Transitioning to online teaching at AHS

The AHS Office of the Dean remains in awe of everyone’s courage and efforts to make it possible to preserve our students’ success and keep them as educationally whole as possible by converting to a 100% online learning and advising environment within a little more than a single business day. Below are several links to an abundance of information that you may find useful.

The UIC Disability Resource Center has put together some guidelines for accessibility in online teaching. This Excel spreadsheet outlining external resources for online teaching was assembled is just an example of the beginning of something that could be crowdsourced within your own departments. ACCC has outlined technology basics for academic continuity that is instructor focused.

While we want to support you in your work, our intention is not to make more work for you or add to your current workload, so please do not interpret our sending these resources as anything more than an effort to be supportive. We all acknowledge that the transition to online learning will be gradual, requiring tremendous work on your part.

Please continue to take care of yourselves and those around you. We will do the same because we want to be here for you and our students. We will continue to keep you posted about matters affecting AHS and your important role in our students’ education.

Bo Fernhall, Dean and Professor

Renee Taylor, Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Professor

Transitioning from remote to online teaching at AHS
The document below was developed with the assumption that many of us are not currently experts in online teaching. In recognizing this, we need to be patient with ourselves as we transition from remote teaching and learning (a more beginning level) to online teaching and learning. One of the best pieces of advice during this transitional process is to start simply and build over time. Below are some online resources with helpful details and recommendations for teaching online and delivering exams, quizzes, etc. online. Though they may seem overwhelming, a lot of information was included to acknowledge that faculty may be at different learning and experience stages.

Instructional Delivery Tools

Blackboard Collaborate (UIC Supported)
What is It: Online streaming app that permits instructor to share a whiteboard, apps (e.g., PowerPoint/OneNote/ChemDraw), and interact with students through chat/audio/video
Benefits: Easy to Use, Break-out Rooms, Live Streaming, Moderated Chatlog, LMS Integration, Live Polling-Engage
Trade-offs: Clunky Interface, Limited Free Drawing

Zoom/Web-Ex (UIC Supported)
What Are They: Web-conferencing services
Benefits: Webex is approved for telehealth, Each vendor offers different features and integrations
Trade-offs: Both have significantly unique trade-offs

Panopto (UIC Supported)
What is It: Online streaming & video sharing app that permits instructor to share and interact with students through chatlog. Alternatively, pre-recorded videos can be released for scheduled viewing.
Benefits: Shallow Learning Curve, Live Streaming, Moderated Chatlog, LMS Integration, Live-Polling-Engage, Live-Polling-Assess, Multiple Short Tutorials Available
Trade-offs: Stand-alone App, Limited Interactivity, No Embedded Whiteboard

Echo360 (UIC Supported, many support links appear broken at UIC)
What is It: Online streaming & video sharing app that permits instructor to live stream a screen share and interact with students through chat. Alternatively, pre-recorded videos can be released for scheduled viewing.
Benefits: Shallow Learning Curve, Live Streaming, Comment Log, LMS Integration, Live-Polling-Engage, Live-Polling-Assess, Integrated Notetaking, Confusion Alerts
Trade-offs: Stand-alone App, Limited Interactivity, No Embedded Whiteboard

YouTube
What is It: Video sharing app that permits asynchronous comments from students
Benefits: Wide Distribution (anyone can access with permission), Comment Log
Trade-offs: Limited Interactivity, No Live Polling, Inevitable Trolling in Feed

IClicker/Reef
What Is It: Interactive polling app that permits students to use a remote inside the classroom or a mobile device from home
Benefits: Many instructors currently using tool in live classrooms. Seamless conversion to mobile for free with code
Trade-offs: You will need to screenshare questions and launch iClicker to collect answers.

Assessing Online
IU has created an exceptional FAQ regarding different options for online testing. Below are some options available to UIC.

