

Description: There are a variety of tools to help instructors build out their courses, from designing learning outcomes, to creating course content, to creating quizzes and other assessments.  Both general-purpose and specialized AI tools will be demonstrated in the workshop, and participants will have opportunities to try them out.  Both faculty and the instructional support staff that assist them are encouraged to attend. No prior AI experience required.

Presenter: Brian Cepuran & Keith Landa

Register Now

assessment, Teaching, tutorial

Open Workshops for polling/clickers today

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Echo360 (which bought Turning Technologies) will be on campus today (9/12/23) to run two workshops and to assist walkup students with their clickers/mobile licenses.  Workshops are in the Faculty Center in the Melville Library 10-11 and 3-4 (beginner and advanced).  Students should go  to the SINC site for the walk up assistance.

 

Teaching, tutorial

Brightspace – Managing Restrictions in Discussions with Groups

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If you want to have discussion boards used in  your class, and also use groups in such a way that members of different groups do not see each others posts… rather they only see the posts from their own group in the discussion board – these are the steps you follow.

Please note that these are steps that should be taken before the discussion board has any posts.

Go to Groups:

Set up your Groups, by creating a Group Category:  I used the # of groups “Enrollment Type” option.

Click Save.

Go to Discussions:

*This assumes you already have the discussion boards in place.*

Use the drop down to the right of the Topic name to “Edit Topic”.

Go to “Availability Dates & Conditions” on the right hand part of the screen.

Click on “Manage Restrictions”.

Select “Restrict Topic and Separate Threads” Users in the selected groups/sections can view this topic but will only see threads from their group/section.

It is possible to have multiple Group Categories and Course sections to chose from.   You will probably have only one Group Category.

Click Add.  Click Save and Close.

 

You should now see under the topic name an indication that Group/section restrictions have been applied.

 

 

 

 

Teaching, tests, tutorial, Uncategorized

Need to regrade a finished quiz?

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If you realized after the fact that a quiz/exam assessment had an error – just fixing the question will let you know that it will only affect future users who take the exam.  You should still correct it there, but in order to regrade, we need to do something else.

Go to the Exams/Quizzes area.  Find the assessment that had the problem.  Click on the dropdown menu to the right of the name of the assessment.  Click on Grade.

 

 

 

Now click on Questions

Check the radio button for Update all attempts.  Find the Question that had an issue.

Clicking on the question will give you a break down of how it was answered and shows what was graded as correct.

Here you can choose whether to give every one points, or just give points to the people who answers in the desired manner.

Click Save.