Online Instruction Tips

Purdue has their official page on teaching remotely: https://www.purdue.edu/innovativelearning/teaching-remotely But do you have your own personal tips and tricks?  Let us know!  Email your tips to vwunder@purdue.edu

WebEx and Zoom / From Satish Boregowda:

Here is the note pertaining to work around I came up with to deal with Webex issues:

1. Use Webex for livestreaming but do not record the video.  The recording of live stream was of poor quality with lot of disruptions.
   1. I have told my students to download the free version of Zoom on their computers in the event I am not able to use Webex.
2. Self-record the video using Zoom (free version) – MP4 file
3. Use this video to upload via blackboard (Kaltura media) via Mashup à My Media à Media Upload à Save/Embed à Submit
1. You can call ITAP and they can help you if you get lost here.
2. The Kaltura takes care of size of the file automatically.  However, try to minimize the length of the video with key points.  I put the detailed problem solutions and told the students to work out the problem.
3. Alternative – You can download the VLC media play that tends to produce smaller file sizes.  There are some issues with firewall.

WebEx and structuring ME274 / From James Gibert, Chuck Krousgrill, Andres Arrieta Diaz, and Yangfan Liu

ME 274 is taught by Andres Arrietta, Chuck Krousgrill, Yangfan Liu, and myself.  We were fortunate that the Freeform system is  already an online learning environment. This has allowed us the opportunity to have a unique blend of asynchronous and synchronous online learning. I will detail our efforts to use WebEx below.

Setup

In using WebEx, we each utilize our personal meeting room. The  link and access code were sent to the Students in advance. The students are instructed to disable video and call in using their phone to minimize the load to the system. They are instructed to ask and answer questions using the chat. In the case of international students, they can call in using the toll free number.  I typically connect using my audio on the PC. I typically log on to WebEx 30 minutes before the lecture to ensure that I can connect my audio through the PC.  I have had trouble in the past that if I recorded the lecture, my audio was not captured over the telephone.

Lecture Delivery

Lectures are delivered using our Apple iPad,  and Microsoft Surface.  This is accomplished by sharing the content in WebEx Share Menu Tab.

Using the Microsoft Surface one can just share your screen or the desired window in that the whole system is pen-based and the experience is rather seamless.

In using the iPad, we have tried two methods:

1) WebEx will directly share the iPad screen. Utilizing this method, you can use your favorite note taking/delivery application.  The size of the sharing window is small, and we have not found a way to adjust it.

 2) Use the iPad as a graphics tablet. This method requires that you purchase an application that links your iPad as input device, we use Astropad ( https://astropad.com ).   Now we use the PC version of the note taking application, Notability and Doceri, both work well in this and simply share their content over WebEx.

Once you share your content, you can detach the chat and participant window from the main screen and maximize them to make it easier for you to monitor while you lecture.

Lecture Content

We have also modified the way we present the material.  The students have access to a 10-12 minute video explaining the theory before class.  In addition, they have access to several online videos of example problems and animations of the concept. Finally, we have relevant conceptual questions for the students to review. 

The live, interactive content is used to summarize the theory, provide additional examples and to take questions.

Kaltura Capture / From Nina Mahmoudian

I mentioned using Kaltura Capture which is an embedded Media option in Blackboard in the meeting. I learned about it in e-learning luncheon which was held before Spring break and I found it easy to use.

Here is the link to that session. There is  about 3:50 minutes of dead air time at the beginning of the recording. 

https://mediaspace.itap.purdue.edu/media/1_kpfrkmz9

Kaltura is embedded in Blackboard in My Media Section and we can install it in our computers depend on the operating system. After installation, we can run the software while we have the slides running and record the lecture. There is a pause button for taking breaks. When done, hit the stop button. Save and Upload. It will be saved under Kaltura Media. Then use Mashup to upload to the course. 

My Media --> Kaltura --> Save/Embed --> Submit --> Action (Publish) --> Select the course 

In Course --> Mashup --> Kaltura Media

Mac tips / from Thomas Siegmund

Here is my approach on macOS Catalina. I use an asynchronous approach

WebEx tip on Entry & Exit tone / from Andres Arrieta

For screenshots, click here

I have a suggestion for future WebEx meetings (for example, faculty candidate seminars):

• When creating the webex meeting, request the person creating the meeting to change the standard setting to "no tone" when joining and exiting the meeting.

 To change the setting:  

• When creating the WebEx meeting, click on the "Change Audio Conference" setting.  Select WebEx audio then scroll to the "Entry and Exit tone" and select "no tone".

Recording presentations / From Kyle Rice

I was working with Julia on getting things going for ME 199 How Stuff Works for remote learning and we sent these instructions to our presenters to help them create video recordings. I didn’t know if it would be helpful for your website with tips for recording lectures or not.

Option 1:

www.screenpresso.com – this requires an additional download

Option 2:

Creating a PowerPoint Screen Recording / For screenshots, click here

1.  Add all content to the PowerPoint Presentation. This will record video as well as record your mouse if you wish to point anything out while presenting.

