We’re committed to making digital content accessible to as many people as possible at Liverpool John Moores University. This article is one of a series of accessibility tips to help you improve the digital environment for everyone. We would like you to adopt these tips as part of your practice.   

When files are scanned via a printer or scanner, they are often imported as an image. People with visual impairments sometimes use screen reader software to read documents out loud. Screen readers have no way of understanding what the file contains if it is in the form of a scanned image. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can bridge the gap by converting images of typed, handwritten or printed text into digitally recognised characters. This in turn allows screen readers to read out your file to its users.  

If you have any scanned pdfs or images, you will need to ensure these items are OCRed. 

Why are scanned files added to Canvas? 

There are several reasons why scanned files are added to Canvas, these may be in the form of:  

• Handwritten notes taken during lectures 
• Handwritten drawings and equations  
• Scanned journal articles 
• Scanned book chapters 
• Scanned documents 
• Past exam papers 
• Old files that have been carried forward 

How can I OCR my content? 

There are lots of ways to OCR existing scanned files. You may also want to consider using an alternative format and avoid OCRed content all together. 

Converting an image or pdf to OCR 

There are some free tools available to help you OCR content including: 

• Google lens – It can pick up handwritten or typed text effectively either on your android phone or in Chrome. 

• iOS Live Text – It can pick up handwritten or typed text effectively either on your iOS phone or in the Safari browser 

• OneNote desktop version can OCR images on both OneNote for windows and OneNote for mac. 

Books and Journal Articles 

If you have scanned a book chapter or journal article, you may want to consider doing one of these three things: 

1. The LJMU Digital Scanning service are able to scan and OCR up to 10% of books or articles to support teaching and learning under the terms of the Copyright Licensing Agency Higher Education Licence. Scroll down to the ‘Digital Scanning Service’ section on the libraries ‘request service’ web page for more information and complete the request form. If your scanned chapter or article is covered by the Licence the team will create an OCR and copyright compliant pdf. 
2. If the library doesn’t have the resources you are looking for, you can add it to your ‘reading list’ or request the item via the ‘purchase request form’. Scanned chapters form these book requests will still need to be covered by the Copyright Licensing Agency Higher Education Licence and should be requested via the Digital Scanning Service. Speak to your ‘Academic Engagement Librarian’ to see whether the item you are requesting is part of this licence. 
3. Link directly to digital articles and resources instead of scanning items. Ensure the item you are scanning doesn’t already exist digitally, use the Discover tool to search the library’s digital resources including journals and books. Contact your Academic Engagement Librarian if you need any help using stable links to the library’s electronic resources content.

Files already added to Canvas 

Delete old files – old files stored in your Canvas site will affect the overall Ally institutional score and your individual Ally Course Accessibility report. By deleting old files, you will be helping to ensure LJMU is accessible and compliant. 

Scanning hard copy documents 

When scanning items on an LJMU printer, you can scan a digital copy which is OCRed and sent to your email. Take a look at the ‘scanning’ section on the overview of printing facilities page. You will need to check the quality of the scan by asking your pdf reader to ‘read out loud’. This method is great for printed text but may not pick up handwritten text or mathematical formulas. 

What about AI? 

AI is a really powerful tool, but please exercise caution when using any AI feature that OCRs content, particularly as they are third party untested applications. There are concerns over: 

• Privacy and Security – Storing handwritten documents digitally raises privacy concerns, especially if the documents contain sensitive or personal information. Ensuring that data is securely stored and protected from unauthorized access is crucial for GDPR. 
• Data Ownership: There can be legal and ethical issues regarding who owns the intellectual property once it is digitized. This is particularly important for documents that contain proprietary or confidential information. You must also consider the copyright implications. 

The institutional co-pilot can be used to help mitigate some of these privacy issues as Enterprise data protection is applied. You can access it here: https://copilot.cloud.microsoft/ 

Ensure any documents or images you run through co-pilot do not contain any sensitive data or infringe on copyright. 

How do I know if my file is OCR’d? 

OCR is a best fit approach; your files will need to be checked for accuracy. OCR is much better at picking up scanned typed text as opposed to handwritten text. The following tools will help you identify whether your file needs to be OCRed. If the document is read out loud, then your document has been OCRed. 

