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Getting started

As you prepare for online teaching, focus on the tasks you are trying to accomplish. Many classroom-based teaching and learning practices have reasonable online alternatives, such as the suggestions below. Remember that your presence and care for the students in our learning community is more important than any of the technologies we use.

Presenting content

  • Current practice
    Instructor-led lecture

    Online alternative
    For asynchronous courses, use Panopto to record instruction and deliver content to students.

    For synchronous Q&A sessions or online office hours, use Zoom for web-conferencing. 
  • Current practice
    Content shown in class

    Online alternative
    Any files shown in class can be uploaded directly to Canvas courses. Files can also be displayed in Panopto or Zoom.

Class discussion

  • Current practice
    Instructor-led lecture plus student-driven discussion

    Online alternative
    Pre-record lectures using Panopto and allow student discussion through Canvas Discussions

  • Current practice
    Group/team-based in-class discussions

    Online alternative
    Use Canvas Discussions or create Canvas Groups. Groups can have their own discussions, private to group members and instructors.

Assignments & assessments

  • Current practice
    Papers

    Online alternative
    Use Canvas Assignments to collect student papers or in PDF or Word format to review and grade.
  • Current practice
    Exams & quizzes

    Online alternative
    The Canvas Quizzes tool supports many question types (e.g., multiple-choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, fill-in-multiple-blanks, multiple answers, multiple drop-down, matching, numerical answer, formula, essay, file upload). 

    Proctor exams & quizzes using our online proctoring tool, Proctorio.

  • Current practice
    Student presentations

    Online alternative
    Students can create and submit presentations using Panopto.

    For group presentations, students can set up a Zoom meeting, share their screen and record files to their computer to upload to their Panopto assignments folder.

  • Current practice
    Peer review assignments

    Online alternative
    Create a peer review assignment in Canvas to allow students to give feedback on other students’ assignment submissions. Peer reviews allow communication between students and can help students master the concepts of a course and learn from each other. Peer reviews can be assigned to show student names or display anonymously.