2.  Go to Insert>Video>Screen Recording

a. When you click this button, the PowerPoint Screen will minimize by default while you select your recording area.

3. Select the area of the screen you want to record by clicking and dragging over the screen
4. Click Record in the menu that pops up after you have selected the area
5. Before your begin presenting, do a short test to make sure the microphone is picking up your presentation and the audio sounds decent.
6. IMPORTANT: Videos do NOT work with this method. The audio does not record. If you have videos included in your presentation (that have sound), please upload them separately.
7. Open your PowerPoint window and start presenting! If your microphone is already enabled (it should be by default), then it will start recording as you present.
   1. Be sure to maximize your PowerPoint Screen
8. Once you have completed your presentation press the Windows logo key + Shift + Q to exit the recording screen.
9. This will automatically place the recording into PowerPoint
10. You can trim the recording by clicking on the video and going to Video Tools>Playback>Trim Video. This will allow you to trim the beginning and end of the presentation in case there are things you want to remove.
11. Delete all slides other than the slide with the video and upload it to FileLocker (we will send you the link)

SMAC Meeting Notes on things instructors are doing in respect to lectures, exams, and labs / from Michael Linnes

Question 1: What are instructors doing to continue with lecture for distance learning?

• Instructor 1:  Using Camtasia to record lectures in PowerPoint.  Breaks up lectures into 3 smaller 15 minute parts.  Uploads videos to Kaltura media space and post links to blackboard.
• Instructor 2: Record lectures using WebEx, having live students attend as well.  Tried to make it as engaging as possible. Students were able to ask questions during the lecture.  They also responded to questions asked.  Office hours were held over WebEx and students and it went well.
• Instructor 3: Instructor recorded the lecture via WebEx and are posting their videos to blackboard.  Had ~30/50 students attend the lecture.  Audio was getting choppy during his presentation which may be due to connection speed issues. Does not have tablet to write on during the lecture.  It is taking a long time to upload the videos (1hr)
• Instructor 4: Used WebEx and uploaded final version to Kaltura, but the upload process is really slow.  Looking for alternative ways to do this. (Takes between 1-10 hours)
• Instructor 5: 2 WebEx lectures uploaded relates to 3% of their storage.
• Instructor 6: Suggested YouTube may be a good alternative for uploading videos.
• Instructor 7: Used WebEx training method to track attendance and watch participation.  About 50% of the class were participating.  Students were encouraged to post questions via chat.  Was unable to hear student questions, but is working on figuring this out.
• Instructor 8: Teaches a discussion class and meets 1x/week.  They plan to use WebEx with 12 students and will discuss the topics in the WebEx platform. No final exam, students will turn in term papers.
• Instructor 9: Lectures are posted to blackboard (ppt slides, pdf).  Instructor is going through and is adding Camtasia lectures.  They created a discussion board and are using it to answer any questions students may have.  Homework is being done in gradescope and remains the same.
• Instructor 10: Has made pdf lectures available to students. Lectures are posted ahead of time in 2 parts. Part 1: Lecture(3x15 minute videos), Part 2: Answering their questions.
• Instructor 11: Instructor is using WebEx and students presented their work during class.  It worked well and everyone was able to participate.  Has not been recording as the class is interactive and all are able to attend
• Instructor 12: Instructor goes to the studio and records the lecture during the regular class time.

Question 2: What are you doing for Exams?

• Class 1: Postponed Midterm #2 by 1 week and made a plan to make an exam on blackboard.  Questions will be T/F, Multiple choice, short answer.
  • Blackboard allows you to have different start/stop times, which can allow for extra hour students or students in different time zones.
  • If you do not select “Force Complete”, students can continue with the exam in case they briefly disconnect.
• What about students that have bad internet issues? -
  • Possibly have a .pdf that we can send to students and have them scan/send back
  • You can ask them to have a proctor and have the proctor sign/note time that the exam takes them.

Question 3: What are you doing for Labs?

• Lab 1: TAs were recorded performing the labs (Camcorder/Screen Capture -videos uploaded as unlisted to YouTube) and will give the data collected to students. Students are expected to complete the normal pre-lab assignments, watch the videos of the lab, and use the data collected by the TAs to complete their lab assignments. TAs will be available during their normal lab times for questions via WebEx
  • YouTube may be an issue for some international students.  Videos are also uploaded to Kaltura and individual links sent out for those that need this different platform.
  • YouTube is beneficial as it provides closed-captioning for free and it is editable in case anyone has a student that is hard of hearing.  Purdue charges $1.50/min for CC
  • Videos are <10 minutes long.  Up to 6 videos are posted for each lab, broken up by section.
• Lab 2: Students are asked to work together via WebEx, or other video chat to work with a partner and build/program their robots.  We are creating a blog to use as a robot project FAQ and are instructing TAs to hold troubleshooting sessions during their lab period.
  • Videos have been created/edited using camcorder and Camtasia. 
  • Videos have some troubleshooting information for those working on building their robots.
  • For TAs that need to have more than 8 students on WebEx at 1 time, they can request space modification here: https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0VqgWMFG08Pmy5n
  • Undergraduate TAs were asked to attend the WebEx meeting of their section’s TA.  While they won’t be able to talk at the same time as the TA in the WebEx meeting, they may have insights that will help with robot troubleshooting and assistance with getting the robot up and running.  They will be asked to help with extra evening office hours to assist people with their robot build the week before their demo is due.  

