Welcome to CUE’s new resource for all things “teaching and learning.” Scroll down for videos about course design, teaching online, effective assessment, and more. Any questions at all, please contact me, Daniel Braun, CUE’s Educational Developer, at daniel.braun@concordia.ab.ca.
First Things First
This inaugural video introduces 4 basic aspects of distance teaching and learning, each of which will be explored further in later videos: preserving the classroom context; balancing synchronous and asynchronous delivery; pedagogical needs driving technology choices; and effective assessment.
Creating Google Meet Calendar Entries
This short video by Dante Macasaet from CUE’s IT Team walks you through the brief steps involved in creating an event in your Google calendar, with a Meet link you can send to colleagues OR post in Moodle for students’ easy access.
Google Meet for Classroom Discussions
Yes, you CAN use Google Meet to break students up into small, private groups in the midst of your classes! Check out this 12-minute video by IT’s Dante Macasaet to learn how to synchronously engage students in this essential way.
Online Assessment I: Tests & Exams
Assessing online has its challenges! In this first in a series of about assessment, we’ll look at some of the challenges of moving exams online, and 5 strategies for tweaking or re-thinking your exams to make them more engaging, less anxiety-inducing, and more resistant to cheating.
Asynchronous Delivery, Part I
This video introduces the concept of asynchronous delivery, reviews a few forms of it, and examines the research-based reasons for using it. Future videos in this series will delve further into the ‘how’ of asynchronous delivery.
Don’t Increase Instructional Hours!
This very brief video clarifies a point from earlier videos: The methods I’m recommending should not involve an increase in teaching or learning hours! Please watch to get the full clarification.
Recording Google Meet Sessions
If you’d rather use Google Meet than Screencast-o-matic to record your presentations, this guide from IT’s Dante Macasaet walks you through the steps involved.
Asynchronous Delivery, Part II
Part 2 in the Asynchronous Delivery series presents some tools, tips and strategies for making screen-cast recordings.
Online Assessment II: Assignments
Our second video about assessing distance learning focuses on the benefits of assignments to your teaching and your students’ learning. Easier to adapt to the online modality, less anxiety-inducing, and more authentic than exams, assignments will be a useful tool in the coming academic year!
Using Google Drive
Your CUE Google Drive is the place to store all the videos, documents, and other files you want to share with students. While Moodle has a very limited storage capacity, Google Drive has essentially unlimited storage! This video introduces the basics of accessing and using your CUE Google Drive, and the following video demonstrates how to link it to your courses in Moodle.
Linking Your Moodle and Google Drive
This video demonstrates how to integrate files contained in your Google Drive with your courses in Moodle, so that students can access them easily and on your schedule.
Whiteboard Alternatives
Do you normally use a classroom whiteboard to sketch graphs, equations, or other similar images? This video explores a variety of distance-teaching alternatives to do the same kind of work in the online modality.
Communicating with Students
This video explores some of effective ways to communicate with students in the online/distance modality, in order to boost engagement and your virtual presence as their instructor.
Academic Integrity Pledge
This boilerplate Academic Integrity Pledge should be altered to meet the needs of your course, assessments, and students. For more information on integrity pledges, check out the Online Assessment I: Tests & Exams video, higher up on this page.
Detailed Course Schedules
This sample of a detailed course schedule, created by MacEwan University’s Kim Peacock, may be a useful starting point for creating your own detailed schedules. For more information about the importance of detailed schedules to distance and online learning, check out the Communicating with Students video above.
Student Use of Cameras and Mics
If you’re wondering about how best to ensure student “presence” during synchronous sessions, or how to make best use of their cameras and mics, or both those topics, this video is for you! It also clarifies CUE’s guidelines on what can and cannot be required of students with respect to activating their equipment during class time.
Giving Students Special Moodle Permissions
If you have individual students who require special assessment settings in Moodle, like extended time or multiple attempts, this video walks you through the steps for Moodle user overrides.
Recording Synchronous Sessions – Pros and Cons
This video explores reasons to, and not to, record your synchronous class-time sessions. While it can be beneficial for some students and under the right circumstances, it can also detract from student learning. Watch the video and decide for yourself!
Doing Assignments through Moodle
This incredibly thorough video by Dante Macasaet demonstrates how to create different kinds of assignments, receive submissions, and provide feedback and grades, through Moodle. Using some or all of these functions can save considerable time on the more administrative parts of assignments in the distance modality, so this video should be well worth your time!
Online Polling Tools
Student polling, both face-to-face and online, is a great pedagogical practice for a number of reasons, and this video begins by reviewing some of those. Since Google Meet doesn’t, as yet, contain any built-in polling tools, this video also showcases the strengths and limitations of 3 free polling alternatives that can be used in conjunction with Meet.
Instructor Availability when Online
This video clarifies some of CUE’s requirements and guidelines for synchronous interaction with students while we remain in an online and distance modality. It also provides some best practices for creating the richest and most helpful synchronous learning environments!
Seeing Google Meet Chat while Presenting
This excellent, short video by your colleague Josiah Hiemstra from Drama explains how to present PowerPoint slides in Google Meet, while retaining some view of your Meet window. This will allow you to keep track of student activity while presenting, including having the Chat window open to field questions. If you find this video useful, feel free to thank Josiah directly!
Exams in Moodle
This video is the recording of a workshop about the different ways to create and deliver exams through Moodle. Whether you’re new to Moodle exams or not, you’re sure to learn some useful tips from CUE’s Moodle guru, Dante Macasaet!
Using Moodle Gradebook
This recording of an earlier workshop by Dante Macasaet walks through the details of the Moodle Gradebook. Using Gradebook can simplify and streamline your grading process, so it’s a feature worth getting to know well!
Using Moodle Gradebook video link
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