Technology Options for Teaching During a Pandemic
IET-ATS would like to remind our faculty that the Teaching Resources Center (TRC) on campus is the best resource that our faculty can have regarding pedagogy. Please be sure to contact them to seek advice on how best to utilize these online tools in your teaching. You can email them at trc[at]ucdavis[dot]edu; phone: 752-6050; web: http://trc.ucdavis.edu or drop by their office at 17 Wellman Hall.
If you or your students are absent from class due to illness you may find an increased need to communicate with each other and to share information, outside the classroom. This can be facilitated in many ways electronically.
Although you may remain healthy and able to teach, many of your students will miss multiple classes, and have difficulty keeping up with the class or turning in assignments. To help these students keep up and not be forced to settle for a lower grade or an “incomplete”, we recommend that you consider using some of the technologies available to you on our campus. If you think you know which technology you would like to use, the following links will take you to more information about those technologies and how to get started.
- SmartSite (To create a course site in our campus collaborative learning environment)
- Podcasting (To deliver audio recordings of your lectures)
- Webcasting (To deliver video recordings of your lectures or other events)
- Adobe Connect Pro (To hold online discussions, or host a webinar)
In many cases, IT Express is available to help if you get stuck on something. If you need some one-on-one instruction or tutoring, check the Message of the Day in Smartsite for tutorials on these technologies, or call IET-Academic Technology Services (IET-ATS) at 752-2133 or email us at ats[at]ucdavis[dot]edu
If you do not know what technology to use but you know what it is you would like to do, the following contains a number of frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) to help you get started. Note that SmartSite can be used effectively to cope with most issues.
Pandemic FAQ (Faculty)
Please click the question text below to view the answers.
Q.What is the simplest SmartSite I can create to help me with my teaching during the Pandemic?
A.The SmartSite home page (http://smartsite.ucdavis.edu) has a link on how to create a site (Create a Site). At a minimum the site should contain:
- The rosters for the sections in your course (these will automatically load for you once you set up the site)
- Announcements
- Email Archive (allows you to archive all emails that you send to your class from SmartSite)
- Mailtool (allows you to email everyone in your class from within SmartSite)
- Resources (store almost any filetype, and make them available to your class)
Possible additional useful tools are:
- Chat
- Assignments
- Gradebook 2 (The new improved gradebook, based on the functionality of the MyUCDavis Gradebook)
- Web Content
Q.How do I send a message to all the students in my class
A.
- Email can be sent by sending an email to the address associated with a SmartSite course. The email address is configured in the Email Archive tool. For example you can send email to your History 001 class: his001FQ2009[at]smartsite[dot]ucdavis[dot]edu
- Alternatively, the Mailtool in Smartsite can send email to all students in a class or to selective individuals in the class.
Q.How do I post a message that students can see regarding a cancelled class or a new assignment?
A.
- The Announcements tool in SmartSite posts messages for students that they will see when they login to SmartSite. It can also send them an email notification when the announcement is created using the email notification menu at the bottom of the announcements creation page.
Q.Where can I post a copy of my syllabus, powerpoint slides or other document files that I need to distribute to my students?
A.
- The SmartSite Resources tool is designed for this. Simply click on the tool and upload a file or even create a page of instructions. Help is available by clicking on the “?”
- Attachments can also be distributed to students via email using the SmartSite Email Archive address, Mailtool or Announcements tool.
Q.How do I post grades for homework or quizzes so that each student sees only his or her own grade?
A.
- Add the Gradebook 2 tool to a SmartSite, create some items in the Gradebook and enter scores. Students will see their own scores when they click on Gradebook 2 in the site.
Q.How do I post links to websites for my students to review?
A.
- The SmartSite Web Content tool will add a link to the left menu in a SmartSite site. Use Site Info -> Edit Tools to add the Web Content tool.
- The SmartSite Resources tool allows you to add web links (URL’s) items. Use the Add drop down menu in the Resources tool.
Q.How do I make a recording of a lecture that I can share with others?
Q.How to I distribute an audio recording to my class?
A.
- Audio files can be easily accessed by students in iTunes if they are posted as a podcast. See http://podcasting.ucdavis.edu/gettingstarted/wizard/whichcms.cfm
- Audio files posted as podcasts to SmartSite can also be easily downloaded by students as MP3 files from the Podcasts Tool.
- If you get stuck, call IET-ATS at 752-2133
Q.How do I distribute a large audio or video file that may be too big to download?
A.
- This falls into the category of Webcasting. You will need to arrange with IET-Academic Technology Services to arrange to have a file webcast. See http://onlinelearning.ucdavis.edu/faculty/webcasting.php Call 752-2133 or email us at ats[at]ucdavis[dot]edu to get more information and/or to arrange for a webcast of your lecture / event.
Q.I teach a class that involves writing on the board or doing a demonstration. How can I deliver this during a pandemic?
A.
- The best way to capture "chalk talk" as part of a lecture is via video.
- Recorded videos may be posted online separately or within SmartSite, as WebCasts or Podcasts depending on the size and format (see above)
- Academic Technology Services can video/record such a session for you; or if you or your department has your own video equipment, you can record the lecture yourself and deliver it to IET-Academic Technology Services (ATS) to be webcast. Contact IET-ATS to arrange – See http://iet.ucdavis.edu/teaching/video.cfm
Q.How do I have a discussion with my students if we cannot meet in person?
A.
- A simple text Chat is available in SmartSite. Notify your students of the time you plan to be available.
- For more advanced discourse, Adobe Connect Pro can be used to hold such events as online office hours, group discussions, student tutoring, or even an online lecture in a webinar format. Connect Pro includes simple chat, webinar style lecturing, live audio, a whiteboard, polling, and powerpoint and other content presentations. See http://onlinelearning.ucdavis.edu/faculty/adobe_connect_pro.php To get access to Connect Pro (if you do not already have it) contact IET-ATS at 752-2133 or email us at ats[at]ucdavis[dot]edu
Q.I need to do a live computer demonstration (e.g. of software or a website) for my students. How can I do this?
Q.I need to iteratively track the work my students do on an assignment. How do I do this during a pandemic?
A.
- The SmartSite Assignments tool provides for this workflow. Add the Assignments tool to your class SmartSite and read the Help pages about this tool under the SmartSite "Help" link
