Online Class Delivery

Topic outline

• 
  

  We believe that the best online class should make use of a variety of online tools. It is up to the teacher to decide what is the optimal mixture for his course, but in general we think there are four main pillars to build on:

  
  

  1. UNYP E-learning with online resources to read, assignments to submit, discussions to attend and even graded quizzes to take.
  2. Microsoft Office 365 portal with all the offered apps for file sharing, collaboration and communication.
  3. Videoconferencing in general, regardless of the particular tool you choose to use.
  4. Online whiteboards shared with all students used with mouse and keyboard or a tablet.

  • Share and Discuss Best Practices Forum
• E-LEARNING
  
  

  E-LEARNING

  This is an overview of the tools we think are the best choice when building an online class in elarning. Our elearning runs on the moodle platform version 3.2 (https://docs.moodle.org/32/).
  

  • Upload resources
    

    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/File_resource
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/URL_resource_settings
      
  • Forum / Discussion

    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Forum_activity
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Forum_settings
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Using_Forum
    • (video) 
      
  • Choice

    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Choice_activity
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Choice_settings
      
  • Feedback
    

    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Feedback_activity
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Feedback_settings
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Building_Feedback
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Using_Feedback
      
  • Assignment

    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Assignment_activity
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Assignment_settings
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Using_Assignment
      
  • Quiz
    

    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Quiz_activity
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Questions
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Effective_quiz_practices
    • (video)
      
  • Workshop (peer review)
    

    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Workshop_activity
    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Workshop_FAQ
    • (video)
  • Interactive Content (H5P)

    • https://docs.moodle.org/32/en/Interactive_Content_-_H5P_activity
    • https://h5p.org/
    • (video) 
• MS TEAMS & Office 365
  
  

  MS TEAMS & Office 365

  Microsoft Office 365 UNYP portal offers a very comprehensive infrastructure to build a great online class using the set of apps listed below. There is also a great online training center with all the video guides.
  

  • Word, Excel and PowerPoint online

    • Let students collaborate or interact online with a document.

  • Sway

    • Create and share interactive reports, stories or pages.

  • Forms

    • Create surveys, quizzes, and polls and easily see the results in real time.

  • OneDrive

    • Store and share files (up to 1TB storage).

  • Video/Stream

    • Share videos of classes, presentations etc.

  • Whiteboard

    • Ideate and collaborate on a freeform canvas designed for pen, touch and keyboard.

  • Teams

    • Create customizable chat-based workspace that can connect all MS Office 365 apps together into a great interactive online class experience with videoconferencing capabilities.
    • Microsoft Teams Online Training Center
      
    • (short video) 
    • (detailed video) 

• VIDEOCONFERENCING
  
  

  VIDEOCONFERENCING

  • PROPER SETUP
    

    1. Computer (not just smartphone or tablet) in a quiet place where you won't be disturbed.
    2. Reliable internet connectivity.
    3. Good headset or speakers  + microphone with noise cancellation. Headset is much better choice in most cases as it prevents any audio interference / feedback.
       
    4. Webcamera is not necessary if you are going to share your desktop with slides. Even if you have one, you might decide not to turn it on in order to put less load on your internet connectivity.

    
    
  • SOFTWARE
    

    We recommend using tools you already know and are comfortable with. If you don't know, consider:
    

  • Zoom

    • Website: https://zoom.us
      
    • At UNYP we have a good experience with it in terms of features and reliability.
    • Free accounts can make group video-calls for up to 40 minutes. Then they have to start the meeting again.
    • Pro accounts don't have this limit, and in case of emergency online class teaching, we will provide you with account to use in case you need more than 40 minutes.
    • Pro accounts provided by UNYP will have a classroom in their name and will have to follow the schedule of the normal classes to avoid collision, because one acocunt cannot run multiple meetings at the same time.
    • Consider recording the meeting to the local computer and then uploading it to OneDrive and sharing on e-learning as a link for students in different timezones who missed the meeting.
    • Guide on Scheduling meetings
    • Guide on Joining meetings (useful for students)
    • Guide on Meeting controls
      

  • Microsoft Skype

    • Website: https://www.skype.com/en/
      
    • It may not be the best tool today, but it works and almost everyone knows it and it is free without any significant limitations.
    • Getting started with Skype guide
      

  • Microsoft Teams

    • A complex tool that is not only capable of videoconferencing but can also support other aspects of the online class, such as chat, sharing files, quizzes and other resources all in one workspace.
    • Microsoft Teams Online Training Center
      

    
    

  • MANAGING THE VIDEO CONFERENCE

    1. Schedule it in advance and distribute the join link in time. If you use Zoom account shared with other teachers, schedule your class´directly in Zoom and make sure it doesn't collide with other classes.
       
    2. Define clear rules on when and how questions can be asked by the audience. In case the communication is too busy, you can mute all participants and ask them to ask questions via chat and then unmute only the person whose question you want to answer.
    3. Working with 30 people via video conference for a prolonged period of time requires a clear time schedule including breaks.
       
    4. Have some backup scenario ready in case something goes wrong.
• ONLINE WHITEBOARDS
  
  

  ONLINE WHITEBOARDS

  Online whiteboards generally allow you to freely draw or write using mouse and keyboard or even better, using graphics tablet with a pen. There are many free products on the market, we think the following are some good examples:

  1. Microsoft Whiteboard - a free product, either as a part of the online Office 365 portal (possibly used with MS Teams) or as a downloadable Windows 10 app from Microsoft Store (or iOS app). The online version is very simple, the downloadable app has more features. All versions support easy sharing with students (the advantage is that all students already have an account on Office 365).
  2. Bitpaper - a free and very easy to use purely online solution, supports sharing via link, export etc.
  3. iDroo - a free purely online educational whiteboard; it supports mathematical formulas and various symbols
  4. Ziteboard - free or paid version if want more features
  5. Scribblar - paid only with a large set of additional features