Strategies
The following are methods to maintain teaching continuity in the event of a campus disruption. Faculty may find some of these more applicable to their teaching than others. St. Olaf IT provides support for the following tools and strategies:
- Developing an online course hub
- Using Google tools for collaboration and communication
- Record video to share with students
- Record classroom instruction for online delivery outside of class
- Video conferencing for synchronous presentations, office hours or group meetings
- Remote testing and assessment
To contact instructional technology and request more information, specific helpdesk forms are linked under each strategy section. Otherwise, please use our instructional technology consultation form or email helpdesk@stolaf.edu
Developing an Online Course Hub
St. Olaf uses Moodle as its learning management system, which makes it a strong choice for developing an online course hub. Other tools, such as Google Drive, can integrate with Moodle or be used independently to manage course content. Google Classroom also provides a lighter-weight alternative to Moodle.
As the St. Olaf learning management system, Moodle courses are auto-created and ready to be populated with content.
Moodle offers a variety of activity types, including discussion forums, assignments, feedback and quizzing, as well as an integrated grade book.
Resources:
Most useful when the goal is simply to have a place to share content – files, media, Google Docs – with students and for students to share work with faculty or each other (note: all content shared here will be visible by all members of the shared drive).
Faculty can create a Google Shared Drive for the class and add all students as members using the course email alias (to avoid having to share with individual students).
Lacks communication, quizzing and grade book features of other solutions.
Resources:
An alternative to Moodle, Google Classroom is a light-weight learning management system that offers some Moodle-like functionality in a Google environment (content sharing, discussions, quizzes and grade book).
Classroom offers the advantage of integrating easily with existing Google drive content, and faculty/students can create new Google Docs from within activities.
Not as robust a feature set as Moodle.
Available from the link at the right or via the Google App picker (upper right of window in Google Apps)
NOTE: All courses are automatically created in Google Classroom with registrar-updated enrollments, similar to Moodle. Logging into Google Classroom will allow faculty to enable a course to begin using it.
Resources:
For any Online Course Hub request, including Google Classroom, use this Moodle Request form.
Using Google Tools for Collaboration and Communication
Google apps for education provide several tools that could be utilized to facilitate online instruction. Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Jamboard streamline collaboration, while Google Chat can provide simple group, class, or individual communication options.
Use Google Docs to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, presentations or sketches.
Use Google Jamboard for synchronous shared whiteboard collaboration
Contain these within a class Shared Drive to share content with the class or among class groups.
Resources:
Use Google chat for synchronous communication or asynchronous discussions.
One-to-one messages or group chats in “rooms”, where multiple threaded discussions can occur.
Schedule virtual office hours or synchronous group work
Resources:
IT Consultation form – for any request surrounding best practices of Google tools for instruction, classwork or collaboration.
Record Video to Share with Students
For recording videos to share with students, St. Olaf recommends using Panopto software and video sharing platform. While there are many tools to record and share video, Panopto offers the benefit of integration with Moodle, and a streamlined screen or video recording and sharing workflow.
Use Panopto software to simplify the recording, uploading and sharing of video screencasts (screen-based presentations or walkthroughs, such as a narrated powerpoint or whiteboard demo).
Record a webcam video of yourself presenting or providing assignment prompts.
Record a video assessment of an assignment or project.
Resources:
Use the Panopto block within a Moodle course to simplify the process of sharing your Panopto videos with your students.
Resources:
Classroom Recording form – to request more information about options to record content and share with your classes.
Record Classroom Instruction for Online Delivery Outside of Class
In the event of some students unable to attend class that is still meeting on campus, Panopto can be used in the classroom to capture video, screen, doc cam and audio. Many classrooms are already equipped with cameras and microphones for this purpose, and others can be easily outfitted to record the class activity.
If recording live course instruction, please note:
- Students should consent to the recording for each course. Linking to the online course recording release form in Moodle or via an email to the class is recommended (this can be done once to cover all course recordings).
- For privacy and FERPA reasons, recordings should be available exclusively in Moodle or a class Shared Drive, and only to enrolled students in each course. Videos must not be uploaded to Youtube or other public video sharing platforms.
Use Panopto software in the classroom to capture screen content, along with voice and video of faculty or presenter (if desired).
Video can be automatically uploaded to Panopto for easy sharing.
Option to simultaneously live-stream content while it’s being recorded, for synchronous viewing.
Resources:
Use the Panopto block within a Moodle course to simplify the process of sharing your Panopto videos with your students.
Resources:
Classroom Recording form – to request more information about Panopto or in-classroom recording.
Video Conferencing for Synchronous Class Meetings, Group Work or Office Hours
St. Olaf recommends using Google Meet for video conferencing, as it integrates well with existing Google tools and can support large group video calls. As a response to COVID-19, Google Meet has made available two features – recording and additional capacity (up to 250) per room.
St. Olaf also supports Zoom and maintains a limited number of Zoom Pro for education licenses.
Host video calls with up to 100 participants
Use with any browser, and external users don’t need a google account to participate
Easily schedule a Meet call within the Google Calendar event (choose “add conferencing”) for all participants to access the link
Any participant can share their screen with the participants (for presentations or whiteboard style demos)
Ability to record video calls for sharing out later. If recording class meetings, please note the following:
- Time zones complicate scheduling for synchronous delivery, so where synchronous is necessary, recording the session is one way to accommodate students who can’t participate
- Students should consent to the recording for each course. Linking to the online course recording release form in Moodle or via an email to the class is recommended (this can be done once to cover all course recordings).
- For privacy and FERPA reasons, recordings should be available exclusively in Moodle or a class Shared Drive, and only to enrolled students in each course. Videos must not be uploaded to Youtube or other public video sharing platforms.
Resources:
Host video calls with up to 100 participants
Zoom Basic (free version) has a limitation of 40 minutes for group calls. St. Olaf has a limited number of pro licenses we distribute by request, which has no such time limit.
Breakout rooms for small group interaction.
Any participant can share their screen with the participants (for presentations or whiteboard style demos)
Ability to record video calls for sharing out later. If recording class meetings, please note the following:
- Time zones complicate scheduling for synchronous delivery, so where synchronous is necessary, recording the session is one way to accommodate students who can’t participate
- Students should consent to the recording for each course. Linking to the online course recording release form in Moodle or via an email to the class is recommended (this can be done once to cover all course recordings).
- For privacy and FERPA reasons, recordings should be available exclusively in Moodle or a class Shared Drive, and only to enrolled students in each course. Videos must not be uploaded to Youtube or other public video sharing platforms.
Resources:
IT Consultation form – request more information about video conference tools.
Remote Testing and Assessment
There are a number of supported tools that can be used for testing and assessment, including those that offer a variety of question types, or video and audio submissions.
Variety of question types to choose from.
Automatically score and send grades to Moodle grade book.
Audio and Video responses are possible
Resources:
Forms can be used for both information gathering or graded quizzes
Variety of question types to choose from.
Collect email addresses to be able to track grades.
Automatically score and share results with students immediately or after review.
Resources:
Moodle text editor includes audio and video recording capability, so wherever students are presented with this editor (e.g. in quiz questions, forums, comments) they are able to record and submit an audio or video response.
Resources:
St. Olaf supports both Google Meet and Zoom video conferencing platforms.
Meet offers the advantage of integration with Calendar and Chat to simplify scheduling and connecting with students.
Resources:
Moodle Request form – for all requests regarding remote testing and assessment.