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC 

From the View menu. Click on Menu, then View and choose Read Out Loud. Then Activate Read Out Loud (or press Shift+Ctrl+Y) or click on specific elements of the page for them to be read out loud.  

Word 

The immersive reader can be used in word to read out documents. 

Mac – Preview App 

On a Mac, open your pdf using the Preview tool, select Edit/Speech/Start Speaking, if the document is read out loud, then your document has been OCRed. 

What should I do if there are OCR inaccuracies once it’s been scanned? 

If your OCRed document doesn’t pick up segments of text or jumps between columns inaccurately, you will need to check the following using the read aloud feature: 

• That all words are picked up 
• Any diagrams or pictures have alternative text 
• That all sentences are read out in the correct order 

You will need to manually edit the document in your preferred application e.g. Word to ensure they are picked up by the read aloud feature. 

Accessibility in Digital Education Design Project (AiDED)  

The Teaching and Learning Academy’s AiDED vision is to use the digital learning environment to help all our students improve their life chances. Find out more about accessibility and the AiDED project. 

Our Panopto integration with Canvas has been upgraded to the LTI 1.3 standard. This upgrade enhances the security and authentication of Panopto, providing a more robust and secure experience compared to the previous LTI 1.1 model.

What’s New with LTI 1.3?

LTI 1.3 not only improves security but also supports additional services collectively known as LTI Advantage. While the user interface remains unchanged, this upgrade lays the groundwork for new features and functionalities that Panopto may introduce in the future.

New Feature: Video Engagement Grading

One new feature available with LTI 1.3 is the ability to grade students based on the percentage of a video they’ve watched. This can be a useful tool for tracking engagement and ensuring that students are interacting with video content as intended. For more details on how to use this feature, please refer to the article How to Use a Panopto Video as a Canvas Assignment.

No Action Needed

The upgrade process is seamless and requires no action on your part. You can continue using Panopto within Canvas just as you have before.

Need Assistance?

If you have any questions about the new Panopto integration or need help, don’t hesitate to contact us via helpme.ljmu.ac.uk .

The provision of non-courses is being deprecated and fully withdrawn in 12 months in most cases and as a result we have some stipulations in place.  

We advise you use this time to explore other options such as Microsoft Teams/SharePoint or coordinate with your Assistant Academic Registrar to arrange the creation of a non-credit bearing module where appropriate. 

Please check the information below before requesting a non-course. 

Alternatives to non-courses 

Non-courses are created to facilitate the delivery of teaching. If you have a programme related requirement for a non-course, please speak with Assistant Academic Registrar to explore a SIS generated course. 

If you are requesting a Canvas non-course for the purposes of information sharing, please consider other options such as email, requesting a presence on the LJMU website, or requesting a Microsoft Teams site. 

If you need space for testing purposes, you can use a Canvas master module; each taught module has a master which does not contain student enrolments. You can search for one of your module codes in My Canvas Admin, the master appears without a year or semester information e.g., 1234GEOG. 

Enrolment 

• Student enrolments will be via self-enrolment, and self-unenrolment only. 
• The original requestor of the non-course must manage any additional staff enrolments via My Canvas Admin. 
• Batch enrolment by TLA will not be supported. 

Assessment 

• No summative or credit-bearing assessment can take place within a non-course. 

LTI/Tool support 

• Course plugins (LTIs) will not be available or supported in non-courses. These include Turnitin/Panopto/Vevox/Key information/Reading Lists/Module Evaluation. 

Archival and deletion  

• By default, non-courses will be provisioned for one year only.   
• Once an end date has passed, the non-course will be placed into archive. 
• There will be no backups for non-courses, please maintain your own copy of backups/content record. 
• No student interactions will be retained. 
• If a student removes themselves from the courses, any interactions will be lost and unrecoverable. 

• A year after archival, the course will be deleted. 

Support 

• Support for non-courses is available via Canvas support 24/7. 
• Internal help requests raised for non-courses will be closed and the user referred to Canvas 24/7 

What’s happening? 

If you use Vevox polls in your PowerPoint presentations, please note that a newer version of the Vevox add-in is now available.

