Teaching and learning at Clark in Spring 2022 may offer some unexpected twists. While the institution, faculty and students are committed and excited to return to campus, planning for the unexpected is never a bad idea. Below, find some tips about how to plan for some of these uncertainties now.

Click here for more general information on ITS support for Spring courses including information on Zoom, Panopto, student access to software, equipment loans, and much more.

• Plan Now
• Communicate Early and Often
• Think about Technology
• Ask for Help

Plan Now

Since we know that the semester may present unexpected changes, planning your approach to the uncertainty, and communicating your approach, can make a big difference for you and your students.

Consider now, in consultation with institutional guidelines, and your department, how you will deal with possible situations for the semester – including:

• if you need to isolate and can’t teach synchronously,
• if you need to isolate but can teach remotely in a synchronous modality,
• if an individual, or small number of students, in your course need to isolate,
• if a large number of your students need to isolate

If your hope is to continue to teach in these situations, look at your syllabus and course schedule with a critical eye. Identify content, activities and assessments that may work successfully if a short-term change in modality is necessary. Many activities can move into synchronous online (via Zoom), or asynchronous (via Moodle) delivery with a little adaptation, including lectures, discussions and small-group work.

Below are some common approaches to flexible academic continuity:

• Considering your full course schedule, are there some stand-alone lessons that would be successful online that could be moved to any point in the semester? Having a lesson reserved that you can deploy when necessary can be a good technique for an uncertain semester.
• If you’ve previously invited guests into your classroom (librarians, career services, guest speakers) and your students can successfully engage with this content remotely, moving it to a Zoom session could be a good option. Be sure to reach out to your guests early to ensure they have the availability to move their visit.
• Movie and documentary screenings, with subsequent discussions, can be an activity that lends itself to distance learning. If you need to discuss how to make a movie available to your remote students, please read more about our digitization service here.

Communicate Early and Often

Communicating openly and regularly can help minimize an inbox onslaught of one-off questions, and more importantly, calm some of your students’ (and your) anxiety.

Course Distribution Lists

All courses have email distribution lists. The students registered for your class are automatically subscribed to the list (with their Clark email addresses.) You and your students can use this as a way to communicate with the whole class.

The email address for the distribution list follows the syntax: course-section-semester@lists.clarku.edu (ex. Biology 114, section 01, this Spring translates to biol114-01-S22@lists.clarku.edu). You will also find a link to the distribution list in your Moodle course and in the Address List in your email.  Please note that you must use your Clark University email to send messages using this distribution list.  The students in your course also have permission to use this email address.

Moodle Announcements Forum

Another easy way to communicate with your class is to use the Announcements forum in your Moodle course. Faculty and TAs can create a post in this forum, and all students will receive the message as an email to their Clark University email address.

ClarkYou Roster

Your class roster in ClarkYou will also give you the option to email all (or select) currently enrolled students in your course.

Think about Technology

As you begin to formulate a teaching plan for possible interruptions to your semester, it’s likely that technology will play a significant role. Thinking about your, and your students’ needs, and asking for support now, can help you should you need to adapt quickly.

Moodle

Even if you don’t use Moodle in a ‘regular’ semester, it can provide a central space for information, communication and resources for your students during a semester when changes may be needed. You can create and link to a Zoom room so that students have it available if necessary, you can post your syllabus or other resources, and make and collect important announcements. If you haven’t used Moodle before, here are some videos to get started.

• • How to enable your course in Moodle
  • How to make your course visible in Moodle
  • More how-to videos on Moodle

Zoom

All Clark faculty have access to a fully licensed account (previously called Pro accounts), which allow meetings that can run for up to 24 hours, with up to 300 participants.

If you’ve managed to avoid Zoom over the last two years, we recommend spending some time familiarizing yourself with how to host and facilitate meetings. Setting up a Zoom link now, and talking with your students about how and when it may be used, can make adapting to one-off situations easier on everyone.

• • Zoom at Clark University
  • Zoom Support site
  • Best practices for Zoom sessions

Software and Hardware

Do your students have specific software needs during this semester? All students have access to Zoom, Microsoft Office (including Teams), Moodle and more, but if you use specialist software, please read more about how ITS may be able to support them should they need to learn remotely.

• • Information on access to specialist software

When it comes to having the correct tools on hand, ITS can provide faculty with short and long-term loans of web-cameras and headsets (with microphones) for Zoom and recordings, along with other technology including video cameras, document cameras and drawing tablets.

• • Information on equipment loans

Ask for Help

We’re here to support you all through the Spring Semester, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.

• For questions about how to approach teaching this semester, you can contact Laurie Ross of CETL or Joanne Dolan
• For technology questions, contact the Help Desk (helpdesk@clarku.edu) so that we can direct your request to the most appropriate department for the quickest response.
• Not sure what questions to ask, or who to ask them of? Email Joanne Dolan to get pointed in the right direction.

