As every instructor knows, it's always a good idea to have a back-up plan. Instead of losing valuable class time to campus closings during unexpected emergencies or inclement weather, consider implementing a plan for connecting with your students online via Canvas or other tools and continuing teaching your classes in an online format.
These kinds of the closures are unpredictable and can last longer than expected; if you have special class sessions, labs or exams that are difficult to reschedule, it can prove challenging to quickly adjust your schedule and communicate these changes to students. It is useful to begin considering in advance what you might be able to do in the event that campus closes. The following set of recommendations provides tips and guidance in the event you need to move your classes online due to unforeseen circumstances.
Communicate with Students
- It is essential to contact your students with comprehensive information and clear instructions as to what you expect them to do and what has changed. Send an email to the entire class through the Inbox, Canvas's internal email system, and notify them of these changes. Clearly outline where they should find information inside Canvas and when they should expect to see it.
- Set the Syllabus as your home page and include a message about new online components and expectations.
- Post Announcements with written or recorded messages. If you are using Announcements to communicate with your students, suggest that they check their notifications preferences to ensure they will receive email copies. Include contact information for you and your TAs as well as your availability.
- Consider offering office hours through Conferences (BigBlueButton). This is the fastest way to communicate synchronously with your entire class from within Canvas.
Teach Live Synchronous Classes Online
- Schedule a virtual meeting through Conferences (BigBlueButton).. Conferences is available in every Canvas course. You may choose to use alternate videoconference tools to which you have access individually or for which your school/college has licenses (e.g.,, Zoom, WebEx, Adobe Connect). If you use these latter tools, make sure that students know how to access the videoconference platforms. Before a campus closure, it is recommended that you test these tools with your students to ensure that they can host the number of students in your course and that they can access them in a reliable way.
- Post an Announcement in your course notifying students of the date and time of the meeting. Let them know they can access the meeting through the Conferences tab in your Canvas course or through links to alternate videoconference platforms.
- Record the meeting for students who are not able to attend. Recording options are available both when scheduling the meeting in Canvas and during the session.
Create Asynchronous Discussions with Students
- It is important to remember that you and your students will likely have to manage new expectations across multiple courses in the event of a closure. Asynchronous online discussions allow students to engage in conversations outside of the classroom without having to set aside time for live, synchronous online sessions. Setting up a Canvas Discussion is an easy way to allow instructors to discuss course content or assignments with students, or for students to share work or ask questions.
- For large classes with TAs, see Creating Group Assignments and Discussions. Group Discussions make discussions in large classes more manageable.
- Additional tools that you may consider in advance as you plan for emergency situations are listed on the CTL's "Tech for Facilitating Connections" webpage.
Strategies for Managing Online Discussions —Faculty Focus
Share Documents and Files
- The Files area in Canvas provides a place for storing all course materials. Add files such as documents, PDFs, slides, or spreadsheets. Make sure Files is available in the left hand navigation and that any files not intended for student viewing are restricted. Google Drive and UT Box are other tools that you may use to share files.
- Google Collaborations is also available through the Collaborations area. Collaborations can be shared with one, some, or all students in a course, and options include Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Record and Share Lectures
- For short, simple videos, you can use the Canvas' Record Media tool to record a video or audio message for your students. The tool is available in several areas in Canvas and can be used when posting an Announcement.
- Schedule, host, and record a Conferences session with or without your students. You can then share the video in your course. Consider investigating whether or not your school/college has lecture capture tools (e.g., Panopto, Lectures Online, MediaSite).
- Create video or audio versions of your lectures. Commonly used tools include Screencast-o-matic Screen Recorder, Adobe Spark, and Jing (there are free versions of these tools that you may use).
- Addiitonal tools that you may consider in advance as you plan for emergency situations are listed on the CTL's "Tech to Create Course Materials" webpage.
Adapting PowerPoint Lectures for Online Delivery: Best Practices —Faculty Focus
Create Assignments and Assessments
- Assignments in Canvas allows students to submit assignments online, as well as allowing instructors to grade and provide feedback online. Learn how to create an Assignment for online submission, implementing Turnitin to check for plagiarism, and how to grade student work and offer feedback through Speedgrader.
- Create online Quizzes for studetns. Consider using the Proctorio Lock-down Browser tool, a secure monitoring platform that integrates with Canvas and works ONLY within the Chrome web browser.
Need Further Help? Contact Us!
The Center for Teaching and Learning and UT Canvas are available to assist you in developing your Canvas contingency plan based on your course needs or refer you to local IT support in your school or college. Questions about course design and pedagogical approaches can be directed to the CTL through our online form. Questions about Canvas functionality can be directed to the Canvas team.