The new add-in is available to use now in PowerPoint on LJMU PCs.

While you can still use the older version for now, it will be discontinued at the end of September 2024. From that point onward, only the new version will be available. 

Understanding the difference between the old and new add-ins

The ‘old’ way to add polls to PowerPoint was using the options under the Vevox tab: 

Whereas the ‘new’ way to add polls is using the ‘Insert Poll’ button on the Vevox section of the Home tab: 

Some benefits of the new add-in:

The new 365 Add-in carries a lot more functionality.

• It integrates with PowerPoint Presenter View.
• It works on Mac.
• It allows Latex polls.

Furthermore, the new Add-in:

• Allows for all polling Types that are available within the Vevox dashboard to also be run from within the 365 PPT Add-in (the previous legacy add-in was limited to a few polling question types).
• The 365 PowerPoint Add-in allows for dynamic & live results (Except for the Word Cloud question which will be coming soon).
• Offers multiple workflows, allowing users to either import questions from already created Vevox sessions directly into your PowerPoint deck, or create them from scratch from within the Add-in itself in PowerPoint.
• Offers better compatibility for theming options within PowerPoint and does a better job at fitting around existing content and slide master layouts.
• Integrates better and more seamlessly into PowerPoint due to it being a native Microsoft 365 PPT Plug in
• Allows you to create new Vevox sessions directly from within PowerPoint as well as find existing sessions much more easily.

Preparing for September: Do I Need to Do Anything for the New Version?

Users should not need to do anything specific to their existing PowerPoint Decks in order to transition away from it and to the new add-in.

However, you may want to run Vevox polls at least once from all of the legacy PowerPoint Decks for which you wish to keep the questions for, as they will be pushed through to the connected Vevox session, and therefore will be able to be accessed by the new add-in.

If you would like to contact us about this change, please raise a ticket via helpme.ljmu.ac.uk 

Further resources

You may find the following resources useful: 

• Accessing Vevox Add-in from an LJMU managed PC – This gives guidance on how to log into the new version of the add-in. 

• Introducing Vevox PowerPoint Plugin Update -For PC & Mac (Staff) – Our previous blog post which introduced the upcoming changes to the Vevox add-in, and gives further guidance on how to create your Vevox account. 

• Vevox Staff Page – Our Vevox page which links to more guides, videos, good practice and ways to get support. 

• Sign up for Vevox Training 

The way students submit an assignment is changing in Canvas. When you click on an assignment link the screen will look different with an improved submission workflow. This change is happening on the 23^rd July. Take a look at the new workflow, the submission types at the bottom will vary depending on the requirements of the assignment.

Information for staff 

Existing assignments will automatically appear with the enhancements in place on the 23^rd July. You do not need to do anything to enable this on your assignments. The new workflow ensures that any feedback added to Speedgrader, including any attached rubrics are now available for each student attempt. The feedback is viewable by both students and tutors once the grades have been posted. 

Information for students 

We hope you will find these changes helpful, new enhancements include: 

• The Progress Tracker - displays your assignment submission and grading status. 

• The assignment summary header is always visible when viewing the assignment and floats at the top of the page, allowing you instant access to previous attempts, assignment progress and the option to view feedback. 

• The assignment details and rubrics can be minimized within the page. 

• Submissions can be drafted in the assignment without requiring an immediate submission 

• Any feedback including rubrics is available for each attempt and viewable by both students and tutors.

You can find guidance on the Canvas Help pages for assignment enhnacements. 

You can now add the phonetic pronunciation of your name to your Canvas profile.  It allows you to provide a clear and accurate representation of how your name should be pronounced, making it easier for others to address you correctly.

• Head to the ‘account’ section in Canvas and access your profile. Use the menu on the right to ‘edit profile’. Enter the desired phoenetic name pronunciation in the Name Pronunciation field:

• Once saved, the name pronunciation displays on your profile page.

