Turning Your Course ONLINE Quickly

Help at the U:

• TLT: http://tlt.utah.edu/covid19.php (Links to an external site.)
• GoogGoogle Doc discussion page https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wikAcsF8USckR0OvO4G8rXxkTIbfsVGwfU49asFku60/edit?usp=sharing Links to an external site.

What You Need:

• Course Organization Site (Canvas)
• Video Lectures (from Teach-Flip.utah.edu)
  • Here's a really good get-started page:  https://lor.instructure.com/resources/e12ab9f3b5e048ab82f85e6cb8c944b0
    
  • A way to write
    • Quick-start: Cell Phone with document camera holder
      • https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VBDJM5K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (Links to an external site.)
      • https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VBDJM5K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
    • Document Camera
      • Here's one I've been using, (Links to an external site.) or another one I like (Links to an external site.), and there are many others.
    • Other technologies (iPad, Tablet PC, etc.)

• • A way to capture the video of you writing
    • • • Cell phone, just take a video
        • Kaltura (free link to Canvas)
        • Other software choices
        • Document Camera: Ink2go (free from osl.utah.edu (Links to an external site.))
          • A demo (Links to an external site.)
  • A place to store the video
    • • • From Kaltura, these are initially stored on your PC.
        • YouTube (login to upload videos) -- these may be ok for faculty-created videos, but YouTube is not FERPA compliant, so not ok for posting student work.
          
          • From Cell phone, upload directly upload directly (Links to an external site.)
          • From computer, upload to YouTube.

1. • A place to organize the videos (Canvas)
     • From Kaltura: Embed the video in Canvas
     • From YouTube: Copy the URL of your video and paste it into Canvas

Video Best Practices:

1. Keep it Short and Sweet: a traditional 50-minute lecture usually turns into 15-20 min of video lecture.
2. Chunk it up into several 3-5 minute short videos, rather than 1 long video. This makes it easier for your students to download, easier to pay attention. It's also easier for you to record and upload.
3. At the start of the video, tell the students what you want them to learn. (I give them a "question of the day", that helps guide their note taking.) Encourage note-taking during the video.
4. Go as quickly as feasible, and don't repeat yourself (too much). Students can repeat sections as needed.

What else do you need for an online class:

• Ways for the students to practice, get (quick) feedback, and improve.
  • Give extra examples (such as from other textbooks, be aware of copyright (Allyson Mower, Marriott LIbrary can help), typically <10% of any section). Give examples that include all the steps, not just the final answers.
  • Consider recording examples (such as of homework problems, problems from old tests, etc.) where you go step by step, asking the student to pause the video and try each step before you show them how to do it and why.
  • A bit more about video lectures:

• • Cynthia Furse, Donna Ziegenfuss, "A Busy Professor's Guide to Sanely Flipping Your Classroom," accepted to IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine Download Cynthia Furse, Donna Ziegenfuss, "A Busy Professor's Guide to Sanely Flipping Your Classroom," accepted to IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine
• Engagement
  • Online office hours (consider using Zoom, which also allows you to record)
  • YOU! You are really important to your students. Record a few things each week where you are talking to the students face-to-face. These might just be course announcements, but encouragements, explaining why you are doing certain things, etc. may be better.
• Formative Assessment
  • This online stuff is new to both you and the students. After a week or so (and then again in a week or two), add an extra credit canvas assignment:
    • How is this online learning going for you? What is working well and what could be improved?
    • What can I do to help you learn better?
    • What can you do to help you learn better?Here's what we have learned about asking these questions:

• • • Donna Ziegenfuss and Cynthia Furse, “Evidence-Based Practice: Student-Centered and Teacher-Friendly Formative Assessment in Engineering,” 2018 Annual Amercan Society for Engineering Education Conference and Exposition, June 24-27,2018, Salt Lake City, Utah Download Donna Ziegenfuss and Cynthia Furse, “Evidence-Based Practice: Student-Centered and Teacher-Friendly Formative Assessment in Engineering,” 2018 Annual Amercan Society for Engineering Education Conference and Exposition, June 24-27,2018, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Consider a weekly assignment (extra credit or not):
    • What is the muddiest (most confusing) point this week? Try to answer it...
  • Read through the student responses, and give some feedback or comment to students individually if needed (especially if they are expressing strong positive or negative emotion), and also collectively.

Super Good Luck! in this new adventure. If there is anything I can do to help, if you just want to talk through something, etc. email me, and we can set a time to talk:  Cindy Furse cfurse@ece.utah.edu