Online Ready

Note: Microsoft Teams is not meant to replace Blackboard; however, you may find many of the Office 365 components helpful while delivering your course content.

Our first choice for meeting virtually is using Microsoft Teams MEETINGS. See “Activating Course Team and Accepting Members” to get started. Teams Meetings have the best video quality, are secure, have options for whiteboard, sharing screen, window, or PowerPoint, chat, and will have breakout rooms. You can record virtual sessions, set the session to live caption if you have students who need that accommodation, students will also have access to a transcript afterwords, and you can use the Forms option to add interaction to videos. Teams Meetings will connect with all the other Office 365 apps and options that all members of the Marshall community have access to via Office 365. Since Teams and Outlook are Office 365 products, your calendar is tied together so you can see meetings in both your Outlook calendar and in the Calendar app on Teams.

Under the guidance of the Provost, virtual meetings should be recorded by the faculty member in order to provide students who may not be able to attend a chance to view materials. 

Activating Course Team & Setting Up Meetings

All courses at Marshall have a Course Team. If you are using Teams Meetings for virtual course delivery, you should activate your Class Team:

• Activating Course Team & Accepting Members
• Teams-Course-Quick-Guide-Faculty -Includes Starting & Stopping Recordings
• Teams Course Quick Guide – Students

NEW: Tracking Attendance in Teams

• Go to your course Team and click on the plus sign on the top of the app to “add a tab.”
• When asked to choose an app, use the search bar and type “Insights.”
• Select the Insights app, uncheck the box to post a message on General, and click Ok/Save.
• Click the Insights tab and it takes you to the homepage, where you can see General Engagement and Assignments.
• Under Inactive students, select “Track Student Activity.”
• On the Digital Activity page, you can see your student roster, select a specific activity from the drop-down menu, and select a specific date or date range.

• • Example, from all activities, select “Meetings” from the drop-down. On the calendar option, change the date to the date in which you had a meeting. This will load an activity dot for each student who participated in the meeting. You can hover over the dot to get specific information if you are looking for one, or a few, students in particular.
  • From this view, you can export the attendance information to Excel by clicking “More Options” to the far right of the “Digital Activity” header and selecting “Export to Excel.”

Common Issues

• Students and Instructors should download the Teams app on their computers and navigate to meetings via the app (https://aka.ms/getteams).
• Students should be manually invited to virtual course meetings, instead of only placing the meeting link on a channel (info revised as of 09/02/2020 due to common issues among multiple student devices).
• Instead of sharing the link to your virtual meeting in Blackboard, direct students to the Calendar on the Teams app, and have them join the virtual meeting via the Teams app instead of through the browser. This has caused issues for some students not being able to see or participate in the meeting conversation.
• Sharing your screen and internal audio (aka a video playing on the screen and having students hear that video audio from your computer) is not possible at this time on a Mac.

Resources for Teams & Teams Meetings

• For higher education faculty who are transitioning to remote learning, a Microsoft site with support and ideas

Microsoft Videos on Team Components (for Meetings also)

• How to enable new features and “Together Mode” for Meetings
• How to poll in Teams Meetings
• How to prevent students from muting and removing each other from Meetings
• How to properly present PowerPoint slides in Teams Meetings
• How to create assignments and grades in Teams
• Introduction to Teams: Microsoft Quick Start Videos
• Joining, Participating, and Managing a Team: Microsoft Video Tutorial

From MU Information Technology:

• IT Microsoft Teams main page

Collaborate is a virtual classroom that is built-in to your Blackboard courses. Each course has its own virtual room. Collaborate has poorer audio and video qualities compared to Teams. The benefit Collaborate currently has over Teams is that it’s automatically built-in to every course; however, faculty do need to create a link to Collaborate on the course menu, otherwise, students will not have access to the tool. Moderators can share their screen, PowerPoints, images, have access to chat and breakout groups, quick polling responses to gauge student interaction or comfort level with materials on the fly–the same basic tools as Teams.

Students can join a Collaborate session on their mobile device by downloading the Blackboard student app and clicking on their course name. Faculty will need to download the Bb Instructor app. Users can see the course menu from the mobile device window and access Collaborate.

If students or faculty are having issues with their microphones, they can use their mobile device as a microphone. There is more than one way to call in to a Collaborate session with dial-in available.

• From in the session: If you have joined a session in a browser and need to use your phone for audio, open the Session menu on the top left corner of the screen and select Use your phone for audio. The phone number and the PIN needed to access the session via phone are listed.
• From a list of scheduled sessions: Select the name of the session you want to call into. Select the Anonymous dial-in information from the menu. Use your device to call the number and enter your PIN.

