Teaching Class Sessions Remotely

Links & Resources

Biola's Coronavirus Updates: biola.edu/coronavirus

Documentation on Teaching Remotely

• Self-Guided Canvas Course for Faculty: TEOL-011 "Canvas Quickstart: Getting Started with Remote Teaching"
• See our detailed Instructions on using Google Hangouts Meet for teaching remote classes.
• Give your students a link to this page: Attending Class Remotely
• We recommend using Zoom for live class sessoins. However, there are a few other options: here's Biola's documentation on WebEx Conferencing, the Canvas documentation on Conferencing (BigBlueButton), and using Google Meet.
• See I.T.'s Page about Working & Learning Remotely
• How to Use Course Analytics to track student engagement

Email / Phone Support

Please email or call the IT Helpdesk (Hours) at it.helpdesk@biola.edu or (562) 903-4740 for basic questions related to:

• logging on to Canvas,
• accessing your class, or
• setting up web conferencing

The Helpdesk will answer your question or direct it to the appropriate person.

Please contact Digital Learning at remote.instruction@biola.edu for any questions related to:

• Course content (e.g. assignments, tests, etc.)
• Course organization

If you require immediate assistance, you can call ext. 4503 or (562) 906-4503 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. to speak with a Digital Learning staff member.

Archive of March 2020 Updates sent to Faculty

Purpose - Temporary Substitution of Face-to-Face Classes

This page is for teachers who need to miss on-campus face-to-face class sessions temporarily and need to continue coursework remotely using Canvas. This may happen due to conference attendance, illness, or other unforeseen circumstances.

These instructions are meant for occasionally substituting an in-person class. (For classes that are planned as fully online or a hybrid class, please contact the Office of Digital Learning for details about planning, designing, and facilitating those online classes.)

Quick Summary of Steps

1. Publish your Canvas course site
2. Communicate with students as soon as possible
3. Post Content
4. Host Live Lectures / Discussions Remotely
5. Receive Assessment Remotely (Homework & Tests)

Publish Your Course on Canvas

More than 90% of face-to-face courses at Biola are already using Canvas and can skip this step. If you're not using Canvas for this class, you'll need to first "turn on" the course by publishing it on Canvas.

Log in to Canvas at https://canvas.biola.edu/ and find your course on the Dashboard. Click on your course, and if the "Course Status" says it's unpublished, click the gray "Publish" button. For more details about logging in and finding your courses, see Welcome to Canvas. For more details about setting up your course, see Setting Up Your Course on Canvas.

All on-campus courses already have a Canvas course site with the roster automatically populated with registered students. These students will be able to use the course as soon as the course is published.

If you are new to using Canvas, it may be helpful to watch this four-minute video describing what Canvas is and explaining the basics of how you can use it.

Communicate with Students

It's important to communicate your expectations to your students clearly and quickly. You can send a message to all of the students in a class in two ways:

• Use a Canvas Announcement by clicking the "Announcements" link in the left menu then clicking "+Announcement" and typing a message to your students. They will receive an email and the announcement will also be available to them on Canvas. See Creating an Announcement.
• Send an Email. You can also send an email to your students using your normal email. You can find a list of student email addresses on your roster, available at https://myaccount.biola.edu/. Download the roster in Excel format, then copy & paste the email column into the Bcc list of your email.

Try to notify your students as early as possible if you plan to miss class for some reason.

Post Content (Lecture Substitution)

To post content on Canvas, you can upload files and/or type content into a page. See Organizing Content - Storage for instructions. Here are a few common types of content:

To post a PowerPoint file, PDF, or Word document, go to Files and use the Upload Button. This will give students access to that file so they can download it on their own computer.

To record a lecture, there are two basic options:

• Record narration directly into the PowerPoint file, then save it as a movie and upload that file to YouTube or Google Drive for students to watch. See Microsoft's instructions for Recording PowerPoint Narration and Turning Your PowerPoint into a Video.
• Record yourself giving a lecture. You can do this with the camera on your phone or with the webcam on your laptop (use Photobooth on a Mac or Camera on Windows). Once you have the recording saved, upload it to YouTube, publish the video as "unlisted" and post the link on a page in Canvas. (Or alternatively, upload it to Google Drive, then get a "shareable link" and share that with them.)
• Upload your video to YouTube as and "unlisted video." See instructions here.

Recording a lecture and figuring out how to post it can be time-consuming. Many teachers choose to substitute some kind of reading, existing online video, or other resources instead. Also, if you're teaching an on-campus section of a class that has been taught online, the online lecture(s) may be available. Contact Digital Learning.

See more detailed instructions about how to Record a Lecture with Zoom and then post it on Google Drive. We also have instructions on saving a Zoom Recording on VidGrid.

Organizing Content - Video Demonstration

This four-minute video shows how to create a "module" from scratch with one basic page, starting from a blank Canvas course:

• Creating a module (0:22)
• Uploading files (0:41)
• Creating a blank page (1:01)
• Editing a page to include links to those files (1:12)
• Editing a page include a link to a YouTube video (2:06)
• Editing a page to include links to assignments, discussions, and quizzes (2:15)
• Publishing the page (3:06)
• Viewing the page in "Student View" (3:16)

Live Remote Lectures & Discussions - Option 1: BigBlueButton Conferences

If you are able to be online during the normal class time, you could have students log in and participate in live video conferencing. This is called "Conferences" on Canvas, and uses BigBlueButton. A few minutes before class begins, go to "Conferences" and click "+Conference" and choose "Invite All Course Members." Click the "Enable recording for this conference" option to make the recording available for two weeks for those who were unable to attend.

You can use this option for live video conferencing with your students. You and/or the students could choose to leave the webcam off and do just audio.

For details, see the Canvas documentation on How to Create a Conference.

Live Remote Lectures & Discussions - Option 2: Google Meet Hangouts

Google has recently made "Google Meet" available without restrictions to educational institutions. This may work better than Canvas Conferences. See these instructions on Using Google Meet, with lots of details and screen shots. Here's a brief summary:

1. From your email (or any Google page), click the Google app menu in the top-right.
2. Choose "Meet"
3. Click "Join or start"
4. Choose a name - maybe your class name
5. Click "Copy Joining Info" to copy the link
6. Paste the link somewhere in Canvas or in an email to students. You can re-use this link all semester

At some point, your browser will ask for permission to use your webcam and microphone. Click "Allow."

Remote Quizzes & Homework Submission

Many teachers choose to postpone quizzes and homework due dates until the class can meet in person again. However, it is possible to use online quizzes and accept homework submissions online on Canvas. (In fact, many courses already use these online options even without any unplanned absences.)

For online quizzes you would need to type in each question and each multiple-choice answer. Students then take the quiz online and the quiz is automatically graded by Canvas. See Creating a Quiz.

For online homework, use the Canvas "Assignments" feature. This allows you to create a place where students can upload a file to turn in their homework. See Creating an Assignment.

Here's a 4.5-minute video showing what this looks like:

For More Help

For more help, see the Canvas at Biola Instructions as a starting point. Also, the official Canvas Instructor Guide documentation has full documentation about all of Canvas.

You can also email remote.instruction@biola.edu with your questions and requests for assistance. One of our instructional designers will contact you within 1-2 hours during normal business hours.

If you require immediate assistance, you can call ext. 4503 or (562) 906-4503 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. to speak with a Digital Learning staff member.