This page is tailored to the computer setup at BGSU. It has thoughts and suggestions for quickly pivoting to online instruction.
Thoughts from people who have taught online
Use Camtasia to make a lecture from scanned lecture notes or PowerPoint
- 7-minute video showing how to start Camtasia and record a lecture using scanned lecture notes. This would also work to make a video based on a PowerPoint. The video does not show how to export the recorded video, so here are text instructions: When you are done recording, press F10 to stop recording, then switch back to the Camtasia window. Press the green Share button in the upper right, Local File ... Next, mp4 is a good choice, Next, default options are good, Next, Add author and copyright information to your video if you want, Next, type in a Production Name, which will be the folder produced in Camtasia, Finish. Then look in the folder for the Camtasia video.
WebEx for live presentations and discussions, with video recording
- WebEx lets you have an online voice and video conversation with many people. As such, it is used by many businesses for meetings. For teachers, WebEx is a good way to present slides or other content you have made. You can also use a smart phone camera to show something you are writing on a piece of paper.
- Install WebEx on a University PC by clicking the Windows key, searching for Software Center, then searching for Webex, then choose "Cisco Webex Meetings Desktop App". It's nice to have it installed on your computer.
- On a personal computer, log in to canvas.bgsu.edu, go to your course, click WebEx, click QuickLaunch, select a meeting length, maybe 15 minutes, and continue. After opening another brower tab, with any luck, you will see "Install the Cisco Webex Meetings app and start collaborating". I suggest you do this, because it works a bit better to use the app. If you don't want to do this, you can click "Join from your browser."
- At BGSU, you can get to WebEx from the Canvas shell for your course. Here are steps to get started:
- Go to the Canvas shell for your class.
- Scroll to the bottom of the column of locations within the shell (Home, Announcements, etc.) to find a WebEx link and click that.
- There are one or two setup steps that I don't remember, but they are easy.
- You may as well add your picture (click on the circle with your initials, select a picture of yourself)
- I think it's easiest to just use the Quick Launch button right when you want to start a meeting.
- Instruct your students to go to Canvas, your class, WebEx, and click on the meeting that has been started. I forget what that looks like to them, unfortunately.
- If you are meeting with your whole class, I suggest that you record the class session and that you record in the cloud. Click one of the bottom icons to start recording and choose to record to the cloud. Make sure to end the meeting when the meeting is over; that tells WebEx to actually make the recording. It should be available in Canvas under the Event Recording tab.
Recording audio and posting it on Canvas
It is helpful to be able to record the audio of a class meeting, for students who could not attend the class, or should not attend the class because they might be sick.
- On an Android phone, I have used an app called Sound Recorder, which can be downloaded and installed for free. I expect that other audio recorders will work in similar ways.
- When you start Smart Recorder, you can click the Start Recording button and click Finish when you are done recording. You can give a meaningful name to the recording; I like to at least put the current date in the filename, in the format YYYY-MM-DD so that when you sort files by name, they come out in order. Sound Recorder then shows you the list of recordings you have made. Each recording has a small down arrow on the right, which you can click to get options, one of which is Share.
- Now you have to get the audio off of your phone and onto a place where you can share it with your students. Some options:
- Share with yourself by email. That is OK for short recordings, up to a few minutes long. But if you record an entire class session, it will be too big to email. Besides, it takes up valuable storage space in your email.
- Upload to google drive, if you have a google account and are logged in on your phone. It takes up memory space, but then you can save the file for later semesters.
- At BGSU, we use Canvas, and that is a good place to store the file. On your phone, open a web browser and go to canvas.bgsu.edu and log in to Canvas. Navigate to your class, then click the down arrow to the right of the course name, then select Files, Upload. Now you have to find the audio file on your phone. On my Android phone, I select Documents, Internal storage, SmartVoiceRecorder (or other recording app), and then select the audio file.
- Decide where on Canvas you want to make the audio recording accessible to your students. You may find it convenient to put all audio recordings in the Syllabus section, or you may choose to make a separate Announcement for each audio recording (but that takes more work).
- Microsoft Lens is available for Android or Apple.
- Guide to Microsoft Lens
- When taking a picture of a printed or hand-drawn document, I recommend using the BW1 filter (black and white) or the Clear filter (allows color). You can use the pen and white color to remove stray marks from the document. You can use the cropping tool (overlapping right angle icon) to set the corners of the image, which is very useful. When you have the image you want, you can add another image, to make a multi-page PDF. Then click Done and tell where to send the file. I'm not crystal clear on the choices, but some of the things I have scanned have shown up in OneDrive that is associated with BGSU. Once you save it somehow, you can share it via email, and that may be the easiest way to get it to your computer.
- CamScanner.