Academic Continuity Plan

Email

Purpose: Quickly contact all enrolled students through email.

Email 

Courses Announcements

Courses Messages 

Self Service Class Roster

Live/Synchronous Discussion

Purpose: Communicate in real-time with students remotely.

There are many ways in which instructors can host lectures with their students, either synchronously or asynchronously, using digital tools provided by U of R.

To optimize your synchronous WebEx lecture, we recommend: 

• Use headphones or earbuds with a microphone to minimize surrounding noise and maximize your voice.
• In your WebEx settings, opt to Mute Participants upon entry into the meeting.  As the host of the meeting, instructors are able to mute and unmute participants at any point. 

WebEx (Web conferencing)

Microsoft Teams (Both Text Based and Web Conferencing) 

Courses Chat (text-based instant messaging with a class) 

Yammer (Private Social Network) 

Self-Directed/Asynchronous

Purpose: Provide self-directed discussion activities.

Some courses rely on rich, classroom discussion to enhance students’ learning and peer engagement. Through Moodle Discussions, instructors can simulate an in-class discussion in a digital environment.

Tips for administering effective online discussions: 

• Communicate clear guidelines in the prompt that establish your expectations for students’ contribution to the discussion. Many instructors choose to provide details about the writing style (e.g., formal/informal), number of posts, length (e.g., number of words), frequency, tone, and content (e.g., elements that constitute “value added”). 
• Use threaded discussion responses to allow students to respond to one another multiple times in an organized way in each discussion board post. 
• Be present in the discussion board by providing feedback and coaching to student responses.
• Encourage students to participate in a variety of ways that work for the individual student, including text, audio, or video. 
• Create questions and prompts that require complex thinking and application of ideas to avoid repetitive student responses. 

Courses Forums (facilitate class discussion)

Courses Collaborating (facilitate student reflection and class comments via digital chalkboard Padlet)

Courses Wiki (facilitate collaborative content creation) Located within Moodle Activities section

Lectures or Readings

Purpose: Provide self-directed learning content.

For a virtual, asynchronous meeting, instructors can choose to record a lecture using the Personal Capture tool or upload a pre-existing video or audio file through Kaltura within the My Media in Moodle.  Within Kaltura, instructors have the ability to edit and enhance their lecture content with embedded media, text resources and quiz questions. 

To optimize your asynchronous Kaltura lecture, we recommend: 

• Draft a script or an outline of your ideas for your lecture before recording. 
• Use headphones or earbuds with a microphone to minimize surrounding noise and maximize your voice.
• Record longer lectures into smaller, separate video lectures, organized by topic, idea, or skill.  By watching video lectures of less than 15 minutes each, learners are more likely to maintain focus and retain key information.
• Include quiz questions throughout your lectures to engage learners and allow them to check for understanding as they watch. 
• Upload PDF files, websites and media that support the content of your lecture to provide your learners a comprehensive and immersive learning experience.

Courses Lessons (create structured learning content, embed videos, and link to activities)

Course Design Assistance ( Pedagogy, Learning Models, TPACK, SAMR Model, OER and Universal Design) 

One Drive (post files, such as PowerPoint or PDF files)

Library Resources & Reserves 

PowerPoint Recording using Kaltura (record a lecture and post to Courses)

Web Conference Recording (use WebEx and then uploading to Kaltura ; be sure to include the transcriptions and closed-captions for all videos)

Papers, Quizzes, or Tests

Purpose: Assess student learning.

Instructors may leverage Moodle tools to formatively and summatively assess student learning.  For a low-stakes assessment of student learning, instructors may use the Assignments tool in Moodle to collect student work.  Instructors can then us Feedback Tool to make annotations and comments on students work, as well as provide rich feedback in written, audio, or video format.  For high-stakes assessment of student learning, instructors can create exams using the Quizzes tool in Moodle. 

Tips for administering effective exams online: 

• Create complex questions that require deep, analytical thinking skills to complete.
• Use time limits for the exam availability to maintain students’ focus during the exam.
• Allow students multiple attempts (e.g., 2) to allow for troubles with internet connectivity.
• Randomize the questions of a quiz to maximize academic integrity.

Courses Assignments (Assign, receive, and grade student papers)

Courses Tests & Quizzes (Schedule and grade online exams or quizzes)

Courses Gradebook (Share grades and feedback on student performance)

Software

Purpose: Tools for student to complete assignments off campus.

Office 365 (Office suite of products)

SPSS (e-mail with your Redlands.edu account to receive access)

ESRI (How to access ArcPro and ArcOnline)

Adobe CC (Temporary access to the adobe suite)

Schedule a Consultation

Technology and Learning Team (All schools for Courses, WebEx, Kaltura, and more)

Faculty Guides

Courses

Kaltura

One Drive

Teams

WebEx

General Inquiries 

E: acits@redlands.edu