Glow Help - HOME

Faculty

• Q: How do I make my course available to my students?

  

  Click the Publish button under “Course Status”  in the upper right hand corner of the page. Students cannot see your course and content until you publish it.

   

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    Content areas in Glow can be made to be available or unavailable to students even after a course is published. To the right of modules, pages, or other content will be a publish/unpublish icon. If the icon is a light grey circle, then the content is unavailable to students. You can click on the icon to toggle the availability. When the circle is green with the check mark, the content item will be available to students.

    In the case of modules, you will want to make sure that the parent module is available to students as well as the content items listed in that module. Both the icon for the parent module and the content items in the module will need to be the color green.

    You can use Settings > Navigation to hide menu items from students including the Files menu item. When students view the course, the Files menu item would not be present. This effectively hides all the files in the file repository. You could then selectively share files by linking to files from a page or module.

    However, there is also the option of keeping the Files menu item accessible to students, but controlling what students can see or access.  For more information about it,  refer to this documentation.

    Once you have uploaded content and made it available or unavailable to students, you can check on your work  using the Student View button on the right side of the Course Home Page. This will allow you to explore the course and see the course as it will appear to students. Click on the File menu item and test the accessibility of the files there. Also look at any modules or pages you have added and see if you can see them. To exit student view, there is a button in the lower right hand corner that says "leave student view."

• Q: How do I add my course syllabus?

  Modules

  

  Modules (default course Home Page) are used to organize course content by topics, weeks, units, or a different organizational structure. Modules essentially create a one-directional linear flow of what students should do in a course.

  Each module can contain files, Discussions, Assignments, Quizzes, links and other learning materials. You can add existing content (e.g. Assignments) or create a new entry (e.g. Page or Discussion forum) within the modules. Modules can be easily organized using the drag and drop feature. Elements within the modules can also be reorganized by dragging and dropping.

  Here is how to post your syllabus file as a Module item.

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  Also read:

  • How do I add a new Module?
  • How do I publish a Module?

   

  You can also use the Syllabus Page or a Page to post your syllabus as shown below.

  Syllabus Page

  

  When you use the Syllabus Page, “Course Summary” is automatically generated based on Assignments and Events within a course. The “Course Summary” can only be changed by editing or deleting the Assignments or Events. All Assignments (unpublished and published) are listed in the Syllabus Page for instructors, but students can only see published items. The Syllabus Page makes it easy to communicate to your students what will be required of them throughout the course in chronological order.

  In addition, you can insert text, links, images, videos and audio above the “Course Summary” section.

  Here is how to upload your syllabus to the Syllabus Page.

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  Also read:

  • What are Assignments?
  • How do I add an event to a course calendar?
  • How do I change my Home Page?

  Front Page

  

  You can design your course home page (Front Page) with text, images, media, and links. The links can be to files (e.g. syllabus in PDF or PowerPoint lecture), other Glow Pages, Discussions, Quizzes, and external content.

  Here is how to upload your syllabus to a Glow Page.

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  Also read:

  • How do I set a Front Page?
  • How do I change my Home Page?

• Q: How do I merge multiple sections into a single section?

  If you teach a course with multiple sections of the same course content/assignments, and don’t want to duplicate them in each section you teach, there is a way to consolidate and merge your sections into a single course on Glow. This is called “cross-listing” which allows you to move all enrollment in one course (section) to another course (section).

  For example, if you teach two sections of Economics 110 (15F-ECON-110-01 and  15F-ECON-110-02) and would like to use 15F-ECON-110-01 as the parent course of the two sections, you go to the settings of 15F-ECON-110-02 to cross list it to 15F-ECON-110-01.

  Click “How” here to learn how to cross-list sections. You can also watch a short video on Cross-listing.

• Q: How do I add a TA and/or a non-Williams auditor?