Resources for Collaborate

• Collaborate-How to Record & Find Recordings (Word)
• Starting a Recording (Video)
• Locating a Recorded Session (Video)
• Step-by-step for Faculty Facilitating a Collaborate session (Word)
• Collaborate Overview (recorded session)
• Basic Collaborate Overview for adding link to course menu and navigating the virtual room (PPT)
• Tracking Attendance with Collaborate

Known Issues

• Mac users with OS 10.15 Catalina will need to update their security preferences to allow screen-sharing on Collaborate: View full instructions to adjust your privacy settings.

Marshall is evaluating the use of Zoom for live distance virtual courses after the 2020-21 academic year. While we will support Zoom Pro licenses for all faculty who were using Zoom Pro last academic year, we encourage Zoom users to look at Teams as an alternative. Teams has the same (+more) features as Zoom. We strongly discourage the use of “free licenses” for Zoom, as their limitations do not provide the security and features available in the licensed Zoom service.”

• Adding Zoom to a Blackboard Course
• Starting a Meeting Recording
• Finding a Recorded Meeting

By September 27, 2020, Zoom meeting will require a passcode to access the meeting. Click Zoom Passcode Required to view the overview of how to find and share meeting passcodes.

• Zoom Passcode Required

If you have issues with internet service, or you encounter issues with your microphone, you can join and manage Zoom meetings using your mobile device. If internet quality is your issue, then turn off wifi on your mobile device and allow it to connect to the Zoom app through your phone service provider. Students can also join Zoom meetings via the mobile app, or use their telephones for their audio devices if you have enabled this feature on your Zoom meeting.

• Zoom Mobile App Instructions

The IT Service Desk: students and faculty can contact the IT Service Desk for assistance with their internet issues or technical issues. Blackboard Help should be referred to Online Learning. Due to the heavy volume of calls the Service Desk receives, you should contact them via email at itservicedesk@marshall.edu.

If you are teaching a course that will run both in-person and virtual sessions simultaneously, here are some tips:

• Prior to the start of term, or before your first day of class, login to the podium computer in the room where you will be teaching from. This will give the computer the opportunity to build your profile prior to the start of class, so you do not need to wait several minutes for it to load while class is in session.
• Login to the Teams app on the desktop.
• If you are using Collaborate as your virtual class, login to Blackboard (MUOnline) at www.marshall.edu/design-center/.
• Start a Teams meeting or a Collaborate session from one of your Teams or courses.
  • If using Teams, prior to “Joining” the meeting, note if your camera in the room is running a video stream.
  • If using Collaborate, run through the Audio Setup wizard. Click the menu on the bottom right of the session to expand session options. Click on the Settings widget to see your audio and video setup options. You can test your audio and video within Collaborate there.
• If you cannot get your audio or video to work in the classroom, contact the IT Service Desk so they can pair you with a technician to help you solve the tech issue in the classroom. The Service Desk email is itservicedesk@marshall.edu. Their phone number is 304-696-3200. If you go to any of the marshall.edu/it websites, you can chat live with a member of the service desk team.

Tips for Managing Virtual & F2F Classes Simultaneously

• First consider how much of what you do in a class can be accomplished on Blackboard. Assessing student work, adding content for students to view or read prior to coming to class, links to articles, websites, discussions, journals, blogs–these are all things that can also be accomplished prior to, or after, class each week.
• If you’re teaching a blended class, you are most likely not going to be “taking up papers.” Any assignment you would normally “take up” from students (homework, quizzes), this can be put online with a due date that is due at the time class starts or before. F2F and online students can then have the same opportunity to turn in work in the same space, at the same time, with the same due date.
• If you are teaching a large course, or if you have more of a discussion-led, hands-on type class, consider breaking your class into 2 or more groups. Some examples:
  • If you teach Mon/Wed/Fri, you could virtually meet with Group 1 on Mondays, Group 2 on Wednesdays, and then have students work on either collaborative or reflective work on Blackboard or Teams on Friday. Keep in mind, many students have the weekend to work on work, so consider making your due dates 11:59 pm on Sundays.
  • If you teach Tues/Thur, you could have Group 1 meeting Tuesdays, and Group 2 meeting Thursdays.
  • If you prefer the “sage on the stage” approach, or use class time to “show” while you teach, then managing a larger class section virtually is easier with bigger groups. To assist you in managing this course, consider asking your students to help moderate your chat in the virtual classroom. If you are using Teams, the chat will continue in the “Chat” app on Teams, even after your meeting ends.

