Online Teaching Tools and Resources
Converting an in-person course to an online or hybrid model requires re-imagining many common classroom practices. Fortunately, UMW has a wide variety of resources that can help.
In collaboration with the Center for Teaching, Digital Learning Support has developed the resources on this page to assist faculty and students in making the jump to online coursework. The tools below have been identified as solutions that can be quickly adopted by faculty and students, and that can be supported by Digital Learning Support. Instructors who already have experience with alternative tools are welcome to continue to use them, but keep in mind that the expertise to support those tools may not be as readily available.
Communication
Without regular in-person class meetings, instructors will need to identify new ways to communicate with students outside of the classroom. Below are a few tools that can help.
- Canvas Communication Tools
- Zoom (1:1 meetings, small group meetings, virtual office hours)
- UMW Email
Lecture
For courses that rely on in-class lectures, consider the tools below for alternative solutions.
Keep in mind that asynchronous options (e.g. pre-recording lectures and uploading videos for students to view on their own time) allow students the most flexibility.
Course Materials
If a course includes paper handouts or other physical materials that would normally be distributed in class, these will need to be converted to digital resources and made available online. The tools below offer a number of ways to accomplish this.
Discussion & Group Work
The lack of a shared in-person meeting schedule introduces challenges to traditional in-class discussion and group projects. Below are a few tools to facilitate remote synchronous discussion, as well as asynchronous alternatives.
- Canvas Groups & Discussion Boards
- Zoom (synchronous discussion)
- OneDrive
- YouTube
Assessment
Courses that include in-class testing will need to identify alternative assessment models that can be accessed and completed remotely. Below are a few options for this.
- Canvas Quizzes
- Canvas Gradebook
- YouTube (for presentations and Speaking Intensive assignments)