- Ensure access to RPI email from a mobile phone, laptop, or web browser (https://exchange.rpi.edu)
- Ensure home laptop or computer has the software and internet connectivity needed for online instruction
- RPI VPN Connection — Allows remote connections to secured campus resources
- RPI Box.com — File sharing
- RPI LMS - Blackboard — All courses have been added, with assigned students
- RPI Webex — video conferencing and group instant messaging
- Ensure Blackboard course website contains all relevant course material
- You should understand how to use Blackboard for distributing assignments to students and if you use audio/video in your class, to be able to share this on Blackboard. You can always use email as an alternative way of communicating with students or sharing information but the size of the attachment may prove to be an impediment in some cases.
- Establish communication channels with your students
- This includes ways in which students can contact you with questions, students having a way to contact each other and collaborate remotely, and for you to have chosen a platform to discuss material with students online. Blackboard allows each of these functionalities and Webex is integrated into Blackboard.
- Understand your options for conducting classes at a distance
- Students can read content that you post, they can listen to an audio file, or watch a recording of your lecture. Whatever is your preferred format, provisions exist within Blackboard to do so. We can help you to choose an approach and to test how that works. Learn how students can submit assignments through Blackboard and how you can conduct tests or examinations using this platform. You and your TAs must also prepare to provide feedback to your students using Blackboard or through email or other platforms like Skype or Webex. Posting of final grades to the Registrar would be as in a normal semester, but you can share intermediate grades with students in Blackboard.
One of the most important issues in digital course design and delivery is compliance with the accessibility standards mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). In addition to ensuring fair access to digital courses for all students, compliance with ADA can help you with your course design and construction by offering a built-in quality check for your learning resources and your delivery mechanisms.
- Review the recent finding published by the Educause Center for Analysis and Research ECAR Study of the Technology Needs of Students with Disabilities, 2020 (Gierdowski & Galanek, 2020).
- Take a look at the resources availalbe on our Rensselaer Percipio Web Accessibility Channel.
- Review the Designing your course for Accessibility learning resource, which contains additional resources for ensuring accessibility in your course.
- You can also find helpful information on accessibility using the following links:
- RPI Strategies for Increasing Student Attendance in Online Courses
- RPI Advice on Effective Transition to Online and Hybrid Instruction - RPI & Bucknell University Online Education Research Team has pulled together this “Top 12” list of best practices, a four-page extended guide, and a list of references to the relevant scholarship of online teaching & learning. (While this document is geared towards engineering education, much of the advice here may also be relevant to other disciplines.)
- RPI Recommendations for the Delivery/Recording of Coursework at a Distance
- RPI Classroom Instruction Recommendations
- RPI Internal Resource Sheet - This link offers additional information on strategies, tools, and resources for moving a course online and prioritizing what is most important.
- Practices for Online Teaching, Etiquette, and Discussion Boards
- Online Teaching Toolkit - resource that the Association of College and University Educators put together to support faculty moving online. These are quick, easy, and fun videos that offer some great ideas.
- Inclusive Practices Teaching Toolkit - resource that the Association of College and University Educators put together to support faculty in a physical or online environment.
- Online Tools - This link offers information on additional tools supported by our Institute as well as tools faculty may choose to incorporate on their own.
- Delivering High-Quality Instruction Online in Response to COVID-19: Faculty Playbook - issued by the Online Learning Consortium, the Association of Public & Land Grant Universities, and the education non-profit, Every Learner Everywhere, under a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- Equal Access - Universal Design of Instruction
This webinar recording focuses on answering two simple questions which will guide you in understanding what is needed or not needed in your digital classroom. The two questions asked are:
- To best master learning in my course, students need to…
- To best demonstrate learning in my course, students need to…
This webinar offers solutions in activities and tools to use based on the answer to these two questions. This webinar will get you thinking about the structure of your class and offer suggestions for a solid framework.
Claude Abbott (Rensselaer at Hartford) is the presenter in this webinar and Maureen Fodera (Undergraduate Education) is the moderator.
Transitioning from Face-to-Face to Virtual Webinar Recording Link
As we navigate through the uncharted waters of placing all face-to-face courses online, we wanted to offer some guidelines for online teaching. In this webinar, we have gathered information on practices that will help you build a better and more effective online course. There is a ton of information being sent around and we wanted to try and simplify some of the concepts. This webinar recording focuses on:
- Fundamental values and practices for online teaching – understand how being present in class, organizing content intuitively, framing activities, offering samples, and committing to continuous improvement can create a space for successful online teaching with your students.
- Review of online etiquette for communication.
- Discusses practices and tips for establishing discussion boards.
- Understanding the terms asynchronous and synchronous and how to think about blending them into your course.
Maureen Fodera (Office of Undergraduate Education) is the presenter in this webinar and Claude Abbott (Rensselaer at Hartford) is the moderator.