If you want students to complete assessments online

Blackboard Assignments
What is It: Tool that permits deliver of timed assignment directly from Blackboard
Benefits: Question Pools, Randomization, Automated Scoring, Partial Credit, Individual Student Scheduling & Timing, File Upload Questions, Wide Variety of Question Types, LMS Integration
Trade-offs: Each question must be created individually in the assessment, No drawing tool for students

McGraw-Hill Connect
What is It: Online tool with pre-populated test bank
Benefits: Question Pools, Randomization, Automated Scoring, Partial Credit, Individual Student Scheduling & Timing
Trade-offs: Available for college chemistry course published by McGraw-Hill

WileyPlus
What is It: Online tool with pre-populated test bank instructors can choose from
Benefits: Question Pools, Randomization, Automated Scoring, Partial Credit, Individual Student Scheduling & Timing, Browser Lock-down
Trade-offs: McGraw-Hill textbooks online

MacMillan (Sapling)
What is It: Online tool with pre-populated test bank instructors can choose from
Benefits: Question Pool, Randomization, Automated Scoring, Partial Credit, Instructor-Created Items
Trade-offs: Limited question types, MacMillan textbooks only

If you want students to complete an assessment at home and return it to you for grading

Blackboard Assignments
*As above, but upload your exam for students and allow them to download, fill out, scan, and upload back into Blackboard

Crowdmark/Gradescope
What Are They: Online grading tools that permit students to uploaded scanned images of their exams for grading
Benefits: Instructor-Created Items, Multiple Choice Grading, Support Tools for Manual Grading by TAs, *Crowdmark is integrated directly into Blackboard
Trade-offs: Automated scoring only for multiple-choice questions only, Learning curve for TAs, Scoring rubric must be built by TAs

If you want to live proctor exams remotely

UIC is currently not providing a proctoring service online, but this may change in the future. In the interim, you have a few options as below.

1. Use Blackboard Groups to assign up to four students to a video web-conference chatroom (uses a version of the Collaborate tool). Assign a TA to remain in the room with students to live proctor them. Students must have a webcam for this to work. The maximum number of participants in a room (including the TA) is 5. Schedule exam at different times for different students to address limited number of proctors. Record session for later reviewing, if you want. Make sure to turn off all interactive features in Groups so students cannot exchange files. Keep audio on in case students are on different machines in the same room.
2. Use Zoom to assign up to 99 students to a video web-conference chatroom. Assign a TA to remain in the room with students to live proctor them. Students must have a webcam for this to work. The maximum number of participants in a room (including the TA) is 5. Schedule exam at different times for different students to address limited number of proctors. Zoom only permits 40 minutes of streaming on free accounts. Record session for later reviewing, if you want. Make sure to turn off all interactive features in Groups so students cannot exchange files. Keep audio on in case students are on different machines in the same room.
3. Live administer exam through Collaborate or Zoom. You can screen share assessments live in both tools and give students a time limit to upload their responses to Blackboard.

Key terms
Break-out Rooms: Separate live streaming rooms for small groups of students to interact with using audio or video. You can join any of these rooms, but students join only those they are assigned to.
Browser Lock-down: Students install browser plug-in that stops them from navigating away from the assessment to search for answers online.
Chatlog: Audience can post questions during a live stream that you and your moderators (TAs) can review and respond to in real-time.
Confusion Alert: Confusion Alert (Students can flag slides/time stamps to indicate they are confused)
File Upload Questions: Blackboard permits individual questions to be designated as “file upload”; Students can draw an answer and upload a photo of their answer to this specific question.
Individual Student Scheduling & Timing: Release the same assessment at different times; Provide students with different time limits (useful for accommodations).
Integrated Notetaking: Students can take notes in the app as they watch your stream/video.
Live Streaming: Turn on your camera and start broadcasting to a live audience
LMS Integration: App is currently integrated into Blackboard.
Live Polling-Assess: Project questions to audience to assess learning-responses are scored
Live Polling-Engage: Project questions to audience to engage students-responses not scored.
Question Pools: Create a pool of questions and designate how many questions from the pool are delivered to a student. Questions are selected randomly.
Randomization: Items can be presented to students randomly.
Video Sharing: Record a video and share online at any time.

(Parts of this resource represents an AHS version/adaptation of a document that I have modified, with permission from the original creator, Professor Mike Steiff (Chemistry and LSRI), a co-principal-investigator on an HHMI grant project that we have here at UIC. Please note that this is not an endorsement for any of these resources, it is just a gathering of resources. Please vet and discuss with others in your department as to the relevance/viability/safety of what you intend to use.)