Technology Enhanced Classrooms

Over the summer, many rooms on campus were updated with cameras. The main TEC website lists the classrooms that are labeled as TECI in Banner for scheduling, as well as the campus computer labs. Many of these labs will be available to students who need access to technology. You should consult Marshall IT for the latest updates regarding which rooms will be available for students to use. If you need access to a Technology Enhanced Classroom, you can work with the Registrar to assist you in finding a room that will meet your needs.

Technology Enhanced Classrooms website

For pedagogical concerns and recommendations, please contact the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Copyright laws and access to educational content are a valid concern of educators. Each individual in the Marshall University community is responsible for understanding and complying with the copyright laws of the United States, Title 17, U.S. Code, and when applicable, of foreign countries. The line between what is fair use and what is infringement is not always clear and in many cases not well-defined. For additional information on Fair Use, please visit the U.S. Copyright Office’s Fair Use page.

• Marshall University’s Copyright Basics
• Marshall’s Information Technology Copyright Education site
• If you are linking to a database article for an article in the Marshall University database system, use the permalink to the article. Do not download the PDF version of an article and place it as a file in your Blackboard course. Marshall registers the database usage as a way to justify whether or not the database or journal access is renewed when budget considerations are made. Sharing the PDF only is also a violation of copyright laws.
• If you have questions about media and copyright, please contact onlinelearning@marshall.edu for recommendations.

Information Technology has a website dedicated to the types of software that are available to use: Available Software.

• There are many resources for “cloud services” as well, meaning you can access information or this software from any location that has internet service. MU cloud services are Office 365, OneDrive with 1 TB of space for every user, OneNote, and Teams. Cloud Services
• If you should need professional live streaming and video production, Digital Media Services can guide you on this process.
• Information Technology also has a Service Catalog & Fees site where you can see a list of the many other IT services that are available to you.
• Blackboard is not a software, but a learning management system, and it is free to use because the university pays for this service. The university also pays for Amazon web cloud services, which hosts all of the Blackboard files for all institutions and businesses. Because we pay for cloud storage, do not upload media files (video/audio) straight into Blackboard. We have two good options for streaming video.
  • Best option: Stream app with Office 365. Stream videos are automatically transcribed, and easy to share via Teams.
    A Complete Guide to Recording, Sharing, and Managing Videos with Microsoft Stream
    YouTube: Creating Microsoft Teams Branded Virtual Backgrounds with PowerPoint
  • Next option: Ensemble Media Server. Ensemble is Marshall’s hosted video streaming server. The institution pays for the server space, so that is one reason why Stream is the top choice. The 2nd reason stream is the top choice is that it is already integrated into your Office 365 package and is easy to integrate into your Class Team.

Many faculty are concerned that online learning means more cheating in class, but multiple studies, tracking students who are taking online and face-to-face courses in the same semester have shown that students are NOT more likely to cheat online than they are face-to-face. Approximately 30% of undergraduate students admitted to some form of academic dishonesty in both types of delivery modes.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 has been effect since 2010. Since that time, the institution is required to publish a list of all required and recommended books and other course materials for all classes offered at the institution at the time of student registration. As of July 29, 2020, no changes have been made to this federal regulation, so we cannot ask students to pay a fee for test proctoring at this point.

Fall 2020 Options for Preventing Academic Dishonesty

• Use SafeAssign plagiarism tool on Blackboard Assignments: SafeAssign is a plagiarism prevention tool that allows you to check the originality of an assignment submission against our institutional repository of student work and internet-based sources. Students should be allowed to view their originality reports. You can have students turn in work on a rough draft by checking the “do not add to repository” option on Submission Details, where the SafeAssign option is located on the Edit Assignment Options page.
  Blackboard SafeAssign Help for Instructors
  SafeAssign information for students
• Respondus Lockdown Browser: Software the student downloads on their personal computers. It functions as its name intends: a browser that prevents students from opening any other browser on their screen, prevents multiple tabs, or prevents access to other software. The download information for students and information on use can be found by logging into Bb and click on Tech Support on the top tab. The Assessment module contains information for Respondus.
• Respondus LockDown Browser with Monitor:For use in conjunction with LockDown Browser, records students taking exams and requires microphone and webcam. The program will flag suspicious activity and allow the instructor to review the video to investigate the activity that caused the video to be flagged.*Both tools require students to have high-speed internet access and their own device. These tools are not meant for users who have low-bandwith, or are trying to accomplish academic tasks on a mobile device.