  Enrolling non-Williams Users to Your Course

  If you want to enroll non-Williams user(s) into your course, you will need to request an auditor (guest) account. Please fill out this form at:

  http://hr.williams.edu/forms/williams-affiliation-request-form/

  You will need their full name including middle initial, address and phone number.  If you know that they ever had a Williams account, select “Renewal” for Affiliation Status on the request form instead of “New.”

  After the auditor account is created (or renewed), you can enroll him/her the same way as you enroll those who have Williams username as described below.

  

  Enrolling/Removing Students, TAs & Auditors to/from Your Course

  Officially registered students are automatically enrolled into your corresponding Glow course and you do not need to add any students. However, you can invite other students to join your course via People link.
  Use Unix ID or Williams short-style email addresses (e.g. jfs1@williams.edu, not [email protected]) to find the student in the system .
  – How do I add students and TAs to my course?
  – How do I remove a student from my course?
       A: Please email [email protected] with the name of the student

  There are six predefined roles:

  • Teacher: Teacher can add content items, grade students, add users and change some course default settings.
  • TA: TA has almost the same rights as a Teacher, but can NOT view nor edit grades.
  • Grading TA: Special TA who has access to the Gradebook, Assignments, and Discussions, but NO editing rights.
  • Grader-Homework: Special TA who only have access to the Gradebook and Assignments. NO editing rights.
  • Student: That’s self-explanatory, they generally have fewer privileges within a course.
  • Designer: By default, the Designer cannot edit grades, nor add/remove users. They can edit course content. Generally speaking, the Designer Role is best suited for the instructional designers or curriculum writers who write and manage course content.
  • Observer:  The Observer role can be used to enroll auditors and guests who would like to participate in a Glow course but do not need to earn course credit. Observers have limited permissions that allow them to see what is going on in a course without interrupting the flow of daily course communication.

   

• Q: How do I copy course material from my old GLOW course to a new one?

  To copy course content, assignments, and quizzes from previous semesters, use the Course Import Tool from the Course Settings.

  1. Go to your new course, then in the course navigation menu on the left, click the Settings link.

  2. Click the Import Content Content button on the right.

  

  3. Select Content Type
  

  4. Search for a Course
  

  5. Select Migration Content
  
  To import all content from the course, select the All Content radio button.
  If you want to select specific content, click the Select specific content radio button.

  6. Click the Import button.
  

• Q: How do I request library DVDs to be streamed in my course?
  Jump to the Library Page.

• Q: How do I move my Zoom recordings on Panopto to the Course Media Gallery?
  Jump to the how to page.

• Q: How do I prepare my iPhone/iPad videos for Panopto?

  Using an iPad is great for screen recording due to the touchscreen capabilities and easy to use Quicktime recording features. The recordings can then be published to Panopto for use in Glow, however there is one thing you may need to do before publishing to Panopto is possible.

  Problem: By default, newer iOS record videos using High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC a.k.a H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2), but Panopto cannot currently work with this compression method and the result is audio that does not play back correctly. 

  Solution: To ensure that your videos will playback correctly through Panopto in Glow, you will need to Turn Off High Efficiency Mode for Recording in iOS prior to recording. This means your recordings will be encoded for H.264, which will also generally perform better for users with limited internet bandwidth. 

   

  NOTE: If you have already created videos using HEVC, then you can convert those files using Handbrake or VLC. 

  Handbrake

  • • Download and install Handbrake.

  • • How To Convert HEVC To H.264 (where it says Video Encoder, choose the option H.264 (x264)). 

  VLC

  • • Download and install VLC.

  • • Convert Video File Format using VLC

   

Students

• Q: I am registered for this course, but I don't see it on Glow. What's wrong?

  Not all courses on Glow are published. Your professor may have decided NOT to use Glow this semester. Please contact your instructor first. If the course is published and available, but you still don’t see it, please contact Instructional Technology at [email protected]

   

• Q: How do I embed an image in a discussion reply?/How do I use the Rich Content Editor as a student?
  Write Reply

  

  Create a new discussion entry by clicking the Reply text field.

