Canvas has introduced new accessibility features designed to make the platform more inclusive, user-friendly, and equitable for everyone—especially those using assistive technologies. These updates include a new dyslexia-friendly font option as well as improvements to enhance visual clarity, structural organization, error feedback, and keyboard navigation. These improvements reflect Canvas’s ongoing commitment to meeting WCAG 2.1 […]| Academic Technology Solutions
“Empirical evidence supplied by several researchers indicates that a decision to adopt or reject a new idea is often not the terminal stage in the innovation-decision process. …At the confirmation stage the individual (or other decision-making unit) seeks reinforcement for the innovation-decision already made, and may reverse this decision if exposed to conflicting messages about the innovation.| Academic Technology Solutions
The recent decision by Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, to partner with OpenAI and integrate AI into Canvas has sparked confusion and uncertainty among Canvas users, including faculty and instructors who are unsure what this change means for their teaching. In this post, we’ll explain the protocols in place to decide if and when AI features could be made available for opt-in at the University of Chicago. We’ll then lay out what the released AI features in Canvas can do, as well ...| Academic Technology Solutions
“…AI mirrors amplify and normalize our biases, reinforce our most polarizing opinions and most aggressive stances, and boost the visibility of our most uninformed “hot takes:’ In doing so they reflect back to us images of human civic agency so distorted in their form…that actual political behavior drifts closer and closer to the originally distorted […]| Academic Technology Solutions
With the new optional Bots++ feature, you can now add an AI-powered chatbot to your course in Ed Discussion. This bot can be customized to your specific course materials and approach, helping streamline communication and assistance to your students. The bot currently available, GPT 4o, runs in the University’s secure environment and won’t be used to train future models and is not shared with third-party vendors.| Academic Technology Solutions
In building an atmosphere of trust between instructors and students, it is vital to set clear expectations. Research bears this out: a 2025 survey of students carried out by Inside Higher Ed found that 34% of respondents considered “clear, consistent expectations” to be a priority in building classroom trust. But how to achieve this goal? It begins, as with so much else in the classroom experience, with the syllabus.| Academic Technology Solutions
If you’re looking for a seamless way to track class attendance while enhancing student engagement, Poll Everywhere offers robust features specifically designed for higher education environments. We have outlined several strategies you can use with Poll Everywhere to streamline attendance tracking. Poll Everywhere allows you to take attendance during live sessions by recording student responses. […]| Academic Technology Solutions
“A computing system that permits the asking of only certain kinds of questions, that accepts only certain kinds of ‘data,’ and that cannot even in principle be understood by those who rely on it, such a computing system has effectively closed many doors that were open before it was installed:’ – Joseph Weizenbaum, creator of […]| Academic Technology Solutions
Canvas has recently debuted a new interface in the Files section of course sites. This interface is more intuitive and makes it easier for you to carry out commonly used functions when managing your course files. When you click on the Files tab, you will no longer see a folder tree. Instead, you will be […]| Academic Technology Solutions
If you’re looking for a way to make grading easier for you and help students better understand where they can improve their work, Canvas Rubrics can help you deliver more impactful feedback with a minimum amount of setup time. (You’ll also be able to repurpose these in later instances of your course or duplicate and modify your best rubrics, so this quarter’s setup is an investment for your future teaching!)| Academic Technology Solutions
The Academic Technology Solutions (ATS) newsletter is your one-stop shop for information on technology and pedagogy. Whether you’d like to know the latest news in digital pedagogy, tips for using digital tools effectively in your class, updates to classroom AV, or strategies for making your course materials accessible, our newsletter will point you in the right direction.| Academic Technology Solutions
Do you have a topic that is so interesting you wished you could do an entire class on it? Or maybe wonder what students really thought about an issue? Maybe you wished you could debate a student in a comfortable low-pressure environment? Podcasting is the answer you have been looking for! Whether it’s discussing new concepts or debating opinions, integrating podcasts as educational tools can bring new types of engagement into your classroom. | Academic Technology Solutions