Creating Blackboard Assessments (Tests) Instructions

To use Respondus, you must create the Tests first.

Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor Instructions for Faculty

Tips to Keep Students from Cheating

• If you use test banks, chances are, your questions and answers are already searchable on the internet. If you are using a new text, with new test bank questions, consider using only a portion of those questions at a time, and change them each semester.
• If you are using the Test tool in Blackboard, consider letting us help you create test pools for each chapter. Test pools can be used to created a Test made up of random blocks. Random blocks allow you to choose how many questions and question types from each pool you want to use and how much their point value is worth.
• Utilize various Test options like randomizing all of the questions on the test, setting a timer (never use Force Complete), or break up your testing materials into shorter tests.
• Offer varied assessments. Students deserve more opportunities than just multiple choice tests to show that they are competent. (If you’d like pedagogical considerations, please contact the Center for Teaching and Learning.)

• Align Gen Ed Goals Quick Guide
• Assessment Quick Guide
• Assignment Quick Guide
• Blackboard Instructor Quick Guide
• Discussion Quick Guide
• Grade Center Quick Guide
• SafeAssign Quick Guide
• Setting Up Weighted Grades

To request to work with an Instructional Designer for quick uploading of content and materials, email us at onlinelearning@marshall.edu.

All information regarding help for students can be found on the Student Resources page for Blackboard on our website. The Student Resources page provides information about how to get started with Blackboard, how to login, how to access help tools, how to navigate inside courses, and contact information should issues arise.

Students can also use the Blackboard Learn Help website for students. The website is searchable based on tools and keywords. There are many video tutorials that go along with the instructions. Blackboard Help and Tutorial links are also available to every student, in every course, until the Technical Help area of the course menu.

Quality Matters is training that is required for all faculty who teach Distance Education courses, and training must be completed within a year of beginning to teach online. In normal circumstances, faculty are required to be trained in Quality Matters prior to teaching any distance education course; however, Quality Matters is not required for faculty who are teaching virtual courses in during the Fall 2020 term. You may still participate in training if you would like.

Sign-up page for QM Trainings

When asked to “verify that your institutions is paying for training,” check “Yes.”

Information Technology’s Teaching Options site explains teaching options for sharing information with your students. In some cases, you and your students may need VPN access to access tools that are available on Marshall computers, but are not readily available on personal computers. Please remind students that all correspondence regarding course work and grades must be done using their Marshall email accounts, not their personal accounts, such as Gmail. The same goes for instructors; you must use your Marshall email when it comes to matters regarding coursework and students.

Information Technology’s “How do I…?” site for students and faculty

Computer and Browser Considerations

Computer and Browser Requirements

Blackboard does not work efficiently with all devices and browsers. This page will give you the recommended specifications for a computer and the link to the Blackboard Browser Checker. We recommend users to NOT access and complete all graded activities through a tablet or mobile device. Users should also use updated Google Chrome or Firefox, and in most cases, updated Edge Chromium is also acceptable.

Access to Tech Equipment

Webcams may be available to check-out at the Drinko Circulation Desk (3 hour time limit) and at the IT Service Desk (also in Drinko). Users may also ask the IT Service Desk for laptops, tablets, and assistance with internet service. Equipment is limited.

Additional software, downloads, and VPN are not needed for access to Blackboard.

There are 3 main offices that can help you navigate remote, virtual, or online learning: Center for Teaching & Learning, Office of Information Technology, and the office of Online Learning.

• The mission of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is to empower faculty in their teaching and research by cultivating a campus culture that values pedagogical, disciplinary, and program-based inquiry in support of student learning. More specifically, CTL provides opportunities for faculty to develop and engage with the instruments of teaching and learning (e.g., curricula and pedagogy) and the processes of teaching and learning (e.g., data-driven teaching strategies, reflective and metacognitive practices).
• The main page of the Information Technology page highlights resources for “Keep Learning,” “Keep Teaching,” and to “Keep Working.” The site also provides direct access to information about Office 365 products, Microsoft Teams, LinkIn Learning, and OneDrive access. If you need assistance with a classroom on campus, contact Information Technology.
• Online Learning employs 3 instructional designers to assist with over 700 faculty, but that should not discourage you from contacting us for Blackboard assistance! The designers are invested in online learning and can adapt trainings for all levels of learners. We can assist with uploading course content, copying courses, and Blackboard issues from faculty and students.