While many faculty pivoted online at the end of last year’s Spring and Fall semesters, beginning a class online may be a new experience for many. Below, find some tips about how to approach starting the semester online whether by choice, or by necessity.

• Communicate Early and Often
• Think about Technology
• Start Strong
• Ask for Help

Click here for more general information on ITS support for Spring courses including information on Zoom, Panopto, student access to software, equipment loans, and much more.

Communicate Early and Often

With the announcement of a remote start your students will have many questions about how your course will kick-off in this new modality. Communicating openly and regularly can help minimize an inbox onslaught of one-off questions, and more importantly, calm some of your students’ (and your) anxiety.

You don’t need to have all the answers immediately. A quick message to acknowledge the pivot, and a promise to communicate again once you’ve created a plan will make a big difference.

Course Distribution Lists

All courses have email distribution lists. The students registered for your class are automatically subscribed to the list (with their Clark email addresses.) You and your students can use this as a way to communicate with the whole class.

The email address for the distribution list follows the syntax: course-section-semester@lists.clarku.edu (ex. Biology 114, section 01, this Spring translates to biol114-01-S21@lists.clarku.edu). You will also find a link to the distribution list in your Moodle course and in the Address List in your email.  Please note that you must use your Clark University email to send messages using this distribution list.  The students in your course also have permission to use this email address.

Moodle Announcements Forum

Another easy way to communicate with your class is to use the Announcements forum in your Moodle course. Faculty and TAs can create a post in this forum, and all students will receive the message as an email to their Clark University email address.

ClarkYou Roster

Your class roster in ClarkYou will also give you the option to email all (or select) currently enrolled students in your course.

Think about Technology

As you begin to formulate a teaching plan for the remote portion of the semester, it’s likely that technology will play a significant role. Thinking about your, and your students’ needs, and asking for support now, can help you get off to a great start in Week 1.

Moodle

Even if you don’t use Moodle in a regular semester, it can provide a central space for information, communication and resources for your students during a remote start. You can link to your Zoom classrooms so that students always have it available, you can post your syllabus or other resources, and make and collect important announcements.  If you haven’t used Moodle before, here are some videos to get started.

• • How to enable your course in Moodle
  • How to make your course visible in Moodle
  • More how-to videos on Moodle

Zoom

For those faculty who were expecting to welcome students back to a physical classroom, moving your first weeks of class to Zoom may be a good alternative.

All Clark faculty have access to a fully licensed account (previously called Pro accounts), which allow meetings that can run for up to 24 hours, with up to 300 participants.

While many of us have spent much of the last year in Zoom meetings, if you’re planning on using Zoom for your class to meet remotely, we recommend spending some time familiarizing yourself with how to host and facilitate meetings. Feel free to use your Clark account to practice with family and friends.

• • Zoom at Clark University
  • Zoom Support site
  • Best practices for Zoom sessions

Software and Hardware

Do your students have specific software needs during the remote period? All students have access to Zoom, Microsoft Office (including Teams), Moodle and more, but if you use specialist software, please read more about how ITS may be able to support them as they learn remotely.

• • Information on access to specialist software

When it comes to having the correct tools on hand, ITS can provide faculty with short and long-term loans of Web-Cameras and Headsets (with Microphones) for Zoom calls and recordings, along with other technology including video cameras, document cameras and drawing tablets.

• • Information on equipment loans

Start Strong

The last year has seen all of us become more open and able to continue to teach and learn remotely. Our hope is that faculty will begin the semester in a way that will allow our students’ learning to stay on track for the semester, while being as engaging and rich as possible.

Build Community

Since our remote start is temporary, your instinct may be to leave introductions, ice-breakers or community building until you can welcome your students in person. However, it is possible to begin that important process online, which will give you more time and flexibility when we do return to campus.  Students will be both eager to begin learning, and anxious on how to navigate learning online so acknowledging those motivations and getting to know each other can help create connections that will last all semester.

• • Click here for an excerpt from a book that focuses on how to build community in the early days of an online semester
    • Bender, T. (2003). Starting to Teach the Online Class. In Discussion Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning (pp. 45-55). Stylus Publishing. 10.1111/j.1467-9647.2006.00283_8.x

Identify What Will Work

When considering the remote period, look at your syllabus and course schedule with a critical eye and identify content, activities and assessments that will work successfully with this new modality.

Many activities can now move into synchronous online (via Zoom), or asynchronous (via Moodle) delivery with a little adaptation, including lectures, discussions and small-group work. For example, if your course begins with a number of lectures about foundational theory and some introductory discussions, before the introduction of more hands on activities later in the semester, the changes you need to make may be minimal.