  Open Images

  

  Click the Images icon [1]. To view images saved in your GLOW [Canvas] user files, click the User Images option [2].

  Note: To view the Images icon, you may have to click the Options icon [3].

  Select Image File

  

  By default, when embedding an image in the New Rich Content Editor, the Add menu displays image files from your selected source [1]. To change the image file source, click the Source drop-down menu [2].

  To sort image files by date added or alphabetically, click the Sort by drop-down menu [3].

  Click the image file to embed [4].

  Note: The image will flash before it embeds in the New Rich Content Editor.

  View Embedded Image

  

  View the image embedded in the New Rich Content Editor. You can also edit the size of the image and add alt tags for improved accessibility.

  Save Changes

  

  Click the Save button.

  Note: When using the Rich Content Editor in Discussions, the Save button may appear as the Post Reply button.

  View Content

  

  View the content created in the New Rich Content Editor.

• Q: How do I sign up for a Scheduler appointment in the Calendar?
  Jump to the Canvas Student Guide page.

• Q: How can I download videos in my Course Media Gallery (Panopto)?

  A: If the download option is enabled, you will see the arrow icon circled below. Click it to start downloading. (The download option is turned off by default.)

  

• Q: How do I prepare my iMac/MacBook/iPad videos for Panopto?

  Using an iPad is great for screen recording due to the touchscreen capabilities and easy to use Quicktime recording features. The recordings can then be published to Panopto for use in Glow, however there is one thing you may need to do before publishing to Panopto is possible.

  Problem: By default, newer iOS record videos using High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC a.k.a H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2), but Panopto cannot currently work with this compression method and the result is audio that does not play back correctly. 

  Solution: To ensure that your videos will playback correctly through Panopto in Glow, you will need to Turn Off High Efficiency Mode for Recording in iOS prior to recording. This means your recordings will be encoded for H.264, which will also generally perform better for users with limited internet bandwidth. 

   

  NOTE: If you have already created videos using HEVC, then you can convert those files using Handbrake or VLC. 

  Handbrake

  • • Download and install Handbrake.

  • • How To Convert HEVC To H.264 (where it says Video Encoder, choose the option H.264 (x264)). 

  VLC

  • • Download and install VLC.

  • • Convert Video File Format using VLC

   

This page provides a quick guide and list of FAQs to help students get started with Glow

Log in

You can login to the Glow service at http://glow.williams.edu. You should use your regular Williams username and password. If you can’t login and/or need to reset your password, you can either call student help desk at (413) 597-3088, or visit the student help desk for more help.

Glow FAQs for Students

First time using Glow
Q: What’s my username & password?
Q: How do I reset my password [passphrase] if I have forgotten it?
Q: How can I customize the Notifications?
          * Notes on Notifications for Discussions.

Calendar
Q: How do I use the Glow Calendar?
Q: How do I access my course Calendar?
Q: How do I filter my Calendar view by course?
Q: How do I signup for Office Hours / Advising appointment slots?

Course Media Gallery
Q: I’m trying to access streaming media in Glow, but I see a blank screen. Help.
Q: How do I prepare my iMac/MacBook/iPad videos for Panopto?

File Management
Q: What are Files?
Q: Where are my user Files?
Q: Where are my course Files?
Q: How do I upload ZIP files?
Q: How do I create a folder in Files?
Q: How do I move and organize my files?
Q: How do I delete a file?

People / Face Book
Q: How do I access People?
Q: How do I access the Face Book?

Rich Content Editor
Q: What is the Rich Content Editor?
Q: How do I embed images?
Q: How do I record a video using the Rich Content Editor?
Q: How do I record audio using the Rich Content Editor?
Q: How do I use the Math Editor?

Signup Sheets

Q: How do I sign up for a Scheduler appointment in the Calendar?

Complete Student Guide

Q: Where can I get more information?

More information about the liaisons