I was just talking to a student at office hours who made a very good observation: it’s easier to have a discussion with people if you know who they are. If everyone would take a few minutes to make their Canvas profile complete, everyone will be able to get to know everyone a little better.
Many of you have actually done (at least parts of) this already, but:
- On the upper right of the Canvas screen click on your name – this gets to your overall stuff.
- Under “settings” (on the left side) – set your “Display Name” to “FirstName LastName” (so for me it’s “Mike Gleicher”). This way, when people see you in a discussion, it’ll look better.
- Please leave “Sortable Name” as LastName,Firstname
- Under “Profile” – edit your profile. A picture is really helpful. A short bio – what department you are in, … can help people know who they are talking to. If you have a personal home page, it’s nice to add that as well.
Since the course roster has probably stabilized, we will re-group people soon. Our thought is to hold groups constant for a few weeks, then shuffle them again. We also might do something in class where we let groups meet each other in person.
So far, the discussions have been great – people have been respectful (even when disagreeing and expressing strong opinions), and the discussions seem interesting (to us looking at them – and hopefully to you having them). Maybe these little tweaks can make things even better.
