• Submit requests for live, asynchronous exam proctoring by August 17th.
  • If you are considering proctored exams, review the Guidance from the UD Online Testing Center for Instructors Administering Proctored Exams Fall 2020. 
• Building your course in Canvas
  • Check that your course has been set up correctly in Canvas. Here’s how.
  • Consider the pacing of your Canvas course. Will students see all the modules of your course when they log in or do you want to post modules as they are relevant? One option is to create prerequisite modules to direct students pacing in your Canvas course. Learn how to publish modules and create prerequisite content to control student access to course modules.
  • Enhance the sense of instructor presence by planning regular announcements. Many instructors post announcements weekly to check in with their class, highlight the week’s tasks, and elicit questions from students. Announcements can also be added as a feature to your course’s home page so that students can see your most recent updates. You can even schedule the posting of your announcements in advance!
  • Create a welcome page. Many instructors create a landing page for students with basic information about the course, an instructor bio, and recent announcements. Remember that students will be accessing almost all their courses in Canvas, so you want it to be clear which course they are visiting. Leverage the UD Fall Canvas template in Canvas Commons to quickly style your course and its home page.
  • Add a librarian to your course in the role of Resource Assistant to help you design content surrounding research, digital scholarship, or multimedia project support.
  • Incorporate Getting Started content in your course. Link to the UD Online Student Orientation to familiarize your students with the online modality.
  • Consider using the Syllabus page to make it easy for your students to locate your course syllabus.
•  Save the date for Keep Calm & Teach On(line), August 13th, 18th and 19th!
  • This year’s workshop will be conducted via Zoom and the line-up includes favorite topics such as: Canvas, Zoom, and testing. Register and view the full list of sessions.

5 tips for online learning

• Have a communication plan.
  • Create a welcome video that sets the tone for the semester, lays out when, where, and how students will get further information. Use this as a first opportunity to connect with your students.
  • Create a general Q&A discussion forum in Canvas. Ask students to post general course questions about assignments, accessing materials, etc… Let students know when you will be checking in there, and what your expectations are for them answering each other’s questions.
  • Create a brief orientation video for the course and how you’ll use Canvas. You may even want to send this to students prior to the start of the semester so that they become familiar with necessary tools.
• Establish presence.
  • Purposefully use multiple means of communication e.g., synchronous and asynchronous, video, text. Give students a sense of who you are, and give them an opportunity to do the same.
• When appropriate, meet synchronously.
  • Think about course goals that are best met through discussion. Let students know what to expect during any synchronous meetings, and set expectations for how they will engage.
• Promote student networking opportunities.
  • Create ways for students to work together, or to chat or message informally. This is especially important in larger courses. There are many platforms you can use for this, some of which students are already familiar with (such as Google Docs).
• You’re not alone; Faculty Commons has many resources already available like the Teaching Online webpages and the Virtual Welcome Bar.

Watch the recording.

August 7 Town Hall Highlights