ME 270 Problem Solving Exam / From Jim Jones

In ME 270 we felt strongly that we wanted to give our typical problem solving exam.  Appended at the end of this message is the email I sent out to students on how our process will work.  The process is similar to how our students do their HW but it has a short time window to reduce the chance for academic dishonesty.  Also, they use a very similar process for the HW so students are very familiar with how to do all of these tasks.

We have received feedback from students and these are the three main concerns and how we are handling them.

1.  Printer Concerns – Some student don’t have access to a printer nor an ipad/Surface or other touch device.  In this case, we are asking these students to pull up the exam and work their solutions on engineering ( or other lined or grid) paper and upload their solutions to Gradescope (like they do with their HW).  This has resolved the printer issue.

2.  Time Zone Concerns – Some international students have gone back home to India, Korea or China and for them the exam is 2-5am in the morning.  We have decided to give them an alternate (different) exam at a single time that would be suitable for all of these students.  We are altering one of our old exams that has very little exposure to save time.  This has resolved the time zone issue.

3.  DRC Students – We are starting our DRC students at the same time as our regular students, but allowing the extended time (typically 150%) at the end of the exam.  Since Gradescope will already be closed to uploads, we have asked these DRC students to email these exams to our instructors and we will get them upload ourselves.  This resolves our extended time issues.

4.  Scanning/Uploading Time – We have allotted 20 minutes for students to scan their exam and upload it to Gradescope.  We want to give adequate time for these extra tasks while leaving little time for any attempts at academic dishonesty.

Our exam is scheduled for Thursday evening (4/2/20), so by Friday I should have a better idea of how things work out.  I just thought I would share this as another option that would allow you to do a more traditional exam (perhaps for your final exam). 

My one worry with the multiple choice-T/F type of exams is that it would be easy for students to be on their cell phones’ with their buddies during the exam and share their results with others with little to no chance of detection, especially when no work is required to be shown.  Ultimately, no approach we utilize remotely is foolproof.  However, by requiring work to be shown coupled with limiting their time, I think it will give us a better sense of how weel the students really understand the concepts.  If I can be of any help, let me know.

Loading PDF's to Gradescope Online Assignments/ from Amy Marconnet

For screenshots, click here

Since students don’t see the PDF’s you upload in Gradescope, you need to simultaneously post to blackboard and to Gradescope.

Gradescope is beta testing the online assignment feature. This enables you to give timed assignments where students can do multiple choice, fill in the blank, and free response questions, as well as upload files. You can’t post the PDF of your assignment, but you can upload it as images within questions.

When you create an assignment, now there should be one more option at the bottom called “online assignment”

You can have a window when its released, as well as enforce time limits. For students requiring extra time due to DRC, you can authorize extended time in another window.

When you go to make an assignment, you can add images (e.g., jpegs of your test pages) as well as fields for where the students enter answers. Fields include “short answer”, “free response”, “multiple choice”, “select all”, and “file upload”. You can have multiple fields for a single question, so if you want them to do a multiple choice question and upload their work to support their answer, that is doable.

If you need to give specific students extended time, you can go to the menu bar on the left hand side of the main grade scope page and select “extensions”.

One caveat is the file uploads will view differently than the traditional interface for grading. It doesn’t seem to enable marking on the uploaded files like you can when grading regular homework or exam uploads.

Tips for online instruction from ME 352 / From Beth Hess

Here are my tips for online instruction from ME 352:

The techniques I’ve used to capture/distribute lecture material online are similar to those described by others.

I have also devoted time/effort to helping students stay organized and on schedule, now that the course material is all available online and they’ve lost the structure of face-to-face instruction.

- Maintaining a FAQ list on Blackboard, based on questions I receive via e-mail and on questions submitted anonymously via a Google form.

- Sending weekly e-mails with the ME 352 to-do list for the week (e.g., which lecture videos to watch, which examples to review, and which/when assignments are due).

- Recording a casual weekly welcome video, highlighting the plan for the week.

- Organizing material on Blackboard in folders by week.

- Soliciting student feedback, again via Google forms.  For example, I sent a quick survey this week with three questions: 1) is your internet sufficient? 2) do you have any recommendations for improving the online delivery of ME 352, and 3) what do you wish your instructor(s), the School of ME, and/or Purdue administration knew about how COVID-19 is impacting you?  Their internet is fine (except for 3 students), they think the online delivery of ME 352 is going well, and the responses to question 3 were very honest and enlightening.