Turnitin is used at LJMU as a plagiarism, prevention, detection and academic integrity tool. It has recently launched a redesigned similarity report aimed at providing clearer insights and facilitating faster feedback for both staff and students. This update brings several key improvements that promise to streamline the process of identifying potential plagiarism and enhancing academic writing skills:

1. User-friendly interface:

   • Integrated, intuitive design
   • In-app guidance
   • Improved accessibility with support for assistive technologies

2. New match categorization:

   • Easier interpretation of results
   • Quicker identification of potential issues in student papers
   • Time-saving for educators when analysing reports

3. Enhanced integrity checks:

   • Improved differentiation between intentional plagiarism and learning opportunities
   • More time for educators to provide targeted, meaningful feedback to students

4. Focus on formative learning:

   • Redesigned as a tool to strengthen academic writing skills
   • Encourages students to develop better citation and paraphrasing practices

These enhancements are expected to benefit both staff and students by:

• Reducing the time needed to interpret similarity reports
• Providing more actionable insights for improving academic writing
• Facilitating more effective conversations about academic integrity
• Supporting a more inclusive learning environment through improved accessibility

By leveraging these new features, staff can offer more precise guidance to students, while learners can gain further understanding of their writing strengths and areas for improvement.

To access the new view click the option in the main Turnitin report interface. Please note students do not currently have access to this optional view.

Further information about this change to turnitin

🎉 The Teaching and Learning Academy is pleased to announce the launch of Ally, a powerful accessibility tool now integrated with Canvas. Ally is designed to help you identify and resolve accessibility issues in your Canvas digital content. 

We encourage you to engage with Ally’s course report and prioritise any issues highlighted, with particular focus on: 

• Resolving the most Severe Issues first 
• Reviewing any contrast issues in documents and pages 
• Fixing any Image Alt Text in documents and pages 
• Ensuring documents and pages use correct headings 

While Ally may identify various accessibility concerns, focusing on these key areas will have a significant impact on the overall accessibility of your course content. Ally will recommend different actions to resolve these issues. We understand that achieving full accessibility compliance is an ongoing process – so we encourage you to start by tackling the most critical issues and continue refining your course content over time. 

We have more information about Ally and our initiatives to create an accessible learning environment.

Thank you for your commitment to accessibility in your Canvas course.

The Teaching and Learning Academy is pleased to introduce Ally, a revolutionary tool designed to take accessibility to new heights in your Canvas courses. Students will have access to alternative formats making Canvas even more accessible to your diverse learning needs. Your academic journey is about to become more dynamic – mark your calendars for an eagerly awaited milestone – on the 28th of March alternative formats will become available in your Canvas course.

Ally will ensure your content works on mobile phones and tablets but will also cater to users with assistive technologies, ensuring an inclusive learning environment for everyone.  

Ally will also help staff improve accessibility for all course content in Canvas. It goes beyond the ordinary by providing guidance on how you can fix accessibility issues.

Ally will: 

• Identify accessibility issues 
• Provide guidance on fixing issues 
• Create alternative formats for students 

A course accessibility score – only visible to tutors – will empower you to identify, track and improve accessibility on your Canvas courses.  

Find out more about Ally and our commitment to accessibility:

• Staff Guide: Accessibility
• Student Guide: Accessibility

For those unfamiliar, Buddycheck is an online peer assessment tool integrated into Canvas that helps instructors manage groupwork. Students can review their teammates’ contributions, providing a weighting factor to adjust individual grades based on participation and effort. This enhances the fairness and learning around group projects.

The Buddycheck team is always improving the system, and there are two exciting new options for instructors using peer reviews:

Custom Rating Scales

Previously the only option was a scale from 1-5 when students assessed their group members. Many asked for more flexibility, so now tutors can choose between a variety of scales for students to select from:

• 1-5
• 1-7
• 1-10
• Custom numeric scale

The custom rating scales functionality enables setting different point ranges for different evaluation questions, permitting tutors to make some aspects of the groupwork as more significant than others.

Score Management

Tutors now have more refined control to manage outlier scores students may give their teammates. You can “mute” certain scores on a student’s given or received reviews. Muting excludes it from the grade adjustment calculations, preventing skewed results from unfair ratings.

Access the score management tools while viewing the evaluation results. You can choose specific ratings to mute rather than removing the entire review.

With easier scale configuration and more precise score handling, Buddycheck provides robust options for fair groupwork assessment. Take advantage of these new features for your next peer review project!