Social Distancing Teaching
Faculty Forum
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Training Opportunities
Distance Learning is offering the following training opportunities: Training Opportunities.
Use Collaborate During Normal Class Time and/or Office Hours
Blackboard Collaborate is on online meeting tool, similar to Zoom, WebX, Google Hangout, etc. You can use a camera to display a video feed to students (your face, aimed at a whiteboard, etc.). You can use your computer's microphone to speak with students. You have text capabilities, a built-in whiteboard, or you can share your desktop. You have many options. You can even hold break-out sessions with individual students for privacy.
Distance Learning has put together a web page detailing the use of Collaborate: Blackboard Collaborate - A How-To for the Who's Who! You will notice that this page also has directions for students as the final page.
If you would like to write for students to see your math, we had previously had a professional development class on OneNote. Here is the video of the professional development: Introduction to OneNote.
Best Practice: If you are using Collaborate for multiple sections, you will want to choose one section to be your "main" section. You will log into that section and link other classes to this section. This way all students will end up in the same Collaborate session.
- Log into the "main" section.
- Navigate to Collaborate.
- From the options (three dots) next to Course Room, select Copy Guest Link.
- Log into your "other" section(s).
- From the Blackboard Menu, click the circled plus sign in the upper-left and select Web Link.
- Give the link a Name, such as "Virtual Office Hours." Right-click in the URL field and select "paste." This will paste the guest link to the Collaborate Session.
- Select the check box for "Available to Users" then click Submit.
Real-Time Communication Strategies
In addition to Collaborate, there are other Real-Time Communication Strategies you may consider using. Visit the linked page for an explanation of various strategies. This is not a comprehensive list, but some ideas you may be interested in using.
Video Options
As you consider various ways to engage your students with content, please be aware of many free options for providing videos. For high quality videos for various topics, you may want to check out MathIsPower4U or Khan Academy. There are many others, but these are some faculty favorites for quality and accessibility.
For course specific content you may consider reviewing what is available in the course specific pages of our Blackboard Organization. For example Math 047 and Math 113 have videos posted for all course content. You can also have an RTT loaded into Blackboard for access to the content used for the online classes. Please see Audrey's email about only using this option if you're comfortable with modifying the content.
Submitting Handwritten Work
During this unprecedented time, you may wish to post an assessment where you wish students to complete the assignment on paper, then have them scan or take a picture of their work to submit it to you.
If you would like this assessment to be timed, you should use the Test feature of Blackboard. You can then add a single question where your assignment is added as an attachment. Students can then attach their files as the answer. For more information about this option, you can view Blackboard's Create Tests and Surveys page.
Best Practice: If you wish to ask students to take pictures of their work and submit them, it is highly advised that you start with a simple assignment such as "write your name on a piece of paper and submit it." This way you can make sure students are able to complete the technical end of the task and that you can read their submissions. This is helpful before they complete a full assignment, especially if you intend to time the assessment.
MyOpenMath or Publisher Resources
If you would like to assign homework that is automatically graded, you may consider the use of MyOpenMath, MyMathLab, or similar publisher resources. There are pages in the Tech Rep Corner with information about these resources. Brad Stetson has shared a MyOpenMath course for Math 113. Pearson has offered free use of MyMathLab for students. If you want to make use of this, you can contact our Pearson rep (found in Publisher Information page of our Organization).
FYI - Math "Help" (Cheat) Sites
As you consider how you will adjust your grading rationale, please be aware that there are many sites on the internet that provide step-by-step solutions to math problems. It is encouraged that testing should be done in a timed environment, if done online. Applications (word problems) are also much harder for the AI to come up with solutions. Please keep this in mind as you choose how you will complete your instruction. A few examples are:
There are also sites such as Chegg Study and CourseHero where students pay a subscription fee, post their homework questions, and get other people to answer for them.