Alternatively, if your course begins immediately with hands-on activities that are difficult to replicate online without extensive planning you may need to be more creative. Some thoughts on how to accommodate a previously hands-on start to the semester include

• • Considering your full course schedule, are there some stand-alone lessons that would be successful online that could be moved earlier in the semester?
  • If you’ve previously invited guests into your classroom (librarians, career services, guest speakers) and your students can successfully engage with this content earlier in the semester, moving it to a Zoom session could be a good option. Be sure to reach out to your guests early to ensure they have the availability to move their appearance.
  • Movie and documentary screenings, with subsequent discussions can be an activity that lends itself to distance learning. If you need to discuss how to make a movie available to your remote students, please read more about our digitization service here.

Ask for Help

We’re here to support you during the remote start, and into the Spring Semester, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.

• For questions about how to approach teaching online, you can contact Laurie Ross of CETL or Joanne Dolan
• For technology questions, contact the Help Desk (helpdesk@clarku.edu) so that we can direct your request to the most appropriate department for the quickest response.
• Not sure what questions to ask, or who to ask them of? Email Joanne Dolan to get pointed in the right direction.

Intersession 2021 offers students a great opportunity to continue learning throughout our extended Winter break. And as always, ITS is available to help with your questions about any element of technology and teaching.

However, when scheduling time to work on your Intersession course, it will be important to remember that campus will be closed from December 17^th through January 4^th (the first day of Intersession). For that reason, we recommend reaching out early with your requests and questions.

As a good rule, we recommend contacting the Help Desk (helpdesk@clarku.edu) with your request, and we can direct it to the correct and next available professional staff member for the quickest response.

Resources

• Moodle
• Online Synchronous Classes & Zoom
• Recorded Presentations & Panopto
• Student Access to Software
• Teaching Support
• Web-Cameras, Microphones or Other Technology

Moodle

Enable your Course

The first thing to do in order to start working on your Intersession course is to enable your course.

Moodle Template

When you first enable your Moodle course, it’s a blank slate. While some of us thrive on blank pages, others like a little structure. To that end, we’ve created a Moodle template for Intersession courses.

• • Click here to see the Template.
    • If you would like this template to be applied to your course, please click here to complete a two question survey.
    • Please enable your course using the instructions above before completing the survey.

Note that if you’ve already taught this course in Moodle, and plan on both requesting the template and using Moodle’s import feature to copy content from a previous semester, some ‘tidy up’ will be required.

Using Moodle’s Import Feature

If you’ve already taught this course at Clark in Moodle, you can use Moodle’s import feature to copy content from a previous semester.

More Moodle Support

Check out our Moodle Quickstart Playlist or contact the Help Desk for more support.

Online Synchronous Classes & Zoom

Zoom is our recommended technology for synchronous class sessions. All Clark community members have fully licensed accounts (previously called Pro accounts), which allow meetings for up to 24 hours, with up to 300 participants. Click here for more information including how to log in with your Clark account, best practice recommendations, and how to access support.

Recorded Presentations & Panopto

If you’re planning on pre-recording your lectures, or having your students record presentations, we recommend considering Panopto, which is Clark’s internal video streaming service. It allows you or your students to upload or record videos or voice-over Powerpoints.

• • Panopto Essential Skills
  • How-To Videos

Student Access to Software

With most of the campus being closed for student use over Intersession, it may be useful to point students towards software resources for virtual access and download.

If students need access to Microsoft Office (including Word, Powerpoint, and Excel), they can download it to personal devices by visiting: https://portal.office.com/OLS/MySoftware.aspx

If your students require access to specialist software (ArcGIS, Microsoft Access, SPSS, etc.), they may have access to download it to their personal device, or access it via our Virtual Lab (https://www.clarku.edu/offices/its/a-z-service-catalog/vlabs/). To ensure that your students have timely access to these software, please email the Help Desk as soon as possible.

Teaching Support

In Summer 2020, Clark University presented a course – Teaching in Different Modalities – for faculty to plan and address the challenges presented by teaching online or hybrid. A non-facilitated version of that course is available as a resource for all faculty. Click here to learn more about this resources.

Over Intersession, ATS in collaboration with CETL, will offer a 3 week, mostly asynchronous, ‘unconference’-inspired professional development opportunity – “Next Steps in Teaching in Different Modalities”. Running from January 18th to February 7th, each week will present 3-4 topics based on suggestions and feedback from faculty. Each week, faculty can choose which topic(s) they would like to engage with, and offer to co-facilitate topics based on their interest and experience. Click here for more information on Next Steps.

Need even more great support? Clark University’s CETL provides a multitude of resources for teaching face-to-face, online and hybrid. Click here to log into Moodle and visit their Resource site. 

Web-Cameras, Microphones or Other Technology

ITS can provide faculty with long-term loans of Web-Cameras and Headsets (with Microphones) on request. Just email helpdesk@clarku.edu to schedule a pick-up time.`

ITS also holds a stock of other technology for short and long-term loans where appropriate, including video cameras, personal amplification microphones, document cameras and drawing tablets. Please email the Help Desk for more information.