Join the Distance Education Support Community Team (DESC Team)
Distance Education support is not only for faculty who teach full ecourses; distance education support is for ALL faculty. You can ask instructional designers real-time questions in the General Posts, get access to training information from OLL and vendors, view training videos, see instructions for tools in our File sharing tab, and view our topic-specific Channels, such as our Tech Talk Tuesdays channel and our Teams for Class channel. If you have questions about where to start, how to access Blackboard, add your Syllabus and course content, link to virtual classrooms, we can help you! Blackboard is for every course, not just “distance education” courses.
- Don’t have the Teams app? Click to download it on your devices.
- Want to view Teams in your browser?
- Join the Distance Education Support Community Team
- What are my options for teaching virtually?
Our first choice for teaching virtually is using Microsoft Teams. You can create a Class Team for each of your classes, or you can create meetings and share the meeting link with students to join your meeting. Teams has the best video quality, is secure, has 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 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.
Regardless of which virtual class tool you use, every class session should be recorded. This is to ensure that students have access to review materials, but more importantly, to make materials available for students who may not be able to attend class time due to a medical issue.
Online Learning recommends creating a Team for each of your classes.
- Go directly to the Teams for Class channel in the DESC Team
- Faculty Quick Guide for Creating and Managing a Class Team (Recommended)
- Introduction to Teams: Microsoft Quick Start Videos
- Joining, Participating, and Managing a Team: Microsoft Video Tutorial
- Sign up for August Microsoft Teams Instructor-Lead Training (free): Learn how to build collaborative workspaces and leverage tips and tricks.
- Microsoft Support for Creating a Class Team
From MU Information Technology:
Blackboard Collaborate
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.
- 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)
Zoom
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.”
For pedagogical concerns and recommendations, please contact the Center for Teaching and Learning.
What are my virtual teaching options from a classroom on campus?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.
How do I address copyright concerns with my course content?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.
What software is available for faculty to use?Information technology has a site 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.
- 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.
What are my proctoring choices?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.
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.)
When can I get access to my Fall courses on Blackboard?Live course sections are not created on Blackboard until two weeks prior to the start of term, every term; however, almost every undergraduate course you teach should already have a Development shell available for you to start adding content. Content from Development courses are copied into the live course shells.
Request a designer copy content for you (don’t fill out the form until live courses are available)
If you do not see a Development section for your course:
- Is it a graduate course? Request a Development section.
- Are your courses in My Courses (in Blackboard on the My Institution homepage) set to show courses by term? Check the “No term assigned” heading.
- Still can’t find your courses under “No term assigned?” Click the widget to the right of the My Courses title to open a page where you can view all hidden courses and every course you are enrolled in. You may find that you have hidden your view of access to a previous Development course for the same course. Check the box beside the name of the course to make it show up in the My Courses list again.
- Still don’t see your course? Request a Development section.
To request to work with an Instructional Designer for quick uploading of content and materials, email us at onlinelearning@marshall.edu.
How can students get Blackboard help?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.Quality Matters Training for FacultyQuality 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.
When asked to "verify that your institutions is paying for training," check "Yes."
Information Technology Access to Software, Tools, and HelpInformation 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.
Who should I contact for help?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.