Post-Emergency Course Recovery
The emergency has passed ... but now what? The resources in this article will assist you with the next steps as you begin to assess your instructional needs.
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Resources for Making Up Class Time
The Office of Distance Learning (ODL), FSU Libraries, and the Center for the Advancement of Teaching can help you get your courses back on track with the options below.
Online Tools and Resources
The university offers several options for delivering course content online. The resources and techniques listed are available for both face-to-face and online instructors.
- Web conferences:
- We strongly recommend using Zoom web conferencing in your Canvas course site for online meetings and activities as this service offers the most features when compared to other options.
- BigBlueButton is another online meeting tool that may be used, though it does not include as many features.
- Microsoft Teams' Meetings service can be used for course meetings as well. One downside to this option is that the meeting host will need to add all students to the meeting individually, which may not be efficient with larger courses.
- Online discussion boards. Review these resources on discussion boards in Canvas.
- Research and writing assignment materials. FSU Libraries offers online resources for writing assignments as well as workshops that can be counted as instructional time.
- Due dates. Read about how to adjust your due dates in Canvas.
ODL Media Studio Assistance
The ODL Media Studio (located on FSU's main campus in Tallahassee) is available to help instructors develop short videos of lectures that may have been missed during the university’s closure. We can also help you create videos of course lectures if you need to quickly convert your course to a distance learning format. You can either work one-on-one with the ODL Media Team for video assistance or use the One Button Studio to develop your own videos. Kaltura Media is available for capturing video from your own computer, anytime and anywhere. You can use Kaltura's Personal Capture software to create your video, or record your video separately and then upload it to Kaltura.
To schedule a media consultation or recording, visit our Media Production Services page. You can also contact Media Production Manager D.D. Garbarino at [email protected] or 850-644-7574. For technical support, contact 850-644-8004 or [email protected].
Possible Walk-in Clinics
The Center for the Advancement of Teaching may offer walk-in clinics to assist you in getting your course back on track after an emergency campus closure. The center can help you:
- Distill your learning goals
- Plan community-building work
- Determine what material could best be conveyed online
- Adjust your schedule and the timing of assessments
- Identify resources
- Select and use a range of tools
To make an individual appointment or inquire about walk-in clinics, email [email protected]. Learn more about the Center for the Advancement of Teaching.
Workshops and Consultations
Keep checking ODL's registration site for additional webinars, in-person workshops, and one-on-one consultations (both in-person and online appointments). In response to a prolonged campus closure, we will likely be adding daily to our list of offerings when FSU's main campus reopens, including extra help with the following technologies:
- Zoom web conferencing
- Kaltura
- BigBlueButton
Rescheduling Exams
Depending on the length of the university closure, you may need to reschedule your exam or make alternative testing arrangements.
Converting Your In-person Course to an Online-based Format Quickly
If you need to convert your face-to-face course to an online distance learning format quickly, we recommend the following:
- Put all graded assignments in your Canvas course site if you have not already done so.
This includes quizzes, written assignments, and exams. Your students can take your exams at proctored locations if needed. Learn more about using FSU's Assessment & Testing facility for exam delivery in the Rescheduling Exams section above.
- If your course includes offline activities, such as giving a presentation or participating in a course discussion, consider creative ways of converting them into online activities.
For example, if your students were originally going to participate in in-person discussions, you could use Canvas's Discussion feature to facilitate asynchronous discussions. If your students were originally going to give presentations, they could record a video and upload it to Kaltura Media to share with you and their classmates. Or, you could opt to use the Zoom or BigBlueButton web conferencing tools for real-time presentations.
- Determine how you will be delivering course lectures.
Would you like to deliver lectures asynchronously (i.e., creating a video that students can watch at any time), or would you prefer your students be "present" and engaging with your lecture in real-time?
There are two options available for asynchronous lecture delivery:
If you wish to have your students "present" during your lecture and do not need recordings of your lectures, then use a web conferencing tool such as Zoom or BigBlueButton.
ODL staff are ready to assist you in any way possible once the main campus reopens and can connect you with resources to help you get your course back up and running quickly. Please don't hesitate to contact us. For technical concerns, contact ODL Technical Support.
