March 2026 EdTech Tips

In this Issue

Here we go! Read the entire newsletter or jump to the tip you're interested in:

1. Listen to the new MADE podcast, Confidence and authenticity on camera

2. Save the dates for upcoming conferences and workshops

3. Work with the ETO Team

Don't miss our regular features: Quick tech tip | Faculty questions of the week | Worthwhile clicks from the web | Through our lens

Welcome!

What's happening in the world of FASE EdTech this month? We’re putting the final touches on the Mining Industry Management Program (MIMP), a series of interactive Rise modules that integrate expert video insights alongside other learning elements. It’s a good reminder of how powerful (and approachable) video can be with the right preparation and support (see Tip 01). As you look ahead to the wrap-up of the Winter term, or possibly begin planning for summer and Fall courses, this is also a great time to think about what you might want to refresh or try for the first time (see Teaching support).

As Cheryl recently moved into a new role at UTSC, we want to thank her for her outstanding contributions as our Educational Graphic and Media Developer. Her graphic design expertise, sharp eye for detail, and strong commitment to accessibility have left a lasting mark on our work, and we will miss her greatly!

What's happening over the next few months? With conference season starting to pop up across the University and beyond (see Tip 02), there will be plenty of opportunities to connect, reflect, and share our takeaways in a future blog. As we wrap up current work, we’ll also be turning our attention to a few new projects that have recently come our way. Recording is already on the horizon, including a new demo and a lightboard session in the ETO studio. We’re also continuing our partnership with Engineering Strategies & Practice (ESP), and are looking forward to seeing the student teams present their initial design concepts to us for the first time.

If you do one thing after reading this newsletter, review the steps for entering grades for an in-person quiz, test, or exam in Quercus.

1. Listen to the new MADE podcast, Confidence and authenticity on camera

In the 14th episode of MADE (Media And Design in Education) for U of T, we hear from Laura Hepes, the founder and executive producer at Iceberg Media Productions, a Toronto-based video production company. Laura shares her approach to working with people who aren’t used to being on camera: what helps them relax, how to draw out their best performance, and what lessons we can bring into our own academic production environment.

Explore: If you’re curious about integrating podcasting in your course, you can book a consultation with us to discuss how to prepare for a recording, whether it’s at home, in the ETO studio, or the Engineering & Computer Science Library.

Teaching support

Work with the ETO team

Our office is committed to inspiring, supporting, and empowering FASE faculty in the thoughtful use of educational technologies. We offer consultations and a range of services to make integrating technology into your teaching smoother and more effective.

1. Consultations

Book a Quercus /Academic Toolbox Consultation

If you want to:

• explore ways to implement ideas in Quercus

• review course structure or assessments

  
  

Book a Content Production/Media Services Consultation

If you want to:

• discuss integrating video, audio, or other media into your teaching

• plan a recording (e.g., lightboard video, guest speaker sessions)

2. Services

• Request a permanent, non-ROSI Quercus course for student activities

• Request  a long-term guest Quercus account for course guests or testing purposes

• Access the Minerva Safety modules.

• Capture a one-off in-person session

• Record in the ETO Studio space in the Bahen Centre.

  
  

AI Jam 3.0! New season, new skills, next‑level innovation! (March 26, 2026). This is a virtual open mic-style session featuring lightning talks from U of T IT staff and technologists sharing how AI is being explored across U of T. Whether you're experimenting with Microsoft Copilot, building custom GPTs or finding clever ways to automate everyday tasks, this is your space to hear what colleagues are trying and spark ideas for your own work.

Registration is now open.

Signal to Noise: Tuning In to What Matters in Teaching (May 13-14, 2026). The annual Teaching & Learning Symposium is the premier teaching showcase for the University of Toronto. It is also a signature event for the Offices of the President and Vice-President & Provost, and by extension, CTSI. This year the symposium will explore how to cut through the noise of competing demands, new technologies, and evolving teaching practices to focus on what truly makes a difference for student learning.

Registration is opening soon.

Co-Creating the Future of Higher Education: Human Presence in an Age of Artificial Intelligence (June 10-11, 2026). This virtual conference will be hosted by the University of Guelph, in partnership with Western University, McMaster University, University of Toronto, and University of Windsor will bring together educators, students, staff, and sector leaders to envision a more relational, equitable, and sustainable future for higher education.

Registration is opening soon.

Quick tech tip

Grading in-person assessments in Quercus

Planning to enter grades for an in-person quiz, test, or exam in Quercus?

If you need a gradebook column for manual grading, use an Assignment – not a Quiz – in Quercus.

Even if you refer to it as a “quiz” in your syllabus, for Gradebook purposes you should:

• Create an Assignment

• Set the Submission Type to:

  1. No Submission, or

  2. On Paper

This ensures a Gradebook column is generated and that the grades you enter calculate correctly toward the final course total.

For step-by-step instructions, refer to the Canvas instructor guide:
How do I create assignment columns for non-submission assignments in the Gradebook?

Tip:

Consider using Crowdmark for in-person assessments to streamline grading and sync grades back to Quercus. The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering maintains a faculty-wide Crowdmark license, so the tool is available to all FASE instructors. For details, see our guide: How do I connect my Quercus course to Crowdmark?

Faculty questions of the week

Each week we answer a real question that we've received about Quercus and other Academic Toolbox and media tools, keeping the questions timely and relevant to you. Select a question to read the full inquiry and response, or browse all previous faculty questions of the week.

Read the faculty question of the week

Can I bulk adjust grades after changing a Quercus quiz question? (February 26, 2026)
There’s an error in a live Quercus quiz question that some students have already completed, and I need to correct it. Will the fix apply to future attempts, and can I bulk-adjust grades for past submissions, or do I need to update them manually in SpeedGrader?

Why are some teams and submissions missing in SpeedGrader? (February 12, 2026)
For a group assignment in my Quercus course, I noticed that not all teams are showing in SpeedGrader. I can see all the teams under the People navigation item, but some teams and their submissions are missing in SpeedGrader. Why is this happening?

Worthwhile clicks from the web

Looking for something to read/watch/listen to? Each month we round up things that we've interacted with that we think are worth sharing:

• 7 Tips for Writing Realistic Wrong Answers in Branching Scenarios | Christy Tucker Learning From the blog: “It’s one of the big challenges in creating branching scenarios: writing realistic wrong answers. Each decision point in a branching scenario for training needs to have plausible distractors. But how do you come up with those options in ways that feel realistic without being too obvious?” This blog discusses strategies for writing realistic wrong answers that strengthen the authenticity of branching scenarios and enhance learning and assessment.

• Stop generating, start thinking | localghost From the blog: “As I see more and more people generating code instead of writing it, I find myself wondering why engineers are so ready and willing to do away with one of the good bits of our jobs (coding) and leave themselves with the boring bit (reviews).” This opinion piece suggests that while LLMs can assist with coding, developers must still think critically about architecture, trade-offs, and long-term impacts.

• From Scientific Film to Do-It-Yourself Streaming Media: 50 Years of Media in Higher Education | Media & Learning From the blog: “In lecture halls, films initially served as moments of pause, resting points for teachers and welcome interruptions for students. Yet even then, moving images held significant pedagogical value: they visualised complex processes, captured laboratory experiments, and documented phenomena otherwise inaccessible to learners.” This is an transcribed interview with Jan T. Goldschmeding, a member of the International Association for Media in Science (IAMS).

• Dead Reference: Real research or AI hallucination? | Sam Illingworth From the website: “Dead Reference is a short browser game about the gap between real research and AI hallucination. You will read ten academic citations. Five are real. Five were fabricated by AI. Your job is to guess which ones actually exist. It sounds simple. Most of them will fool you.” Try it out and see how well you do!

Through our lens

A picture is worth a thousand words, or at least whatever we can fit in the description! Here are a few photos taken by the ETO team during the past month:

ETO Team lunch

(Inga Breede)

Special capture in HS building

(Marisa Curmi)

Ice fishing in Keswick

(Yun Wu)

Cat selfie

(Anna Limanni)

The perfect tamp

(James Zhan)

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